children’s literature

[review] Rumi: Poet of Joy and Love by Rashin Kheiriyeh

~ jama ~ 19 Comments

“Should you wish to be in heaven forever? Be a friend to everyone.” ~ Rumi

Can meeting the right friend change your life? Why is it important to share your story with others, and how is embracing everyone in love and friendship its own spiritual practice?

Whether through his relatable aphorisms or divine poetry, Rumi has touched us all. As one of the world’s most popular poets, this 13th century Persian scholar and Sufi mystic continues to teach, inspire, and open our hearts to humanity.

In her stunning picture book biography, Rumi: Poet of Joy and Love (NorthSouth Books, 2024), Iranian-American author-illustrator Rashin Kheiriyeh shows how a chance meeting with a stranger transformed an already revered scholar and theologian into a poet for the ages.

We first learn Rumi was born on “a crisp and colorful autumn day in Iran” (present day Afghanistan) on September 30, 1207. From the beginning he was a child of nature and reveled in the beautiful world around him. He chased butterflies and “delighted in the scent of roses and the songs of the birds.” Rumi especially loved to feed the birds; his favorite was the hoopoe, the symbol of wisdom.

Rumi’s father patiently answered his many questions, teaching his son all he knew. One day he shared these prescient words: “Learn generosity from the sun. It lights the world every day and asks for nothing in return.”

An avid reader, Rumi was excited one day to meet the great Persian poet Attar, who gifted him with a copy of his epic poem, “The Conference of the Birds.” Attar advised Rumi to “read it and search for the deeper meaning. One day you will shine and illuminate the world like the sun.”

In Attar’s poem, hundreds of birds (including the hoopoe) travel many miles in search of the mythical bird Sīmurgh to serve as their king. Only thirty birds survived this arduous journey, realizing when they reached their destination that they were actually the Sīmurgh. When together, they flew as one giant bird.

Years later, after Rumi had moved to Turkey with his family, he followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, with followers from near and far eager to study with him.

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[tropical review] Aloha Everything by Kaylin Melia George and Mae Waite

~ jama ~ 30 Comments

Care to swim with the sea turtles, soar high above the earth with regal hawks, or hear wondrous tales of heroic voyagers navigating the Pacific by wind and stars?

Then join a young Hawaiian girl as she takes a magical journey around the Islands in this gorgeous new picture book, Aloha Everything by Kaylin Melia George and Mae Waite (Red Comet Press, 2024). Through the traditional storytelling dance of the hula, she learns about the history, culture, and folklore of her homeland while embracing the true meaning of “Aloha.”

We first meet little Ano one enchanted night:

In the hush of the night
with the moon still aglow,
a small baby was born
where the koa trees grow,

where lehua blooms bright,
where the mo'o give chase,
where the ocean spray's kiss
meets the sky's close embrace.

With her curls kapa soft,
breath like breadfruit so sweet,
this dear child evermore
shared the island's heartbeat.

This fierce-spirited, courageous child, so swift and smart, grew in both mind and heart. She was indeed special, but still had much to learn. What did hula teach her with its generations of treasured stories and rich lore?

First, she learned how the islands were formed, and about the evolution of plants and wildlife. As “humble seeds burst to blooms,” and “rock eroded to sand . . . a world born ablaze turned to lush wonderland.” Soon creatures filled the land, sea and sky from “mauka to makai.” Clinging to a hawk’s wings, the girl surveyed all these wonders from her perch amid the clouds, while the majestic bird imparted his wisdom: “To our ‘āina be just./When we care for our earth,/then our earth cares for us.”

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[perky review] Taxi, Go! by Patricia Toht and Maria Karipidou

~ jama ~ 13 Comments

Good Morning! It’s a brand new day, and everybody in the city has something to do, somewhere to go. Who will help them get there?

Speedy, spunky TAXI, that’s who!

Look, here he is now 😀.

Cabs are resting in a line.
Wake up, Taxi. Rise and shine!
Fill the tank, Check the tires.
Roof light on — now for hire!

Taxi . . . GO!
Get on your way —
today will be a busy day!

In Taxi, Go!, a zippy new rhyming picture book by Patricia Toht and Maria Karipidou (Candlewick, 2024), we follow spiffy red Taxi from morning till night as he transports passengers young and old to a variety of destinations.

After his morning fuel-up, he first picks up a woman who can’t be late for an important business date. Taxi races ahead, weaving left and right through an alley-way as “Heavy rain comes crashing down.” When sirens wail, Taxi has to STOP! for an emergency rescue (cat up a tree).

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[review + giveaway] The Little Books of the Little Brontës by Sara O’Leary and Briony May Smith

~ jama ~ 23 Comments

If there’s one thing I simply can’t resist, it’s a new book about the Brontës. As a longtime fan, I’m endlessly fascinated by them and always eager to learn more.

In The Little Books of the Little Brontës (Tundra, 2023), Sara O’Leary and Briony May Smith show how the love of storytelling and the power of books sustained young Charlotte, Emily, Branwell and Anne after they prematurely lost their mother and two older sisters to illness.

As the story opens, we see Charlotte crafting a small handmade book for her youngest sister Anne. Illustrated with tiny watercolors, the happy-ending tale features Anne as an only child who travels to marvelous places with her rich parents. Real life, however, is quite different.

Living with their father, aunt, and housekeeper Tabatha at the edge of the wild moors, the Brontë children cope with sadness and grief by clinging to each other and creating “a world unto themselves.” Their days are marked by morning lessons and afternoon outdoor wanderings, as their love of stories permeates almost everything they do.

Voracious readers, they devour fiction, poetry, history, geography, fables, the Bible and even the dictionary. “They make up poems as they walk the moors,” invent characters as they work in the kitchen, act out plays at night in bed.

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[yummy review] Thank a Farmer by Maria Gianferrari and Monica Mikai

~ jama ~ 7 Comments

Come Thursday, many of us will don our cozy sweaters and sit down with family and friends to feast on roast turkey with wild rice stuffing, mushroom gravy, creamy mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes or yams, green bean casserole, and soft, fluffy dinner rolls (lots of butter, please!).

As we express gratitude for our bountiful meals, we should particularly remember the people who helped bring the food to the table. Thank a Farmer by Maria Gianferrari and Monica Mikai (Norton Young Readers, 2023) introduces us to about a dozen different types of farming, essential farm workers, and methods of planting and harvesting on commercial as well as family farms.

The book opens with a dedication page depicting a variety of colorful dishes with the words, “If you like the food on your table, THANK A FARMER.” Continuing with variations on this tagline, double page spreads feature familiar foods such as bread, milk, fruits, veggies, peanuts, rice, mushrooms, and maple syrup, in addition to one non-edible item, wool.

Gianferrari’s lyrical text is rhythmic and succinct, as dynamic and efficient as the processes described. Paired with Mikai’s warm and inviting illustrations, it’s easy for kids to connect what they eat every day with where it actually comes from — not a can, box, or supermarket shelf, but a farm, where real people work the land with their hands or specialized machinery.

First there’s breakfast, a girl eating bread while wheat is being harvested from combine to hopper, then into grain cart and storage elevator for milling and grinding into flour.

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