Tag Archives: Arts

Who Built That? Modern Houses

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Who Built That? Modern HousesPart-biography, part-introduction to modern homes; this book offers up an incredible amount of information about the lives and design styles of architects such as Gerrit Rietveld and Frank Lloyd Wright. Primary color pen illustrations clearly depict the materials and floor layouts of each architect’s unique design and creative voice. mm

 

Title: Who Built That? Modern Houses
Author: Didier Cornille
Illustrator: Didier Cornille
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press, New York
Copyright: 2014
ISBN: 9781616892630
Hardcover pages: 75 
Age range: 10-13
Genre: Nonfiction, Information books
Author’s ethnicity: French
Author’s residence: Le Mans, France
Illustrator’s ethnicity: French
Illustrator’s residence: Le Mans, France 
Subjects: Architecture, Color, Design, Houses

No Ballet Shoes In Syria

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Eleven-year-old Aya has just arrived in Manchester, England, from Syria, with her Mumma and her baby brother.  She is an “asylum seeker, a would–be refugee, a poor little girl from Syria, a fatherless child from a war zone.” Her passion is dance.  One day she comes across a ballet class and the teacher recognizes her talent and thinks she might earn a position at the prestigious Northern Ballet School.  Aya is a powerful, brave character.  Her story engages in a series of flashbacks about her life in Syria.  There is a parallel story about her ballet teacher who had to flee the holocaust.  This incredibly moving, well-written story shows how dance transcends borders.  A map of Aya’s journey from Syria is included. mjw
Title: No Ballet Shoes In Syria
Author: Catherine Bruton
Publisher: Nosy Crow Ltd. U.K.
Copyright: 2019
Original Language: English 
ISBN: 978-1-78800-4-503
Paperback pages: 272
Age range: 8-12
Genre: Fiction
Book setting: Syria, Turkey, Greece, England
Author’s ethnicity: English
Author’s residence: England
Awards: 2020 Middle Eat Book Award for Youth Literature
Subjects: Aleppo, Asylum seekers, Ballet, Dance, Prejudice and racism, Refugees

Ojiichan’s Gift

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Mayumi visits her grandfather (Ojiichan) in Japan every summer.  She helps him in his beautiful rock garden.  But one summer, everything changes.  Ojiichan has grown older and he cannot tend the garden any more.  Mayumi makes him a mini rock garden in a bento box. This is a heartwarming story about the bond of love.  The watercolor paintings are detailed and calming just like a Japanese rock garden. The Japanese words used in the story are explained in a brief glossary. mjw
Title: Ojiichan’s Gift
Author: Chieri Uegaki
Illustrator: Genevieve Simms
Publisher: Kids Can Press. Toronto
Copyright: 2019
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-77138-963-1
Hardcover pages: 32
Age range: 4-8
Genre: Picture Book
Book setting: Japan
Author’s ethnicity: Japanese
Author’s residence: British Columbia
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Canadian
Illustrator’s residence: Toronto, Ontario
Subjects: Asia, Gardens, Multigenerational, Rock gardens

Pashmina

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Pryanka is a teenage girl whose mother emigrated from India years ago, leaving Pri’s father behind. After finding a magical pashmina, Pri travels to India to learn more about her family and her culture.  She is greeted by an elephant and a peacock, that show her around the country.  This story of self-discovery is heartwarming, inspiring, funny, and thought-provoking. Most of the artwork is black and white with thick lines, but whenever someone wears the pashmina, the pages become full-colored. mjw
Title: Pashmina
Author: Nidhi Chanani
Illustrator: Nidhi Chanani
Publisher: First Second, an imprint of Roaring Book Press
Copyright: 2017
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-62672-087-9
Paperback pages: 176
Age range: 10-14
Genre: Fiction, Graphic novel, Fantasy
Book setting: U.S.
Author’s ethnicity: born in Kolkata, India
Author’s residence: San Francisco, U.S.
Illustrator’s ethnicity: born in Kolkata, India
Illustrator’s residence: San Francisco, U.S.
Awards: 2018 South Asia Book Award
Subjects: Asia, Cashmere shawls, Comics, Culture, East Indian Americans, Heritage, Magic realism, Mothers and daughters, Self-discovery, Teenage girls

