A Different Pond by Bao Phi illustrated by Thi Bui

"a powerful, multilayered story about family, memory, and the costs of becoming a refugee". Kirkus Star review

"Both my parents worked multiple jobs to survive and support us in a country whose people did not understand why we were here at best, and blamed us for the aftermath of the war at worst. My father would sometime take us fishing with him, before the sun came up - for food, not for sport." Bao Phi

A Different Pond won a Caldecott Honour in 2018. I would share this book with older readers aged 10+. 

Bookseller blurb: Acclaimed poet Bao Phi delivers a powerful, honest glimpse into a relationship between father and son and between cultures, old and new. A Different Pond is an unforgettable story about a simple event--a long-ago fishing trip. As a young boy, Bao Phi awoke early, hours before his father's long workday began, to fish on the shores of a small pond in Minneapolis. Unlike many other anglers, Bao and his father fished for food, not recreation. A successful catch meant a fed family. Between hope-filled casts, Bao's father told him about a different pond in their homeland of Vietnam. The New York Times has said that Bao Phi's poetry "rhymes with the truth." Together with graphic novelist Thi Bui's striking, evocative art, Phi's expertly crafted prose reflects an immigrant family making its way in a new home while honoring its bonds to the past.

Image source: Let's Talk Picture Books

Spare and simple, a must-read for our times. Kirkus Star review

Can I recommend you read this book more than once. There are plot fragments in so many of the lines of text - small statements that belies huge issues or past stories.

Read these and in brackets I have added my interpretation:

"In the kitchen the bare bulb ... " (The family cannot afford to add decorations such as light covers and it may be that they are renting this very basic home).

"to me his English sounds like gentle rain". (This boy is proud of his dad and he intuitively understands his dad has had to learn a new language in this strange land. It is fantastic that this young boy can ignore the awful comments by the school bullies).

"I got a second job". (Dad is hard working and really wants to provide for his family. He is willing to work long hours and on weekends so their fishing expedition has to happen well before dawn. We also read that mum has to work all day on Saturday too).

"I feel the callouses on his hand when he squeezes mine". (Dad is hard worker - and his work is a form on manual labour. I wonder if, given different opportunities he might have been able to complete higher levels of education and perhaps have a 'better' or more highly paid job).

"One day, his brother didn't come home". (This is a fragment about the events of the Vietnam war and the devastating impact of this on his father).

"I wonder what the trees look like at that other pond in the country my dad comes from". (This sums up the power of this story).

Companion books:

Read more here.

Hot Dog by Doug Salati

It is a hot day. The dog is hot but luckily his owner has a plan. First they have to navigate the hot and busy city streets. The pavement is so hot and everything is way too noisy and busy. In fact the little dog finally collapses and refuses to walk on. 

Luckily the lady is able to hail a taxi and they travel, slowly, to the train station. Then there is a ferry ride. Their intended destination is the beach so it is lucky that there is a beach umbrella shop right beside the ferry wharf. On the beach the dog is free to run and roll and enjoy the ocean spray. He collects rocks and pebbles and his owner makes a beautiful picture on the sand. Finally, it is time to go home so she gathers the pebbles and the pair of friends retrace their journey by ferry, train and on foot. The city is so much better now that the weather has cooled down. At home they enjoy a snack and then head to bed for a night of sweet dreams. 

My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything has been waiting for this book to arrive in Australia. Hot Dog won the Caldecott Medal in 2023 but until this year the price was way too high for a school library budget. In the US this book was published by Alfred K Knopf but the copy we have here is from Pushkin Press UK.  Now that this book is a good price AUS$25 I highly recommend you consider adding it to your library - a perfect book to read on a very hot summer day.

In Australia we would call this a Sausage Dog but in the US he is a Wiener Dog which you could associate with hot dogs (the food)! Weiner is a German word meaning sausage. 

In this conversation Doug Salati talks to Horn Book. See other books by Doug Salati here.

