We began our discussion with our picture book, The Great Zapfino (2022) by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Marla Frazee. We all loved the black Prismacolor pencil illustrations, which actually served as the main vehicle to tell this story, which begins with a very few words as "the Great Zapfino" -- a young man/boy (?) climbs a 10-story ladder at the circus, walks out on a platform and then prepares to dive down onto a trampoline. BUT WAIT! -- where is Zapfino? It seems that he got scared and disappeared and after a taxi/airplane/taxi ride ends up taking a job as an elevator operator at a seaside hotel. He even gets his own apartment on the tenth floor! The bulk of the story is told with large and small very sensitive and expressive drawings which show young Zapfino's daily life as it passes between work and making toast and sleeping in a chair at home. The expressions on the faces of the elevator riders are bored/happy/excited/inquisitive/celebratory/amorous/and more, but the expression on Zapfino's face is always...sad. When Zapfino falls asleep in his chair as his burning toaster sets the apartment on fire, he runs to the window, and -- his courage returns and he jumps! he twists! he turns! he dives!-- straight into the firefighters' net. He is a hero! ...and now -- at the very end -- he is smiling as he stands beside his elevator door with a big Z on the front of his uniform! Behold the Great Zapfino! We mostly liked the story as Zapfino found his courage, and did it for himself -- without help from anyone. We thought this might be a good message for young readers. But one reader felt that perhaps it might not be so good for young kids to see the actions in this book. Perhaps it needed a "Do NOT try this at home" disclaimer. We were unsure that it would work as a read-aloud, but felt that youngsters would individually enjoy really exploring all of the visuals as the pictures told the story.
We chose our novel, the Newbery Honor book The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis, to see if it still held up 28 years after its original 1995 publication. We decided that it basically does. We all liked10-year-old Kenny's voice as he introduces us to his family by commenting on their lives, daily activities, personal quirks, and some family history. When Kenny's 13-year-old brother Byron, who Kenny describes as an "official juvenile delinquent" has some problems, it is decided that the family will drive from their home in Flint, MI to Birmingham, AL so By can live for a while with his Grandma who will certainly ' 'straighten him out'. It's a long ride, with various incidents, conversations, music, and events that solidify the family further. There is suspense as we learn that on Sunday a "bomb has been dropped" on the church where younger sister Joey has gone -- all dressed up -- to Sunday school, and then Kenny finds her shoe on the street near the church. We thought that it was important for today's middle-grade readers (age 10+) to be aware of this atrocity that occurred on September 15, 1963 at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham where the KKK planted the bomb that killed four young girls: three who were 15, and one who was 11 years old. We thought the family's reunion back at Grandma's home at the end left a good feeling for the reader. We appreciated that Curtis included an Epilogue, which gave the reader a short historical perspective on conditions in the U.S. South in 1963 and the Civil Rights Movement which was an outgrowth. A couple of readers felt that the story took too long to actually get to Birmingham (since that was the title) while others thought that really getting to know Kenny and his family made the climax and the ending of the book better. We agreed that it was a good read for the designated age group, and that today's kids might want to give it a look.
