This is the story of the multiple crossings which tightrope walker Blondin made of Niagara Falls in 1859 and 1860. Usually, picture books about historical events look at the events through the eyes of the main character. This story is told differently. Instead of looking at what happens through Blondin’s eyes, we watch what happens […]
“Ada Rios grew up in a town made of trash.” This story tells what happened just a few years ago when an amateur musician offered to teach the children of Paraguayan trash-pickers how to play instruments. He had some guitars and violins, but not enough for Ada and all the interested children. The parents, who […]
I wish I’d written this book. I love the topic–someone secretly built a subway under New York City in 1870?!? Who? How? Why didn’t I know about it before? Shana Corey answers all those questions in her delicious retelling of Alfred Ely Beach’s innovative engineering feat and shrewd political wrangling (shrewd until the moment it […]
The language in this beautiful book about artist Louise Bourgeois is lyrical and full of abstract language: metaphors, similes, and sly double-meaning phrases. Right from the first line we’re plunged into the world of words packed tight with meaning: “Louise was raised by a river.” The obvious meaning is that her family lived next to […]