The Snowy Day: Diversity and Honesty into the 21st Century

The Snowy Day: Diversity and Honesty into the 21st Century

Article 4

by Lyn Lacy

5000 words

In memory of Ezra Jack Keats (1916-1983) and Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) and for David Shannon (1959—), giants in children’s literature who have honestly shown us what little boys can be made of.

 

    In the first half of the 20th century, truthfulness about less-than-perfect children was swept under the rug in favor of a tidy Victorian portrayal of pleasant, well-behaved young ladies and gentleman. American parents preferred early British illustrators Kate Greenaway and Beatrix Potter and American illustrator Jesse Willcox Smith, all of whom presented sweet stories and pictures about little ones and baby animals.

    Just as rowdy behavior was frowned upon, so also was racial and ethnic diversity rarely evident. In fact, picture books perpetuated stereotypes of African-American as servants and Native American as “noble savages”, as in two Caldecott Medalists, They Were Strong and Good (1940) by Robert Lawson and The Rooster Crows (1945) by Maud and Miska Petersham. (The Petershams’ book was reprinted in 1987 without offensive illustration.) Even in the 1960s, an alligator in a headdress represented “I is for Indian” in Alligators All Around: An Alphabet (1962) by Maurice Sendak. 

    Such illustrations influenced each new batch of white American children that came along to view minorities in the same way their elders had, keeping alive into the 21st century an “us and them” mentality— such as the issue of “Indians” as sports mascots, even though Native people throughout the country protested for over seventy years and continue to demand the right to be treated with as much respect as their fellow citizens (Lacy, “’Indian’ Stereotypes in Children’s Picture Books,” Minneapolis Public Schools, 1986).  

    Important exceptions during this period were Hispanic children realistically portrayed by illustrators, such as Leo Politi in his Caldecott Honor Books, Pedro, the Angel of Olvera Street, (1946) and Juanita (1948) and 1950 Caldecott Medalist, Song of the Swallows (1949). Marie Hall Ets also contributed contemporary Hispanics in Gilberto and the Wind (1963) and in1960 Caldecott Medalist, Nine Days to Christmas (1959), written by Aurora Labistida. And Japanese children were sensitively portrayed by Taro Yashima in Caldecott Honor Books, Crow Boy (1955), Umbrella (1958) and Seashore Story (1967).

    However, two prolific young artists (who had been spending their early careers in New York illustrating other people’s texts) were both given a chance in the early 1960s to break free of tradition and illustrate their own stories. Each had a little boy, Peter and Max, who could not have been more different from each other in their adventures. The  book designs were also as different as they could be, but each illustrator in his own way guided the world of American picture books in a new direction.

    The two illustrators were Ezra Jack Keats (1916-1983) and Maurice Sendak (1928-2012). Keats received the 1963 Caldecott Medal for The Snowy Day (1962), and the next year Sendak was awarded the Medal for Where the Wild Things Are (1963),

    These titles signaled a new age for stories and pictures, and both authors/illustrators initially provoked criticism with their bold moves into areas not seen before. However, six decades later, proof that each artist has captured the hearts of the picture-book audience came with the news in 2020 that The Snowy Day is the most checked-out book in New York Public Library’s history, being checked out 485,583 times, and Where the Wild Things Are is fourth on the list, checked out 436,016 times. (NYTimes, 13 January 2020).

    Keats not only presented mixed-media as an introduction to collage for an exciting medium in picture-book art, but his Medalist was the first to portray an African-American child as the main character. “My hero would be a black child,” the artist said. “I made many sketches and studies of black children, so that Peter would not be a white kid colored brown.” Keats was also inspired by four photographs of a little black boy in the May 13, 1940, Life magazine that he had kept tacked to his studio wall for over twenty years. 

    As Andrea Davis Pinkney said in the author’s note for her “tapestry narrative,” A Poem for Peter (2016), illustrated by Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson, “As an African-American child growing up in the 1960s, at a time when I didn’t see others like me in children’s books, I was profoundly affected by the expressiveness of Keats’s illustrations…Interestingly, the ad copy and the text of the book never mention Peter’s race, which speaks to the story’s universal celebration of every child having fun.” 

