Angela Leeper

In the middle of a city sits a giant fishbowl, the only home a whale named Wednesday has ever known. Like the day of the week, Wednesday is always in the middle of everything, with busy people and traffic constantly circling her. Even the sun, moon and stars circle her every day as she watches the world go by.

But Wednesday discovers that if she leaps high enough out of the water, she can see a calm blue on the horizon; “Her heart leaped, too, when she saw it, though she didn’t know why.” Hoping to catch a glimpse of that marvelous blue once more, Wednesday jumps over and over again. The crowd thinks she is performing tricks, of course, and claps in merriment.

In Whale in a Fishbowl, Troy Howell’s gentle metaphor about animal captivity illustrated in a muted palette by Richard Jones, Wednesday begins to question her existence when a little girl named Piper tells the whale she doesn’t belong in a fishbowl. But where would Wednesday go? “You belong in the sea!” Piper declares. Although Wednesday is uncertain about what a sea might be, she leaps higher than ever before—with an illustration that spills out onto a fold-out page—and causes the fishbowl to topple over. Grays give way to brilliant and bountiful blues as the whale swims out of the city. In a new home, now in the middle of the sea, Wednesday finds her song, and someone else just like her, for the first time. Even the youngest of readers will understand Wednesday’s plight and heartrending need for freedom and companionship.

When Coretta Scott King Award winning-author Patricia McKissack passed away in 2017, she left behind a legacy of more than 100 children’s books. In the posthumously published Who Will Bell the Cat?, McKissack revisits a thought-provoking fable. When Marmalade—a cold, sick and hungry tabby cat—seeks shelter in a barn one winter evening, the resident mice take pity on her and nurse the cat back to health. Despite the care she received, Marmalade begins to terrorize the mice as soon as she’s feeling better.

Scared but not deterred, the mice convene, and Smart Mouse offers a solution: Put a collar with a bell around Marmalade’s neck, and the sound will warn them of her approach. But who will bell the cat? Many mice try and fail—Wee Mouse, Tiny Mouse and Teeny Mouse narrowly escape—and even the nearby Rat Pack is no help. While the mice are devising their next plan, four humans move into the house next door. Realizing they don’t have to be friends with the humans in order to seek their help, the mice strategically drop the collar where a little girl can find it. Soon, she finally succeeds and fastens it around Marmalade’s neck.

Illustrator Christopher Cyr’s digital art plays with chiaroscuro to make this tale deliciously ominous. Marmalade’s luminous eyes shine menacingly in the barn’s shadowy corners, while diffused sunlight radiates around the scheming—and later victorious—mice. But what to do about those humans? McKissack lets the mice—and clever children—ponder this dilemma on their own.

This article was originally published in the April 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

It’s hard not to feel sad and frightened after viewing the world news, with stories of hatred, tragedy and devastation. Children may have even stronger reactions. Come with Me by Holly M. McGhee gently addresses this topic through a young biracial girl who becomes frightened after watching a television newscast. When she asks her papa if there’s something she can do to make the world a better place, he simply says, “Come with me.”

As they wait for and ride the subway under their city, the father tips his hat at passersby of different genders, races and religious faiths. So the little girl does, too. And when she goes with her mama to a market, they see more diverse individuals, rendered in ink and soft watercolors, and know that one person doesn’t represent a family, race or geographic area. Emboldened by kindness and a newfound bravery, the little girl decides to venture outside with her dog. A boy across the hall asks her where she’s heading, and she responds, “Come with me.”

Together they realize that two people are stronger than one, and with one step at a time, no matter how small, they can make the world a kinder place to live. Coloring with chalk draws in a neighbor, and this soon becomes a small community event. The book will resonate with anxious children and budding activists, and parents, caregivers and educators will appreciate the apprehension of the little girl’s parents and their decision to no longer live in fear.