Visiting Langston

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Bibliography

Perdomo, Willie.  Visiting Langston.  Ill. By Bryan Collier.  New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2002.  ISBN 0805067442

Summary

A young girl visits the historical home of Langston Hughes with her father.  While visiting, the girl tells of Hughes’s life, work and interests while connecting her life to the famous author.

Analysis

There are many things to love about Perdomo’s first children’s book.  The narrator, a young girl from Harlem, is bright faced and confident.  Her words and the illustrations make it easy to identify her as a sweet and likeable child.  Children can easily understand and relate to her as she voices her excitement about a special trip with her father and wearing her favorite pink shirt.  It is easy to hear her voice throughout the pages, being somewhat scattered and jumping from Langston to herself, just as a young girl would do.

The illustrations are true works of art.  Collier pieced together mixed media, combining beautiful watercolor portraits with masterfully crafted collages.  The images welcome the reader to look for all the small details, relishing in the rich textures and connecting with the lifelike characters depicted.  They also provide much needed visual support for the simply versed poem.

I personally found the text a bit difficult to read.  There were awkward turning points, places where the rhythm of the verse was interrupted and broken in an odd and unexpected manner.  It appeared that they page breaks were designed to allow the illustrations to support the text, however the text would have been stronger had stanzas been kept together. 

I also felt the content jumped around a bit too much, telling about Hughes then jumping to the young narrator’s poetry and life.  I wanted to know more about the man who had captured her attention and heart.  Perhaps this was Perdomo’s hope, that the reader would be intrigued and seek out more information on this influential writer. 

Awards and Reviews

*Coretta Scott King Honor

“A rhythmic poem in praise of Langston Hughes and the writer's craft. The poem is presented by a young girl who is off to visit Hughes's Harlem home with her father. It begins, "Today I'm going to wear/My favorite pink blouse/I'm going with my daddy/To visit Langston's house." Readers quickly learn that, like Hughes, the girl is a writer and resident of Harlem. Powerful in its simplicity, the text explores the child's special connection to the famous man. "He can tell you why my/Dreams run wild/Why Daddy says I'm like/Langston's genius child." Text and illustrations complement one another perfectly as the pages of the book come to life with energetic purpose and delight. Done with a mixture of collage and watercolor with dramatic results, Collier's artwork uses muted shades of green, purple, and brown and yet shines with brilliant bits of patterns and textures. While this is obviously an urban landscape, the girl's enthusiasm and talent have universal appeal. Be sure to use this impressive collaboration to introduce young readers to the life and work of the poet (a brief author's note with some dates and titles is included) but be sure it reaches young writers as well.” -Alicia Eames, New York City Public Schools (from Amazon)

Connections

The narrator speaks of herself as a poet.  Have students write a journal entry explaining if they see themselves as a poet, why or why not? 

The mixed media illustrations help bring Visiting Langston to life.  After they have revised and edited a piece of poetry, provide students with a variety of scrapbooking papers, magazines and newspapers.  Have students create a background to illustrate their poems, and then create details using paints or markers.

Have students read Uptownby Bryan Collier to discover more about this neighborhood.  Using what they learned from both texts, have the students write or draw about what they think everyday life is like for either Hughes or the narrator living in Harlem.  Discuss how life in Harlem is similar or different from life where the students live. 

Millions of Cats

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Bibliography

Gag, Wanda.  Millions of Cats.  New York: Penguin Putnam, 1928.  ISBN 0329055739

Summary

The very old man and the very old woman have everything they could want, except company.  Their solution?  A soft, cuddly cat.  When the very old man sets out to find them the perfect companion, he finds not one but millions of perfect cats.  In the end, there is only room for one cat at their house, but it isn’t the one they expected.

Analysis

Nestled between books full of vibrant color, the black and white illustrations found in Millions of Cats is unexpected on modern day library shelves.  However, the colorful books of today owe much to the simple black and white illustrations that first appeared in 1928.  Gag was one of the first illustrators to utilize both sides of a spread in a single illustration, opening up the door for future authors and illustrators to create more in-depth and interesting illustrations.

At first glance this antiquated book appears to be out of date and touch with the modern reader, but after only a few pages this proves to be far from true.  The repetition and rhythm of text make the story flow easily, particularly to be read aloud.  The inclusion of the ever so allusive amounts of “millions and billions and trillions” grabs young readers’ attention and draws them into the story.

The simple story of a man and woman who would like more company rings true universally while the silly account of taking home millions of cats is unexpected and adorable.  It is easy for the reader to understand and relate to the problems the old man experiences while dealing with this number of felines.  The end of the story takes a surprisingly dark turn when the cats devour each other in a brutal argument over who is cutest, leaving the old man and old woman with only one cat to take care of.  The last kitten, who survived because she never claimed to be cute and was therefore ignored by the other cats, may be a lesson in modesty however a less cannibalistic lesson would be more appropriate for children.

