Caroline McAlister

n artist grappled with boundaries.

Growing up in California, Ruth Aiko Asawa (1926-2013) was keenly aware of an “invisible line” separating her life at home, where she was called Aiko, from school, where she was known as Ruth—though “she could cross back and forth or even straddle it if she had to.” This beautifully wrought metaphor for a bicultural Japanese American experience is echoed throughout the book: in the lines a young Asawa drew in the dirt at her family farm and the way show more she lined up for the Pledge of Allegiance at school. The most important lines, however, were those she made as an artist, especially when creativity sustained her while she and other Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. She studied to become an art teacher, but “because she looked like the enemy, her college wouldn’t place her at a school.” She persevered and, after the war, found her way to Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Drawing inspiration from Mexican wire baskets and memories of barbed wire at the camps, Asawa was driven by the conviction that “art is for everyone.” Infused with emotion, the unflinchingly honest text and exquisite mixed-media art, which layers dazzling pops of blue onto muted backdrops, detail the oppression Asawa faced—and her resilience. An informative author’s note provides additional context for this story of an innovative artist whose legacy of democratizing the arts is utterly inspirational.

A title worth moving to the head of the line. (photograph, bibliography) (Picture-book biography. 7-11)

-Kirkus Review show less

A picture book comprising a deeply simplified biography of J.R.R. Tolkien from childhood through the thirties and the composition of The Hobbit. Lovely, lovely illustrations and a nice "quest for dragons" theme uniting the story of Tolkien's life. I may have to get a copy of this for the nieces in a few years, but I'm not passing on this one. It's lovely enough I'll hang on to it for my own collection.

Carlos, a young boy from Mexico, works for food in a monastery. He overhears a conversation between Brother Pascual and Bishop Roberto. They speak with excitement and fear of the Viceroy coming to visit. The Bishop exclaims that Brother Pascual and his cooks have only two hours to prepare the big meal. Just before they are about to finish, Carlos takes a break from cleaning the floor and runs to capture a piece of raisin bread that he sees fall. While doing so, he collides with Brother show more Pascual who was carrying all of the seasonings, which landed the pot. Everyone begins feeling upset until they smell the rich flavor mixing in the pot. Carlos ends up saving the day by accidentally creating the best meal that the Viceroy has ever eaten. The language in this book does keep up with the oral tradition. The poor, innocent boy ends up saving the day completely by accident. As stated in the book, the meal was "un puro milagro", a complete miracle. Trying new ideas and creating something never done before can benefit situations. show less

Finding Narnia: The Story of C.S. Lewis and His Brother Warnie is a picture book biography written by Caroline McAlister and illustrated by Jessica Lanan. It briefly tells the big-picture, broad-strokes story of C.S. Lewis's imaginative, creative, and physical life, from his childhood to his middle age (when he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia). It focuses a bit more on young Jack and Warnie's fantasy kingdoms that they made up, and how they joined them so they could play together. I learned a show more few things, such as that Warnie was the one who typed the manuscripts of The Chronicles of Narnia, which CSL handwrote! The illustrations appear to be watercolor, and I was pleasantly surprised to find an illustrator's note after the story where Jessica Lanan wrote about going to these places in Lewis's life (the Kilns, Oxford, etc.) and how she patterned places and objects to look like the real thing. She includes endnotes about liberties she took (for example, she painted the wardrobe that inspired THE wardrobe lighter than the one in real life, in order to show off the carved details). I appreciated this, and the illustrator's notes made me like this book even more. This book was a real treat, and CSL fans will love it. It deals with Narnia less than the title suggests, but Narnia fans will like this too, I think. I'm not sure how kids will like it past Jack & Warnie's childhoods.
Trigger warnings for this book: death, war mentions, wound mention, grief mention, atheism and Christianity show less