{"id":1186,"date":"2024-04-09T16:58:56","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T20:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/?page_id=1186"},"modified":"2024-04-10T14:01:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T18:01:10","slug":"review-southwest-sunrise","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/review-southwest-sunrise\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Southwest Sunrise"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Cover<\/figure>\n<\/div>

\nReview of Southwest Sunrise<\/em> by Nikki Grimes (author) and Wendell Minor (artist).
\nNew York: Bloomsbury Children\u2019s Books, 2020.<\/strong>\n

Reviewed By Maughn Rollins Gregory<\/em>
\n<\/p><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n

\n

A genuine philosophical inquiry into the natural world has to begin with a genuine encounter with that world. In this arresting picture book, written by Nikki Grimes, recipient of the American Library Associations\u2019 Children\u2019s Literature Legacy Award, with stunning art by Wendell Minor, a young Black boy named Jayden from New York City is forced into such an encounter when his parents relocate to the desert of New Mexico. That he is Black is significant, because, as Grimes explains elsewhere, there is a \u201crarity of children\u2019s books that feature African American characters engaging with nature\u201d (2023). In this review I will draw out the suggestions this book offers for experiencing a natural landscape deeply, as a necessary condition for thinking well about it.<\/p>\n

Though the book\u2019s front endpapers show a colorful, sunny panorama of the New York skyline, we learn later that Jayden\u2019s bedroom window there had bars, and that the city\u2019s soundscape was typified by \u201cthe familiar sound of sirens.\u201d Page one shows Jayden on an airplane seat, thinking:<\/p>\n

\nToo old to cry myself to sleep,
\n\u00a0I hide behind my baseball cap,
\n\u00a0\u00a0close my eyes, and pout
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0all the way from New York
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0to New Mexico,
\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0mad about moving to a place
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0of shadows.\n<\/dd>\n

The next morning those shadows are parted by \u201ca knife of sunlight \/ slicing through the room \/ Dad says is mine,\u201d and though Jayden is sure that \u201cEverybody knows \/ browns and tans \/ are the only colors \/ deserts are good for,\u201d the first thing he sees out his new bedroom window is \u201ca mountain \/ striped in rainbow.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Jayden\u2019s real encounter with his new environment begins when he steps outside \u201cto take a look around, \/ gripping the field guide \/ Mom gave me at breakfast.\u201d One of the ways this book works is as a guidebook with tips for young and old to encounter the natural world around us. The first tip is to use field guides that identify the geographical formations, plants, and animals in our location. In addition to helping us learn about what we see around us, field guides prompt us to notice things we may otherwise overlook. This is what happens to Jayden, who finds the wildflower \u201ccalled wine-cup \/ spilling its burgundy beauty \/ for me to drink up. \/ And aren\u2019t those yellow bells? \/ They wake up the desert with their silent ring. \/ […] There\u2019s a patch of calypso orchids! […] \/ dancing purple in the wind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be fun to get some local field guides and find formations and species you don\u2019t recognize and go looking for them in your neighborhood?<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Illustrated<\/figure>\n

From Southwest Sunrise by Nikki Grimes & Wendell Minor \u00a9 2020 by Bloomsbury<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The more important tip Jayden shows us is how to pay attention to nature with all our senses. He spends long moments looking up trying \u201cto understand \/ the deep waves of turquoise \/ overhead.\u201d (\u201cWhere was all this sky \/ in New York City?\u201d he wonders. \u201cWas it hiding?\u201d) But he also remembers to \u201clower my eyes \/ to watch where I\u2019m going.\u201d On the ground he meets a \u201ckingly\u201d raven \u201cparading by,\u201d and then a striped lizard, \u201cone stunned cousin \/ of the alligator,\u201d whose \u201ccurved digits skitter \/ across my palm.\u201d Jayden remarks on colors, textures, and sounds, including \u201cthe mad chatter\u201d of magpies, \u201cwinged gossips \/ passing secrets \/ from one unfamiliar tree to another,\u201d and periods of unbroken silence that make him shiver.<\/p>\n

