Ghost by Jason Reynolds

"And that's when I saw him, my dad, staggering from the bedroom, his lips bloody, a pistol in his hand ... me and my mum kept rolling. The sound of the gun cocking. The sound of the door unlocking. As soon as she swung the door open, my dad fired a shot. He was shooting at us! My dad! ... One things is for sure, that was the night I learned how to run."

Ghost (real name Castle Cranshaw) thinks his true sport destiny is basketball - not that the other bigger kids will let him play but then he stumbles on the track and decides to join in a race and even though he is wearing the wrong shoes and the wrong clothes and he has had no training and has missed lunch he somehow wins the race. The coach can see this kid has potential and so he invites Ghost to train with his team. Ghost is not a kid who knows how to stick with things, but he does keep coming back to the track and he does try to master all the warmup drills and endurance races. He desperately wants to fit in and one way to do this would surely be wearing the right shoes but Ghost has no money and his mum is working hard and only just keeping them afloat.

"Where I live. Where I live. When anyone ever asks about where I live, I get weird because people always treat you funny when they find out you stay in a certain kind of neighborhood. But I was used to people treating me funny. When your clothes are two sizes too bug, and you got no-name trainers, and your mother cuts your hair and it looks like your mother cuts your hair, you get used to people treating you funny."

The sport shop has so many fabulous shoes - surely it cannot hurt to just try them on. At this point in the story I actually called out a warning to Ghost but of course he didn't listen to me (after all I was only the read, the bystander, the observer).

Publisher blurb: Running. That’s all Ghost (real name Castle Cranshaw) has ever known. But Ghost has been running for the wrong reasons —until he meets Coach, an ex-Olympic Medalist who sees something in Ghost: crazy natural talent. If Ghost can stay on track, literally and figuratively, he could be the best sprinter in the city. Can Ghost harness his raw talent for speed, or will his past finally catch up to him?

Readers aged 10+ need to read this book especially those kids who ask for sport stories. Ghost is a quick book to read with only 200 pages and large print and a story that will keep you turning the pages. I read it in one sitting. Listen to a five-minute audio sample here. If you don't have this series in your school library please add all five books (see below) to your library wish list. I highly recommend Ghost - I wish I was still working in my school library because I would love to put this book into the hands of so many Grade 6 readers. 

An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay. Kirkus Star review

Readers will quickly fall into step with Ghost’s slangy voice and will find themselves relating strongly to a character who’s just trying to get through each day with all the anger and hurt he feels about the cards life has sent his way. ... This story also interrogates our perception of wealth and poverty and the impact of poverty on kids. Finally, at its core, the story is about healing, moving forward from the need to escape oneself because of past trauma. Reading Middle Grade

Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a UK Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors, a Coretta Scott King Author Award, and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. He was also the 2020–2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His debut picture book, There Was a Party for Langston, won a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor. He lives in Washington, DC. 

The most perfect book to read after Ghost is not about sport - it is about shoes!

The Wrong Shoes

I am very late in my discovery this fabulous book from 2018 but I am now totally hooked, and I can't wait to read the rest of the Track series (and that is fairly unusual for me as I don't always continue with a series). All of the books are currently available but might need to be ordered from your local independent bookstore. Colby Sharp shared the newest book from the series - Coach. You can see more books by Jason Reynolds here and notice how many have award stickers on their covers. 

We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom illustrated by Michaela Goade

"We fight for those

who cannot fight for themselves

The winged ones.

The crawling ones."

"In Ojibwe culture, women are protectors of the water and men are protectors of the fire."

This story deals with a specific threat to water by an oil pipeline but it also contains an important message about the care we all need to take of our precious environment. Here in Australia you could use this book for a unit about water, the environment, or with older students as a way to talk about other indigenous cultures. This book also links with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 - Clean water and sanitation. 

