to read: childrens books.

Just a few library books Ocean and I both loved.

 Frida was such a great, great book! The illustrations were fantastic and the story was wonderful. I have always known of Frida but her life story is so inspiring. I highly recommend this book.

From Publishers Weekly
Winter, who brought the Mexican muralist vividly to life in Diego, focuses on Diego Rivera's bride, Frida Kahlo an accomplished artist in her own right in this striking picture book-biography. With a spare narrative more akin to poetry than prose, the author touches on important events in his subject's childhood Frida's loneliness and the polio that kept her bedridden for months, as well as a bus accident, at age 18, that nearly killed her. He then shows how, each time, art helped her to transcend her injuries ("She turns her pain into something beautiful") and to unleash her magically surreal vision of the world in paintings ("In museums, people still look at them and weep and sigh and smile"). Juan, a Spanish fine artist and New Yorker cover artist making her children's book debut, creates artwork bursting with saturated color and infused with Mexican folk art motifs that also influenced Frida's own style. Floating figures, fantastical creatures and celestial bodies with human features cavort across the pages. Ana transforms Frida herself from a solemn, moon-faced child with uncompromising eyebrows (her well-known physical trait) to a woman whose gaunt features hint at both strength and inner struggle. One particularly breathtaking image shows the artist floating against a night sky, eyes closed and arms crossed on her chest in a death pose, held in the grip of a tree's thorny, gnarled branches ("Her body will hurt, always"). An outstanding introduction to an influential artist. Ages 4-10.

 The Happiest Tree is a book about Yoga. Again, another inspiring and informative book.

From Booklist
PreS-Gr. 2. Meena is excited about the class play, a "new and improved version" of Red Riding Hood. But after spilling paint on the set, she feels too clumsy to participate. Her teacher talks her into a part as a tree, but Meena stumbles during rehearsals, cementing her view of herself as uncoordinated and bumbling. Then, while shopping at the Indian market with her mother, she spots a yoga class for kids and signs up. She practices the postures and gradually gains confidence, and on the play's opening night, she uses what she has learned to play the perfect, grounded tree. Some of the messages about yoga's benefits are a bit purposeful: "If I am quiet inside, my body will be still. That's what yoga is really about." And a few figures in the acrylic illustrations appear stilted. Still, the balanced compositions and bright colors nicely echo the warm, encouraging story about overcoming challenges, while the well-integrated details of Meena's Indian culture, including a few terms, are rare and welcome in books for this age group.

I actually found this book at Marc's moms. We read it at naptime and Ocean and I commented on how cute the drawings were. The words are lyrical.

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-- A bedtime picture book with a message that dreams can be so alluring that they can convince any reluctant child to fall asleep. "What will we do with Dorothy?" her parents and siblings wonder when Dorothy won't go to bed. She sings, looks at books, and jumps on her bed, afraid that she'll miss something if she nods off. But one night, her usually "small, pale dreams" are suddenly lightened by one dream which shines. The desire to see more of it lures her to sleep the next night, to the amazement of her family. While the idea is novel, the narration is awkward. The text is choppy, with poor transitions. The light, whimsical watercolors improve the story, but do not redeem it. The cozy, realistic, pastel drawings of the family are offset by the eerie, rust-colored settings of the "cold, sour dreams" which then move into a fanciful full-paged spread. But the magical dreams portrayed cannot make up for this lackluster tale. --Marianne Pilla, Upper Dublin Pub . Lib . , Dresher, PA

We picked up a few books about equality this week and I am eager to read them with Ocean. 

Got any recommendations for books on social justice and ethical living?