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Picture Book Review – Planting Friendship: Peace, Salaam, Shalom

 

PLANTING FRIENDSHIP:
Peace, Salaam, Shalom

Written by Callie Metler, Shirin Rahman,
and Melissa Stoller

Illustrated by Kate Talbot

(Spork; $17.99, Ages 5-8)

 

 

Planting Friendship cover

 

Review

Planting Friendship: Peace, Salaam, Shalom has landed on bookshelves at just the right time when the world needs more stories about coming together despite our differences. This uplifting joint effort by Callie Metler, Shirin Rahman, and Melissa Stoller introduces young readers to characters whose faith matches those of the authors: Christian, Muslim, and Jewish respectively. Adding to the appeal is the detailed art by Kate Talbot whose depictions of the three girls, Molly, Savera, and Hannah add recognizable elements of their religions that parents, teachers, and librarians can point out in various spreads.

 

Planting Friendship int1
Interior art from Planting Friendship: Peace, Salaam, Shalom written by Callie Metler, Shirin Rahman, and Melissa Stoller and illustrated by Kate Talbot, Spork ©2021.

 

Molly, Savera, and Hannah meet at school. All three have experienced first-day jitters, a great opening example of how we are more similar than we think. They also notice that each wears a necklace, yet another connection.  While the girls may come from different faith traditions, a hands-on class project of growing seeds into saplings brings them together. When nothing happens with their seeds, the girls consider what will work. Inspired by quotes from their families such as “Nana always says, ‘Things grow with care, kindness, and love,’” a new attempt is made to help the seeds thrive.

 

Planting Friendship int2
Interior art from Planting Friendship: Peace, Salaam, Shalom written by Callie Metler, Shirin Rahman, and Melissa Stoller and illustrated by Kate Talbot, Spork ©2021.
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While waiting for their seeds to sprout, Molly, Savera, and Hannah spend time getting to know each other. Here both the prose and art convey how each girl’s room reflects their religious and cultural background. As the friendship blossoms, so does respect and understanding. When spring arrives, the saplings that had been tended to by the girls with such care are ready to be planted in Peace Park. Even their trip to the park involves pitching in to help each other out whether sharing a shovel or steadying a friend on her feet. With trees of friendship now firmly rooted, Molly, Savera, and Hannah can look forward and focus on new ways of bringing people together. “In Peace Park and beyond.” Talbot’s illustrations bring warmth and fluidity throughout this picture book with the spread below being one of my favorites. Look closely to see the mosque on the left, the church near the bridge, and the synagogue in the foreground. In the back matter, there’s even an opportunity provided for readers to SPOT THE SEVEN OBJECTS IN THE GIRLS’ HOMES. With Hanukkah underway as this review posts, the scenes in Hannah’s bedroom where the girls play dreidel will resonate with many readers.
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Planting Friendship int3
Interior art from Planting Friendship: Peace, Salaam, Shalom written by Callie Metler, Shirin Rahman, and Melissa Stoller and illustrated by Kate Talbot, Spork ©2021.
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Sports, art, cooking, and theater are just some of the other ways people of diverse backgrounds, religions, and races can find connections. I like that in this story it’s about nature and the world around us. While writing this review I kept hearing the band War’s 1975 hit, “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” in my head, and perhaps it’s due to these lyrics. “The color of your skin don’t matter to me, as long as we can live in harmony.” For me, this applies to religions as well. And the harmony we see in the flourishing friendship between Molly, Savera, and Hannah demonstrates they feel the same way. Children will see that what makes us different is also something that can unite us when we’re open to finding common ground. 
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The next book coming out in 2022 is Building Bridges: Peace, Salaam, Shalom. And in 2023 you can look forward to reading the third book which finishes the series.

