Literacy Matters - Winter 2020

event in the book. The blue blanket depicted in the beginning of the book functions as a motif and is visible on every page— sometimes as a scarf that the young boy or dog wears and finally as a handkerchief in the young man’s pocket at the end. Varying hues of blue represent a range of emotions from cheerfulness, calmness, and liveliness to extreme grief and hope. The actions of the boy and dog in each image help readers to understand the story line beyond what the words convey. This is a remarkable picturebook that demonstrates how a single color—even one associated with sadness—can express a range of emotions.

the book. In particular, the visual representation of the stew drifts across the pages throughout the entire book, similar to how the scent of Omu’s stew drifts throughout the neighborhood. “Omu” in Igbo, the native language of Nigeria, means “queen,” which is appropriate for Omu in the way she brings people together. This story reminds us that it is always far better to give than it is to receive, so for that, thank you, Omu. Now it’s your turn to see if Omu gives too much. Read this book to find out!

Dreamers Morales, Yuyi. (2018). Unpaged. Neal Porter/ Holiday House. 978-0-8234-4055-9. $18.99. (Primary). —Grace McClain “We are dreamers, soñadores of the world.”Yuyi Morales is a dreamer who finds herself in an unfamiliar new world as she immigrates from Mexico to the United States. Facing

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Zora and Me: The Cursed Ground Simon, T.R. (2018). 250 pp. Candlewick. 978- 0-7636-4301-0. $16.99. (Intermediate). —Elizabeth Craig “There are two kinds of memory. One is the ordinary kind, rooted in things that happened, people you knew, and places you went... The second kind of memory is rooted in things you live with, the land you live on, the history of where you belong.” (p. 1)

uncertainty and a linguistic divide, she stumbles in trying to find her place; she finds it when she enters a library. Within the pages of the books, she is able to become a part of her new world as the books grant her knowledge of the language and provide her with the opportunity to be heard. Morales’s story shares a glimpse into her life as an immigrant. She faces challenges such as mistakenly playing in a public water fountain and being reprimanded and overcomes a language barrier. Through her experiences, the story reveals the realities of immigration. “Unbelievable. Surprising. Unimaginable.” Using powerful, expressive language, she is able to leave a lasting impact on readers, invoking emotions and thoughts that bring readers into the story. The illustrations that accompany the text complement the progression of her story. As her life as an immigrant begins, she is the only color in this unfamiliar place, but as her new land becomes home and she fully becomes a part of it, her world is filled with color. Among the illustrations are the intricately detailed covers of books that welcomed her as she became a part of the United States. Although the work speaks for itself, Morales also includes her story at the end of the book to give additional details about her life and a listing of the children’s books featured in the illustrations—books that inspired her and still do.

T.R. Simon’s prologue introduces the idea of collective memory in terms of the African American experience in the United States. Simon tells the story of how the legacy of slavery continued after the Civil War and the collective memory surrounding slavery. The story is set in 1903, in Eatonville, the first all-black incorporated town in the United States. Zora and her best friend, Carrie, discover that the town mute can actually talk, and he begins to unravel a secretive past. Although they are discouraged from it, the two girls pursue this mystery in order to uncover the truth and save the town. The story alternates between the present with Zora and Carrie and the life of Lucia, a slave in the antebellum south, using the past in order to highlight problems of the present. Merging these two story lines is an effective way of depicting the past and present simultaneously. Students are taken through a slave narrative into a time after slavery in order to identify its aftereffects and what that means for people of color in the United States.

Blue Seeger, Laura Vaccaro. (2018). Unpaged. Roaring Brook. 978-1-62672-066-4. $17.99. (Primary). —Emma Sue Gabriel “How many shades of blue are there?”This story about a boy and his dog is told with only a few words. The different shades of blue on the front

Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers: Vol. 1 Starr, Arigon (Ed.). (2016). Unpaged. Native Realities. 978-0-9906947-5-5. $19.99. (Intermediate/Young Adult). —Laura Kate Reid “The language which they forbade me to speak is the language that saved this country.” Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers describes the contributions of several Native Americans in the WorldWars and the Korean War. The volume

cover reinforce the idea of the color blue. However, once you take a step back and look at the cover carefully, you see a paw print, giving you a clue as to what you will find inside. Seeger’s minimal text is rich with several layers of meaning that are extended in the illustrations—composed with thick brush strokes and die cuts, such as a beach ball on one page and a balloon on another. The color blue is symbolic, possibly representing the extreme sadness associated with the death of a beloved pet, a pivotal

contains nine stories, including a prologue and an epilogue. One is about a Kiowa nurse on the front who lost her husband in the war. Another tells about the Muscogee nation, which used its

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