    Unthinkable today, however, Keats faced criticism for The Snowy Day by the Council on Interracial Books for Children in the 1960s and early 1970s because its creator was a white man with “no right to fashion books about black characters, stealing money from legitimate African-American creators. But with nearly two million copies in print, The Snowy Day alone would confirm Keats’s place in the pantheon of great children’s book creators. To have made one of the two picture-book masterpieces of the early 1960s would be enough of a legacy. But by bringing multicultural publishing to the forefront of our consciousness, Keats has influenced children’s books for decades…The very success of The Snowy Day opened the door for…an extraordinarily talented group of African-American authors and illustrators who began their work in the 1960s and 1970s” and succeeding generations of African-American creators stand on “the shoulders of giants” like Keats (Anita Silvey, Introduction to Keats’s Neighborhood, Viking, 2002). 

    Meanwhile, Sendak had already pictured unruly little boys like bossy James who took all the crayons in Let’s Be Enemies by Janice May Udry (1961). The next year he wrote as well as illustrated Pierre (A Cautionary Tale), about a sassy boy who obstinately proclaimed about any and everything, “I don’t care!”  When Sendak published Where the Wild Things Are, the mischief-maker was Max – disobedient, defiant, dictatorial, destructive, and yes, homesick and despondent, but only toward the end.

    All the things parents and grandparents know to be true about kids—pouting, tears, exuberance, joy, love, glee—would now begin to be explored through children’s literature. As Sendak explained, “The great nineteenth-century fantasy that paints childhood as an eternally innocent paradise bores the eyeteeth out of children…What is too often overlooked is the fact that from their earliest years children live on familiar terms with disrupting emotions, that fear and anxiety are an intrinsic part of their everyday lives, that they continually cope with frustration as best they can…It seems a distortion, rather, to pretend to a child that his life is a never-ending ring-around-the-rosie.” 

    Fifty years since the two books were published have seen other Peters, Maxes and Maxines in marvelous picture books –including David Shannon’s “David” series– walk right in, sit right down and make themselves at home in our hearts. Thanks in large part to all that Sendak and Keats did, a flood of titles in the 21st-century bring diversity and honest approaches to children who are both naughty and nice, with incredibly innovative artwork and an abundance of people of color. Gentle suggestions for conversation starters are given an asterisk* at the beginning of the following reviews for titles that have the power to help children open up about their own feelings and behaviors.

2000  Shaun Tan (Australian, 1974-), Author and Illustrator.  The Red Tree, Vancouver: Simply Read Books, 32 pp, 9.5” x 12.5”

    *Depression, but with a little sign of hope

    A little girl has a room piled so high with worries that she runs away, only to have a sad journey outside with more troubles at every turn. The colors are very dark, but notice that Tan placed a bright red leaf on every page, like a cheerful promise of joy to come. The artist writes that he wants his art to “say something that is true to real life,” and that his wordless book “is inspired by the impulse of children and adults alike to describe feelings using metaphor - monsters, storms, sunshine, rainbows, and so on.” The Red Tree can be found in a collection, Lost & Found: Three (2011). In the author/illustrator’s Cicada (2019), an industrious bug never gets respect at work, and in Rules of Summer (2014), a little boy learns about arbitrary rules, his bossy brother, despair and hope.

2001  Jerry Pinkney (American, 1939-), Illustrator. Goin’ Someplace Special by Patricia C. McKissack, Atheneum, 40 pp, 8.6” x 11.5”

     *Life can be unfair, but you’re not alone

    “The girl squared her shoulders, walked to the back, and took a seat…Tricia Ann rides the bus to the library, her favorite special place, a place her grandmother calls ‘a doorway to freedom.’” The time for this story is before the civil rights movement when ‘Tricia Ann must sit in the back of the bus because she is African American, and her face reflects her pain, anger, and dignity as she wonders why life’s so unfair. Friends along the way remind her she's not alone in her frustration, and she returns quietly triumphant from her bittersweet journey downtown. An illustrator of over sixty books, Pinkney was awarded the 2010 Caldecott Medal for The Lion and the Mouse (2009) (see Article 5). 

