Children's Books discussion

Greetings! As I am currently bogged down with my third move in the last year-and-a-half, I am behind on getting things posted for January so we will have a combined Jan-Feb theme. As suggested and seconded by a few of our members in a discussion earlier this month, the theme will be "Moving and Immigration" so selected stories could include the protagonist moving around the block or moving from one country to another. Just so that it highlights the aspect of moving and adjusting to a new place.

It's now time to vote for the books we will read together. Please choose from the official nominations on this list and choose your top ten picks. Votes will be collected until January 17th. Thank you!

Thank you and Happy New Year :-)

Migrant
I Know Here
From There to Here
Grandfather's Journey
The Rainbow Tulip
The Chinese Violin
Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt
Selina and the Shoo-Fly Pie
Fiona's Lace
Holes in the Sky
The dot com Leprechaun
My Home Bay
My Diary from Here to There/Mi diario de aquí hasta allá
Tomas and the Library Lady
Peppe the Lamplighter
The Imaginary Garden
The Gardener
The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend
Small Beauties: The Journey of Darcy Heart O'Hara
Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez

Mitchell Is Moving is one of my favorites.

There's the new and popular series about Mother Bruce, which includes Bruce's Big Move.

An older popular book is Alexander, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move.

Ming Lo Moves the Mountain looks cute.

And of course The Matchbox Diary and Grandfather's Journey.

There's also this Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

Molly's Pilgrim
Immigrant Girl: Becky of Eldridge Street
When Jessie Came Across the Sea
Watch the Stars Come Out
Grandmother and the Runaway Shadow
Streets of Gold
Annushka's Voyage
The Color of Home
The Journey
The Name Jar
My Name Is Yoon
Sakura's Cherry Blossoms

Islandborn by Junot Díaz

This book was just published this year. For a school assignment, a young girl asks her relatives about the reasons they immigrated to the US.

Cheryl wrote: "Mitchell Is Moving is one of my favorites."

That is a great one.

The same author also wrote, Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport which was featured on a "Reading Rainbow" episode that deals with moving.

(Just a thought, since we'll be reading for over a month, maybe we should have more official books chosen... maybe 8 or 9.)

I also nominate Molly Bannaky for historical fiction immigration.

(I hope that at least one book that we choose explores the idea of culture shock. Something like that one we read a couple months ago for Canada... can't remember the title but it should be added to this list when this becomes the master list.)

Cheryl wrote: "(Just a thought, since we'll be reading for over a month, maybe we should have more official books chosen... maybe 809.)

809 seems like a lot of books to read in one month:)

Beverly wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "(Just a thought, since we'll be reading for over a month, maybe we should have more official books chosen... maybe 809.)

809 seems like a lot of books to read in one month:)"

I guess you would need to be a robot to read 809 books in a month :-)

Sorry! Off to fix....

Cheryl wrote: "Sorry! Off to fix...."

It was a fun idea to consider and sometimes I wish I could read that much in a month.

Cheryl wrote: "(Just a thought, since we'll be reading for over a month, maybe we should have more official books chosen... maybe 8 or 9.)

I also nominate Molly Bannaky for historical fiction immi..."

I agree, especially since we are getting quite a number of suggestions.

Oma's Quilt
Here I Am
The Dress and the Girl
In the New World: A Family in Two Centuries
King of the Sky
Butterfly Park
Bitter and Sweet
Not So Very Far Away

LOL ;-) yes, I think we could manage 8 or 9 ;-)

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales. The illustrations are simply emotional and beautiful. As I continue reading more and more picture books, I notice the illustrations. Also, read “Sea Prayer” by Khalid Hosseini. The book of poetry directly talks about a Syrian family taking the dangerous Mediterranean crossing to escape the war in their homeland. the prayer that the dad makes for his children before they cross the roiling sea under the cover of darkness.

(deleted self-promotion... even books that fit the theme are not to be nominated by their authors but only publicized in the Promotions thread...)

Dreamers
Sea Prayer

Cheryl wrote: "(deleted self-promotion... even books that fit the theme are not to be nominated by their authors but only publicized in the Promotions thread...)"

Sigh, I wish that author members would take the time to make sure they know the rules of the group, as it has always been clearly stated that self promotion is only allowed in the author section.

