Every time I get used to aging, I find a new surprise. I've weathered wrinkles, gray hairs, and forgetting my age, but my newest shock is discovering they're writing children's history picture books about the era I grew up in!
William Miller's The Bus Ride is a tribute to Rosa Parks . Young Sara and her mother ride the bus daily. One day, after her mother gets off to "work in the kitchens of white people", Sara wonders what's so special about the front of the bus and walks forward. Surrounded by a sea of white anger, Sara is lonely and afraid, but her sense of injustice prevails. Finally police carry Sara off the bus. Later when Sara's mother comes to rescue her from the confusion, she explains the law, but declares just because it's a law"doesn't mean it's a good law." By the book's end, the law's changed and as they mount the bus steps together, Sara notices that though her mama still wears the same worn clothes and shoes, she looks different because of the "pride and happiness in her eyes."
Prejudice and teacher caring are important themes in Marybeth Lorbiecki's Sister Anne's Hands . Second grade Anna overhears her father worrying the night before school, "I don't know how a woman of her color is going to survive" and Anna wonders if her new teacher will be purple, green, or orange. The next morning, she's captivated by a kind, playful, child-loving nun with "skin darker than any person's" she's ever known. Someone less captivated sends a racist paper airplane directly into the hands of Sister Anne who responds with upset, quiet, and the next day lines her room with photos of black people "poor or dying, some hanging from trees, others shot and bleeding." Sister Anne teaches "these are the colors of hatred" and "some folks have their hearts wide open and others are tight as a fist. The tighter they are, the more dangerous." Anna's heart is touched by Sister Anne in a way she'll never forget. The illustrators' extensive research into the sixties shows clearly. The softness and the realism of the pictures recreate the balance of the story's difficult message and lilting prose.
Lawrence McKay's Journey Home speaks of the aftermath of the Vietnam war. Mai and her single mother, Lin travel to Vietnam to discover Lin's background. As a small child, Lin was left at an orphanage in Saigon with only two puzzle pieces to discover her birth family. As they search, Mai and Lin see a country healed from war and they miraculously learn Lin's history. Both Mai and her mother discover all kinds of new homes...a country of origin, knowledge of ancestry, and knowing where you belong. Dom Lee illustrates, varying his typical monochromes with vivid pictures of a country whose lushness hides old scars.
At least I have one consolation to soften this sign of my aging. The Bus Ride , Sister Anne's Hands , and Journey Home have just the right ideas and emotions I want children to know about the times when I grew up.