2003  R. Gregory Christie (American, 1971-), Illustrator. Yesterday I Had the Blues by Jeron Ashford Frame, Random House, 32 pp, 8.9” x 11.4”

*Maybe you feel blue? Waiting for a sunny yellow day?

A boy talks about moods as colors of the rainbow – he’s got “the go away, Mr. Sun, quit smilin’ at me blues” while his sister’s got a joyful case of the ballet-dancing pinks. Christie says, “I guess we all have had our bad days from 2 years old and up. So perhaps people like the ability to listen to a small boy's seemingly tragic day, written and pictured in a very beautiful way?” He was awarded a 2017 Caldecott Honor Book for illustrations in Freedom in Congo Square (2016) written by Carole Boston Weatherford. 

2003  Mo Willems (American, 1968-), Author and Illustrator. Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus! Hyperion, 32pp, 8.8” x 8.8”

    *Begging for something (even when you know it’s not good for you!)

    With childishly simple line drawings, the stubborn and willful attitude of the very young comes through loud and clear with Pigeon. Just as a mother says no to a child, the bus driver forbids the pigeon to drive his bus, so Pigeon pouts, wheedles, cajoles and shouts that the audience must allow him to do what he isn’t supposed to do. He explains his cousin Herb drives a bus almost every day, he bribes with a promise of five bucks and he finally pleads that, after all, he has dreams too. Willems wrote about his 2004 Caldecott Honor Book, “Born in the margins of my notebook filled with potential picture book ideas, my doodles of Pigeon were complaining that his ideas were better than mine,” so he created seven more picture books about Pigeon.

2007  Mo Willems (American, 1968-), Author and Illustrator. Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case Of Mistaken Identity, Hyperion, 32pp, 8.8” x 8.8”

*Making a first best friend

Willems was awarded a 2008 Caldecott Honor Book for his second in a series about Knuffle Bunny, in which Trixie’s stuffed toy is accidentally taken home by a classmate before dad comes to the rescue yet again (and Trixie has found a friend). Starting in Willem’s 2005 Honor Book, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale (see Article 5), parents and grandparents have recognized such toddler behaviors as a “boneless” meltdown when they see one. Dad’s frustration grows when he simply can not understand Trixie’s baby talk, but he finds the toy and saves the day. The series continued with Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion (2010).

2008  Chris Raschka (American, 1959-), Illustrator. Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie by Norton Juster, Di Capua, 32pp, 10.5” x 11.5”

    *“You’re not my mama!” never gets you anywhere

    “NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO I WON’T DO IT! NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER I’M NOT LISTENING WHO CARES YOU CAN’T MAKE ME I WILL NOT COOPERATE! NO GO AWAY!” All the vignettes of Sourpuss show her as a strong-willed little tyrant until she finally curls up with exhaustion and whimpers, “I don’t like you anymore.” With love from her patient Nanna and Poppy, she can go quickly from Sourpuss to Sweetie Pie. Juster and Raschka had teamed up earlier about Poppy and Nanna with their granddaughter for the 2006 Caldecott winner, The Hello, Goodbye Window (2005). Raschka also wrote and illustrated Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle (2013), in which a father and daughter face her challenge together.

2008 Uri Shulevitz (American, 1935-), Author and Illustrator. How I Learned Geography, Farrar Straus Giroux, 32pp, 10.3” x 10.3”

*Sometimes grownups can be right—more than we even imagined

As a child, Shulevitz survived the Warsaw blitz of 1939 and fled with his parents to Turkestan, where the family lived in poverty. He tells a story in his 2009 Caldecott Honor Book about how furious he was with his father who brought home a map instead of bread from the marketplace. He thought he would never forgive him, and his despair is eloquently shown by his huddled figure beneath a blanket. After studying the map, however, and spending enchanted hours being “transported far away without ever leaving our room,” he did forgive his father and admit, “He was right, after all.” 

