Sparrowboy

Pinkney, Brian. 1997. The Adventures of Sparrowboy. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Plot Summary
Henry is a young paperboy who reads the comics page of his daily before his route in the morning. He imagines what he would do if he became his favorite comic hero, Falconman. Henry runs into a sparrow and gets his superpowers from the ZAP! force. Flying over the neighborhood delivering papers, saving children and animals from dangerous situations, Sparrowboy is a hero on Thurber Street.

Critical Analysis
This book was written for 4 to 8 year olds and is especially great for readers interested in comics and superheros. The author plays off the comic hero's name, Falconman to create Henry's alternate superhero identity, Sparrowboy. Falconman's comic is written by the author's anagram name Barney Nipkin. Sparrowboy is a take off the Superman story. This fantasy is a common idea in many young children's imagination and Pinkney does a beautiful job of showing how fun it can be to imagine ourselves as a hero that flies through our own neighborhood doing good for others.

The artwork is the central component to the book. The layouts mimic a comic strip with dialogue boxes and meanwhile...s. The drawings are created by Pinkney's signature stratchboard style. The creator uses unique angles and sizes to emphasize the hero's view from the sky. Henry's character is a mix between a responsible job-carrying young boy and a superhero. He takes on the neighborhood bully and even wears his bicycle helmet throughout the whole book. What a true hero! This book is simple and fantastic.

Review Excerpts
"Comic book enthusiasts will find plenty of action here and feel just a little better for having curled up with this high-flying armchair adventure." - Kirkus Reviews

"Henry's heroics will win readers over instantly; he may not save the world, but before he returns to Earth, he does make his suburban neighborhood "just a little better." - John Peters, New York Public Library, School Library Journal
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0689835345/sr=8-1/qid=1182625574/ref=dp_proddesc_0/002-4198874-8224861?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1182625574&sr=8-1

Connections
There are many juvenile picture books that feature the theme of children using flight for various reasons. The stories often involve the child's dreams and imagination. A few that may work well with Sparrowboy in a lesson include:

• Myers, Christopher. 2000. Wings. New York: Scholastic.
• Myers, Walter Dean. 1974. Fly, Jimmy, fly! Putnam.
  
• Ringgold, Faith. 1991. Tar beach. New York: Crown Publishers.
  

More Information

1. This book won the author the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award
   
2. He has won numerous other awards. For complete list go to http://biography.jrank.org/pages/155/Pinkney-Jerry-Brian-1961-J-Brian-Pinkney-Awards-Honors.html
   
3. Brian Pinkney says, "I make pictures for the child in me. My work is actually my way of playing. That's why I think children enjoy my books; they recognize me as one of their own." http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/mtai/bpinkney.html
   

Jazz

Myers, Walter Dean. Illustrated by Christopher Myers. 2006. Jazz. New York: Holiday House.

Plot Summary
This book is composed of lyrical vignettes honoring jazz music and musicians. The introduction is a brief historical journey from the original "...blending of two musical traditions. African and European..."to the arrival of today's "different artists reinterpret[ing] the music according to their own sensibilities." Myers and Myers include 15 poems, a Glossary of Jazz Terms, and a Jazz Time Line highlighting interesting dates to note from the 1800s to today. It is a follow-up to their poetry blues tribute titled, Blues Journey (2003).

Critical Analysis
This father and son team make a beautiful tribute to jazz roots, influence and magic. The introduction is a bit in depth for the described age audience of 4 to 8 year olds. However, the teacher, the older reader, and the jazz enthusiast alike will benefit from the historical context in order to better contextualize the art form. The children will surely benefit without the history lesson however, because each two-page spread gives the reader and listener a visual feast. This book clearly celebrates the monumental founding and contributions of black musicians to the art form, as well as the evolution and unique qualities only found in jazz music. The writer provides his well researched, and passionate understanding of the influences and evolution of the jazz tradition, improvisation, and structure.

The poem lyrics are best read aloud either to oneself or to others. They flow and scatter and croon, in accordance with their subject. For example, the Three Voices poem breaks into the thum, thums of the bass, the reaching, preaching of the piano, and the sound born from the horn. These are "stories in rhyme" indeed. The Stride poem features a silhouetted pianist in front of the deep red background. The words form long white lines and are separated by short repeated black words beneath. Turned on its side, the piano imagery appears.

The paintings provide interesting angles, lighting and vibrant motions. They are bright, emotional, and fluid, as you would hope a picture book about a musician playing would be. The attention to detail is quality. From the size of the horn blowers cheeks (see cover image above), the dancing gaits of the funeral procession, the stretched and strained fingers of the pianist, to the flexed forearm of the drummer. You get the feelings of the sound with the combination of word and art. Every character in the book is black and dressed in clothing such as a purple suit and knee high socks of the New Orleans dancers. They readily depict that style and grace of the jazz musicians, singers, and dancers.

Review Excerpts

"Myers is arguably one of the most important writers of children's books of our age..." -Kirkus Reviews http://www.walterdeanmyers.net/reviews.html

"The father-and-son team behind blues journey creates a scintillating paean to jazz. Walter Dean Myers infuses his lines (and the rests between them) with so much savvy syncopation that readers can't help but be swept up in the rhythms." - Publishers Weekly

"...the father-son Myers team has put together an absolutely airtight melding of words and pictures that is perfectly accessible to a younger audience." - Starred Review, Booklist
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0823415457/ref=dp_proddesc_0/002-4198874-8224861?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

Connections
"Wynton Marsalis' Jazz A B Z (Candlewick, 2005) offers an interesting comparison and complement: varied poetic forms and stylized, posterlike visuals present the lives of jazz musicians. Interaction with each inspired title informs the other and awakens interest in listening."–Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library, Review for School Library Journal http://www.amazon.com/Coretta-Scott-Illustrator-Honor-Books/dp/0823415457

Myers and Myers. 2003. Blues Journey. New York: Holiday House.

