A Boy Named Isamu by James Yang and Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper

Both of the following are children's picture books. Full disclosure: James Yang, author of A Boy Named Isamu, is a high school friend. While these are both 5-star reads, I have very little to say about either, so this will be just a couple of slap-dash, quickie reviews. 

A Boy Named Isamu by James Yang is a story that imagines artist Isamu Noguchi as a boy, on a single day when he goes to the market with his mother and drifts away. It shows his boundless curiosity and sense of wonder as he notices the shapes and textures that will inform his art. 

The illustrations are fabulous. I'm a fan of James's art but I think he really knocked it out of the park in A Boy Named Isamu. And, I loved the way he portrayed how an artist sees and thinks. There's a nice bio of Isamu Noguchi in the back of the book. 

Highly recommended - I loved A Boy Named Isamu so much that I read it, recorded it in my reading calendar, and then read it again. As I said elsewhere . . . forget the grandkids, this one's for me. But, I'm sure the grandchildren would appreciate it, as well. 

Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper (illustrator) is a book I bought after seeing it on a list of books that some politician or conservative group wants banned. I was curious why on earth anyone would want to ban a children's picture book, especially about such an important topic. 

Brief note: My husband and I grew up in Oklahoma and neither of us ever heard of this particular historical event, although Hubby says his friend told a story of his grandfather hiding a Black man in the 1920s and he's pretty sure it was during what has elsewhere been called the "Tulsa Race Riot" (a name which, this author notes, places blame on the victims). 

Unspeakable tells the true story of the Tulsa Race Massacre  and places the blame squarely where it belongs, on the people of that time period who murdered, looted, and burned a prosperous black community to the ground. It's well written, appears well researched, and the illustrations are marvelous. It ends with a photo of the burned remains of Tulsa's Greenwood district. As an Oklahoman who didn't hear about this violent travesty until a few years ago, I'm glad to see it talked about. 

Highly recommended - The hardback was sold out everywhere when I looked this book up, so I bought the e-book and the electronic version is perfect. There were no issues at all with the images. This story was suppressed for far too long and I can't imagine why anyone would desire to ban it other than a continued desire to suppress the truth. It's told in a very positive way and the illustrations are just stunning. 

©2022 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Stop! Bot! by James Yang

Full disclosure: I went to high school with the author of Stop! Bot! (we were in journalism and on the school newspaper staff together) so I buy his books at least in part to support him.

Having said that, Stop! Bot! by James Yang is simple and silly with an unexpected ending. A little boy's bot (a drone) has gone out of control and is flying up the outside of a high-rise building. As the bot heads upward, people try to catch it to help the boy in increasingly ridiculous ways. For example, a giraffe tries to reach it with its long neck and someone reaches out with one of those oversized sponge hands you can buy at sporting events. Everyone fails until the surprise twist, which has something to do with bananas.

And, it really is bananas. But, clever, which reminds me that back in high school James had a comic strip in our school newspaper. I remember saying, "James is so clever!" about a million times. I always loved that comic strip.

Recommended - I like this book, particularly the ending, but I must add that I read some reviews and noticed the chief complaint is the minimal number of words. James is a graphic artist and his books tend to be low on text. If that bothers you, Stop! Bot! is not the right book for you. I buy them more for the joy of owning some of James' illustrations than for the wording, myself. But, I do like the story. I wish my grandchildren were nearby so I could read it to them and see their reaction to it.


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Bus! Stop! by James Yang

Bus! Stop! by James Yang is the delightfully fanciful story of an unnamed boy who misses his bus. "Bus! Stop!" he shouts as the bus pulls away. The bus doesn't stop and he has no choice but to wait for another bus. As a series of strange buses and people (or even creatures) file to the bus stop, each picks up its unique passengers and leaves, the boy making brief observations about each:

"This does not even LOOK like a bus!" he says about a bus that picks up sailors and is shaped like a ship.

Each bus is unique: a bus with its wheels on stilts whose passengers who fly up to the door, a stagecoach-type bus with a horse and passengers who look like they arrived via the 19th century, a domed bus that may have bouncy seats as the passengers all appear to be bouncing or floating, and possibly a bus full of aliens. I found an interior spread of the domed bus (which I hope you'll be able to enlarge if you click on it):

After regretfully watching it leave and wondering if he should have taken the bus shown above because it looked like a fun one, the boy climbs onto the next bus and is taken into outer space. As the bus flies away, it passes an outer-space bus stop where a girl with a cat shouts, "Bus! Stop!" and the boy seems to empathize with her predicament.

Highly recommended - I absolutely loved this book. It has few words, relying instead mostly upon the artwork to show the boy's dilemma and the totally unique buses and passengers that arrive. Full disclosure: I received a copy of Bus! Stop! for review from Viking (in return for my unbiased review) and I went to high school with the author and artist, James Yang. I appreciated his art and sense of humor back then, when he had a comic strip in our school newspaper. James' art has matured and he has long since found his personal style as a commercial artist. Bus! Stop! is classic James Yang. I love the detail of the cat in the background that moves from one window to another, the variety of crazy buses and passengers, and the simple idea of how it feels to miss one's bus and then have to wait and wait and wait for the right bus to show up.

Note: I'm dedicating this week to children's books. If you've got a little one to read to (especially if you or the child in your world is a cat lover), don't forget to sign up for my Giveaway of I Am the Boss of this Chair. The winner will be announced on Friday, which also means Fiona Friday will be shifted to Saturday, this week.
©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.