From the author web page: Water is the first medicine. It affects and connects us all… When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth and poison her people’s water, one young water protector takes a stand to defend Earth’s most sacred resource. Inspired by the many indigenous-led movements across North America, this bold and lyrical picture book issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption.

Water is the first medicine.

It affects and connects us all.

Water is sacred.

My people talk of a black snake that will destroy the land,

Spoil the water, wreck everything in its path.

They foretold that it wouldn't come for many, many years.

Now the black snake is here.

Here is a set of teachers notes. 

An inspiring call to action for all who care about our interconnected planet. Kirkus Star review

A young Sioux girl recalls the story her grandmother told, featuring the dire warning that a black snake would come, contaminating the water source, thus causing harm to all the animals and land. The young girl decides to take a stand in order to protect the water sources and provide safety for all living things. The “black snake” a.k.a. the pipeline. While this is a simple story, there is more to it than meets the summary. The black snake? It’s really an oil pipeline. Raising Real Readers

We are Water Protectors won the Caldecott Medal in 2021. The criteria for the Caldecott emphasise the importance of the illustrators and in We are Water Protectors the illustrators are truly special. 

About the Caldecott Medal:

• The Medal shall be awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published by an American publisher in the United States in English during the preceding year. There are no limitations as to the character of the picture book except that the illustrations be original work.
• A “picture book for children” as distinguished from other books with illustrations, is one that essentially provides the child with a visual experience. A picture book has a collective unity of story-line, theme, or concept, developed through the series of pictures of which the book is comprised.
• A “picture book for children” is one for which children are an intended potential audience. The book displays respect for children’s understandings, abilities, and appreciations. Children are defined as persons of ages up to and including fourteen and picture books for this entire age range are to be considered.

List of the 'top' 25 Picture Books from the US

 The 25 Greatest Picture Books of the Past 25 Years

Image source: Slate

Picture books have undergone a revolution in the past 25 years

The authors of this article say: When we became parents, we too initially gravitated toward the unruly classics we loved as children, while shying away from new picture books. There were just so many of them! The ones we saw on the front tables in bookstores all seemed to be authored by celebrities—or, worse, were branded tie-ins promoting movies and TV shows. How could any of them be as good as the books of our youth, let alone better?

Creators, including many signatories to the 2011 manifesto (see below), have become more interested in innovating within, and subverting, the picture-book form: shortening the text, breaking the fourth wall, and fostering reader interaction—encouraged, perhaps, by the success of a certain argumentative pigeon. Picture-book nonfiction has grown in popularity, becoming especially useful in classrooms—where older elementary and middle school students, often fans of now-commonplace graphic novels, find it crucial in accessing difficult historical topics. And, of course, celebrities have flocked to the picture book—with mostly lukewarm results, although at least one TV star has published an unalloyed work of ridiculous genius. You’ll find it on our list. (The Book with no Pictures by BJ Novak - Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen argue (and I agree) that this is not actually a picture book). 

To make this guide, we surveyed more than a hundred authors, illustrators, librarians, booksellers, academics, and publishing pros. We ended up reading more than 200 books, for which we must fulsomely thank our local libraries. Our goal: to find the books that represent the best of these transformations, and to tell the story of an art form that responded to a front-page crisis with a new wave of inventive stories that respect the intelligence, playfulness, and widely differing experiences of young readers.

We hope that the next time you’re looking for a book to read aloud with your favorite young person, this package will help you find something new and surprising—and understand, a little better, how it came to be that way.

Of course, nearly all of the books on the list I have featured here in this post are from the US. Many have reached us here in Australia but a few relate to US History and so are less relevant here. When you read the article (link at the top of this post) you will find detailed notes about each title. 

I am going to suggest to my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything that we could make our own 25 book list. We both love picture books from around the world so we might need a list of Australian titles AND a list of international titles. 

Here are a few of the 25 books listed by Slate which is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. The Slate journalists (with help from their panel of experts) also list related picture books and novels to go with each of their 25 choices, so in a way this list is way more than the 25 stated in the title.

