The Children's Bookshelf

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DR. SUE  ANN  MARTIN
Sue Ann Martin is a professor in the department of Communication and Dramatic Arts and is the founding and past Dean of the School of Communication and Fine Arts at Central Michigan University, first became interested in children’s literature when she wrote her Ph.D thesis on the oral characteristics of the Caldecott Award-winning children’s books. Her Ph.D is in Speech and Interpretation with a cognate in Early Childhood Education. She went on to review children’s books for The Detroit Free Press, write three popular resource books for teachers regarding children’s books and the creative process and reviewed newly- published books for Arts Almanac Specials. Her 2002 children’s books special for CMU Public Radio won a Merit Award in Special Interest Programming from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. According to Dr. Sue Ann Martin:

"Reading books aloud to young children is one of the most satisfying ways to introduce them to the beautiful sounds and lilts of the language, to the wonders of the world, to the excitement of suspense and to the pleasure of concentration while at the same time bonding with the child in a genuine, long lasting way. My mother did the same with me as she read hours and hours of Robert Louis Stevenson poems."

THE SANDWICH SWAP by Queen Rania Al Abdullah with Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Tricia Tusa is scheduled to be aired August 25/27. THE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHELF The first line of THE SANDWICH SWAP, written by Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan with Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Tricia Tusa, declares, ”It all began with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich…and ended with a hummus sandwich.”

This is the story of two friends, Salma and Lily, who play, study and eat together everyday. They are unaware they each are having difficulty with the other’s food, Lily’s peanut butter sandwich on the one hand and Salma’s hummus and pita on the other, until one day they each proclaim that the other’s sandwich is yucky, gross and smells bad! This threatens their friendship, causes all of the other children to take sides and results in a messy food fight in the lunchroom followed by a command appearance in the principal’s office. This story of friendship, difference and tolerance is told in an engaging way both in the text and in the illustrations. Tricia Tusa’s pictures of Salma with her dark hair pulled back in a long braid and Lily with her blond hair caught by a headband are very attractive. The drawings show Salma eating a hummus and pita sandwich with almonds and a piece of fruit and Lily eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with grapes and a chocolate chip cookie. The double page illustration of the food fight that develops when the children in the lunchroom all take sides in the controversy is a visual delight with cupcakes, carrots, peas, cold cuts, celery sticks, drumsticks, cheese and grapes all taking to the air. Author Queen Rania, a well known international figure due to her UNESCO work in support of children, and Kelly DiPucchio fashion a well told story and a metaphor for incidents of intolerance that lead to acts of aggression. The story also shows that when two arguing sides talk, in this case Salma and Lily, creative ways to solve problems come forth. We see by the end of the book that the girls decide to try each other’s sandwich, on a count of three, and find they actually like the taste of these differences. In pursuit of a lasting peace they organize a school wide picnic where all the children can bring food from their cultural traditions. The accompanying illustration is an expansion fold out in celebration of difference with Salma at one end of the picnic table waving at Lily who is at the other end waving at Salma. All the children in between, with flags of origin on their contributions to the menu, are having a good time while sharing their dishes of difference. THE SANDWICH SWAP written by Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan and Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Tricia Tusa is a perfect picture book for ages 4-7 (Disney Hyperion, 2010).

Discussion Questions for The Sandwich Shop

The Umbrella Queen, written by Shirin Yim Bridges and illustrated by Taeeum Yoo, is a beautiful tale of a village in Thailand where everyone does the same thing that they have done for hundreds of years—they make umbrellas. The villagers make big umbrellas and small umbrellas, paper umbrellas and silk umbrellas in many colors—all painted with flowers and butterflies by the women and girls of the village.

Every New Year’s day, there is a parade of umbrellas lead by the “Umbrella Queen”-- a woman chosen because she had painted the most beautiful umbrella of the previous year. In this tale, a young girl by the name of Noot who repeatedly asks her mother about when she can begin painting umbrellas. She had watched her father fit together bamboo to make the frames and helped her grandmother make paper to cover the umbrella frames, but she is eager to learn to paint the umbrellas just as her mother does. One day Noot’s mother shows her how to paint flowers and butterflies and Noot carefully follows her mother’s directions and surprises both her father and grandmother with her fine skills. The following day, Noot is given four umbrellas to paint and while she begins by painting flowers and butterflies just as she was told to do, her mind soon wanders and she decides to add pictures of elephants chasing the butterflies and on another umbrella she paints elephants doing silly things such as handstands. As she finishes, her parents express their dismay and firmly tell her that she must paint only flowers and butterflies since that was what the village shop expects and they must sell their umbrellas to make a living. From that point on, Noot spends her days painting flowers and butterflies, but when evening arrives, she creates tiny umbrellas from the scraps and on those, she paints pictures of elephants.

One year, just two weeks before the end of the year, the people learn that the King plans to visit their village and choose the Umbrella Queen. On the day of the king’s visit, each family displays their best umbrellas by their gates so that the beautiful flowers and butterflies can be seen from the road. One by one, the king inspected the umbrellas, and when he came to Noot’s house, he praised the beauty of those done by her mother. However, as he made a final look over all the umbrellas displayed, his attention was diverted by the tiny doll-size umbrellas on Noot’s windowsill. Fascinated, he asked who had painted the strange little umbrellas and noticing the embarrassed young Noot, he asked why she painted such tiny umbrellas with elephants. When Noot explained that she just really liked elephants, the King laughed and stated that since she obviously painted from her heart, she would be named the Umbrella Queen for that year.

This is a lovely tale of one child’s desire to balance between the needs of her family and her own creative spirit. It articulates how one can attend to the duties expected by family and society and still find an appropriate way to be playful. The text is extended through the detailed linoleum prints with pencil artwork of Taeeun Yoo.

The Umbrella Queen, written by Shirin Yim Bridges and illustrated by Taeeum Yoo is appropriate for ages 4-8. Bridges, Shirin Yim . The Umbrella Queen. Illustrated by Taeeum Yoo. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2008.

Discussion Questions for The Umbrella Queen