RM Winter 2017 FINAL

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Reading Matters
Literature Matters
| 72| Reading Matters | Volume 16 • Winter 2016 |
Funny Bones: Posada and His
Day of the Dead Calaveras
Tonatiuh, Duncan. (2015). 40 pages. Abrams.
978-1-4197-1647-8 $18.95 (Intermediate)
– by Amy Bray
Calaveras (“skeletons
performing all sorts of activities,
both everyday and festive”) are a
staple image in Mexican culture.
This biography, winner of the
2016 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award, explores the
life of an artist named José Guadalupe Posada (called Don Lupe)
and how his love for art developed into these images that are
still seen today in Mexico and around the world. Don Lupe used
lithography to create many beautiful images, but he was most
famous for his images of calaveras. One double-paged spread
demonstrates the step-by-step process involved in lithography.
During the time around the Día de Muertos, Don Lupe and his
friend Don Antonio created literary calaveras, “short rhyming
poems that featured a skeleton and made jokes about him or her”
(p. 16), for people to buy on the street. Numerous illustrations
incorporated throughout the book feature literary calaveras.
The illustrations complement the storyline by depicting the
life of Don Lupe as well as cultural and historical events taking
place in Mexico. The book concludes with an explanation of
the Day of the Dead followed by a glossary of both Spanish
and English words, a bibliography, art credits for the art that
was not done by Duncan Tonatiuh himself, an index, and
information about where Don Lupe’s work is located in the
United States. From beginning to end, this book keeps the reader
informed and intrigued through both the artwork and text.
Waiting Is Not Easy
Willems, Mo. (2014). 57 pages. Hyperion.
978-1-42319-957-1 $9.99 (Primary)
–Sydney Fossing
Have you ever heard the
expression, “It was worth the wait?”
Well, in Mo Willems’s book, Waiting
Is Not Easy, this saying is put to use
in the most amusing way. The story
begins by Piggie telling his best
friend, Gerald, that he has a BIG
surprise for him. Gerald, being the worrier that he is, absolutely
cannot wait for this surprise and must find out what it is right
away. However, Piggie puts Gerald’s patience to the test and
makes him wait, wait, and wait some more for this supposedly
incredible surprise. Gerald groans and pleads for Piggie to just tell
him right away, but Piggie simply tells him that “It will be worth it”
(p. 37). After pages and pages of Gerald’s impatient behavior, the
surprise is finally revealed to be the most spectacular night sky.
In the end, Gerald learns that some things are truly worth
waiting for. Mo Willems adds comic elements to this cartoon book
allowing the reader to see the distress Gerald feels throughout
the story. His choice of a plain background throughout the book
gives readers a chance to really focus on the characters’ words
and facial expressions rather than an elaborate background.
This trend continues until Piggie finally reveals his big surprise
and then the page is taken over by an abundance of stars. This
transition from a simple background to an extravagant one
makes Piggie’s surprise that much better, truly emphasizing the
theme of the story. This book is sure to remind children that while
sometimes waiting may not be easy, in the end it may be worth it.
Gone Crazy in Alabama
Williams-Garcia, Rita. (2015). 293 pages.
Amistad/HarperCollins. 978-0-06221-587-1
$16.99 (Intermediate)
– Brittany McCollum
Cultural differences play a huge
role in Gone Crazy in Alabama
as the Gaither sisters, Delphine,
Vonetta, and Fern, leave their
Brooklyn home to visit the very
southern state of Alabama. There
they learn that not everyone fights against oppression in the
way northerners in Brooklyn do. What seems to be just a visiting
vacation turns into a time to come together as a family, despite
past events, when disaster strikes them in Alabama. On this
summer trip, the girls discover their hidden family history through
over-the-creek conversations. While visiting their grandmother,
Big Ma, and their great-grandmother, Ma Charles Trotter, they
learn they aren’t the only set of sisters with differences in this
family. The feuding Trotter sisters, Ma Charles and her sister Miss
Trotter, who lives over-the-creek, have many disagreements
and a hurtful past that leads to an estranged relationship. It isn’t
until a tragedy strikes this family that they finally decide to come
together and put their differences aside. This novel with a serious
topic, lightened by a comical edge with the three sisters, should
be read by all. It is sure to spark conversations about cultural
differences and the importance of family. Gone Crazy in Alabama
serves as an engaging read for those of all ages that only gets
better when paired with the other two novels (One Crazy Summer,
2010 and P.S. Be Eleven, 2013) in this award-winning trilogy.