Awards and Reviews

*Newberry Honor (1929)

*SLJ Top 100 Picture Books (2009, 2012)

“More nostalgia. This one, I remember reading to myself when I was very small when we would go to my great-grandmother’s house. She had some old books in her bookcase, and I know I read this one more than once. Since then, I read it to my own sons, and I still love using it in story time. That refrain is unforgettable, and I love getting kids to chant along with me, “Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats!” – Sondra Eklund

Connections

Have students compare and contrast Millions of Cats to One Potato, Two Potato by Cynthia DeFelice. They could compare characters or journal about which couple was more morally sound.

The Caldecott Award was established ten years after the publication of Millions of Cats.  As a writing prompt, have students justify if the illustrations would have warranted receiving this award, had it been available. 

The repetition and chorus of the book is strong.  Using Millions of Cats as a mentor text, have students write a short story with a chorus or repetition.

The Wanda Gag House

Locomotive

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Bibliography

Floca, Brian.  Locomotive.  New York: Athenum Books, 2013.  ISBN 9781416994152

Summary

Set in the early days of the American Trans-Continental railway’s birth, Locomotive follows a small family as they travel from Omaha, Nebraska to the California coast.  As they travel across the wide prairie, up, down and through steep mountain passages, the reader uncovers the inner and outer workings of the majestic locomotive the family rides upon.  Locomotive is a beautiful glimpse into the history of the American railroad.

Analysis

Without moving from his seat, the reader is taken on a steam engine journey through Floca’s detailed illustrations and engaging word choice.  The illustrations move beyond the pictures and into the words themselves, with decorative and distinct text that push the reader to feel the “CHUG-CHUG” of the train’s movement and to hear the “HUFFS and HISSES” of the engine.  The reader connects to the traveling children and feels their adventure and excitement as they move across the nation.  At the same time, the intricate workings of the train and the railway system are examined and explained without feeling like a manual or history book.

Each page presents an entire story in and of itself that deserves to be admired and examined.  The illustrations change in size and format, sometimes taking up a double page spread for a single, detailed image while other pages have multiple illustrations, each showing a unique place, feeling or part of the locomotive.  The reader could easily take multiple passes through the book and continue to find new details that would further inform about the locomotives journey.  The youngest readers would enjoy reading the illustrations, as they tell a story by themselves.

For those who want to learn more about the train, Floca’s free verse is the perfect campaign to the amazing illustrations.  His words flow through the book and around the pictures, pulling the reader to the next page while creating even more vivid image of the journey.  Unobtrusive captions inform of the location of many pictures, allowing a mental map to be made.  Together, Floca’s words and images allow this grand historical achievement to come to life for 21^st century readers.

Awards and Reviews

*Caldecott Medal 2013

*Robert F. Sibert Honor Book

*New York Times Best Illustrated Books of the Year

*Wall Street Journal Top 10 Children’s Books of 2013

“Older children will appreciate the wealth of detail and history, while younger ones will be entranced by the appropriately chugga-chugga rhythm of Floca’s free verse and his abundant use of sound effects (playfully emphasized with well-muscled, 19th-century-style typefaces)…. He’s a brilliant, exacting draftsman; he also knows how to give his pictures a cinematic energy, especially in the way he “cuts” from page to page. A spread showing the train crossing a rickety wooden bridge uses a funny visual trick to jolt your eyeballs along with the passengers. Flipping through this book made me smile with pleasure before I even read it.” –New York Times

“Brian Floca weaves a poetic text and dramatic illustrations into an appealing narrative, providing young readers with both factual information about early train travel and a visceral sense of what it must have been like to climb aboard an iron horse in 1869…. Carefully varied perspectives — from spectacular close-ups of wheels meeting tracks to lonely long shots of a toy-size string of cars lost in a vast sea of grass — as well as wildly varying fonts give readers a sense of the thump-and-bump, start-and-stop, rush-and-wait of this week-long excursion.” –The Washington Post

Connections

To connect to social studies, students could make a map showing the path of the trans-continental railway and marking significant points from the book.

Students could examine and compare the historical role of trains in America, using additional texts such as Train to Somewhere or The Orphan Rider.

To connect today with the past, students could read articles about modern day trains, then compare and contrast with the steam locomotive.  Alternatively, they could research the history of the development of rail and make a timeline that tells major milestones.

Brian Floca’s Caldecott acceptance speech

2013 National Book Festival Speech

Floca's Website