Picture Books: U is for Unique

Hana Hashimoto: Sixth Violin by Chieri Uegaki and Quin Leng

I admit, I expected an ending like the Leverage episode "The Scheherazade Job" where Hardison is able to access his memories of childhood and play the violin perfectly. 

I'm sorry (and I love Hardison) but...No. 

It's almost as silly as Troi being able to beat Data at chess through "intuition."

Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin does not resolve itself this way. It is sweet and clever, and I highly recommend it. 

Sugar in Milk by Thrity Umrigar, Illustrated by Khoa Le

Sugar in Milk is borderline "a good lesson for children!" I am not a fan of this approach in any type of fiction. My whole life I've considered it--even in my church--to be not only faintly obnoxious but morally problematic. 

C.S. Lewis does a magnificent job pointing out the moral problem in either Experiment in Criticism and/or The Abolition of Man where he argues that sci-fi and fantasy have the merit of pulling readers out of themselves and thinking about other people and larger ideas while "real-life" fiction (he is referring specifically to After School Special stuff) pulls the reader into wistful "if only I had that life."

I don't entirely agree. I read plenty of After School Special stuff when I was growing up and saw it as entirely unrelated to me. But he has a point and foresaw the incredible self-centered-the-world-revolves-around-myself-ness of Twitter and whatever it is Facebook wants to call itself. 

Sugar in Milk escapes the "hammered home lesson" by sticking to story and magnificently gorgeous illustrations paired with text. 

The Printer by Myron Ulhberg, Illustrated by Henri Sorensen

The Printer is partly biographical and partly historical. Like Invictus and other such films, it provides insight into a time period through a single individual. It is one of those books that belongs somewhat in non-fiction. I found it quite interesting.

Elephant Buttons by Noriko Ueno

Elephant Buttons--a picture book sans text and sans A POINT--is the type of book I wholly approve of. It is weird and hilarious. It might have freaked me out as a kid--but for kids who like a little bit of meta, check it out!

My Twelve Maine Christmas Days by Wendy Ulmer, Artwork by Sandy Crabtree

As a Mainer of over 20 years, I got a huge kick out of this book. It is nostalgia plus and a wonderful set-up for my Christmas reading months. I try to read Christmas books in November and December, from romances to history to classics. This book is a nice place to begin!