The Enchanted Schoolhouse by Ruth Sawyer & Illus by Hugh Troy

Since it was just St. Patrick's Day and this book is all about a wee Irish fairy, it seemed appropriate. 

Mom bought this little red guy for my kids, but I love him! 

The pictures are similar to Garth Williams, so totally adorable.

Brian Boru is a young Irish lad who is told stories of the little people that populate Ireland from his grandfather. 

His uncle Seumas in America had recently written to say that Brian Boru could join him over there and had sent the fair. 

Brian felt a bit self conscious about going to America without being able to bring something to show American kids how terrific Ireland was. Since there wasn't a lot Brian could take with him, since life was pretty austere with his Da and Granda, Brian wondered if maybe he could catch a Irish fairy and bring it to America with him.  

Unfortunately, Brian Boru is told by Old Timothy, his grandfather, that there has not been any fairies seen for 50 years. 

Brian talks to his teacher about this and his teacher gives him some potential pointers for catching a wee man and keeping him.  

Brian Boru follows his advice and..... 

....through careful planning, catches a wee man. An angry wee man. Angry because Brian Boru had taken his little red cap. Without a red cap, he has to do everything Brian Boru tells him to do.

Brian keeps him in a teapot tied with string on his journey to America. Where Brian is introduced to ice cream and discovers that the wee man has a sweet tooth. 

Showing him America

Disaster almost struck when a custom's official spots the teapot and asks questions about it. Brian Boru narrowly avoids losing both the teapot and the fairy man.

The wonders of an American grocery store

And finally, they arrive in Lobster Cove, Maine, where Uncle Seumas and his new wife have a house.  

Brian Boru asks the wee man what he thinks of America--

'Tis not any of it I'm liking. You can have it all to yourself. My ears are exploding with noises, my shins are blue with dandering about--and were it not for the ice cream I would be afeard to live through another night, into another day. 

Meeting his new aunt. 

Geraniums on the windowsill! 

Exploring their new home. 

Fishing with Uncle Seumas

For all of America's finery, the school was in terrible disrepair. Which Brian doesn't understand. His school back in poverty stricken Ireland was a beautiful and gentle stone building. 

His new teacher finds some slides of Ireland and Brian Boru shares a little of his homeland with his class. 

But magical things are afoot with the wee man in attendance. One day, each time the student's turn their page, a little lamb's tail whisks all the words off the page. 

Finally the class sees the wee man.

Brian uses his big wish to try to get the people of Lobster Cove to improve their schoolhouse. The wee man organizes a flock of birds to fly the schoolhouse away to an abandoned island. 

Where the children are tucked in by the birds and spend the night. 

The animals all become bewitched, including the cows, who walk through town with flower collars and mooing softly about...

Moo! Moo! A poor lot of humans, you!

Not a quart of milk will we let down

Till there's a new schoolhouse in this town. 

Moo, moo, moo! 

And you will have to see how it all works out by reading it for yourself.

But suffice it to say, that no kids could ever make fun of Brian Boru or Ireland!

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales

This book. 

I heard so much about this book in the lead up to the Caldecott awards. And being contrary and not particularly in love with the art in the past few Caldecott winners, I was pretty ambivalent about this one, assuming it wouldn't really be something I would love. 

BUT I DO. 

This gorgeous book is multilayered, detail oriented, and full of love for children and books. 

My heart! 

The illustrations are amazing. Just really, truly amazing. 

In this illustration, childhood drawings of the artist/author are overlaid with a perfectly adorable illustration of the artist as a child. 

These pictures are reminiscent of the intricate embroidery and flamboyant colors of Central American traditional clothing.

Everything in the illustrations is carefully thought out and meaningful. The pathway here is a photograph of the road in her hometown in Mexico. As she is moving across the border to be with the American father of her baby, she is followed by other famous Central American-American migrants: Monarch butterflies and swallows. 

This new land, with a new language was difficult to navigate and make sense of. 

But armed with a stroller and backpack, Yuyi and her baby explored their new world.

One day they stumbled upon a public library. 

They were told they could just take books home without paying. How could that be?! 

I ADORE that actual books are pictured here. 

Worlds and words began to open up to them through the books they brought home. 

Walking with loads of books. I feel like Yuyi and I are kindred spirits. 

When my first two kids were tiny and we were living near Lake Placid, I had a double stroller that I would push one mile to the public library and a nearby thrift store. The number of days I pushed that stroller uphill overflowing with books are hard to count. 