The dark and somber palette changes to vibrant explosions of color as he imagines flying high overhead exotic landscapes, reminiscent of the hero’s flight in the illustrator’s 1969 Caldecott Medalist The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship (1968). The contented boyish smile on sandy beaches and in shady fruit groves conveys all the joy young Shulevitz found “far from our hunger and misery.” Among forty books, another picture book was about the illustrator’s childhood, When I Wore My Sailor Suit (2009), and he received two more Honor Book awards for The Treasure (1979) and Snow (1999).

2011 Javaka Steptoe (American,–), Illustrator. What's Special About Me, Mama? by Kristina Evans, Jump At the Sun, 32 pp, 10.4” x 8.4”

*What would we do without those we love?

A mother and child’s back-and-forth conversation about what makes the boy special to her is warmly intimate in Steptoe’s textured-paper collages, which are perfect backgrounds for the mother’s large, brightly-colored hand-lettered responses. The illustrator’s bold paper collages also excel in Hot Day on Abbott Avenue (2019) by Karen English, in which best friends Kishi and Renée each wait for the other to apologize after a breakup, even though they’re bored without each other’s friendship. Steptoe was awarded the 2017 Caldecott Medal for his biography, Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (2016), the young graffiti artist who overcame family hardships to ultimately achieve world-wide fame for his paintings (see Article 5). He also illustrated In Daddy’s Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers (2013) by Folami Abiade and a dozen other authors.

2012 David Ezra Stein (American,–), Author and Illustrator. Interrupting Chicken, Candlewick, 40 pp, 8.7” x 10.6” 

*Maybe someone’s begging for attention?

  An irrepressible kid who just can’t resist interrupting a story is well known to anyone who has read aloud to one. Stein’s mixed-media illustrations in his 2013 Caldecott Honor Book engage the reader in moments both funny and sweet as Little Chicken and her exasperated father enjoy story time, each in their own ways. Stein’s sequel is Interrupting Chicken and the Elephant of Surprise (2018), and he illustrated The Worm Family Has Its Picture Taken (2021) by Jennifer Frank, in which a young worm learns to be proud of her family. 

2013  Courtney Pippin-Mathur (American, 1976-), Author and Illustrator. Maya Was Grumpy, Brooklyn: Flashlight Press, 32 pp, 10.2” x 10.2”

*There’s just something about grandmas

Pippin-Mathur writes about Maya’s hair getting bigger and wilder as she gets grumpier, ”My daughter was three years old and stomping around the living room with her curls bouncing to show everyone just how grumpy she felt. I thought how funny it would be to have a little girl's hair grow as her mood got worse. I added a grandma because my grandmother was the only person who could ever jostle me out of my crispy, cranky, grouchy moods.” To calm Maya down, Grandma suggests a trip to the park, where all the wild things Maya had emulated in her grouchy mood are found to be playground equipment. Pippin-Mathur published Dragons Rule, Princesses Drool! In 2017.

2015 Molly Bang (American, -), Author and Illustrator. When Sophie’s Feelings Are Really, Really Hurt, Blue Sky Press, 40 pp, 8.9”xX10.2”

*“If they don’t get it, that’s their problem, not mine,” said every artist ever

Sophie paints a picture of her favorite tree, but it looks sad being gray. So she paints it a vibrant blue with an orange sky behind it to make the tree look happy. She is hurt and begins to question her choices when classmates laugh at her colorful, expressive painting and tell her it’s wrong because it’s different. The class looks at all of the trees painted by classmates and realize that every tree is different, there isn't a wrong way to do art and they should enjoy expressing themselves. This is a sequel to 2000 Caldecott Honor Book, When Sophie Gets Angry—Really Really Angry (1999), in which Bang floods her pages with red and orange in a demonstration of how ugly anger can be (see Article 5). She published another book about Sophie, When Sophie Thinks She Can’t…(2018).

