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Childhood is usually a state of dependence. Children are dependent upon adults, usually their parents, to provide them the physical, emotional, and spiritual means to live and flourish as human beings. Children may live privileged or cruel lives through no action of their own, except that they may be born to rich or kind or indifferent or destitute parents, and thus reflecting their social position in life.

The story of Hansel and Gretel is one such story. It introduces us to two children who, although abandoned by the adults who were supposed to love and protect them, are creative, resourceful,and willful enough to survive. By the way, this courage in the face of adversity is one of the hallmarks of children in many folk tales. Anyway, such courage is often seen in folk tale protagonists regardless of age, but it is perhaps in the stories that revolve around children that this bravery is most underscored. Perhaps because children are so often associated with innocence and a need to be protected. In short, putting them in dangerous situations only serves to highlight the courage they find within themselves.

The background and perhaps the impetus behind Hansel and Gretel is a famine. Famines were real occurrences in Europe prior to the 20th century. The Irish Potato Famine is one well known example. A series of 19th century famines in Sweden caused the emigration of one million Swedes to North America. Hunger and death by starvation and malnutrition were familiar occurrences to European peasants. In fact, it would not be surprising if parents may have been forced to choose which of their children would receive the meager amounts of food they could scrape together. This may sound horrific to us now, but life was rough for a peasant because difficult and horrible choices sometimes had to be made. Unfortunately, children, through no fault of their own, suffered, sometimes horribly.

In conclusion, it is important to note that the original version of Hansel and Gretel first recorded by the Brothers Grimm reveals that the children’s cruel stepmother was in fact a creation of Wilhelm Grimm’s fantasy. The tale, as the Brothers Grimm first heard it, featured a biological mother who conspires with her husband to abandon the children. It is tough to grasp that a biological mother would do such a thing, but unfortunately, we have become too familiar with frequent stories where a biological has harmed her children, sometimes fataly.

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People by Carole Boston Weatherford depicts Harriet Tubman’s initial escape from slavery and her mission to lead others to freedom as divinely inspired, achieved by steadfast faith and prayer. Carole Boston Weatherford frames the text in the book as an ongoing dialogue between Harriet Tubman and God. If this visually strunning book inspires you to know more about this courageous woman, Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom by Catherine Clinton is an excellent supplement. The long overdue Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom chronicles Harriet Tubman’s escape to Philadelphia and her experiences of being the first and only woman, fugitive slave, and black woman to work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Saint George and the Dragon tells an exciting segment where the Red Cross Knight slays a dreadful dragon that has been terrorizing the countryside for years, bringing peace and joy back to the land.

Gorilla by Anthony Browne is a great picture book because of the simple and unadorned relationship between words and images. In fact, if you look closely, Gorilla is as straightforward as it gets - the illustrations show the reader exactly what the words tell us. Many pictures, on the other hand, are rich in detail and significance, and embellish this narrative framework, taking us into the main character’s home and her psyche. However, more than this straightforward relationship between text and images, Gorilla perfectly illustrates that every mark matters. You can spend days looking at the movement of every line, both consciously or unconsciously made.

Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush by Virgina Hamilton is not your typical ghost story. Rather, it is a novel preoccupied with the impact the past has on our lives, especially past hurts involved in our personal histories. However, Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush doesn’t stop there. The novel allows us to contemplate the challenge of our personal growth as it relates to others. Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush suggests that the past must be dealt with, integrated, in fact, suggesting it is the only was toward healing. Quite simply, unless we are willing to visit our past, our future will be one of shrinking horizons.

Kitten’s First Full Moon is a book by Kevin Henkes that won the 2005 Caldecott Medal. This award-winning is about a small kitten who has never seen the moon before - mistaking it for milk and bringing about a number of mishaps for this adorable Kitten, including eating a bug and drinking lots of water.

I don’t want to sound presumptuous, but I think it’s safe to say that most of us are pretty familiar with Walt Disney’s synergized version of The Little Mermaid as opposed to Hans Christian Andersen’s original version. I also think that most will agree that Walt Disney’s version is a corporate appropriation of the original - which Walt Disney film isn’t, right? In any case, both merit discussion since they inadvertently find themselves at opposite ends of the spectrum. I’m not going to go into detail about each version, you’ll have to do the leg work on that one yourselves. However, if you’ve seen Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid, then you’re half way there. I will say that as a scholar I feel a respsonsibility to introduce Hans Christian Andersen’s original version of The Little Mermaid. As an educator, I feel quite the opposite. For example, I think Hans Christian Andersen’s version should wait on deck, so to speak, until children are old enough to understand and as a result, appreciate the complexity of the original version.

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are three children who have been unexpectedly orphaned after a terrible fire has killed their parents and destroyed the only home they’ve ever known. Without much choice in the matter, all three are sent to live with Count Olaf, who is supposedly a relative but whom the children have never met. I don’t know about you, but something definitely sounds fishy about this whole arrangement! As A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning begins to slowly unfold, it turns out, their instincts are correct — Count Olaf doesn’t have good intentions whatsoever. He only wants the three Baudelaires for one reason and one reason only. He is determined to get his hands on the substantial Baudelaire fortune, no matter the cost.

What child hasn’t been lulled to sleep or at least comforted by the gentle rhymes of Margaret Wise Brown’s classic Goodnight Moon? There is no doubt that Goodnight Moon has been an important part of so mnay of us and there certainly is absolutely no doubt that it will continue to delight and comfort generations to come.

I recently read Goodnight Moon after a long period of time. Maybe it’s the place I’m in at the current moment in my life at the moment or maybe it’s that quite simply, I’m just older and more experienced, or maybe it’s just some other unknown reason, or no reason at all, but I noticed something peculiarly different when I read Goodnight Moon recently. After I closed the book, I began to wonder and question at what point do we lose the consciousness, the awareness that we are all somehow, someway connected to everyone and everything? Interesting thought indeed.

After pondering this further, I concluded that trying to figure out when we’ve lost sight of that consciousness is really not that important. What really is important is being in touch with that consciousness. Goodnight Moon is an excellent reminder of that consciousness.

Camilla Cream is very, very worried about what other people think of her. In fact, she is so worried that she’s about to break out in A Bad Case of Stripes! With a little help, Camilla Cream learns the secret of accepting her true self, in spite of her peculias ailment.