Dream Big! A Girl Like Me by Angela Johnson

I always dream. I'm flying in Supergirl underwear way up high!

You can dream of soaring high above the skyscrapers. But there are always some naysayers down below!

With everybody I know saying, "A girl like you shouldn't be flying up there in your underwear!"

In her fantasy she sees herself donning western boots, a jaunty kerchief, and a tall cowboy hat, and climbing those skyscrapers, rising from roof to rooftop.

It doesn't bother her when they say a girl like her belongs down on the ground in regular clothes like the rest of them.

But a girl can dream she swims the blue sea, one with the bright-colored fish and the waves. She can believe she belongs there instead of staying back there in dry clothes on the dry land. So she finds some like-minded girls--who dress in like somebody special, somebody who can wear crazy scarves and feathers and capes and crazy hats and parade through town to where the sea begins, where they own the beach....

...'cause a girl like me should always be thinking way up high... better than a dream."

Noted poet Angela Johnson's free-verse poem, A Girl Like Me (Millbrook Press, 2020) is all about girl power and the power within girls who come together to be all they can be, made engaging and arresting by artist Nina Crews' lighthearted collages of cityscapes through which flow butterflies and stars, ribbons, and the necessary fun hats, all strewn together with woven pastel hexagons that float and flow down to a joyful beach scene. More than a preview of Halloween costumes, this story is as light as a flying superhero, and as down to earth as a sandy parade on the beach. Publishers Weekly approves, saying--"A blithe celebration of individuality, guts, and sisterhood."

Far From The Madding Crowd! Leyla by Galia Bernstein

Leyla had nine aunts and twenty-three cousins.

They are always busy, always fussy, always noisy.

They always want to groom her. She's not even dirty!

Leyla's family is a HOOT!

It's hard being a young member of a close-knit baboon troop. Someone is always wanting to kiss her and hold her, and they never stop yakking and squabbling, especially when she needs a nap. She wants to be where she can't see, or hear, or even smell her family.

So Leyla ran away.

Suddenly she is all alone. The quiet is amazing. She stumps her toe and the only sound is her own voice, yelling... OUCH! Wow!

Then Leyla spots a little lizard and tries to be friendly.

"Shhh! I'm very busy doing nothing."

Nobody in Leyla's family knows how to do nothing. The lizard shows her how to sit and listen to the breezes and think of -- nothing.

Leyla sits, eyes closed, and does nothing--all day long.

It's nice, but strangely, doing nothing makes Leyla miss her family. She runs back the way she came until... she can see and smell her family. They all sit quietly and listened to her adventures, even how she hurt her toe! And...

They ALL wanted to kiss it better!

There's no place like home and family, in Galia Bernstein's Leyla (Abrams Books, 2019). Leyla is a charming little character who returns after her a pilgrimage of self-discovery both appreciating her big, noisy family and knowing how to find her inner quiet when she needs it, in this sweet little exploration of the oft-used "little runaway" theme. Bernstein's illustrations of Leyla and her rowdy troop are humorous, charming, and endearingly winsome, set in an engaging variations of page design and deftly extending the text to keep young readers involved to the last scene.

Galia Bernstein is also the author of I Am a Cat.

Dressing Up? What Riley Wore by Elana K. Arnold

Riley is a free-form dresser.

On Monday, Riley wore a bunny costume because it was the first day of school and Riley felt shy.

Riley is the only kid in a bunny suit there, but one girl stopped crying when Riley let her rub the bunny ears.

On Tuesday Riley wears a superhero cape to the sometimes daunting dentist's office.

Wednesday finds Riley and grandparents going to a fancy restaurant, where Riley wears a ball gown.

Thursday was Space Day...

Riley decided outer-space jammies were the perfect thing to wear.

On a rainy Friday Riley put together red rubber boots, a police jacket, and a pink tutu.

A sixth-grade crossing guard says...

I like your tutu!

And when Saturday rolls around, Riley wears overalls and a yellow hard hat to help Dad. The hardware store guy gives Riley a really cool sticker, and it goes right into a pocket to keep for just the right friend.

And on Sunday, Riley's ensemble look like a veritable closet explosion--mismatched socks, purple jeans under a tutu, red fireman's boots, a monster shirt, and spiky dino helmet, and she finds a friend to give the special sticker to.

You know, some days you just feel being more than one thing. Firefighters are good, and dancers are cool, and monster dinos are the bomb!

Riley is a kid who can't be stereotyped, for sure, in Elana K. Arnold's latest, What Riley Wore (Beach Lane Books, 2019). In this story of a kid who dresses to a different drummer each day, youngsters who like the make a fashion statement will find a kindred soul, and those who dress to avoid notice will get a bit of encouragement to try a change in persona. Artist Linda Davik's simple and bright digital illustrations (with the look of paper collage) make good use of perspective shifts to show the various settings while keeping adventurous Riley in the center of the action.

As Publishers Weekly wisely points out, "... the creators take this timely subject matter into a refreshing realm: normalcy."

First Day: The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson

There will be a day when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you.

Maybe it will be your skin, your clothes, or the curl of your hair.

The first day in a new class is hard. No one wants to be the odd one out, and when the teacher does the "what I did this summer" round robin. When Angelina listens to all the summer stories of flying  to other states and other continents, she feels like the only one who stayed home and looked after her little sister  and read lots of books. The teacher calls on a new boy to introduce himself.

"I'm Rigoberto from Venezuela," he says.

The class laughs, until the teacher repeats it softly and his name sounds almost like music.

And when Angelina says her long name, the kids stare at her until Rigoberto speaks right up.