Salati expertly captures the stifling claustrophobia of hot and crowded city streets. One can almost feel the palpable temperature shift when the colors on the pages move from vibrant oranges, reds, and yellows to blues and greens, like a tonal reprieve. Happily, the book avoids demonizing cities in favor of the country, showing instead how a bad day affects your every sense. Spare poetic text also perfectly captures this small canine’s mindset. Kirkus Star review

Practically a wordless book, the storyline delves deep into the mindset of an average dog, an average owner, and the cool seaside breezes that can pivot a day from miserable to marvelous. ... For my part, the thing that struck me about the book right from the get go was the way in which you empathize with this little dog. You feel the heat that it’s experiencing. The loud sounds. The crowded streets. Is it possible to convey sensory overload through the printed page? If so, Salati has mastered it. SLJ Betsy Bird. (Click this review extract to see Doug Salati talking about his book)

Minimal, impressionistic free-verse text beautifully sets scenes and conveys character and emotion, expertly matched by the illustrations. Claustrophobic vertical panels, angular lines, and hot oranges, reds, and yellows (of the city) give way to expansive, sometimes full-spread horizontal panels and cool blues and greens (of the island escape). Horn Book

When I read Hot Dog I thought of this very old book:

American Library Assocation’s 2025 Youth Media Awards Winners

You can see a list of all the awards and winners here. I am just focusing on books that might be of interest to children here in Australia or books that hopefully we will find in our libraries or bookstores in the coming months. Sadly some of these book will be very expensive here in Australia. I do recommend you check out all of the other winners - many are Young Adult titles perfect for High School libraries. 

In our Australian context it would be good to explore the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. Lola, written by Karla Arenas Valenti, is the 2025 Pura Belpré Children’s Author Award winner. I previously talked about Loteria by Karla Arenas Valenti illustrated by Dana Sanmar. 

I am always keen to see the Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English, in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States. One of the honor titles is Mr. Lepron’s Mystery Soup, written by Giovanna Zoboli, illustrated by Mariachiara Di Giorgio. I have this on order from a bookseller so I will be talking about it here on this blog soon. I was able to preview Mr Lepron's Mystery Soup at the IBBY Congress in Trieste last year. The Mildren L Batchelder winner John the Skeleton is already available here from Gleebooks. Here is the Kirkus Star review. 

John Newbery Medal

Kirkus review

Erin Entrada Kelly has won numerous awards, including the 2018 Newbery Medal for 

Hello, Universe a 2021 Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space.

Newbery Honor Books

• Across So Many Seas by Ruth Behar 
• Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All written and illustrated by Chanel Miller 
• One Big Open Sky by Lesa Cline-Ransome 
• The Wrong Way Home by Kate O’Shaughnessy (I am excited to read this one)

Randolph Caldecott Medal

Kirkus Star review

Caldecott Honor Books

Kirkus review

• Home in a Lunchbox illustrated and written by Cherry Mo 
• My Daddy Is a Cowboy illustrated by C.G. Esperanza, written by Stephanie Seals 
• Noodles on a Bicycle illustrated by Gracey Zhang, written by Kyo Maclear
• Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains illustrated by Yuko Shimizu, written by Anita Yasuda 

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award

Read my blog post.

Thanks to my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything 

for adding this splendid book to her library.

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book

Kirkus Review

Publisher page - Simon and Schuster

Vacation by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Mark Teague

Geisel Honor Books

Kirkus Review

Here is my post about other books in this series

• Fox versus Fox, written and illustrated by Corey R. Tabor 
• Towed by Toad, written and illustrated by Jashar Awan 

Kirkus Review

I was also very pleased to see Louder than Hunger by John Schu received an honor in the Schneider Family Book Awards for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience. I read this book on my Kindle last year - please note it is a Young Adult title.

Kirkus Review

Here is a blog post about the winners from Literacious which links with Amazon if you would like to explore the award-winning books further. 

Hush! by Minfong Ho illustrated by Holly Meade

Bookseller blurb: In an endearing lullaby, a mother asks a lizard, a monkey, and a water buffalo to be quiet and not disturb her sleeping baby.

And of course there is a delightful twist on the last page. This book has wonderful illustrations and it would be a beautiful gift for a young child or a new baby. I wonder if a board book edition was ever made?

Black cat, black cat,

don't come creeping.

Can't you see that

Baby's sleeping?

Black cat, black cat,

don't you cry,

My baby's sleeping

right nearby.

Hush was published in 1996 with a new edition in 2000. My copy was purchased for the library I visit each week in 2012. Hush! won a Caldecott honor in 1997 for Holly Mead (1956-2013). This book is still available to buy. 

In this video the text has been changed into a song - this is well worth watching. 

