SO MUCH MORE TO HELEN! The Passion and Pursuits of Helen Keller: A Picture Book Biography and Giveaway

 What do you know about Helen Keller?

Many of us have grown up knowing the story of how Annie Sullivan taught Helen to sign her first word, "water" by the family's water pump. 

But as the title of this new picture book from Sleeping Bear Press indicates, there is much more to know. Written by Meeg Pincus (no stranger to my blog) with lush illustrations by Caroline Bonne-Müller,

this book will appeal to Kindergarten-third grade readers. As you'll see from the illustration samples below, each spread includes basic information written in a rhyming couplet with additional details provided in a text box for older children. 

REVIEW 

On the first page, readers discover that Helen was a friend to a young black girl as well as to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Inventor Alexander Graham Bell.

Then we discover that, 

And she was,

 

                Braille and signing, first through college.

Helen was a dog lover and an author...

            Always writing, never slowing.

            Essays, books, and stories flowing.

Helen was an activist, a jokester, and also, 

Did you know that Helen was a romantic who fell in love with Peter Fagan, a journalist? Her parents wouldn't allow her to marry him since many people at the time didn't think DeafBlind people should marry or have children. 

Indeed, Helen was a survivor. 

            Discrimination, heartbreak, grieving.

            Never gave up, kept believing. 

She traveled to five of the seven continents as a humanitarian and peacemaker.  After the World Wars, she visited wounded soldiers and damaged cities to help foster goodwill and healing. She gave speeches in packed amphitheaters and met with world leaders as well as everyday struggling people.

Helen was a changemaker.

Fought for those with deafness, blindness.

Laws, employment, schools--and kindness.

The last spread shows thirteen individuals with either visible or invisible disabilities. 

BACK MATTER

The last two pages include more details and quotes about each "job" that Helen had. There is also a smaller version of the last spread identifying the thirteen "solutionaries" (someone who tries to solve problems for people, animals, and the planet) and what their disabilities and accomplishments are.

Meeg includes her interest in Helen Keller which stemmed from a high school project. She ends with, "I hope this book inspires you-- whatever disabilities or challenges you may face--to follow our passions and be a solutionary too."

This is an excellent curriculum resource, but I wish a bibliography was included for students and teachers who wanted to read more about this DeafBlind heroine. Click here for Meeg's Free Teaching Tools.

For more of the author's backstory, please see Kathy Temean's blog (and another giveaway!). 

And check out this book trailer:

GIVEAWAY

Leave me a comment (with your last name and email address if you are new to my blog) by May 23 to enter the giveaway. U.S. addresses only. 

Congratulations to Terri Michels who won Ribbit! The Truth About Frogs.

OCEAN SOUP: A Recipe for You, Me, and a Cleaner Sea: A Picture Book Review and Giveaway

 Beware! Reading this nonfiction picture book written by Meeg Pincus and illustrated by Lucy Semple, may convince you that you are over-using plastic. That's what it did for me!

Do you see those four children walking along the beach on the cover? Those characters illustrate the scenes of Ocean Soup (Sleeping Bear Press, 2021) as they go from playing at the beach, to discovering that what appears to be pure and clean under a microscope is SOUP! And not a very tasty or healthy one either. 

REVIEW

As you can tell, Meeg Pincus wrote a book with a powerful message, in simple and accessible verse. On a few pages she shows how people have been using styrofoam cups, bottled water, synthetic fibers, and plastic containers without thinking about the consequences to our environment. 

The four characters ask an important question:

Do you ever wonder how this produced Ocean Soup? 

How such everyday habits made saltwater goop? 

 

 

Here is a fact I didn't know:

Once it's made , any plastic is with us to stay. 

It's on Earth till forever--there's no real "away."

Here are more interesting facts shown on a spread of the world's oceans:

Sad and startling is the fact that Ocean Soup fills the bellies of all types of creatures from dolphins to plankton to crabs. And if plastic is in the bellies of fish then,

The "story" ends with four pages of suggestions of ways in which children can use less plastic. 

End notes include lists of the plastics that pollute the world's seas and a recipe for cleaner oceans. Meeg's author's note reflected how I felt after reading Ocean Soup:

I wrote this book to remind myself about my own impact on my beloved ocean, by the daily choices I make, as much as anyone else. We all need to rethink our use of plastic and speak up to manufactures and lawmakers about the overproduction. It will take a sea change to save our seas--and it starts with each one of us, each day.

This great curriculum resource can be useful in kindergarten through fourth grade. The characters appear to be around eight, but the book's message that is delivered in smooth rhyme, is for all ages.

Here's an interesting note from Meeg about the four children who show up throughout the book. Since they have no speaking lines, I wondered if she created them or suggested them to the illustrator. Here is what she said:

"The four kids were a creation of the art team for the book, actually! I'm not sure who among the illustrator, art director, and editor came up with them, but I was so thrilled when I saw them! I think it's a great example of how "leaving room for the illustrator" can lead to magic when the artist sees their own story within the author's story."

GIVEAWAY

To enter, please leave me a comment by 6 PM on June 4 along with your email address if you are new to my blog. Share it on social media and tell me what you did, and I'll enter your name twice.  Continental U.S. addresses only. 

Three Picture Books for You or for Your Classroom

I've bombarded your inbox this week because of some timely reviews and announcements. I'll be taking a short blogging break, but will be back soon with more giveaways and reviews.

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I'm the fortunate recipient of many fine picture books to review and give away. Here are three that I think would be great resources in a classroom library --although you are welcome to try and win them for a beloved young reader!

America, Here I Come!

The author, Kyra Burton, is passionate about helping child immigrants transition to living in the United States. Her story follows Anna and Artem who live in Odessa in the Ukraine--"the most beautiful place in the world"--and a city that has beautiful butterflies. The children are upset when their parents announce they are moving to Raleigh, NC, where both of them have obtained jobs. The siblings dread having to make new friends and going to new schools; Anna finds some comfort by expressing her feelings in a journal. After getting settled in their new home, both Anna and Artem make new friends at a neighborhood park. On the way home they spot a butterfly and Anna points to it and thinks, "This butterfly is almost as pretty as the ones...back home." See Kyra's website for more resources on making America home. 

Miep and the Most Famous Diary: The Woman Who Rescued Anne Frank's Diary

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl is a classic that's informed a world of readers of the atrocities of the Holocaust. But, who knows the story of Miep Gies--the woman who put her own life on the line in order to save Anne's family and several other Jews? Miep and The Most Famous Diary written by Meeg Pincus and illustrated by Jordi Solano, gives a different perspective on this famous story. The day that her friends are arrested is one that Miep has dreaded for two years. After they are carted away by the Nazis, Miep finds Anne's diary, knowing that Anne dreamt of publishing it after the war. She hides it and refuses to read it. But when Mr. Frank returns after the war, Miep gives him this wonderful reminder of his intelligent, hopeful daughter. 

Everybody Says MEOW 

Readers of my blog aren't strangers to Constance Lombardo and her love for all things feline (Mr. Puffball, anyone?). In her debut picture book, Constance has written and illustrated a fun, colorful picture book that is short on words, but big on a lesson about inclusivity. Toddlers will enjoy identifying the different animals and repeating the noises that each make. Great pre-reading skills are reinforced for first readers.

GIVEAWAYS

Please leave a comment by 6 PM on December 14. Leave your NAME and email address (I don't know who UNKNOWN is!) and which book you'd like to receive. Both America, Here I Come and Everybody Says MEOW are autographed by the author. I'll mail them on Monday and hopefully you'll get them in time for Christmas.