"Your name is like my sister's. Her name is also Angelina."

And all at once in the room where on one else is quite like you, the world opens up a little wider to make some space for you.

And all at once Angelina feels comfortable telling how in her summer she read books to her little sister and to herself long after bedtime and realizes that like them, she, too, took flight to many places, and she begins to tell her class about what she read.

Feeling like the stranger in the room is an almost universal experience at some time in life. It may be a classroom, a college, an office, or a new town, but finding some connection with strangers makes it easier to see the things we may have in common. In her best-selling The Day You Begin (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2018) the Newbery Medalist and National Book Award winning Jacqueline Woodsen's first-day story, illustrated by award-winning artist Rafael Lopez, is a sort of parable for children in dealing with new situations, finding what you have in common and valuing what you may not share at first. This is a fine book for the first day of school; as Publisher's Weekly said, "Woodsen's gentle, lilting story and Lopez's artistry create a stirring portrait of the courage it takes to be yourself."

Jacqueline Woodson has won the American Library Association's John Newbery Award for Brown Girl Dreaming, After Tupac and D Foster (Newbery Honor Book), Feathers, and Show Way. (See reviews here)

Vive La Difference! Wild About Us! by Karen Beaumont

I'M WARTY WARTHOG!
CAN'T BE WHO I'M NOT.

I AM WHO I AM,
AND I'VE GOT WHAT I'VE GOT.

I HAVE TUSKS! I HAVE WARTS!
BUT I LIKE WHAT I SEE!

YESSIRREE!

WE ALL ARE THE WAY
WE ARE MEANT TO BE!

I gotta be me is Warthog's theme song. Tusky and warty and lumpy and bumpy, hairy and (frankly) a bit scary, Wartie's no sleek gazelle, but after all, it takes all kinds!

Rhino's fine with wrinkled skin she's in, and Elephant knows she's supposed to have a long nose.

And who slams flamingos because they're all pink?

OR TELLS POTBELLIED PIG SHE'S TOO
PLUMP, DO YOU THINK?

Tortoise is slow, and leopard is spotty. Hippo is hippy, and Giraffe is gangling. But their many differences are what make them interesting.

WE'RE GLAD WE ARE DIFFERENT!
IT WOULD BE SUCH A SHAME

IF YOU CAME TO THE ZOO
AND WE ALL WERE THE SAME!

In her just published Wild About Us! (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015), Karen Beaumont puts her versatility with verses to good use in reminding young readers that individuality has its virtues, even in looks. You get what you get, but hey--Variety is the spice of life! Beaumont's just right rhymes set the stage for the Caldecott Award-winning artist Janet Stevens to strut her stuff, creating detailed animal characters who are true to their species while radiating humor and personality plus. Stevens' illustrations keep the pages turning with inventive book design--her critters are shown in spot-art head shots or multiple animal faces surrounding the text on the page, in double-page spreads, horizontal (for Kangaroo and her outrageously long tail and feet) and vertical (for the leggy Giraffe). Hippo boogies her generous caboose on page right, while with a simple page turn her forequarters appear and she grins proudly from the next page.

Celebrating our differences has never been more fun, and Beaumont and Stevens make their point that variety is indeed the spice (and wonder) of life. This book, like Stevens' Caldecott Honor-winning Tops & Bottoms (Caldecott Honor Book), is a hilarious storytime treat that practically reads itself.

I Gotta Be Me! RED: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall

"First to thine own self be true," wrote Shakespeare, and in this colorful tale, "Red" has no choice in that matter. Despite the fact that his Crayola-ish wrapper looks red and clearly says RED, he has a reason to feel blue. He actually IS blue all the way through.

But his perky teacher seems oblivious to the obvious.

"I'LL DRAW RED STRAWBERRIES! THEN YOU CAN DRAW RED STRAWBERRIES!" SHE CHIRPED WITH FEIGNED ENTHUSIASM.

Teacher colors a row of red strawberries, and poor RED tries to do likewise, applying himself and pressing on with the task, but of course all his berries are blue.

Red's mom OLIVE tries to help. She arranges a playdate with little YELLOW, suggesting that they might like to combine their talents by coloring some oranges. Strangely, all of their fruits come out green! His grandparents, SILVER and GRAY, suggest he draw a self-portrait.

BUT IT SO WASN'T RED!

All his classmates are happy to offer their criticisms. Pencil pointedly suggests that RED just isn't sharp enough for the job.

"FRANKLY, I DON'T THINK HE'S TOO BRIGHT!" SAID FUCHSIA.

It seems that all of the crayons can't see beyond his label to the real RED, until he makes a new friend, BERRY, who recognizes his true hue and asks him to color the water for her boat. He even adds a blue whale to his ocean. Suddenly, RED gets it.

"I'M BLUE!"

The sky's the limit, as a whole new world opens up to RED BLUE as everyone sees, really sees, his true color, in Michael Hall's newest hit, Red: A Crayon's Story (HarperCollins, 2015). Preschoolers will have a refresher in color recognition, and older readers will laugh at the clever puns and obtuse color-blindness of all the crayons and perhaps understand the premise of looking beyond social labels to the real person inside. Hall's humorous illustrations of his crayon characters are picture perfect, with grandparents GRAY and SILVER somewhat worn down, and BERRY clearly the sharpest crayon in the box. A not-to-be-missed new classic!

This crayon tale pairs perfectly with last-year's best-seller, Drew Daywalt's The Day the Crayons Quit (Read my colorful review here.)

Michael Hall is also the author of the cleverest Valentine/color/shape book ever, his heart-y hit, My Heart Is Like a Zoo. (See my heartfelt review here.)