An Irish tradition around the corner (St. Patrick’s Day) and the coincidence of reading two books, back-to-back about tradition, made this post possible!
The Trees of the Dancing Goats by Patricia Polacco is traditional Polacco. The love of family, history, tradition and friendship bounce off the page. The appreciation of Hanukkah and Christmas traditions (at first separate, but later, specially mixed together) is a tribute to the spirit of the season. Having a Christmas Tree might not be Polacco’s family “way”, but they know how to help their friends and neighbors by combining both of their ways. This is a lovely reading treat. Not to mention a lovely treat to the eye. All Polacco’s books are rich in text and art. The art brings to life not only the people and places, but the season itself. Just because Christmas and Hanukkah celebrations have passed us by (or are way in the future) this truly is a book for year-round. This would have been a sweet novel as well. I wish Polacco had had the opportunity to do books for the older reader as well as her picture books.
Leila in Saffron by Rukhsanna Guidroz is a great story about a young Pakistani girl and how she, through the eyes of her grandmother and the traditions of her culture, finds out who she is. The amazing illustrations by Dinara Mirtalipova, are equally expressive as the text. They allow the reading to read the colors, feelings and story through them. Guidroz’s approach to learning about traditions and culture is straight forward. Our Leila allows us to follow her as she explores her world through her grandmother’s home. And while the colors of Leila’s world and ours might be different, the sentiments are the same: family being loud, loving and supportive, as well as trying to learn to like the mirrors image of ourselves and the growth of who you are, are universal. My only complaint is that either I missed something in the text or there are a couple skips in the flow of the story. But overall, this is a small hiccup to an otherwise look at another culture.
Both books are great ways to introduce your family to kids like them, but who have a few unique differences.