Buy the Book

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781950169603

https://bookshop.org/books/planting-friendship-peace-salaam-shalom/9781950169603

 

Read about the Authors + Illustrator Here

Callie Metler

Shirin Rahman

Melissa Stoller

Kate Talbot

 

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Three Kids’ Picture Books About Hope

A ROUNDUP OF THREE KIDS’ PICTURE BOOKS

ABOUT HOPE

 

Here’s a fantastic selection of picture books about hope providing a great way to lift spirits at home while spending meaningful time with your children.

 

IfYouCometoEarth cvrIF YOU COME TO EARTH
Written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall 

(Chronicle Books; $18.99, Ages 5-8)

Starred Reviews – Booklist, Horn Book, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal

As a big Ivy and Bean fan, I’ve enjoyed two-time Caldecott winner Sophie Blackall’s art for years. Her author-illustrator 2018 picture book, Hello, Lighthouse, was a top book. Now, If You Come to Earth, follows with its amazing accomplishment of summing up, well, everything. This 80-page book is big in size and in heart. Addressed as a letter to “Dear Visitor from Outer Space,” the story includes factual matter such where our planet’s located (and that “the blue stuff is water”) to how “We live in all kinds of homes. / In all kinds of families.” The narrator Quinn’s voice is that of a helpful, insightful child who provides personal details about how “every body is different,” except for their identical-twins friends—yet even then the narrator notes one has a mole. The wide world comes together as a unit as Quinn explains and welcomes an unknown visitor.
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This comprehensive yet personal explanation describes our world exceptionally well. In the back matter, Blackall reveals twenty-three kids gave her lots of ideas, and how she didn’t expect this book to take five years. To me, five years to create this sounds reasonable with its all-encompassing subject matter and massive number of illustrations. Blackall’s talents range the gamut, from her expertise in capturing facial expressions to lifelike renditions of plants and animals. If You Come to Earth belongs in classrooms, houses, and spaceships everywhere.

 

TheWorldNeedsMorePurplePeople cvrTHE WORLD NEEDS MORE PURPLE PEOPLE
Written by Kristen Bell and Benjamin Hart
Illustrated by Daniel Wiseman
(Random House BYR; $17.99, Ages 3-7)

#1 New York Times bestseller! 

Coming out during the heated election year, The World Needs More Purple People, feels well-timed. Beyond stating, “purple is a magic color made when red and blue work together,” Kristen Bell and Benjamin Hart’s New York Times best-selling picture book avoids politics by simply stating, “the best things are purple.” As someone fond of the color (and the sentiment), I agree.

The story’s serious recommendations (ask questions, give good ideas, and help someone) are balanced with fun (“We laugh at donkey dances and hairy elephant knees”). Daniel Wiseman’s engaging, kid-friendly art accents the humorous text. My favorite lines: “Purple questions are the kind that help you learn something really BIG about the world or something really small about another person” and “Purple people come in every color you can dream up and every size you can think up.” This book engages young reader with important issues by encouraging curiosity and silliness.

 

ThereIsaRainbow coverTHERE IS A RAINBOW
Written by Theresa Trinder
Illustrated by Grant Snider
(Chronicle Books; $15.99, Ages 3-5)

Starred Reviews – Booklist, School Library Journal

There Is a Rainbow by Theresa Trinder is a feel-good picture book filled with hope and reminders that we’re in this together. Inspired by the rainbows her children drew during while sheltering in place for the pandemic, the book expresses our universal experiences such as having to stay separated from family or friends, and attending online school.

Illustrations by Grant Snider perfectly fit the spare, lyrical text. A rainbow of colors glows against a white backdrop. Echoing a child’s style of drawing, Snider elevates that sentiment with details capturing this time in our lives.

Beyond the pandemic, this beautiful picture book “encourages readers to look past their immediate surroundings and find comfort, community, and inner courage—which are all closer than we might think.” And if that’s not enough, peek under the book jacket for a fun, different cover art!

Click here to read a recent picture book about hope reviewed by Christine.

Click here to read a review of another picture book about hope.

 

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