Children's books: History: "Returning the Sword", "A Bike Is Not Just a Bike", and "A Quilt of Stars"

Returning the Sword by Caren Stelson, illustrated by Amanda Yoshida (Carolrhoda Books)
A Bike Is Not Just a Bike by Brenna Jeanneret, illustrated by Michelle Pereira (Gloo Books)
A Quilt of Stars by Karen Nyberg and Ann McCallum Staats, illustrated by Alida Massari (Familius)

Back to the world of picture books...this time, with history!

Returning the Sword starts with an American soldier who, in 1945, took home a surrendered Japanese sword as a souvenir. For more than sixty years, it sat in his home as an unsettling reminder of his experience, and the experience of the Japanese people he had seen struggling to put their lives back together after the war. And in 2013, he finally found a way to return the sword to its rightful place.

Stelson is involved in this story in an unexpected way (I'll let you read the book to find out how), and she brings a personal and thoughtful touch to the story. The story touches on the traumas of war from both sides—the winners and the losers, for lack of a more elegant way to put it—in a way that is appropriate for young readers, and the story of the sword in particular provides a unique starting point, plus a talking point for adults to introduce different parts of history to kids.

The art is fairly simple, but the full-page illustrations provide plenty of detail. Most importantly, though, it's clear that this was written with a lot of care and respect—a great pick for young readers interested in history.

Meanwhile, a bike is just a bike...except when it represents so much more.

In A Bike Is Not Just a Bike, children are introduced to some of the pushback women (and girls) faced when the bicycle—all things considered, a very modern invention—came into play. Nobody questioned the ability (or right) of men to ride bicycles, of course. But for women, surely they weren't physically capable...and it would risk their health and looks...and they should be at home in the kitchen, anyway...

Bicycles are one example of many—there were similar concerns about women running long distances (remember Kathrine Switzer?), going to space, etc. This bit of history points to the hypocrisy of it all: fine for women to work long hours cooking and cleaning and doing laundry (and, of course, for women of lower means, to do even more backbreaking labor as necessary), but surely riding a bicycle would be too much. Women's looks were considered at risk...but there was no concern of the same for men's looks. And, of course, this is not a problem that has gone away: Did you know how hard athletes had to push for the women's version of the (all-male) Tour de France? (Not part of this book, and note that the Tour de France Femmes is back since that article was published...but noting because it's so recent and so relevant!)

At any rate, this makes for a fun and informative read—great for a kid who is just learning to ride a bike, I imagine! The art is fairly simple, but it's evocative, and I love the color scheme.

A Quilt of Stars takes us through Karen Nyberg's journey to become an astronaut...and her multiple journeys into space, where in addition to doing cool science-y things (technical term) she found a way to apply another passion to space...by practicing spacecrafting! (Heh.)

This is really lovely—it's well timed, what with the recent NASA launch, and I don't know a ton about Nyberg, so it was nice to read something about her, and to think about some of the odd specifics of space. (Allowed just over three pounds of personal items for about six months in space, what would you bring?) The book talks about space and science, of course, but also about a collaborative quilting project that Nyberg engineered. I might have liked a little more about life on the space station, but then, that's the sort of thing that is more likely to be covered in picture books than why there are often stuffed animals in space even if the astronauts aren't the ones to design and sew them.

The illustrations are fantastic, lush and full-page with a dreamy color palette that emphasizes blue and gold. Gravity-free hair is a theme!

The theme of the quilting project was stars, and this would make such a good classroom read for young kids—learn a little about space, learn a little about quilting, and have kids design their own star-themed quilt blocks...out of paper or out of fabric, depending on time and resources.

Thanks to the authors and publishers for providing review copies through NetGalley.