Exceptionally beautiful cut-paper-and-ink illustrations in earth tones use the varied textures of the paper to wonderful effect, depicting traditional Thai textiles, basketry, and building styles. All of young children's favorite elements are here: a reassuringly predictable, rhyming text, animals and their sounds, a mischievous subplot in the pictures, and an ever-so-slightly naughty child who fools everyone in the end. A sure winner. Kirkus

Minfong Ho was born in Rangoon, Burma, and raised in both Singapore and Bangkok, Thailand. Her parents are of Chinese origin, so she spoke fluent Chinese in her home, Thai in the marketplace of Bangkok and English in school. She was educated in Thailand and Taiwan, before moving to the United States to attend Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. While attending Cornell University, Ho began writing her first short story, in an attempt to combat strong feelings of homesickness. She recognized that many Americans had false notions about life in Asia and she set out to change this by writing based on her own experience there. 

Meet the illustrator Beth Krommes

One of our large chain bookstores recently filled a table with children's books that had been on their shelves since 2018. All of the books were 50% off the retail price. I saw Blue on Blue by Joyce Sidman (2014) illustrated by Beth Krommes. Silly me - I didn't buy it - and now I regret that decision. When I visited a school library this week, I grabbed three other books by Joyce Sidman illustrated by Beth Krommes. I really love her illustration style. Sadly, here in Australia her books are fairly expensive but perhaps you can add one or two to your library or pop them onto your wish list. 

Here are some Kirkus star review comments that describe her work:

Before Morning: Krommes' inimitable scratchboard illustrations play with perspective and point of view as they flesh out Sidman’s short poem, written in the form of an invocation. Washed with orange, tan, and icy blue, they open and close with landscapes reminiscent of Virginia Lee Burton’s work.

Blue on Blue: Folk-art–inspired illustrations, astonishing in both their technical accomplishment and their heart, harmonize beautifully with lyrical language.

Beth Krommes is a Caldecott medalist (The House in the Night) and Joyce Sidman is a Newbery Honor winner (Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night). Beth Krommes lives in Peterborough, USA. Read more about her Caldecott medal here. 

Here is a list of all books illustrated by Beth Krommes with details of the awards they have won. Check out my previous post about Butterfly eyes and Other Secrets. 

We are Branches is the latest book illustrated by Beth. In this book readers can explore the myriad of ways you can see branches at work. Yes, they are part of trees but also the way tree roots stretch through the soil is another example of branches. Flowers are found at the end of the branches on plants. Rivers form branches as they flow towards the ocean. Look up at lightning and you will see branches of light and energy. The dry land after years of drought is filled with branches carved into the soil. And think about ice crystals and coral, the bones that show on the wings of a bat, and the branches inside each of us as our blood pumps through arteries and veins. 

In Swirl by Swirl even the imprint page is presented in a swirl. On the first page we see a coiled snake which, on turning the page, uncoils. The obvious spiral is a snail shell but what about a Nautilus shell and a fern frond, a hedgehog curled into a protective ball and the horns on a ram. Elephants coil their trunks to hold each other's tails and grab forest branches - the shape is a swirl. And there are spirals in plants - sunflower, rose, hibiscus, and daisy. Oh, and the tornado page is spectacular.

Before Morning is a poem:

In the deep woolen dark,
as we slumber unknowing,
let the sky fill with flurry and flight.
Let the air turn to feathers,
the earth turn to sugar,
and all that is heavy turn light.
Let quick things be swaddled,
Let urgent plans flounder,
let pathways be hidden from sight.
Please - just this once
change the world before morning:
make it slow
and delightful
and white.

Imagine receiving this lyrical text (you are the illustrator) what do you see? Beth Krommes interprets each line in a delightful way and there are also pages in between with no words - to my mind they work to give a reader time to pause, and breathe, and ponder. See inside this book here. And read this review which has teaching ideas for Before Morning. 

Blurb: There are planes to fly and buses to catch, but a small child wishes for a different sort of day. When clouds gather and heavy flakes begin to fall, her invocation comes true.

Book List

• We Are Branches Clarion/HarperCollins, 2023
• Before Morning HMH Books for Young Readers, Fall 2016
• Blue on Blue Beach Lane Books, 2014
• Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature Houghton Mifflin, 2011
• The House in the Night Houghton Mifflin, 2008 
• Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow Houghton Mifflin, 2006 
• The Hidden Folk Houghton Mifflin, 2004 
• The Barefoot Book of Earth Poems (formerly The Sun in Me) Barefoot Books, 2003
• The Lamp, the Ice, and the Boat Called Fish Houghton Mifflin, 2001
• Grandmother Winter Houghton Mifflin, 1999

Scratchboard and Watercolor Illustration Demo by Beth Krommes

Beth Krommes | Steps to Illustrating a Picture Book

“I found my way to this medium through my interest in wood engraving,” says Krommes, who was working as an art director for a computer magazine when she began creating commercial art of her own. “Back in 1982, I happened to attend an exhibition called ‘Three New Hampshire Wood Engravers: Nora Unwin, Herbert Waters, and Randy Miller’ at the Sharon Arts Center in New Hampshire. Soon afterward I took up wood engraving and was juried into the 

League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.”

