Review by New York Times Review
PICTURE BOOKS HAVE long been concerned with helping children transition to an unfamiliar place. A child's first day in a new school or a family's move to a different neighborhood are by now classic subjects. But since the dawn of the 21st century, with the number of immigrants in the United States continuing to increase markedly, children's authors and publishers have begun to take on a far more challenging task - helping immigrant children settle into a new cultural environment, one that even their parents may find inexplicable. Since the principal obstacle to understanding a culture is, of course, the language that expresses it, language can loom large in these books; and a language divide is a concept difficult to express pictorially. Given all this, a child's experience of immigration is a subject matter that requires some inventive tactics, as four new books ably demonstrate. "Auntie used to call me Cartwheel. Then came the war," reads the opening of "My Two Blankets," written by Irena Kobald. "Auntie didn't call me Cartwheel anymore," the narrator continues. War and displacement have left a mark on Cartwheel, even to the point of losing her sense of self: "I felt like I wasn't me anymore." She speaks from her new country, and Freya Blackwood's illustrations underscore her disorientation. Small, mysterious shapes and objects representing the words of the language Cartwheel does not understand dart chaotically across the pages, and we see Cartwheel at night, hiding under an imagined "blanket" made of orderly symbols that represent her native tongue. One day in the park, a girl smiles at Cartwheel and soon begins helping her to decipher the meaning of the strange floating signs. Soon Cartwheel incorporates these symbols into her old "blanket," gradually creating an entirely new one as she steadily masters her new language. Finally, Cartwheel is comfortable "no matter which blanket I use" - she is able to speak both languages. A final page shows her cartwheeling in the park, her sense of self restored. With its bold visual metaphors, "My Two Blankets" ingeniously captures a child's efforts to weave the old with the new. THE CHILD PROTAGONIST of "Mama's Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation," written by the accomplished novelist and memoirist Edwidge Danticat, deploys the inherent power of words to pull off the near impossible: a reunion with her mother, who is in Sunshine Correctional, "a prison for women without papers." A child of Haitian immigrants, Saya soothes her misery over the separation by listening to her mother's voice on the answering machine: "Tanpri kite bon ti nouvèl pou nou!" the family's outgoing message says in Creole, which the bilingual Saya, who narrates the story, translates as "Please, leave us good news." But no good news is forthcoming. Nightly, Saya's father writes letters to public officials pleading his wife's case, but "no one ever writes him back." After a heart-wrenching prison visit, Saya's mother manages to send audiocassettes with bedtime stories that she has recorded for her daughter. Inspired, Saya writes her own story about her mother's absence, and her father mails it to a newspaper reporter. When Saya's story is published, a public outcry results in Saya's mother's release. "I like that it is our words that brought us together again," Saya concludes. Skillfully written with Creole words sprinkled into the English, "Mama's Nightingale" is richly illuminated by Leslie Staub's oil paintings evoking Haitian folk art. IN ANNE SIBLEY O'BRIEN'S "I'm New Here," three simultaneous story lines show the efforts of immigrant children named Maria, Jin and Fatimah to fit into their new schools. Their common obstacle is the language they cannot understand. Readers are placed squarely into the characters' points of view from the first page, with the children's bewilderment expressed graphically through words emanating from invisible speakers in disembodied comics-style speech balloons, or through oddly spelled English words that the native children utter at recess: "Hedz Up," "Mai Tern," "Kum Awn." Eventually, our newcomers draw on their strengths - Maria excels at soccer, Jin makes comic books, Fatimah is a good artist - to overcome the language barrier and make friends. The stories are all quite simple, but Sibley's illustrations do a good job of conveying the wall of words a child immigrant must scale in order to fit in. THE CENTRAL CHARACTER of Michael Foreman's "The Seeds of Friendship" does not struggle with a new language, but his sense of displacement still seems overwhelming. In the opening pages we see it conveyed not through words but through gestures, as he peers from the top-floor window of a nondescript apartment building at the cold, gray urban world below. Nostalgic for the "faraway place where he used to live," Adam consoles himself with colorful drawings of animals. When the window glass is frosted over, Adam scratches animal shapes into its icy patterns. After a snow-fall, Adam observes local children building a snowman and attempts to replicate one of his nostalgic drawings by building a snow elephant. It is a lovely gesture, expressing Adam's desire to establish himself in his