ZAYDE COMES TO LIVE

Award Winning Book Challenge 2013

ZAYDE COMES TO LIVE by Sheri Sinykin

Picture Book

Illustrated by Kristina Swarner

Peachtree Publishers, 2012

Zayde comes to live with Rachel and her family because he’s dying. No one tells this to Rachel, but with that uncanny ability children have to sense changes, she knows. Rachel’s Christian and Muslim friends have different beliefs about what happens after death. She listens but wonders where her ill grandfather will go, if not to Heaven or Paradise. When she asks Rabbi Lev, he is honest about the physical change that will happen. And he tells her about Olam Ha-Ba, the Jewish spiritual afterlife.

Even Zayde helps Rachel accept the inevitable. But he tells her the most important part, that his love will stay. Zayde Comes to Live is a sweet and important book about grief and loss, love and memories. Sinykin’s poetic language emphasizes the rhythm of breathing and the circle of life.

Illustrator Kristina Swarner’s soft linoleum prints complement the subject, giving the whole book a dream-like quality. Subtle symbolism hints of reality, though. Falling leaves are visible through the window, and a red umbrella waits in the stand by the door.

Other picture books address the subject of death, but Zayde Comes To Live offers a richness not often found. This story honors faith traditions and allows room for discussions of others’ beliefs about the afterlife. Sinykin’s book joins other sensitively written books that help youngsters understand death. Parents of young children, libraries and church libraries will want to add this book to the bookshelf. 

Sydney Taylor Honor Book Award for Younger Readers, 2013

Visit Sheri Sinykin's website here  and
 Kristina Swarner's website here .

Parents’ Choice Recommended Award, Parents’ Choice Foundation, 2012

Award-Winning Book Challenge Status: 1/11

http://main.gatheringbooks.org/?page_id=397

finding treasure

This week I found my favorite childhood picture book. The pages are ragged. The covers are long gone. I don’t know the title or the author. But Belinda is still there traveling through the forest, swimming to the lake bottom, and ascending to the moon and sun to find a friend. It’s hard to imagine my joy when the long-lost book popped off the closet shelf, hidden under another item. For years I thought I had lost this book that has moved with me all my adult life.

What is it about a book that makes us treasure it? It can be a strong character, a theme, beautiful language or stunning illustrations. Belinda’s story is told in a late 1940’s or early ‘50’s picture book. The illustrations are tinted photographs, which were probably new in this genre. The book my have been the only one I had with these life-like, lavishly colored pictures. Belinda is Jane’s wooden doll searching for a companion, and she finally finds one back in the wood shop when Jane’s dad makes another doll, Todd. I think the theme of finding what one searches for and the illustrations both made this the childhood book I am thrilled to find. Now for the title and author!

basics

Another creative idea blossomed this past week. I’m on a roll! This one came in the wee hours of the morning. Since these kind equal lost sleep, I bemoan the clutter that keeps those ideas from getting through during the day.

After I typed the picture book text that had been born, I marveled at how tight the first draft was – around 400 words. When I first began writing picture books, it took me over a thousand words to tell the story. My manuscripts were like the sequined summer shoes! Of course, I wasn’t leaving anything for the illustrator to show. Not to mention my attempts to be poetic and way too many adjectives!

Increased knowledge of craft and practice have helped, but I think something else is at work, too. I’ve written 500-word profiles over the last year, and I’ve learned how to make every word count. While picture books are entirely different, I think I’ve internalized short, sweet and basic. This is another example of process and the huge part played by our subconscious.

eric carle museum of picture book art

My grandkids, our kids and we met last week at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA. The Carle exhibit was down as they are preparing an exhibit for the 40th anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, shown here in its quilt form above the registration desk.

The highlight of the visit was a living history presentation of Beatrix Potter Heelis. One of my favorite movies is Miss Potter, so I was into this. Marcia Estabrook really engaged the audience, some very young. She sprinkled Potter's Victorian background with questions and remained in character while responding to answers. She was just delightful.

In the gallery, the adults examined original picture book art by the Dillons, Beatrix Potter, Chris Van Allsburg, Trina Schart Hyman, Sendak and others. The kids plunked down on benches and read books! Finally, my seven-year-old grandson Wil, book in hand, led me to a Gerald McDermott painting from Arrow to the Sun and said, "Look. The cover of this book has the same colors as the painting."

We looked through the pages until he found the reproduction. He was pleased with himself and I was proud he had made a connection! Then he was off, grabbing books and searching the gallery until he found the right style and discovered the book art to match the painting. Of course, I thought he was very intelligent and happy he had found a way into the exhibition.

For my Maine poems, I experimented with the Higgledy-Piggledy or double-dactyl form yesterday. It's a challenging, playful form with nonsense rhymes and a single six-syllable word. Here I share my poem about shampooing a sheep for the sheep show.

Sheep Suds

Sudsion wudsion
Cheviot Champion,
hosed down and lathered with
copious suds.

Squeaky clean wooliness,
impeccability,
will win a ribbon for
Best of Show duds.