Mine, mine, my books

Can we read? No. 133

Hello, you beautiful human.

The days are lengthening, the air is changing texture and temperature, all things are shifting and transforming, as they do. I just want to remind you: that goes for you, too 🌀✨🦋

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Mine, Mine, Mine, Yours / Mío, Mío, Mío, Tuyo by Kimberly Gee, illustrated by Ariela Rudy Zaltzman (2021)

This sweet title, perfect for babies and toddlers, is a delightful exploration of opposites, using simple but playful repetitive terms and phrases — “Come in, come in, come in…go out! Hide, hide, hide… find!”

Zaltzman’s colorful and expressive pencil and digital illustrations showcase all the fun to be had in a day full of friends — from a jovial tug-of-war over possessions to the pleasure of sharing, emphasizing kindness and joy.

Though it’s definitely not a “story,” it will captivate even the youngest readers (and this bilingual version offers the added bonus of two languages, to be read either way).

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The Most Beautiful Thing by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Khoa Lee (2020)

In this gorgeous book, an unnamed little girl takes care of her grandmother, a Hmong immigrant who has suffered deep hardship. The children in the family, who have the privilege of taking care of Grandmother, listen to her stories and her wisdom and receive her ultimate gift — “the hard road she’s walked to get to [them].” (It’s always this line that causes me to lose it.)

Time passes, though, and as the little girl grows, she becomes unhappy with her life until one day, a conversation with her beloved and deeply kind Grandmother changes the way she sees herself and her world.

Lee’s mixed-media and Photoshopped illustrations richly complement Yang’s moving text, bringing its emotional depth to life. And what could be deeper than a story that celebrates family bonds and the quiet strength of generational devotion, especially the kind steeped in sacrifice and love? Not much.

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Dear Mr. Blueberry by Simon James (1991)

In this charming and imaginative epistolary picture book, a little girl named Emily exchanges a series of warm and humorous letters with her teacher, Mr. Blueberry, about a whale that has apparently taken up residence in her backyard pond. This straightforward — but somehow also tender — correspondence leads to a delightful swap of ideas and discoveries, accompanied by James’ soft, playful watercolor illustrations.

The narrative here is simple enough for preschoolers to follow along, but will appeal to older children, too, with its engaging letter-writing format that invites readers to enter into their own imaginations and enjoy the creativity to be found there.

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Mommy’s Khimar by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, illustrated by Ebony Glenn (2018)

This reviewed first appeared in issue No. 20 — I’ve edited and updated it here

This is a sweet glimpse into the life of a little girl who is entranced by her mother’s colorful khimars. She revels in the sheer number of headscarves in her mother’s closet, she delights in their many colors and details, and she transforms when she puts them on herself, and the reader gets to join her in her joy that fairly jumps off the page as she remembers her mothers smells, hugs her grandmother, receives compliments from others at her mosque. At the end of the day she takes all these experiences — along with that infectious joy and her mother’s love — with her as she dreams.

Thompkins-Bigelow has written a story perfectly matched to Glenn’s bright, cheerful digital illustrations — a truly lovely, warm book, perfect for ages 3-6.

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The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren (1961)

This review first appeared in issue No. 29 — I’ve edited and updated it here

I have a long-standing and deep love for Astrid Lindgren — I find her personally fascinating and believe she contributed heartily and enormously to children’s literature — so I’m always a little surprised to realize that all most people know of her work is Pippi Longstocking. Don’t get me wrong, Pippi is fantastic, but Lindgren wrote many gems beyond Pippi, and this is one of them.

“Noisy Village” is a collection of three farms right next door to one another (see cover photo), and the seven children there spend nearly every minute of the day together. In short, entertaining chapters about various aspects of the children’s lives (accompanied every few pages by Wikland’s pen sketches), the tales cover topics like “How Olaf Got His Dog” and “Walking Home From School.” The children take care of one family’s blind grandfather, have simple birthday parties, get caught in a terrible snowstorm, go crayfishing with their fathers at a nearby lake.

If this sounds a little mundane, I suppose it is, but in Lindgren’s hands these small slices of Swedish childhood are brought to life in vivid and hilarious detail. Her chief talent, and it is not a small one, was retaining her own memories of what it was really like to be a child — and a good reminder, too, that what is prosaic to adults is often novel and engrossing for children. Highly recommended.

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Thanks for reading today. You’re doing an amazing job.

Sarah