National Children's Book Week

This week is National Children's Book Week, and in as much as Marguerite is a serious fan of such,  I asked her if she would be my guest blogger for the event. Her contribution follows:

Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold (New York: Crown Publishers, 1991)

I have often thought that anyone who had no particular reason to browse the children’s section of the public library was missing an opportunity to discover an absolute treasure of wonderful books, many of which I would describe as “not for children only.” Included in this sub-genre are books that are essentially brief memoirs of the author’s childhood, books that tell fascinating and often little known stories from the pages of history, books that are illustrated by acclaimed works of art, and books that are examples of writing that conveys ideas, feelings, and information in creative, sometimes quirky, and often inspiring language.  Tar Beach is one of my favorite examples.

Tar Beach began as a story quilt, a piece of fabric art that now hangs in New York’s Guggenheim Museum. Reproductions from the quilt are the illustrations for the children’s book.  Both tell the story of a young girl and her family who seek respite from the summer heat of their New York City apartment by joining their neighbors on Tar Beach, the roof of their apartment building.  After a delicious-looking picnic supper, the adults play cards while the little girl, entranced by the lights of the George Washington Bridge beckoning in the distance, drifts of to sleep and dreams of flying over that bridge that her own daddy, an ironworker, helped to build, wearing its string of lights like a necklace.  She dreams, too, of flying over the union house her daddy also helped to build, even though he couldn’t join the union because of his black and Indian ancestry, and she dreams of a life where her daddy always has a job, and her family can have ice cream for dessert every night.

I was originally drawn to this book for sentimental reasons, as I, too, spent many a summer night in my early years on my own family’s tar beach, not too far from the George Washington Bridge.  But I became fascinated by the art work, by the very idea, first of all, that a quilt could tell a story, and then that the art work of the quilt could be used to illustrate a picture book.  I have since discovered many other children’s books illustrated with fabric art.  Briefly, here are three wonderful examples. 

In Memories of Survival by Esther Nisenthal Krinitz and Bernice Steinhardt (New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2005), Krinitz uses her skills of embroidery to tell the heart rending story of her survival of the Nazi occupation of her Polish home town. 

In The Whispering Cloth: A Refugee’s Story by Pegi Deitz Shea (Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 1995), as a young Hmong girl learns the traditional art of making story cloths, she also finds the means of telling the story of her parents’ death, a story too painful for words.

Quilt of States: Piecing Together America, written by Adrienne Yorinks and 50 librarians across the nation, with quilts by Adrienne Yorinks (Washington D.C: National Geographic, 2005), literally depicts the growth of the United States, quilt piece by quilt piece, as each state is added to the original thirteen colonies.  Brief descriptions of each state’s early history, contributed by librarians from each state, add intriguing bits of information to this lovely work of art. 

I could go on, but I hope that mention of these few titles will entice you to take a closer look at the many wonderful books sitting on the shelves of the children’s collection that are definitely “not for children only."

-----

Image: Graffiti in the Cafe Allegro necessary

Comments

[Staci M]

This version of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen is a treat for both kids and adults

http://snowqueen.us

The artwork and storytelling..absolutely gorgeous. It's illustrated by a famous Ukrainian artist, and it would be a shame to miss out.

[Lorcan]

I was reminded of Marguerite's list of children's books for adults when I came across this list of adult books for teens.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/top10s/top10/0,,1942424,00.html