From The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson

Image source: Artists network (note this site contains advertisements)

Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood story from China by Ed Young

"Once, long ago, there was a woman who lived alone in the country with her three children, Shang, Tao, and Paotze. On the day of their grandmother's birthday, the good mother set off to see her, leaving the three children at home."

So what will the children do when a wolf, disguised as an old woman, knocks on their door. She claims to be their Po Po or grandmother and using very persuasive language and the children open the door and let her in. She immediately blows out the candle. In the darkness the children gradually realise this is all a trick.

"Po Po your foot has a bush on it." - it is hemp strings to weave you a basket.

"Po Po your hand has thorns on it."  it is an awl to make shoes for you.

Luckily these three children are very clever. They tell Po Po about some delicious ginko nuts in a high tree outside. Make sure you also think about the pattern of three in the story.

Lon Po Po won the Caldecott Medal in 1990. This ensures that it stay in print and here in Australia the paperback version is available for a lower price. This week I am talking about books written and illustrated by Ed Young because he sadly died very recently. 

Listen to this Fuse8n'Kate podcast where Betsy Bird and her sister talk in depth about Lon Po Po. 

My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything has a huge list of other Red Riding Hood stories. Look for these:

This one is a wordless book that I am very keen to read.

American Library Association 2023 Awards - a selection

 

The American Library Association announced their huge number of children's book award winners this week. Many of them probably won't arrive here in Australia, and some will be of more interest to readers in North America and many will be very expensive and so way beyond school library budgets. I am just listing a selection of winners and honour titles and in particular highlighting some books I would like to read and links to other posts on this blog which feature an award winner.  I have changed honor to honour (our spelling here in Australia). 

John Newbery Medal 

Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson

Newbery Honour Books 

Iveliz Explains It All by Andrea Beatriz Arango 

The Last Mapmaker Christina Soontornvat 

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee 

Randolph Caldecott Medal 

Hot Dog by Doug Salati 

Caldecott Honour Books 

Ain’t Burned All the Bright illustrated by Jason Griffin, written by Jason Reynolds 

Berry Song by Michaela Goade 

Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement illustrated by Janelle Washington, written by Angela Joy 

Knight Owl by Christopher Denise 

Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience

Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion by Shannon Stocker, illustrated by Devon Holzwarth 

Honour book for young children 

In the Blue by Erin Hourigan 

Middle Grade winner

Wildoak by C.C. Harrington 

Honour books for middle grades

Hummingbird by Natalie Lloyd 

Honestly Elliott  by Gillian McDunn 

Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States

Just a Girl: A True Story of World War II Originally published in Italian as “Una bambina e basta. Raccontata agli altri bambini e basta,” by Lia Levi, illustrated by Jess Mason, translated by Sylvia Notini

Honour Books 

Different: A Story of the Spanish Civil War by Mónica Montañés, illustrated by Eva Sánchez Gómez and translated by Lawrence Schimel

Dragonfly Eyes by Cao Wenxuan and translated by Helen Wang

João by a Thread by Roger Mello and translated by Daniel Hahn.  

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for most distinguished informational book for children

Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams’s Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American Incarceration by Elizabeth Partridge illustrated by Lauren Tamaki 

Sibert Honour Books

Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement by Angela Joy, illustrated by Janelle Washington 

A Seed Grows by Antoinette Portis 

Sweet Justice: Georgia Gilmore and the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie 

The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs by Chana Stiefel, illustrated by Susan Gal 

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book

I Did It! by Michael Emberley

Geisel Honour Books

Fish and Wave by Sergio Ruzzier 

Gigi and Ojiji, by Melissa Iwai

Owl and Penguin by Vikram Madan 

A Seed Grows by Antoinette Portis

Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.  The award promotes Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and is awarded based on literary and artistic merit. The award offers three youth categories including Picture Book, Children’s Literature and Youth Literature. 

