The View From Saturday

This novel is excellent. It tastefully approaches many difficult subjects that children face on a daily basis. Topics such as divorce, bullying, physical impairments, racial differentiation, religious tolerance, extended familial relationships, and even endangered species! The author takes a unique approach to introduce each of the four main characters by creating a timeline of sorts. Each chapter is a window into the character's life, and is punctuated by portions of the culminating scene. The book begins where it ends, but the whole story is a spider's web of events that ties the characters lives together in many ways. Each character, unique in their own way, learns the importance of kindness through their "journeys". Many scenes made me laugh, many made me sad, some even made me blush! One instance in the book was when one character asked her aged husband how he could stand to play the same song over and over again on his violin. His response, which I believe was a little too grown up for a kids book, was "why don't you ask me how I can stand to make love to the same woman over and over"! Another grown up event in the book was when the school bully wrote the "A" word on one of the main character's back pack. He of course fixed it by changing the vulgar message to say "I am a passenger on spaceship earth". Many underlying proverb like messages underline the text, and the descriptions of people, events, and locations made me feel like part of the story itself. I think the lessons in this book are valuable, and the story itself is entertaining and well written, but perhaps the content is better for older students. As an adult though, I really enjoyed reading this one!

A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers

This book was a collection of poems that were adapted into a story, a "description [of] the curious menagerie of guests who arrive at William Blake's inn". The poems were originally composed by William Blake, a children's author from London who lived during the late18th and early19th centuries. His poems are magical, illustrative, and complex, showing that poetry does not have to be romantic or silly. His work inspires curiosity in ordinary objects, and adds moral reasoning to an almost fairytale spin on reality. For example, the poem Blake Leads a Walk on the Milky Way teaches two strong moral lessons, to be happy with what you have, and to enjoy life as it occurs. The walk, equated with age and emotions, leads an unfortunate rat to find out why you should heed such advice. 

Some poems are long, some are quite short. Some poems have complex language, some have rather simple rhyming and structure. I believe the the book's sub-title "Poems for the Innocent and Experienced Travelers" refers to this mixed variety. For this reason I believe it would appeal to all ages, but of course, the older you are, the more you can appreciate its subtleties.  

The illustrations of this book are exciting, and help pull details out of the poems. For example, Two sunflower guests to the hotel, who are weak and weary from travel, ask for a room. When they are planted "in the carpet [where] the topaz turtles run". What sounds silly at first is actually a quite sensible description, the flowers have been planted in a pot and placed on the carpet featuring a yellow pattern that resembles turtle shells.

I think the reason I like this book is because it uses so much imagination to capture everyday objects. Animals, people, and plants, are made into mythical creatures; but in children's eyes, everything is so. If by reading poetry, children could learn this ability to capture their imaginations in writing, I feel that adults would benefit from their words. We could some how recapture our childhood, like William Blake did so long ago. 

This book won both the John Newberry Award and the Caldecott Honor.