A Sense of Place
going somewhere to be where you are
May is always such a busy month, working in a school and with school-aged kids. Baseball games, track meets, school concerts, graduations and promotion ceremonies, field trips . . . the list goes on and on. May is such a gorgeous month, too, here in Vermont— especially after the cold and overcast days of winter. It’s a time of transition, from hunkering down to venturing out, and I often find that I’m reminding myself to slow down and enjoy the seasonal rhythm that is May. Not really summer, not really spring, all-around glorious.
Picture books are an invitation to slow down, too. We pour over the art, we read each delicious word out loud— and, in the case of Barbara Cooney’s Ox-Cart Man, we return to a slower time, take a long walk, an absorb ourselves in a sense of seasons and of place.
Ox-Cart Man, written by poet Donald Hall and illustrated by Cooney, begins this way: “In October he backed his ox into his cart / and he and his family filled it up / with everything they made or grew all year long / that was left over.”
What happens next is a very industrious list, and then a journey, as the man walks from home to sell his goods at Portsmouth Market:
If this isn’t New England in the fall, then I don’t know what is (and this from an artist who spend years building a career in black-and-white).
After Ox-Cart Man sells his goods and begins the journey home, it turns into a harder fall:
And eventually, we see skies that threaten winter:
(I’m always in awe of Cooney’s skies. They appear in many of her other books too, and she is always capturing the light, the moon, the clouds in a way that is so accurate but so beautiful.)
Cooney noted in Caldecott acceptance speech for the book that, after years of travel for meticulous research, “to illustrate Ox-Cart Man, all I had to do was step outside my back door.” Still, she did meticulous research, learning the rhythm of the seasons in early 19th-century farm life, and describing them in her Caldecott acceptance, ending with May:
Spring arrives slowly in our part of the country. It is a thin spring. The grass takes its time greening up . . . At last comes the lovely month of May. The orchards are in bloom. Every seed you plant, every you think, as a good chance of coming up. And, as all of you know, May is much the best month for being in love.1
Cooney concludes by noting that “the beautiful month of May” is also the month of hope. I like that. All of this busyness and blossoming and blooming— it’s hope.
Random Good Things
I have no idea how I’d never watched Bob’s Burgers before (how?? there are fourteen seasons?!), but it was on in our hotel room during a recent trip and now it’s our new family show. Who’s your favorite character? Mine is Tina. I mean, I think mine is Tina? It’s hard to choose a favorite. I love all the Belchers.
Because we took a trip in April, I watched two whole movies! On the plane! One on the way there, one on the way back. I’d been wanting to watch both American Fiction and The Holdovers for awhile. Both were excellent.
I really, really liked what Chris Pine had to say about awe and creativity (regardless of how your work is received) during this recent interview on NPR.
I know Kate DiCamillo is beloved in the children’s literature community, but
X-acto, her short story for adults, blew me away.
Book News & Upcoming Events
I’m pleased to share that Make Way was recently recognized as a Bank Street Best Book, as well as a Notable Social Studies Trade Book, for 2024.
The reviews are coming in for World More Beautiful, starting with a starred review from Kirkus! Here’s their take on the book: “A delight to eye and ear alike, this biography provides an abundant dignity and beauty worthy of its subject.”
Publisher’s Weekly wrote that it’s a “contemplative portrait [that] captures an artist who reveled in Earth’s brilliance and who kept her promise, per an afterword, 'to make the world more beautiful.'”
I’ll be doing quite a few events around the released of World More Beautiful (August 6th!), but it feels too soon to list them here. But, if you’re the type who likes to plan ahead, you can see them on my website.
And finally, I know I’ve mentioned pre-orders before, but they make all the difference to a book’s success. If you’re so inclined, you can pre-order World More Beautiful from your local independent bookseller or any major retailer—- or request that your local library purchase a copy!
Books I’ve Read and Loved Recently (for Adults)
The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
The Vacationers by Emma Straub
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
Books I’ve Read and Loved Recently (Picture Books)
The Coquíes Still Sing by Karina Nicole González and Krystal Quiles
Sam and Lucy by MaryJo Scott
The Sunflowers: Vincent van Gogh’s Search for Beauty by Zahra Marwan
*Please note that all books mentioned above contain affiliate links to Bookshop.org, a site that helps support local independent bookstores.
Cooney, Barbara. “Caldecott Medal Acceptance.” Newbery and Caldecott Medal Books: 1976-1985, edited by Lee Kingman, Boston, Horn Book, 1986, pp. 211-215.