The Picture Book

From the Tops of the Trees by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Rachel Wada 

Honour Book

Nana, Nenek & Nina by Liza Ferneyhough 

The Children’s Literature winner 

Maizy Chen's Last Chance by Lisa Yee 

Honour title

Troublemaker by John Cho and  Sarah Suk 

Veronica by Roger Duvoisin

Veronica is not happy just being one of the crowd. She wants to stand out. She wants to be noticed. So she needs to leave the cool muddy river bank and leave the crowd of hippopotamuses and find a new place where perhaps she can be famous!

Veronica heads off to the city but everything is so strange. People, traffic, noise and no lovely mud. She tries lying on the pavement but she is told to move on. She is very tired so she lies beside the kerb but the police arrive:

"Don't you know you cannot park here by this fire hydrant?' This time he took out his notebook to give Veronica a parking ticket. But, being a nice man, he put it away again and directed her to a place across the street where she could sleep quietly."

Finally, Veronica finds some water so she can have a refreshing splash. Unfortunately she has actually found the fountain in the middle of the town square and so now the people are angry with her. Then things become even worse when she gobbles up a whole cart of delicious vegetables - cabbages, lettuces, beans, peas and potatoes. (It would be fun to show your young listening companion real peas in their shells/pods). 

Veronica has become a thief so she is taken to the police station. Being so very big they have to use a bull-dozer to push her through the door. Luckily it is at this point a kind lady steps in to help.

"The nice old lady seemed to know very well that Veronica had had enough of the city, and that she was tired of being conspicuous."

Why do I LOVE Veronica:

• I love words like conspicuous, inconspicuous, scolded, graciously, gulp, and beloved.
• I love her name - Veronica
• I love the juxtaposition of this huge animal and the busy city
• The alternate colour and black and white line drawing pages are fabulous
• On the black and white pages there are lots of funny little extra details to discover
• The happy ending is also very satisfying 
• There are moments of kindness in this story and little touches of humour too
• Of course I do love hippos - I read There's a Hippopotamus on our roof eating cake to every kindy group in my school library from 1984-2017.

Veronica was first published in 1962 and I am so happy to say it has utterly stood the test of time and yes it is still available. You could read this book to a group of children today and they will totally understand the experiences of Veronica herself who really wants to be different to be, here is a delicious word, she wants to be conspicuous. 

When taken together with the corpus of picture book messaging, the ideology of Veronica is clear: If you want to fit in, standing out is your strength. If you want to stand out, fitting in is your strength. Whatever it is you want, you probably want too much of it, and you should dial it back a bit if you want to find happiness. And, of course, true happiness is only found with your family, where you belong with your own kind. Slap Happy Larry

Let's take a closer look at a few illustrations:

Here is a back view of Veronica - there's so much expression in the movement on this page as she leaves the family and heads off on her adventure.

Veronica is published by Bodleian Children's Books: For Bodleian Children’s Books, our Publisher mines the Library’s collections to discover and republish timeless and beautifully illustrated children’s books; forgotten gems that can be introduced to today's readers.  

I'm not sure about the official literary term but I would call this a "grass is greener" story.  Setting off to find yourself and your place in the world and your identity, is a tried and true theme in picture books for young children and then there is also the theme of "there's no place like home":

Over the Rooftops, Under the Moon

Daisy

Wendy

Once upon a Small Rhinoceros

The Little Black Fish

Image Source: Enchanted Lion

Roger Antoine Duvoisin was born in Switzerland in 1900.  He died in 1980. In 1927 he moved to New York City. He won the Caldecott Medal for White Snow, Bright Snow in 1947. In 1968 he was a highly commended runner-up for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award for children's illustrators.  

1968	Jiří Trnka	Czechoslovakia	Winner
	Ib Spang Olsen	Denmark	Highly Commended
	Brian Wildsmith	UK	Highly Commended
	Roger Duvoisin	USA	Highly Commended

Image Source: Wikiwand

He worked with his wife, Louise Fatio, on the book The Happy Lion and he is also famous for his books about Petunia the goose. Petunia (1950); Petunia and the Song (1951); Petunia's Christmas (1952); Petunia Takes A Trip (1953); Petunia, Beware! (1958); Petunia, I love You (1965); Petunia's Treasure (1975).

Roger Duvoisin did write some other books about Veronica (though sadly all of these are long out of print). Our Veronica Goes to Petunia's Farm (1962); Veronica's Smile (1964); Veronica and the Birthday Present; and Lonely Veronica (1964). 

Roger Duvoisin’s art remains fresh, and his work has lasting appeal, largely because of his affection and respect for his audience. Children still respond to his sense of free­dom, friendly humor, and playfulness, and his charac­ters remain some of the best loved of all time. Nocloo.com