new environment without losing emotional ties to his native land. The neighborhood children join Adam, and "by supper time, the snowman was in charge of a whole snow zoo." Later we see the gray of Adam's world become gradually more colorful, page by page, as these same children create gardens at school, at home and even on the roof of Adam's gray apartment building. These books will inspire not just empathy for the struggles of childhood immigration, but admiration for their authors' and illustrators' ingenuity as well. With all they accomplish in conveying both inexpressible emotions and linguistic barriers, they also give us new insight into the central challenge of making books for young children: telling stories through pictures. EUGENE YELCHIN is the author and illustrator of many books for children, most recently the middle-grade novel "Arcady's Goal."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 23, 2015]
Review by Booklist Review
Based on her own experiences living in another country as a young child, Sibley shows the challenges of three new American students as they navigate their first day of school. Maria, from Guatemala, struggles with English, but her love of soccer enables her to make new friends. Writing is difficult for Jin, from South Korea, but he finds that sharing his language with another student helps him unlock his stories. Meanwhile, Fatimah, from Somalia, is having trouble fitting in and is afraid of making mistakes. Encouraged by a classmate, she uses drawing as a way to connect her two cultures. The simplicity of the narrative combined with vibrant watercolor artwork depicting a wide range of diversity results in a powerful message of empathy for the immigrant experience. Additionally, an author's note explains why some families emigrate and how readers can help new Americans transition and provides a link to the I'm Your Neighbor project, which promotes children's literature featuring new arrivals.--Mazza, April Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Being the new student in a classroom is difficult enough, but when the child comes from another culture and speaks a different language, it can be extremely stressful and lonely. Three youngsters enter a new school-Maria from Guatemala, Jin from Korea, and Fatimah from Somalia-and each one experiences the feeling of not fitting in. They slowly learn to find ways to assimilate and, in fact, to shine as their inclusion in the classroom enriches the lives of the other children. Maria asks to join a group playing soccer, Jin teaches a fellow student some words written in Korean, and Fatimah gains enough confidence to share her artwork with the group. Brightly hued watercolors on stark white backgrounds show the children's adjustment to the new situation and their classmates' ready acceptance. "A Note from the Author" page includes a list of recommended readings on the same subject. VERDICT The title would be useful in sparking a discussion, and the simple text makes it a good choice for beginning readers.-Maryann H. Owen, Children's Literature Specialist, Mt. Pleasant, WI © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Jin from Korea is having trouble learning English letters but has a great imagination. Maria from Guatemala wants to show off her soccer skills, but she's afraid to play because of her limited English. Fatimah from Somalia slowly begins sharing her drawings with the class. Watercolor illustrations extend the simple, direct text of this useful introduction to assimilation. An autobiographical author's note adds value. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Readers walk in the shoes of three students struggling after immigrating to the United States Readers meet Maria, from Guatemala, Jin, a South Korean boy, and Fatimah, a Somali girl who wears the hijab. O'Brien fosters empathy by portraying only one challenge each must overcome rather than overwhelming readers with many. Maria struggles with the language. Though back home, "Our voices flowed like water and flew between us like birds," the sounds of English elude her. Clever, phonetically spelled dialogue balloons bring home to readers how foreign English sounds to Maria. For Jin, writing is the trouble; the scribbles of American letters close the door to the wonderful world of stories. Fatimah's challenge is abstract: she cannot find her place in this new classroom. Gradually, each child begins to bridge the gapsoccer, stories and shared words, artworkand feel like part of a community. O'Brien's watercolor-and-digital illustrations masterfully use perspective, white space, and the contrast between the children "back home" and in their new settings to highlight the transition from outsider to friend. Other diverse students fill the classrooms, including a child in a wheelchair. An author's note tells O'Brien's own immigrant story, how difficult the transition is, the reasons families might emigrate, and how readers might help. Whether readers are new themselves or meeting those who are new, there are lessons to be learned here about perseverance, bravery, and inclusion, and O'Brien's lessons are heartfelt and poetically rendered. (Picture book. 5-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
