My November Reading

Over the past many months, I have been reviewing children's picture books here, in addition to YA and adult fiction and nonfiction. Thanks to the advice of a wonderful children's librarian whom I met over Twitter, Angela Reynolds, I have had the opportunity to read many memorable books, and I have come to appreciate the thought that goes into the words and illustrations of these books. They are each unique — I have not come across a series in picture books — in thought and focus with the words and pictures so intertwined in a joint message that one would be bereft without the other.

Perhaps it is the very nature of the books that their audience is the very young who sit in the arms of their parents while being read to in the safety and security of their homes that allow the books free range to explore all sorts of topics and all sorts of emotions. And it is the latter that is so close to the surface. While I find these picture books are far more enlightened in the types of topics they cover as compared to many adult books or older children's books, it is the fact that they approach these difficult, controversial, radical, and uncomfortable topics through emotions and humanism that makes them memorable. It is a rare book that fails to move me; to a one they draw an emotional response from me. To all those writers and illustrators and publishers, my thanks from the bottom of my heart. You've opened up my life and the lives of my children through your books.

Music of the Heart by Mary Burchell
A Soldier's Heart by Kathleen Korbell
Courting Miss Hattie by Pamela Morsi
Category: Vintage Contemporary Romance
Comments: I was utterly charmed by Music of the Heart, book 6 of the Warrendar Saga. This was my second Burchell, and I have enjoyed both of them, and so if you're new to Burchell, I highly recommend you pick this one up. Korbell's book is one I return to from time to time. It offers a nuanced, thoughtful approach to the PTSD suffered by returning veterans, soldiers and nurses. Korbell, herself was a nurse, and it's telling in the careful navigation of the mind and the empathetic approach to the hero and the heroine. I love Morsi's early work. She gets Americana like no one else, and writes the gentlest stories that deal with deeply-felt emotions. I loved all three of these stories, and my short reviews are here.

A Texas Christmas Past by Julia Justiss
Category: Western Historical Romance
Comments: As you all know, I'm a fan of Julia Justiss's work and westerns, but this juxtaposition of the two just didn't work. I don't know if it was the novella size that threw off her style, but there is a lot of telling, rather than showing, and worse of all, a ghost who tells us what the hero is feeling, rather than us seeing what the hero is feeling or hearing it in his internal monologue. The ghost also manipulates the hero and heroine into a relationship by compelling some of the action and thoughts. The relationship thus did not feel organic to the couple at all, but rather a puppet-puppeteer relationship. My review is here.

A Perfect Match by Rachel Knowles
Category: Traditional Regency Romance
Comments: Written in modern times but in the traditional Regency style, this is a meticulously researched book by a well-known authority of Georgian and Regency history. While there is an unexpected surprise in the last quarter of the book and some inconsistencies, I chalk it up to début book issues of not knowing how to seed the black moment early on as well as lack of writerly skill. Overall however, the historical authority with which the book is written, including the dialogue, makes up for the imperfections. My review is here.

In Your Hands by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Category: Children's Picture Book
Comments: When you are newborn, I hold your hand and study your face. I cradle you as you drift to sleep. While napping, you crack a smile. I have big, bright dreams for you.

This is a book of a mother's dreams for her son as he grows up under her care and then out in the wider world, where she cannot hold him under her wing, but where she has to trust that she has poured all the wisdom she can into him and he can be safe and flourish on his own.

Then I will hold you in my heart and ask God to hold you in His hands.

But this mother's concern is more than just a concern of a mother of a teenager, a young man. This is the concern of a mother of a black young man. And her anguish and worry are writ large on the page.

I will pray that the world sees you as a child of God not a figure to be feared. I will pray that missteps bring lessons and are forgiven and that you be granted second chances.

Tears your heart, doesn't it? This should be a given. No mother should have to ask this of others. All children are precious.

Gorilla Gardener: How to Help Nature Take Over the World by John Seven and Jana Christy
Category: Children's Picture Book
Comments: A chaotic, colorful book that has a proselytizing message. The story features a friendly gorilla who goes around seeding the city with seeds and growing gardens: chinks in buildings, cracks in sidewalks, rooftops of skyscrapers, and so on. He wants to build a jungle city where people will be happy, live outside, and enjoy each others' company. He is extreme in his views:

A huge field of flowers replace the city streets. Roots from plants break up concrete and asphalt. Cars can't move, but who cares? Goats and chickens move in.

This book is based on the philosophy of Guerilla Gardening that started in England in the 1600s. Despite being hounded out of towns, sued in courts of law, and subject to violence, guerilla gardeners spread their ideas all over the world. America's most famous conservationist gardener was Johnny Appleseed, who roamed the country with his ideas in the 19th century. These ideas are still popular to this day with guerilla gardens in many large cities.