We are stories.

We are two languages.

We are lucha.

We are resilience.

We are hope.

We are dreamers, 

soñadores of the world. 

At the end of the book, Yuyi shares her and her son's story of coming to America. 

There is a list of books that were beloved by her and her son. 

I LOVE reading people's list of books that they love or care about. 

Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers

To be honest, I thought this was a story about the Statue of Liberty walking across America. Which I think I have seen before. And that would be a little weird. Because the Statue of Liberty walking around is a whole lot concerning. I mean how many people is she crushing under those Grecian sandals? 

No thank you. 

But, good news! This is not that book. I am not sure if it ever was a book or just a nightmare I had once after eating something too rich before bed. 

Oops! It IS a real book.

And it probably is really lovely. 

(Sorry, other author person.)

Anyway, this book is back story of the Statue of Liberty, with a focus on her right foot. 

The story starts in France. With two crazy men. I can't quite understand why they are so crazy in this picture.  

Giant hand and arm

But we just put it together! the workers said. 

That is absurd, they said.

They said all this in French, 

the language of the French,

a people who appreciate the absurd. 

Made out of copper, the statue was originally brown. Over time, it changed to green. 

I love this picture!

Eggers draws everyone's attention to the forward motion of the actual statue. The right foot is raised as though mid-stride. 

Liberty and freedom from oppression are not htings

you get or grant by standing around like some kind

of statue. No! These are things that require action. 

Courage. An unwillingness to rest. 

So of course the Statue of Liberty couldn't stand around being all static. 

The many way people arrived in America

The immigrants.

A Piece of Home by Jeri Watts & Illus by Hyewon Yum

This is a sweet, compassionate book about the heartache of pulling up roots and trying to settle in to a new place. 

In Korea, things were good. Grandma was a "wise and wonderful teacher. When students bowed, she held her shoulders erect, her eyes sparkled."

Even at home, my grandmother could find the extraordinary held within the ordinary.

His grandmother was pretty awesome. 

Friends and words were easy in Korea. 

And then.... his professor father took a job at a law school in West Virginia.

I found my world packed into three boxes and one suitcase. 

What to take, what not to take. How can you condense so much life into boxes?

West Virginia is strange. For all of them.

"...my grandmother stays at home, and she does not hold her shoulders erect and her eyes don't gleam--not at all."

In West Virginia, I am not ordinary--I am different.

My new classmates smile and talk, but it is a sharp noise. Their names sit like stones on my tongue: Steve. Tom. 

I love how this book illustrates the difference between your native habitat and a new habitat--I think it is important for children to understand that they would feel weird and odd in other cultures, just like immigrants feel a little separated from our American culture when they come to our country. 

The night is too dark, too quiet.

Even well meaning people get it wrong. 

His little sister, Se Ra does not suffer this treatment gladly. She gets so frustrated she bites the teacher.  The grandmother is ashamed and offers to accompany Se Ra to school to keep her under control. 

Such a come down from her place of respect in Korea. 

After a time, he can start to say American words. Things become a little more "normal."

He makes friends.

Grandma is learning in Se Ra's classroom as well. She makes a friend in Se Ra's teacher. 

Playing at his friend's house, Hee Jun sees the same plant his grandmother had in their garden in Korea. His friend's mother sends home a shoot and some blossoms to bring back to his grandmother. In Korea they were called mugunghwa, but in West Virginia they are called Rose of Sharon.

A little piece of home. 

This gets me because I have a fondness for familiar botanical things. After living in Alaska for four years, I was so delighted to come back here and see the wildflowers I grew up with. Whenever we visit Colorado now, I get excited to see the wildflowers I got to know living there. 

Pretty much I just like plants. But I like how plants are so connected to a place. 

Finally, finally, after a long time and a lot of work, things become ordinary in their new home. 

 I can say "Steve, come over," light like a bubble on my tongue. 

And that is ordinary in our new home.

It is interesting to think about the struggles this family felt and realize that they came here with relatively few problems. They weren't fleeing disaster, drug lords, or drought. They weren't worried that their family was being bombed back home. (Well with the state of things in North Korea, Koreans might have reason to be mildly concerned about that.) Can you imagine how much more difficult this all would be if you were stressing about all those other things? 

I love, love this book for illustrating the immigrant experience. Even though it is just from one perspective, it give kids a chance to start to think about how immigrants would feel and learn a little compassion for them.