2016 Raul Nieto Guridi (Spanish–), Illustrator. The Day I Became a Bird, by Ingrid Chabbert, Kids Can Press, 40pp, 8.4” x 11”

*Making new friends means finding out what they like

First love looks pretty familiar when a boy is in love with the girl who sits in front of him at school, but she has no time for the likes of him. Sylvia in only interested in birds, so in order to attract her attention, he builds a fantastic bird costume, shown in delicate pen-and-ink drawings. Wearing it makes him feel handsome even though classmates make fun of it, until the day arrives when Sylvia finally sees him. The author-illustrator team also published The Last Tree (2017) and A Drop of the Sea (2018).

2017 Michael Emberley (American–), Illustrator. Priscilla Gorilla by Barbara Bottner, Atheneum, 40pp, 8” x 10.5”

*Going with the flow

Priscilla is another little girl who is single-minded in her obsession, this time with gorillas, and she wears her gorilla pajamas everywhere, even when it is picture day at school. After being “invited” to sit in the “Thinking Corner” after a clash of wills with her teacher and getting some help from her parents in understanding that gorillas can also be cooperative, she sort of apologizes. A field trip to the zoo results in a spontaneous, four-page gorilla dance similar to the exuberance in Sendak’s “wild rumpus” scenes. 

2018 Jessica Love (American–), Author and Illustrator. Julián Is a Mermaid, Candlewick, 40 pp, 9.4” x 10.3”

*Doing things differently is absolutely, perfectly, categorically ok

A little boy on a train with his grandmother sees ladies dressed up as mermaids (going to a party? an audition?), and when he gets home he creates his own fabulous mermaid costume—a curtain for a tail and fronds from a potted fern for a headdress. But what will his abuela think of him dressed up as female? All children should be as supported as this happy little boy whose grandmother loves him just as he is and wants him to be himself. Love continued the story of Julián and his abuela, this time with cousin Marisol, in Julián at the Wedding (2020).

2018 Matthew Cordell (American–), Author and Illustrator. King Alice, Macmillan, 40pp, 8.7” X 11.3”

*Hey, Dad, you got a super duper “IDEA!” 

On a snowy indoor day, bossy Alice decides to write a book about herself as King Alice the First. (When pressed by her father, she insists she is not Queen, but he gets to be Princess Dad and mother and baby will be royal brave knights). As the family goes along with the scenario, Cordell captures perfectly the way kids talk when they’re pretending—“This is some delicious tea!” and “I’m so, so, so, so, so sorry I bonked you with my unicorn, Daddy.” Cordell illustrated in pen and ink, colored pencil and watercolor again in his 2018 Caldecott Medalist Wolf in the Snow (2017) with a stunning new departure for the shape of a child in a red coat (see Article 5), similar to Keats in The Snowy Day (1962). Cordell also illustrated Special Delivery (2015) by Philip C. Stead and The Knowing Book by Rebecca Kai Dotlich, whose text urges readers to take risks by exploring the world.

2018 Pamela Zagarenski (American,–), Illustrator. Zola’s Elephant by Randall de Sève, Houghton Mifflin, 40pp, 9” x 11”

*Jumping to conclusions can result in “Uh oh.” 

A shy little girl figures that a new neighbor Zola will not want to be her friend because she has a friend already—surely it’s an elephant, which is the only thing possible in the enormous box being moved into Zola’s new home. Zagarenski’s colorful, digital and mixed-media illustrations portray all the chummy adventures Zola must be having with her elephant, until the reality of Zola’s own loneliness is shown and the little girl next door is brave enough to make her acquaintance. Zagarenki has been awarded two Caldecott Honor Books, Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors (2009), written by Joyce Sidman and Sleep Like a Tiger (2012), written by Mary Logue (see Article 5). She also illustrated What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms, and Blessings (2013), a collection of poems by Sidman that “provides comfort, courage and humor at difficult or daunting moments in life” for ages 12 and up.

2018 David Shannon (American,– ), Author and Illustrator. Grow Up, David!, Blue Sky Press, 32pp, 8.5” x 11”

*Long Love the Kings of Mayhem—David and Max!