The Fox Girl And The White Gazelle

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Twelve-year-old Reema is a Syrian refugee trying to find her place in Glasgow.  She struggles with a new language and culture and misses her older brother who got left behind in Aleppo.  Caylin feels completely alone.  She has to look after her alcoholic mother.  She bullies the other kids and steals from them so that she can eat. Reema and Caylin become friends when they discover an injured fox and her babies. The girls also discover that they both like to run. Told in alternating perspectives, this is a great story of friendship. mjw
Title: The Fox Girl And The White Gazelle
Author: Victoria Williamson
Publisher: Kelpies, an imprint of Floris Books. Edinburgh, Scotland
Copyright: 2018
Original Language: English 
ISBN: 978-178250-490-0
Paperback pages: 272
Age range: 10-12
Genre: Fiction
Book setting: Scotland
Author’s ethnicity: Scottish
Author’s residence: U.K.
Subjects: Foxes, Glasgow, Poetry, Prejudice and racism, Refugees, Running, Syria

Mina Vs. The Monsoon

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Mina, a young girl living in India, really wants to go outdoors to play soccer, but it’s monsoon season and she has to stay in.  Her mother prepares to celebrate the monsoon by making chai and samosas.  Mina plays her tabla (drum) to cheer herself up.  The doodh wallah (milkman) explains how important rain is for the rice paddies, but Mina is still sad.  When her mother asks her to get thread for stringing flower garlands, Mina discovers her mother’s soccer jersey. As her mother explains that she used to play soccer, the dark clouds disappear and they head outside together.  The bold, bright illustrations accompany the energetic text.  The book concludes with a glossary of Urdu and Hindi words and a note to parents and educators. mjw
Title: Mina Vs. The Monsoon
Author: Rukhsanna Guidrozz
Illustrator: Debasmita Dasgupta
Publisher: Yali Books, New York
Copyright: 2018
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-949528-98-5
Hardcover pages: 38
Age range: 4-7
Genre: Picture book
Book setting: Bijar and Jharkhand, India
Author’s ethnicity: Persian-Indian-Chinese
Author’s residence: Hawaii
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Indian
Illustrator’s residence: Singapore
Subjects: Drums, Girls and women, Monsoons, Peacocks, Soccer

Outside In

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Twelve-year-old Ram, who lives on the streets of Chandigarh in northern India, discovers a hidden garden full of sculptures.  He follows a man on a bicycle who seems to be collecting rocks and cast off materials. The man, Nek Chand, uses scraps of metal, bike tires, broken glass and dishes, old rags – junk according to Ram – to create a secret world of thousands of odd statues.  Ram and Nek become friends and learn how the story of the Ramayana parallels their story.  This heartwarming book was inspired by the true story of the famous Indian artist who was displaced from his home after Partition and illegally built an entire village in Chandigarh.  Today, Nek Chand’s Rock Garden is the second most visited site in India, after the Taj Mahal.  A glossary of Indian terms and an author’s note are included.  mjw
Title: Outside In
Author: Jennifer Bradbury
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.  New York
Copyright: 2017
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-4424-6827-6
Hardcover pages: 288
Age range: 8-12
Genre: Fiction
Book setting: Chandigarh, India
Author’s ethnicity: U.S.
Author’s residence: U.S., taught in Chandigarh
Awards: 2018 South Asia Book Award
Subjects: Architecture, Asian, Chandigarh, Fables, Hindu, Homelessness, Legends, Myths, Nek Chand, Orphans, Poverty, Ramayana, Rock gardens, Sculptors

The Curiosity Cabinet

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Ian Wallace’s wordless tribute to Canada on her 150thbirthday includes graphite illustrations of treasures from his forty years of traveling the country.  He has made thousands of school and library visits inspiring young readers to become artists and he has received many gifts from the students.  His cabinet of curiosities includes these gifts and other discoveries he has made. Each illustration is devoted to a province or territory – tamarack geese made by Cree artists in Ontario, a snow globe illuminating the moment he stood on the Arctic Circle, the English heraldic lion from Prince Edward Island, and much more.  A table of contents and an introduction set the stage and detailed illustrator’s notes provide much information. mjw
Title: The Curiosity Cabinet
Author: Ian Wallace
Illustrator: Ian Wallace
Publisher: Groundwood Books.  House of Anansi Press. Toronto
Copyright: 2017
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-55498-922-5
Hardcover pages: 36
Age range: 5-9
Genre: Picture Book
Book setting: Canada
Author’s ethnicity: Canadian
Author’s residence: Brookline, MA
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Canadian
Illustrator’s residence: Brookline, MA
Subjects: Biography, Mystery and wonders, Pictorial works, Travel

