I finally caught up with 2020 books. Here is my rather indecisive list of the best of 2020.
1. In the Half Room by Carson Ellis
A half house next to a half tree, filled with half objects, a half cat and even a half person. Reminiscent of Goodnight Moon except whimsical, absurd, and surreal. The more times I read it, the more I loved it!
1. Sugar in Milk by Thrity Umrigar, illustrated by Khoa Le
A young immigrant girl feels homesick, and her aunt tells her a story. A group of refugees landed in a kingdom where they don't speak the language. The king and the refugees speak through symbols. The king shows them a full glass of milk with "no room for more." The refugees show the king a spoonful of sugar which they drop into the milk. The sugar both dissolves and sweetens without it overflowing. The king allows them in, and they promise to add sweetness to life wherever they are. The girl, upon hearing this story, reenters the world with new eyes. "Nothing had changed. And yet, everything had." She goes about her life offering smiles and kindness--sugar--to all around her. She sweetens both her own life and the lives others, and in the process finds a warm home.
Could there be a better book for the year we all just went through? I love how the story is not just one story with one thesis/moral/message. There are many stories and many inspirations to be found in its pages. The illustrations are intricate and beautiful. Elaborate patterns are incorporated into clothing and backgrounds and borders. The legend is framed, reminiscent of old parchment, making it easy to distinguish from the modern story. The illustrator communicates well the feelings in the book--the bleakness of solitude, followed by the literal flowering of kindness.
1. Bunnies on the Bus by Philip Ardagh, illustrated by Ben Mantle
"Bunnies on the Bus! Bunnies on the bus! No wonder there's a fuss about bunnies on the bus!" Every page of this book is jam-packed with bunny havoc. Newspapers, cakes, mail, packages all go flying as they whizz past. The trouble-making bunnies themselves are a bit nuts, hanging out of windows, stuffing carrots into their mouths, chasing after balloons, and the list goes on. And then there are all the stories happening in the background--the front-page escaped convicts conducting another heist, a bear getting ready for a date with his sweetheart, the celebrity hair model lion whose haircut goes terribly wrong (thanks to the bunnies, of course), and this list goes on, too. It rhymes and there's repetition. It's tons of fun all around.
4. My Best Friend by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
The joys of childhood and friendship captured in one book. It only takes moments for two girls who meet in the park to be best friends. Silliness and imagination abound as the girls quack like ducks, pretend to be a pickle, and turn a leaf into a skeleton hand. But it's not just fun and games. They care for one another, try to make things better for each other, and are still best friends, even when they disagree on ice cream flavors. You can see pure, unadulterated joy shining out of the girls faces as they laugh and play. It's hard not to share in it.
5. The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read by Rita L. Hubbard, illustrated by Oge Mora
Mary Walker was born into slavery, forbidden to read. At the age of 15, slavery ended in the US, and while technically she was free to learn, the hardships of life prevented her from pursuing her desire. It wasn't until she was 116, after her entire family had died, that she stepped into a reading class and became the oldest student. It's an amazing story, and this picture book tells it beautifully. It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Oge Mora, and her illustrations shine as they always do here. Rita Lorraine Hubbard's text is excellent also. It was when I read it aloud that I really noticed the beauty of the text: instances of alliteration, the flow of language, the imagery, the little details that make you stop and think. And there was a lovely circularity to the story. Mary sees birds and dreams of freedom and reading as a child at the beginning, and at the end she has learned to read and flies through the air on an airplane, like one of those birds. Beautiful!
6. Rita and Ralph's Rotten Day by Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by Pete Oswald
Rita and Ralph are best friends, but when their play gets a little out of hand and one of them gets hurt, they part ways. Ralph feels bad and Rita is mad. The thing is, in order to get to Rita's house to apologize, there are a number of hills Ralph must climb up and down (4 to be precise), and by the time he goes all that way he's tired and grumpy and doesn't sound particularly sorry. They go back and forth (down the hill and up the hill and down the hill and up the hill and down the hill...) a number of times before finally meeting in the middle in their usual place, both apologizing. Humor is found in the repetitive trips over all those hills, but also in their individual grumpiness. It's a great story about what goes into maintaining friendships when harm, sometimes unintentional and sometimes not, is done. The author's note says, "Nothing feels worse than hurting a friend. Breaking things takes little effort; mending them takes time, humility, and a heap of trips up and down the hills of reconciliation."
7. Polar Bear in the Snow by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Shawn Harris
The title says it all. This is a book about a polar bear in the snow. The almost all white paper cut illustrations are all about texture, lighting, and the occasional black accents that define faces. The effects he's able to create are stunning.
8. Lift by Minh Lê, illustrated by Dan Santat
Iris loves to press elevator buttons. She always presses them--that is until her little brother swoops in and starts pushing them instead. Frustrated, she grabs an old elevator button she sees in the trash and so she can press the button in the privacy of her own bedroom, even if it doesn't do anything. Except that when she presses the button, something does happen. Her bedroom door opens to reveal another world. Humor, imagination, and sibling relationships are all in display in this lushly illustrated picture book.
9. The Fabled Life of Aesop by Ian Lendler, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
Aesop's life was fabled in many ways. Fabled because his name became so well known, fabled because of the fables he told, and fabled because his life itself was a fable. Born a slave, Aesop learned to communicate with his masters through fables. His wisdom was so great that he helped his master become successful both in business and in character. When his master asked if he could reward him, Aesop told another fable, indicating his desire for freedom, which he was granted. It's an incredible story. We don't know if it's really true, but it's inspiring nonetheless. Lendler tells this story well, incorporating Aesop's fables in real-life situations where they might have been used as well as including a collection of fables, some of which are very familiar and others less so. The illustrations are lovely—especially those on glossy pages for the fables themselves. An afterword shares a little historical context and detail.
10. Friday Night Wrestlefest by J. F. Fox, illustrated by Micah Player
"Ladies and gentleman, it's Friday night! That's right. School is out. Dinner was pizza. Annnnd best of all...it's time for...FRIDAY NIGHT WRESTLEFEST Main Event: Battle the Bedtime" Funny, dynamic, saturated with color, this is a ton of fun. And yes, it is a bedtime book.
10. Prairie Days by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrated by Micah Archer
Big sky and endless prairies are the hallmarks of a childhood in Wyoming, lovingly remembered in Prairie Days. The collage illustrations are vibrant and stunning.
Honorable Mention:
Bedtime for Sweet Creatures by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon
If You Come to Earth by Sophie Blackall
On Account of the Gum by Adam Rex
Drawing on Walls: A Story of Keith Haring by Matthew Burgess, illustrated by Josh Cochran
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