Related text: Hot Dog by Doug Salati

Related text: We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom illustrated by Michaela Goade

Related text: Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell

Press Here

Each Kindness

Related text: Watercress by Andrea Wang illustrated by Jason Chin

(This book has not yet arrived in Australia even though it won the Caldecott Medal in 2022)

Extra Yarn

Sylvia Long

 

Related texts: Small in the City by Sydney Smith; A Different Pond

Check out my post about Sydney Smith

They all saw a cat

Related middle grade text: Counting by 7s

Related picture book: If you come to Earth

Related texts: Hello Lighthouse; The House on the Canal

The reviewer also mention The Old Truck by Jarrett Pumphrey which is a book I am very keen to read

Don't trust Fish

2025 is a year of lists. In Australia we are voting now for the ABC Radio National top 100 books of the last 25 years. This is mainly an adult 'competition' but there is a children's book category. I have written about it here. Just like Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett I am not a big fan of lists. They are only as good as the people who write them. They date very quickly. Sometimes sadly parents think their children should read every book on a list or that a list is a measure of book quality and appropriateness. Lists can have a commercial purpose aimed at book sales. Having said all of that, though, I did find this list quite interesting - especially the addition texts listed with each of the 25 picture books. I have made a reading list from these for myself:

• Wilderlore: The accidental Apprentice by Amanda Foody
• Restart by Gordon Korman
• Drita, My Homegirl by Jenny Lombard
• Plants can't sit still by Rebecca Hirsch
• No Purchase Necessary by Maria Marianayagam
• Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
• Parachute kids by Betty C Tang (Graphic novel)
• Dim Sum Palace by X Fang
• Chinese Menu by Grace Lin

Source: Best kids books: The 25 greatest picture books of the past 25 years.

Fairytales and Feasts — Food in children's literature ABC Radio National

Fairytales and feasts — Food in children's literature 

Listen here

The title of this program held great promise for me - Children's Literature (tick); food and feasts (tick); and fairytales (tick). BUT sadly I was quite disappointed. The title didn't say that this was about adults sharing memories of kids books which featured food. Although the focus of the twenty-eight precious radio minutes, where some truly splendid books COULD have been shared, instead took the popular culture route and spent around half of the show with Andy Griffiths. 

The net worth of Andy Griffiths though sales of books like his Just and Treehouse series books is estimated at 25 million! I don't think ABC Radio National need to promote him. A brief mention of a couple of his food inclusions such as brussels sprouts (always a baddie - could they talk about why), peanut butter and marshmallows would have been enough. Andy Griffiths does write popular books, but he is in no way a children's book expert. 

Luckily, the producers did invite an academic, Kara K. Keeling for the second part of this show BUT because she is from the US no Australian books were mentioned (that's not a big issue for me). Other ABC Radio National Book Show presenters mentioned very old 'classics' from their own childhoods such as Where the Wild Things are and In the Night Kitchen. The content became quite nostalgic, which I didn't expect from the introduction, with lots of references to Roald Dahl and Maurice Sendak. Thank goodness we were spared Enid Blyton, but I do wish the program had not taken this nostalgic focus. All of the titles they shared are fine, but I had high hopes for some other titles to be explored AND I didn't hear any mention of fairytales except for a very brief mention of Jack and the Beanstalk! 

Claire Nicols - Matilda

Alison Lester - the Billabong Books by Mary Grant Bruce

Kate Evans - The Hobbit

Sarah L'Strange - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Cassie McCullagh - The Night Kitchen

Blurb from ABC: The books of childhood take us on adventures far from our own backyard, where we often encounter culinary delights that arouse memory and spark imagination. But if there's a common thread that runs through much of children's literature, it's that the paths to our deepest desires are stalked by danger. We explore the deep symbolism behind our favourite foodie fantasies in children's books.

