Blog Tour: Sometimes a Wall... by Dianne White, illustrated by Barroux

Sometimes A Wall...written by Dianne White,

illustrated by Barroux

Owlkids, 2020, 32 pages

We hear a lot about walls these days, and they can have different reasons for being, as young readers learn in this new picture book. Kids see that walls can be drawn on with chalk, or they can be a wall of cooling water on a hot summer day, they can even be a rock wall on which to practice climbing.  And sometimes walls can be inclusionary, but they can also be exclusionary.

And sometimes when a wall is exclusionary, the children behind it can be mean, and the child outside the wall can be hurt by their taunts and lies. When one boy inside a wall decides to turn it into a castle, after all the other kids work together to build it, he selfishly shouts MINE and wants all the other children go away. But sometimes, having your own castle surrounded by a wall and no friends can get pretty lonely. Perhaps a new start can turn things around because...

When I first read this book, I loved it, but I was also afraid it might be a little to metaphorical for my young readers. And it was. However, it generated some really good conversations and reflexions regarding what this book says about friendship, inclusion, empathy, kindness, and connection. These are big words and ideas for young kids, but this book so nicely illustrates what they mean using the sparest of text and simple, but expressive illustrations. We've read Sometimes a Wall... a number of times now, and each time it get richer and more meaningful. The kids also had some fun with the two coloring pages (see below for the link) that go with this book. 

Who is Dianne White and why did she write Sometimes a Wall...?

A conversation with a friend got author Dianne White thinking about different kinds of wall, both physical and metaphorical. Sometimes a Wall...is an exploration of these, and with it, an invitation to take down barriers and find common ground. Dianne's other books include Green on Green and Who Eats Orange? A long-time elementary school teacher, she lives with her family in Gilbert, Arizona. To learn more, and to download a discussion guide and more, visit Dianne's website at diannewrites.com

You can also find her on Twitter @diannewrites and on Facebook: Dianne White

Thanks to the publisher Owlkids, you can find a discussion guide for Sometimes a Wall...HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 4+

This book was gratefully received from Barbara Fisch at Blue Slip Media

Teachers and parents may also be interested in looking at A Lesson in 3 Movements...

• Intro to the Unit (PLEASE READ FIRST!)

• What’s Different About Reading Wordless/Nearly Wordless Picture Books?

• 1st Movement : TOGETHER (I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoët)

• 2nd Movement: APART (Draw the Line by Kathryn Otoshi)

• 3rd Movement: REGRET. NEW START? (Sometimes a Wall … by Dianne White, illustrated by Barroux)

The "Why" behind the book:

·      A LETTER TO PARENTS AND EDUCATORS 

·      A LETTER TO YOUNG READERS

As for those Coloring Pages for younger students:

We Are Kind coloring page 
Be Kind coloring page

Artist Barroux lives in Paris, France, and has studies photography, art, sculpture, and architecture. His work has been published in The New York Times and The Washington Post. He believes that the world needs fewer walls and more trees. You can find him on Instagram: @barrouxillustrations

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson

One of my favorite books of 2012 is Jacqueline Woodson's Each Kindness, and now, I am happy to say, it has won the 2013 Charlotte Zolotow Award given by the Cooperative Children's Book Center.

The story begins one snowy, wintry day when a new girl named Maya is introduced to Chloe's elementary school class.  The first thing Chloe notices is that Maya's clothes are shabby and she has on spring shoes in winter.  Sitting next to Chloe, Maya makes one friendly overture after another but each time Chloe turns aways and rebuffs her.

Even in the schoolyard, whenever Maya comes over and asks Chloe and her friends to play jacks, jump rope, pick up sticks, they turn their backs on her and walk away.  Maya is different from everyone else, she's the girl with funny food, second hand clothes and shoes, not the kind of person they want to associate with.

Then one day, Maya doesn't come to school.  That morning the teacher gives her students a lesson on kindness. and the ripple effect our actions have in the world.  She tells the class the Each little thing we do goes out, like a ripple, into the world.  Each child is give a stone to drop into a bowl of water to see its ripple effect and to tell of a act of kindness they have recently done.  Even small things count, the teacher tells Chloe, but sadly, she has not a single kindness to report and has to give up her stone.

After a few days absence, the teacher announces that Maya has moved and will not be returning to the class.  In the afternoon, walking home from school, Chloe has a lot on her mind, thinking about what the teacher had said about kindness and how she had missed her chance with Maya and now, it was too late.

But what about the future...?

What a powerful book this is.  Told completely from the point of view of the person refusing to be kind to a person who could really use some kindness, we see her thinking process.  Even though she doesn't say exactly why she turned away from Maya, the reader can see that she had judged Maya by the way she looked and not who she was - a lonely little girl who only wanted to be friends.

Set against the beautiful soft watercolor illustrations by E.B. Lewis, and using language to match, Woodson gives a hard cruel picture of what unkindness can look it.  What makes this a really powerful book, however, is that there is no sweet resolution at the end.  This may be hard for kids to take, but it should generate all kinds of discussion in school, at home or the library about Chloe's behavior as well as her regrets.  Chloe has missed her chance, Maya is gone.  The question that remains is what will Chloe do next time.

I can't praise Each Kindness enough.  What a very different world this might be if we all acted with kindness each time the opportunity presents itself.  And as we learn in Woodson's story, even small things count.

This book is recommended for readers age 6+
This book was borrowed from Webster Branch of the NYPL

This is book one of my 2013 Award Winning Reading Challenge hosted by Gathering Books.