Juvenile Illustrated Fiction

Over the last few years, publishers have been producing more and more picture books in which the concept or the subject or the length of the text were not meant for Preschoolers. Sometimes we put these books in with the chapter books and they never got checked out. Sometimes we put them in the picture book bins and worried about them. Sometimes they were placed in the non-fiction and then nobody found them. Librarians throughout the Pacific Northwest have told me that they made a separate section in their children's room for these books. We have decided to follow their lead. Look for the special displays at each of the public library branches. All these JIF books will have a light blue dot on the bottom of the spine. Here are a few I especially like.

 

The Art and Industry of Sandcastles by Jan Adkins is a many layered book about sand castles and real castles and chivalry and history. It explains all the parts of a real castle and shows it in terms of a sandcastle. Why and when castles were built is also told. This is a fascinating book that is well worth perusal.

 

Kites Sail High: A Book About Verbs by Ruth Heller is on of her many colorful books on parts of speech. I know that doesn't sound very exciting, but her pictures are wonderful. I have encouraged middle school teachers to use these books with their students, and they have, with great success.

 

The Mountains of Tibet by Mordicai Gerstein is about a boy in Tibet who grows to manhood and then old age. When he dies, he is given the choice to become part of the endless universe or to live another life. The rest of the story tells of all the many choices he has and how he chooses to live his reincarnation.

 

Tales of a Gambling Grandma by Dayal Kaur Khalsa lets the reader in on a very special relationship of a little girl and her Grandma who are best friends. The Grandma takes the little girl to Coney Island, to Chinese restaurants, all over New York and tells her of her trip to California when she took a bath in orange juice. But best of all, she teaches her how to play cards.

 

Elfwyn's Saga by David Wisniewski uses elaborate cut-paper illustrations to tell an Icelandic tale of a girl, blinded by a curse. She is graced by the Hidden Folk however, who help her to grow strong and bold and wise without being able to see. But Gorm the Grim, who cursed the valley, isn't satisfied until he brings a menacing giant crystal, which almost destroys the greenest valley in the North.

Encounter by Jane Yolen shows Christopher Columbus through the eyes of a Taino boy whose life is changed forever by this encounter. Even though Columbus found a people with an established culture and civilization of their own, he claimed the land for his King and Queen. No one listened to a boy whose dreams gave him a warning.





Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting is a heart-breaking story of a homeless boy who lives in an airport with his father, moving from terminal to terminal, trying not to be noticed.

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco takes place in Georgia during the American Civil War. Two boys, one black, one white and both soldiers in the Union Army find themselves wounded and lost in enemy territory. It's a story of death and fear and hope, too. It is a poignant, true story of one of Mz Polacco's ancestors.