Moss, Lloyd. 2005. Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin. Aladdin Books. Also a stories in rhyme as a tribute to classic music and the musicians. The word patterns are similar and a lesson could explore the way authors give words to instrument's sounds.

More Information

1. Jazz won Christopher Myers the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book award.
2. Author Website - http://www.walterdeanmyers.net/
3. A total of 63 books produced by Myers listed on author's website
4. Numerous awards for the author and individual books including Newbery, Coretta Scott King, Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, Michael L. Printz Award, Margaret A. Edwards Award, Parents Choice Award, and many ALA awards.
   

bird

Johnson, Angela. 2004. Bird. New York: Dial Books.

AWARDS:
· Coretta Scott King Award Winner
· NYPL's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
· ALA Best Book for Young Adults 2005
· ALA Notable Book 2005
· New York Public Library Best Book for Teen Age 2005

Plot Summary
Bird is a thirteen year old girl who has left her mother in Cleveland and headed to Alabama in a search of her stepfather, Cecil. When he left the two of them, Bird knew he must be headed to be with his secret other family, so she went to convince him to return to her and her mother. The story revolves around the friendship of Bird and Ethan (Cecil’s nephew), Bird and Mrs. Pritchard (a lonely older woman in town), and the connections between Jay and the other characters.

Bird hides in the shed of Ethan’s house in order to watch Cecil with his other family. She eventually finds it too hard to be friends with Ethan while living there and moves into a room with Mrs. Pritchard. Bird’s secrets continue to add up (where she is from, why she is here, and who she knows) and at an age when most girls become completely self-absorbed, this teenage girl often thinks about her mother, who she misses, her new friend Ethan, and Mrs. Pritchard’s kindness. She is a thoughtful, joyful, resilient, and brave young woman. A true hero in extenuating circumstances.

Critical Analysis
This story provides a warm, honest look into the emotions of a young girl who is lonely. Although it appears that Bird and her mother have a strong relationship, clearly she feels the need for a family that includes a father as well. Johnson provides two other character voices that also speak of loneliness: Ethan and Jay. Ethan gives the reader the idea that even when you live in a large loving family, often loneliness finds a roost to nest in. In Ethan’s case, he had a heart condition that caused him to have a difficult childhood in the hospital and he struggles with making sense of his new heart and school friends. Ethan proves wise and thoughtful, having learned many lessons of loss and facing death so young. Jay is the brother of Ethan’s heart donor. He struggles to watch Ethan playing and enjoying a new life, knowing that he will never be able to see his own brother again.

The thread throughout the story continues to be the different ways in which each character has come to their loneliness and how despite differing situations, they are all battling the same feelings.The imagery of a bird flying as a metaphor for escape or elevating above an unhappy situation is often used. Little attention is paid to why Bird likes to be called this nickname by Cecil by as a runaway she can choose how she introduces herself and seems to embrace this as a new identity. Another example of how adept Johnson is at writing between the lines. And one cannot help but realize that Bird learns about this form of flight, running away that is, from her stepfather Cecil. The author is truly poetic. Her words release a lullaby that rocks the reader into the melodies of her characters. Here are a few examples:

Ethan: “The world whispers when Mama is near. I’m thinking now that the girl dancing under the moon might make the world whisper too.” (18)

Jay: “Maybe his heart is searching for and not finding the place it used to live. I understand that because mine is searching and not finding too.” (34)

Bird: “Ethan holds his chest when he talks and Jay talks like his heart is in his hands.” (98)

Although stories about runaway teenagers are quite common, rarely is one told with such joy, kindness and love. Even while she is hungry, tired, lonely and afraid, Johnson gives Bird a voice of strength, wisdom and peacefulness. The story is not very influenced by the location (being in Alabama) with only brief mentions of the heat, the stickiness, the food. There are only a few minor references to Bird’s hair (afro, 105) typically only worn by black girls. Otherwise, race, background, etc. of each character is not a key component to the story. Johnson presents a tale that speaks across lines. The method of delivery, that is, the way that a reader hears several different characters voices divided into chapters seems common. Johnson does a nice job of weaving these seemingly distant stories together, slowly and subtly as the book evolves.

I enjoyed this story like the best drip of dark chocolate over a strawberry tip. Cool and fresh like the summer berry, yet rich and lasting like the flavor that lingers in your mouth long after.

Review Excerpts
“Johnson writes with a poet's knowledge of rhythm and knows how to use the space between words; the disconnect between what the boys think and what they say is especially well done.” – Gillian Engberg, Booklist

“Readers see how small kindnesses can ease the grip of grief and how large gestures–the literal giving of a heart–can redound to the giver's credit.” – Miriam Lang Budin, School Library Journal
http://www.amazon.com/Bird-Angela-Johnson/dp/0142405442/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-5858162-7285632?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182454816&sr=1-1

Connections
Curtis, Christopher Paul. 2004. Bud, not Buddy. New York: Delacourt Books.
This book is also a Coretta Scott King Award Winner and also with the main character of a young runaway in search of his father. The likeness between these two stories does not end there, however a lesson could be structured on the complex emotions of runaway children in search of parents, issues of loneliness, time period differences between the two stories and the influences of people they come into contact with along the journey.