The purpose of this episode of Every Bite was to promote the current ABC Radio National voting of the top 100 books (adult and children's books) so I will say I am happy the program focus was children's books. Take a look at my previous post. 

I was surprised Possum Magic didn't get a mention. Here are some other book choices for this program - some newer books and some Australian titles. Perhaps there will be a follow-up show from Every Bite. They could do a whole show just about pancakes for example:

Dear Broccoli

The Biscuit Maker

Mr Lepron's Mystery Soup

Thank you Omu!

Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten (hot fairy cakes)

Here is the book by Kara K. Keeling:

Published in 2020

Publisher blurb: Table Lands: Food in Children’s Literature is a survey of food’s function in children’s texts, showing how the sociocultural contexts of food reveal children’s agency. Authors Kara K. Keeling and Scott T. Pollard examine texts that vary from historical to contemporary, noncanonical to classics, and Anglo-American to multicultural traditions, including a variety of genres, formats, and audiences: realism, fantasy, cookbooks, picture books, chapter books, YA novels, and film. Table Lands offers a unified approach to studying food in a wide variety of texts for children. Spanning nearly 150 years of children’s literature, Keeling and Pollard’s analysis covers a selection of texts that show the omnipresence of food in children’s literature and culture and how they vary in representations of race, region, and class, due to the impact of these issues on food. Furthermore, they include not only classic children’s books, such as Winnie-the-Pooh, but recent award-winning multicultural novels as well as cookbooks and even one film, Pixar’s Ratatouille.

If you are feeling especially nostalgic you might like to look for this one (and the sequel):

The Little Library Cookbook

Here are my own nostalgic food books from my years of working in a school library are:

Where's Julius

Jam

Bread and Jam for Frances

Food in fairy tales - Goldilocks and the Three Bears; Hansel and Gretel; The Princess and the Pea; The Gingerbread Boy; and Little Red Riding Hood AND the book that brings nearly all of these together is one of my all-time favourite books to read aloud:

Jeremiah in the Dark Woods

The crocodile asks "would these be jam tarts? ... (and) by any chance would this jam be 

strawberry jam all dark and delicious from the baking ... 

And is it possible that the pastry of these tarts is a golden brown 

with glorious little crisp and curly edges?"

A Night Divided by Jennifer A Nielsen

"The fence began to be replaced with a concrete wall that was taller, thicker and stronger. Sharp edges of broken glass were cemented into the top to prevent anyone from climbing over it, and watchtowers were built so fewer officers could guard larger areas. With one stacked block of concrete over another our prison slowly became a fortress. And all we did was watch it happen."

On the night the Berlin wall divides the city Gerta's father and one of her brothers has travelled to the west. Now they are a family divided with Gerta's mother and oldest brother Fritz on one side and her father and middle brother Dominic on the other side. Over the coming months life on the eastern side becomes harder and no one can leave - if they are caught, they are jailed or worse executed. Gerta hears that the brother of her best friend has a plan to leave but the next day they learn he has died. Gerta knows any attempt to reunite her family will be extremely dangerous. But then she sees her father across the wall, and he seems to be sending her a message about digging. Mysteriously Gerta receives a drawing which has perhaps come from her father. It is a building and when she finds it, she discovers there might be a way to dig a tunnel to the other side. 

"It was just a pencil drawing of an old building. Square and made entirely of brick, there were two long windows in the front, but with no glass in them except for jagged pieces in the corners. An old chimney ran up the side of the building ... There were three ground-level window openings too, but no door."

Here are a couple more text quotes:

"I wanted books that weren't censored. I wanted to see places that were now only pictures in smuggled magazines that had passed through many hands. ... I wanted a home without hidden microphones, and friends and neighbors I could talk to without wondering if they would report me to the secret police. And I wanted control over my own life ... "

"We've lied to the state and to the police and to nearly everyone we've spoken to in the last month. You said yourself that isn't wrong, not for this tunnel ... right now we are sitting directly below the Death Strip! What does a stolen shovel matter at this point."