I'd love a lot of books for this challenge. I'm really looking forward to this subject as I moved a lot when young! So far the only one mentioned I've read is Islandborn which I really loved.

Kathryn wrote: "LOL ;-) yes, I think we could manage 8 or 9 ;-)"

We usually do six a month, and while I think twelve might be too many, how about a nice and even ten books?

Great topic - we became internal refugees after the Great Recession and have just settled and bought a house. (Relief! - Joy!) I feel this topic deeply and am looking forward to reading many of these suggested titles.

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales was a New York Times top ten children's books of the year recommendation. I already have it coming to my library,

Many of Mister Rogers' books about "First Experiences" have been republished recently but, unfortunately, it does not appear that the book about moving is among them. I purchased this used for my boys when we went through the first of our moves and it was really helpful to them. Since it is hard to find I wouldn't suggest it for our club picks, but it definitely deserves to be on the master list and perhaps some wise librarians have kept it on the shelves at local libraries. Though the photographs are dated (80s awesomeness) the message is timeless.

I'm only finding a link here to a combination book:
Mister Rogers Talks About The New Baby, Moving, Fighting, Going To The Doctor, Going To School, Haircuts

This is the book we purchased:
https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Rogers-Movi...

It's now time to vote for the books we will read together. Please choose from the official nominations on this list and choose your top ten picks and list them in a comment below. Votes will be collected until January 15th. Thank you!

The Chinese Violin
My Home Bay
Oma's Quilt
Grandfather's Journey
Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt
Peppe the Lamplighter
The Rainbow Tulip
From There to Here
King of the Sky
In the New World: A Family in Two Centuries (had to nominate this one as the goose the children cannot take from Germany to America for some reason is named after me, is named Gundula, lol).

Immigrant Girl: Becky of Eldridge Street
Streets of Gold
Annushka's Voyage
The Color of Home
The Journey
The Name Jar
My Name Is Yoon
Islandborn (this is also available in Spanish as Lola
Fiona's Lace

My choices are:

From There to Here
Rainbow Tulip
Imaginary Garden
The Gardener
Mitchell is Moving
The Name Jar
Oma's Quilt
Butterfly Park
Not So Very Far Away
Dreamers

*abstaining

Dreamers
Islandborn
Butterfly Park
Fiona's Lace
Imaginary Garden
The Gardener

Thank you, voters! Only eight titles received more than one vote, so we will go with those:

Oma's Quilt
The Rainbow Tulip
Islandborn
Fiona's Lace
The Imaginary Garden
The Gardener
Butterfly Park
Dreamers

If any of you care to read beyond these titles, I hope you will post your reviews here in our Master Discussion.

I have actually read half of the chosen titles previously so I may well search out some of the others for myself depending upon how busy I get next month. I'm really looking forward to the new-to-me titles, particularly Butterfly Park as I'm a fan of Elly MacKay's art.

Quite late to this discussion, but I suddenly remembered two excellent picture books about children forced to immigrate and work alone as the vanguard of their family. Coolies by Yin explores the difficult life of young Chinese immigrants in the late 1800's.
Brothers is the sequel. Chris Soentpiet's illustrations are wonderful.

Not late at all! This group loves additions to discussions at any time.

And yes, Coolies was a wonderful book. I'll have to look for Brothers, thank you.

Thank you for the recommendations, Karen!

The Silence in the Mountains is also a beautiful book with a deep message about what needs to happen inside oneself in order to feel at home in a new country. Everyone has different ways of dealing with homesickness, but only grandfather knows Iksander well enough to give him the peace he needs.

No notes. It's meant to be universal. The dedication, tucked into the copyright page, refers to Lebanon.

Cheryl wrote: "The Silence in the Mountains is also a beautiful book with a deep message about what needs to happen inside oneself in order to feel at home in a new country. Everyone has different w..."

Sounds beautiful and important. Thank you, Cheryl.

A classic by Charlotte Zolotow tells the other side of the story. Janey is left behind, but through her memories we get to know her best friend quite well. This is a transitional book, illustrated, short, and accessible but with a design to appeal to children who don't want to be seen with baby books.