As the fifth in his David Books series, Shannon continues in precise detail all the ways little David can cause trouble, this time by pestering his big brother. The first in the series, 1999 Caldecott Honor Book, No, David! (1998), introduced the irrepressible little boy as obvious heir apparent to Max, Sendak’s mischief-maker “of one kind and another.” Shannon has said, “A few years ago, my mother sent me a book I made when I was a little boy. The text consisted entirely of the words ‘no’ and ‘David’ – they were the only words I knew how to spell – and it was illustrated with drawings of David doing all sorts of things he wasn’t supposed to do.” 

Shannon wants his illustrations to look like a kid drew them. He draws round heads and nubby teeth just like he did when he was five years old. He has a child’s viewpoint by showing adults from the waist down and went on to create a series also for babies about this rowdy “21st-century Max.” Shannon’s other books portray spot-on understandings about  children’s sensibilities, as in Alice the Fairy (2004), A Bad Case of Stripes (2004) and Too Many Toys (2008).  

2019 Rudy Gutierrez (American,–), Illustrator. Double Bass Blues by Andrea J. Loney, Knopf, 32pp, 10.2” x 10.4”

*Teasing, taunting and tormenting can’t stop you

In this 2020 Caldecott Honor Book, Nic is a little boy struggling to haul his double bass home from school while he is teased by the other boys, pelted by the rain and tormented on the bus by grownups for taking up too much room. Determined, resolute and resilient, Nic makes the journey to his granddaddy’s jam session and improvises a jazz solo using all the street sounds he has heard along the way (see Article 5).

2019 Vashti Harrison (American, –), Illustrator. Sulwe, by Lupita Nyong’o, Simon and Schuster, 48pp, 9” x 11.4” 

*Black Is Beautiful

A little girl born the color of midnight (and whose name means “star” in the Kenyan language) is teased by her schoolmates and tormented emotionally because she is not lighter-skinned like the rest of her family. Mama comforts her after she tries everything from erasers to diet to makeup to prayer for her skin to be lighter. A shooting star brings magic into her room to celebrate Night and Day, “the dark and beautiful, bright and strong.” Harrison also illustrated Hair Love (2019) by Matthew A. Cherry, a true-to-life depiction of a loving father and his independent little daughter, and How to Become a Fairy Handbook (2021) by Gill Guggenheim, Brooke Vitale, et al., in which Princess Emunah learns that fairies are known for good acts like generosity and forgiveness. 

2019 Oge Mora (American,–), Author and Illustrator. Saturday, Little Brown, 40pp, 10.4” x 10.5”

*A special person makes a special day

Ava’s mother works six days a week, so when Saturday rolls around the two of them cherish their time together. When everything goes wrong to ruin their trip, Mom has a meltdown and needs her loving daughter to remind her that just being together is the part of Saturday that makes it special. Mora’s radiant, warm and mellow cut-paper collages create each character’s sweet face, just as they did when strangers arrived at the door for Omu’s stew in her 2019 Honor Book, Thank You, Omu! (see Article 5). 

2019 OHora, Zachariah (American, –), Illustrator. Who Wet My Pants? by Bob Shea, Little Brown, 40pp., 8.8”x11.2”

*With friends there to help, things aren’t too bad

Reuben the bear is the familiar kid in a family or class at school who angrily blames everyone else when something goes wrong. When that plaintive strategy does not work, he claims the awful thing causing the problem was broken to begin with and thus, the “accident” is no one’s fault after all. So it is when Reuben wets himself, he gets away without accepting any responsibility and spends the rest of the day without wearing the offensive “leaky broken pants.”  His buddies are empathetic in ways that suggest they’ve found themselves in a similar situation, and they field Reuben’s accusations with such comforting words as, “It could happen to anyone.”  OHora wrote and illustrated Fuzzy, Inside and Out: A Story About Small Acts of Kindness and Big Hair (2021).

2019 Sydney Smith (Canadian,–), Author and Illustrator. Small in the City, Neal Porter Books, 40 pp., 7.3”x11.3”

*Feeling anxious, but then maybe things aren’t so scary after all

When you are little, bustling city streets with their crowds, towering buildings and traffic on a cold winter’s day can be scary. People rush past and don’t see you, loud noises startle and confuse you, and not knowing what to do next, which way to go or who to ask are big worries for a small person. Smith’s book is a quiet monologue by one little boy on the courage needed by the very young to overcome their fears and strike out into the big, loud world to discover all that is out there. He illustrated I Talk Like a River (2020) by Jordan Scott, “a book for any child who feels lost, lonely, or unable to fit in.”