Every page of this book will have you holding your breath. It seems impossible that Gerta and her brother can possibly do this and not be found. Adding to the tension their mother has had to leave to visit their grandmother, and their food is running out and their nosy neighbour is certain to inform on them to the Stasi. Ms Yingling gives a detailed plot summary in her blog post. 

Bookseller blurb: With the rise of the Berlin Wall, Gerta finds her family suddenly divided. She, her mother, and her brother Fritz live on the eastern side, controlled by the Soviets. Her father and middle brother, who had gone west in search of work, cannot return home. Gerta knows it is dangerous to watch the wall, yet she can't help herself. She sees the East German soldiers with their guns trained on their own citizens; she, her family, her neighbors and friends are prisoners in their own city. But one day on her way to school, Gerta spots her father on a viewing platform on the western side, pantomiming a peculiar dance. Gerta concludes that her father wants her and Fritz to tunnel beneath the wall, out of East Berlin. However, if they are caught, the consequences will be deadly. No one can be trusted. Will Gerta and her family find their way to freedom?

I picked up this book which was published in 2015 for just AUS$4 from a recent charity book sale - it is in hardcover copy with an intact dust jacket. I really enjoyed A Night Divided but the Kirkus review is not so positive:

Based on historical fact, the story shines a personal light on the many families who were separated by the division of the two cities. Nielsen convincingly paints a chilling picture of repressive, Communist-controlled East Berlin, so much so that when Greta sees her father on the other side of the wall, years later, pantomiming digging, readers easily accept her plan to dig an escape tunnel into West Berlin. Kirkus

This is a wonderfully written story about life behind the Berlin Wall. Middle school audiences will devour this fast-paced thriller about a horrific time in German history. Historical Novel Society

You can see other books by Jennifer A Nielsen here. 

This book is the perfect follow on from these:

The Wall between us

The Great escape

Escape

Kamishibai Man by Allen Say

One of the best shelves in many Primary school libraries are set aside for picture books for older readers. I spied this book in the library where I am volunteering. I have previously loved many books by Allen Say (see bottom of this post). You could use this book with a group of younger students who are exploring the topic - Life in the Past. And you will also want to explore the stories told by the old man - The Peach Boy and Little One Inch.

Here is the Kirkus description: Kamishibai means “paper theater” in Japanese, and when Caldecott artist Say was a boy in Japan in the 1940s, a “kamishibai man” on a bicycle used to sell sweets and tell serial tales of heroes and heroines, using picture cards and a wooden stage. This nostalgic story begins when Grandpa, once a kamishibai man, gets a hankering to resurrect his show. Unfortunately, it’s been so long he finds himself in an unrecognizable city with tall buildings and rude drivers. Dismayed, he parks his bike in a vacant lot and begins to recount not the beloved “Peach Boy,” but his own story of how his show was eventually replaced by television (initially referred to as denki, or electric kamishibai!). Soon enough, Grandpa’s surrounded by a crowd of adults who remember him from their childhood, and, ironically, he ends up on the evening news. Say effectively incorporates two illustration styles here—lovely soft watercolors and a more cartoonish style for flashbacks to the heyday of kamishibai. A fascinating window on a bygone art form.

Bookseller blurb: The Kamishibai man used to ride his bicycle into town where he would tell stories to the children and sell them candy, but gradually, fewer and fewer children came running at the sound of his clappers. They were all watching their new televisions instead. Finally, only one boy remained, and he had no money for candy. Years later, the Kamishibai man and his wife made another batch of candy, and he pedaled into town to tell one more story--his own. When he comes out of the reverie of his memories, he looks around to see he is surrounded by familiar faces--the children he used to entertain have returned, all grown up and more eager than ever to listen to his delightful tales. Using two very different yet remarkable styles of art, Allen Say tells a tale within a tale, transporting readers seamlessly to the Japan of his memories.