The Secret Kingdom: Nek Chand, A Changing India And A Hidden World Of Art

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Nek Chand was born in the village of Berian Kalan in the Punjab region near the Himalayas.  He grew up listening to stories and building a small world of his own out of sticks, clay, and rocks.  In 1947, with the Partition of India, the Punjab was divided into India and Pakistan.  His Hindu family no longer belonged where they lived and they resettled in Chandigarh, a modern city in India.  Nek found a job as a government roads inspector, but never felt like he belonged.  He found an abandoned forestland and, using natural materials, started building a secret kingdom.  He worked for sixteen years creating this secret garden of art from his imagination.  The gouache and watercolor illustrations are very detailed and there is a foldout of photos of the actual garden and sculptures.  An author’s note gives more background information about Chand’s life and the Nek Chand Foundation.  The book concludes with an extensive bibliography.  mjw
Title: The Secret Kingdom: Nek Chand, A Changing India, And A Hidden World Of Art
Author: Barb Rosenstock
Illustrator: Claire A.Nivola
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Copyright: 2018
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7475-5
Hardcover pages: 48
Age range: 7-10
Genre: Picture Book, Biography
Book setting: Chandigarh, India
Author’s ethnicity: U.S.
Author’s residence: U.S.
Illustrator’s ethnicity: U.S.
Illustrator’s residence: U.S.
Awards: 2019 Orbis Pictus Honor Book, 2019 South Asia Book Award
Subjects: Asia, Biography, Green living, Imagination, Mosaics, Partition, Recycling, Rock garden, Sculptures, Storytelling, Visual arts

Astrid The Unstoppable

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Nicknamed “the little thunderbolt,” ten-year-old Astrid likes to spend her days skiing, sledding, singing, and drinking hot chocolate with her grumpy best friend and godfather, Gunnvald.  She is the only child living in the village of Glimmerdal and she wishes there were other children in the town.  When two children unexpectedly show up, and then another strange woman appears, Astrid’s life suddenly gets very exciting.  This hilarious book will charm fans of Pippi Longstocking and Heidi. A map of Glimmerdal sets the scene. mjw
Title: Astrid The Unstoppable
Author: Maria Parr
Illustrator: Katie Harnett
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Copyright: 2018
Original Language: Norwegian
Translator: Guy Puzey
Original Title: Tonje Glimmerdal
Original Publisher: Det Norske Samlaget. Oslo
Original Copyright: 2009
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0017-1
Hardcover pages: 320
Age range: 9-12
Genre: Fiction
Book setting: Norway
Author’s ethnicity: Norwegian
Author’s residence: Norway
Translator’s ethnicity: Grew up in Scotland
Translator’s residence: Scotland
Subjects: Girls, Humor, Norway, Rural children, Songs

Swan Lake: A Retelling Of The Classic Ballet By Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

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The ballet, Swan Lake, the tragic love story of Odette, a princess transformed into a swan by an evil sorcerer, is reimagined in beautiful black, white, and red charcoal illustrations in this over-sized picture book version of the classic tale.  The story is briefly summarized at the beginning of each of the three acts. It is a story of first love, good and evil, and betrayal and loss. mjw
Title: Swan Lake: A Retelling Of The Classic Ballet By Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Author: Anne Spudvilas
Illustrator: Anne Spudvilas
Publisher: Allen and Unwin Book Publishers.  Sydney, Australia
Copyright: 2017
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-74331-845-4
Hardcover pages: 48
Age range: 10-14
Genre: Picture Book
Book setting: Murry-Darling riverscape in Australia
Author’s ethnicity: Australian
Author’s residence: Wentworth, Australia
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Australian
Illustrator’s residence: Wentworth, Australia
Subjects: Ballets, Birds, Dance, Fairytales, Love, Magic

Mary Poppins

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Based on the original 1934 novel by P.L. Travers, this picture book version has beautiful soft pastel and colored pencil illustrations that take readers back to Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane in London to meet Mary Poppins and the Banks children.  There is a tea party on the ceiling, a visit to the night zoo, and a trip to the star shop.  This is the perfect introduction to everyone’s favorite nanny. mjw
Title: Mary Poppins
Author: P.L.Travers (1899-196), adapted ny Amy Novesky
Illustrator: Genevieve Godbout
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Copyright: 2018
Original Language: English
Original Copyright:  1934
ISBN: 978-1-328-91677-8
Hardcover pages: 32
Age range: 4-7
Genre: Picture Book, Fantasy
Book setting: London
Author’s ethnicity: English
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Born and raised in Quebec
Illustrator’s residence: Montreal
Subjects: Fantasy; London, England: Magic: Nannies