2020 Margaret Chodos-Irvine (American,–), Illustrator. Where Lily Isn’t, written by Julie Paschkis, Henry Holt, 32pp, 9.3” x 11.2”

*Sadness with sweet memories

All the little things that make a girl love a small, brown dog named Lily change to all the things no longer done by Lily after she is gone. The descriptions and illustrations communicate the girl’s sadness while also showing her acceptance and loving memories for one she has lost. Chodos-Irvine is author and illustrator of the 2004 Caldecott Honor Book, Ella Sarah Gets Dressed (2003), in which the five-year-old defies her family’s suggestions that she wear something other than mismatched clothes (see Article 5). Their objections only bring about pouting, stomping and throwing a toy, three scenes with delightfully recognizable postures and gestures, matched only by a double page spread of charming vignettes showing how a little girl dresses herself. After Ella Sarah gets dressed, her friends arrive for a tea party, each sporting—of course—his/her own five-year-old fashion sense Chodos-Irvine also illustrated Best Best Friends (2006), in which jealousy threatened a friendship. 

2020 Molly Idle (American,–), Illustrator. We Believe in You, written by Beth Ferry, Roaring Brook Press, 32pp, 10.3” x 10.34” 

*Believing in yourself

For this poetic text, Idle creates warm, honest illustrations that inspire children to do what they can do best, even if that is just being themselves. Lingering on pictures that show others in activities that are funny and fun validate that even the youngest or smallest or shortest or plumpest can live up to who they are. Messages are many: affirmation of our own uniqueness does not mean we can not rejoice in others’ achievements; families may value different things, so bringing everyone together encourages a sense of how diverse communities are; and everyone faces many of the same challenges. See also Idle’s 2014 Honor Book Flora and the Flamingo (2013) in Article 5.

Ordering Bibliography

Bang, Molly. When Sophie’s Feelings Are Really, Really Hurt, 2015, Blue Sky Press 

Bottner, Barbara. Priscilla Gorilla illustrated by Michael Emberley, 2017, Atheneum 

Chabbert, Ingrid. The Day I Became a Bird, illustrated by Raul Nieto Guridi, 2016, Kids Can Press

Cordell, Matthew. King Alice, 2018, Mcmillan 

de Sève, Randall. Zola’s Elephant illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, 2018, Houghton Mifflin

Evans, Kristina. What's Special About Me, Mama? Illustrated by Javaka Steptoe, 2011, Little Brown

Frame, Jeron Ashford. Yesterday I Had the Blues, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, 2003, Random House  

Juster, Norton. Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie illustrated by Chris Raschka, 2008, Di Capua 

Loney, Andrea J. Double Bass Blues illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez, 2019, Knopf 

Love, Jessica. Julián Is a Mermaid, 2018, Candlewick 

McKissack, Patricia C. Goin’ Someplace Special, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, 2001, Atheneum

Mora, Oge. Saturday, 2019, Little Brown

Nyong’o, Lupita. Sulwe, illustrated by Vashti Harrison, 2019, Simon and Schuster 

Paschkis, Julie. Where Lily Isn’t, illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine, 2020, Henry Holt 

Pippin-Mathur, Courtney. Maya Was Grumpy, 2013, Flashlight Press

Shannon, David. Grow Up, David!, 2018, Blue Sky Press

Shea, Bob. Who Wet My Pants? illustrated by Zachariah OHora, 2019, Little Brown

Shulevitz, Uri. How I Learned Geography, 2008, Farrar 

Smith, Sydney. Small in the City, 2019, Neal Porter Books

Stein, David Ezra. Interrupting Chicken, 2012, Candlewick 

Tan, Shaun. The Red Tree, 2000, Vancouver: Simply Read Books 

Willems, Mo. Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus! 2003, Hyperion

Willems, Mo. Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, 2004, Hyperion