Robin Roots and her collection

I started hoarding children’s books when I was a child, and I haven’t ever stopped. In fact, “children’s books” seems to me a misnomer: picture books are works of art. The best books are those that appeal to both children and adults, books that open our world to experiences we’ll never have, and books that reflect the realities and complexities of the world around us.

The idea to annotate this collection (of picture books for peace and social justice) came to me after a friend and fellow MSU student (now an alumni) gave me a book he had written, Fleeing the War. It turns out that my friend had won an award for his story about boys from Malawi encountering refugees from neighboring Mozambique. The experiences depicted in Steve’s book are ones that I, a white girl from mid-Michigan, couldn’t even have imagined.

Not everyone is lucky enough to know a story-teller like Steve Sharra. But picture books can share his worlds with us. Picture books are powerful teachers. In picture books children encounter other people, sometimes from far-away places or from long ago, and they learn to understand and identify with others. The messages from these stories last a lifetime.

If the books children read reflect the diverse people in the world around them, children can learn to respect not only others like themselves, but also those whose lives are different. In this way, children’s literature can serve both as a mirror reflecting our own lives but also as a window into experiences we will never have.

At its best, children’s literature can help children (and adults) learn both to embrace those things that make us different while simultaneously rejoicing in those things that make us the same.

Benjamin, Anne. Young Rosa Parks: Civil Rights Heroine. Illustrated by Ellen Beier. USA: Troll Associates, 1996.

This book is a picture biography of Rosa Parks and shows how she was someone ordinary but did something extraordinary for the right of everyone to be treated fairly and with respect.

Bogacki, Tomek. Cat and Mouse. Illustrated by Monika Keano. New York: Frances Foser Books, 1996.

This book starts with the assumption that hate is taught, and that, when children aren’t so well taught, hate can dissolve.

Cowen-Fletcher, Jane. Mama Zooms. Illustrated by Jane Cowen-Fletcher. New York: Scholastic, 1993.

In this book, the protagonist discusses his mama’s “zooming machine” and how much he loves her wheelchair.

Igus, Toyomi. Two Mrs. Gibsons. Illustrated by Daryl Wells. San Francisco: Children’s Book Press, 1996.

This celebration of heritage and family focuses on two important women in the author’s life, her Japanese mother and her African American grandmother.

King Farris, Christine. My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.

This book tells MLK Jr.’s story through the eyes of his older sister.

Lee, Milly. Nim and the War Effort. Illustrated by Yangsook Choi. New York: Frances Foster Books, 1997.

This book explores the nature of patriotism and the immigrant experience.

Lester, Julius. From Slave Ship to Freedom Road. Illustrated by Rod Brown. New York: Puffin Books, 1998.

This powerful book is probably inappropriate for young children, as it depicts aspects of the slave experience, from the auction block to the fight for freedom, in a very personal way.

Marzollo, Jean. In 1492. Illustrated by Steve Bjorkman. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 1991.

This book is useful to contrast with Encounter by Jane Yolen. It tells the story of European arrival in the Americas from the perspective of Columbus and his crew, glossing over some of the less-pretty aspects of U.S. history.

Miller, M.L. Those Bottles! Illustrated by Barry Root. New York: G. Putnam’s Sons, 1994.

This book introduces a family of bottles (yes, I know it’s weird) who face discrimination until their unique talents make them town heroes.

Mora, Pat. Tomas and the Library Lady. Illustrated by Raul Colon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.

This book tells the real-life story of migrant worker family and the special relationship that develops between a boy and a librarian. Winner of the Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award.

Myers, Walter Dean. Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam. Illustrated by Ann Grifalconi. New York: Harper Collins, 2002.

Myers, an accomplished novelist for young adults, here tells the story of a young G.I. in Vietnam and the personal-ness that war takes on.

Perdomo, Willie. Visiting Langston. Illustrated by Bryan Collier. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2002.

This book introduces a key figure in the Harlem Rennaissance and an American cultural hero.

Recorvits, Helen. My Name is Yoon. Illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska. New York: Frances Foster Books, 2003.

This humorous book follows a little Korean girl as she struggles to form a bicultural identity.

Richardson, Justin & Parnell, Peter. And Tango Makes Three. Illustrated by Henry Cole. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2005.

This book tells the true story of the two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo in New York who decided to raise a penguin chick together.

Ringgold, Faith. Tar Beach. Illustrated by Faith Ringgold. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1991.

This book, beautifully illustrated with pictures of an intricate quilt, tells the story of a girl imagining herself flying over her Harlem neighborhood. A Caldecott Honor Book and winner of the Coretta Scott King Award.

Scholes, Katherine. Peace Begins with You. Illustrated by Robert Ingpen. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1990.

This book attempts to explain peace to kids and suggests that the only way peace can exist is for everyone to be treated fairly.

Schreck, Karen Halvorsen. Lucy’s Family Tree. Illustrated by Stephen Gassler III. Gardiner, Maine: Tilbury House Publishers, 2001.

Lucy is asked to create a family tree, but she’s adopted from Mexico and feels too “different.” Her adopted family help her to understand that every family is different and that their relationships can be represented in special ways.

Seuss, Dr. The Butter Battle Book. New York: Random House, 1984.

Though this book is not one of Seuss’s most famous, its story of the silliness of war (fighting over whether characters prefer to eat their bread butter-side-up or butter-side-down) has a universal message.

Sharra, Steve. Fleeing the War. Illustrated by Natalie Hahn. Malawi: Macmillan, 1996.

Sharra, a graduate of Michigan State University, wrote this story for a competition in Malawi. It tells the story of young Malawi boys meeting and sheltering refugees from war-torn Mozambique.

Sisulu, Elinor Batezat. The Day Gogo Went to Vote: South Africa, April 1994. Illustrated by Sharon Wilson. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.

This book tells, from a child’s perspective, of an important day in South African history.

Summers, Stanford. Wacky and his Fuddlejig. Illustrated by Mirielle Wieland. New York: Red Ink Productions, 1968.

This book, which seems to be self-published (?), begins with an elf refusing to make war toys for Santa to take with him and designing a learning toy instead.

Tarpley, Natasha Anastasia. I Love My Hair! Illustrated by E.B. Lewis. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1998.

This beautifully-illustrated book follows a young girl as she learns to embrace aspects of her African American identity.

Taylor, Clark. The House that Crack Built. Illustrated by Jan Thompson Dicks. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1992.

This book was included on an American Library Association list of Best Books for Young Adults. It follows the language of “The house that Jack built” but instead explores the economics of the drug trade.

The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child. On Wings of Love. Illustrated by Maria Agostinelli. New York: Collins, 1979.

This book puts beautiful pictures to the beautiful rights laid out in the United Nations Declaration of Rights of the Child.

Winter, Jeanette. The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq. Illustrated by Jeanette Winter. San Diego: Harcourt, Inc., 2004.

This book tells the true story of the risks a librarian in Iraq took to salvage the books in a library. Proceeds from its sale have rebuilt the library.

Yolen, Jane. Encounter. Illustrated by David Shannon. New York: Harcourt Children’s Books, 1992.

Roots' collection