Try this: pick a spot outside where you can sit for five or ten minutes and make notes of what you can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. Are there any sensations you can\u2019t identify? How do you think other living things around you might see, hear, touch, smell, or even taste you?<\/em><\/p>\n

Another tip we learn from Jayden is to be curious about what we encounter in the natural world and find ways to learn more. Coming on a \u201criver of sand\u201d that \u201cwashes up bleached bones \/ like seashells \/ at Jones Beach: \/ rib, bird\u2019s skull, turtle shell,\u201d he wonders, \u201cWhat stories \/ do they have to tell?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Illustrated<\/figure>\n

From Southwest Sunrise by Nikki Grimes & Wendell Minor \u00a9 2020 by Bloomsbury<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As the expressions on his face make clear, Jayden is continually surprised and increasingly delighted by what he discovers in his new desert home. The strangeness of the landscape makes him encounter it with what is known in Zen Buddhism as shoshin<\/em> or \u201cbeginner\u2019s mind,\u201d without preconceptions. He is able to be surprised and curious. But beginner\u2019s mind is something we can cultivate in familiar circumstances\u2014in our work, our relationships, and our physical surroundings\u2014by trying not to know what to expect.<\/p>\n

Try this: <\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Walk around your home, neighborhood, or school as if for the first time\u2014what new things can you notice?<\/em><\/li>\n
  • Have a conversation with a family member or friend and imagine you\u2019d never met them\u2014what new things can you learn about them?<\/em><\/li>\n
  • Think about yourself with beginner\u2019s mind: who are you apart from your own expectations about yourself and how you think other people see you?<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    We learn another tip for encountering nature from the Grimes\u2019 metaphor-drenched narrative. In addition to \u201ca knife of sunlight,\u201d and a \u201cwine-cup\u201d wildflower \u201cspilling its burgundy beauty,\u201d the kingly raven has \u201cfeathers slick as wet hair,\u201d the magpies \u201cwrite across the sky \/ with the long black tips \/ of their tails,\u201d and there are \u201cred rock pillars \/ holding up the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \n
    \"Illustrated<\/figure>\n

    From Southwest Sunrise by Nikki Grimes & Wendell Minor \u00a9 2020 by Bloomsbury<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    The artistic impulse has always drawn children to nature. Grimes depicts this in another outstanding picture book, A Walk in the Woods<\/em> (2023), in which another Black boy walks in nature. Following a map left to him by his recently-deceased father, this boy discovers a cache of \u201cDrawings! Portraits of \/ wildlife in the woods\u201d with an \u201cunfinished story \/ scrawled beneath each sketch,\u201d made by his father when he was a boy. The stories read like poems:<\/p>\n

    Garter Snake<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Quick!
    \n<\/em>Someone\u2019s coming to gather
    \n<\/em>the sun-beaten diamonds
    \n<\/em>along your coiled,
    \n<\/em>cold-blooded body.
    \n<\/em>I wonder how much
    \n<\/em>Those diamonds are worth?
    \nHurry!
    \n<\/em>Slither behind those rocks
    \n<\/em>leading into the woods.
    \n<\/em>I\u2019ll see you again, tomorrow.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Try this: After spending some time in a natural setting, make a drawing, painting, sculpture, poem, or song about something you find there. <\/em><\/p>\n

    Because he knows to remind himself to slow down, to breathe, to pay close attention, and to respect and admire the beings he encounters in the woods, this boy\u2019s walk assuages his grief and sustains his relationship to his late father. These contemplative practices are among the most important tips to having a meaningful experience in the natural world (also, as this boy does, to bring a handful of nuts!).<\/p>\n

    Try this: Find a place to sit or walk in a natural setting and try to stop thinking and only pay attention to the sights, sounds, smells, and textures you experience. Each time you find your mind wandering away in thought, gently bring it back to the sensations you experience in the present moment.<\/em><\/p>\n

    \"Illustrated<\/figure>\n

    From Southwest Sunrise by Nikki Grimes & Wendell Minor \u00a9 2020 by Bloomsbury<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A genuine philosophical inquiry into the natural world has to begin with a genuine encounter with that world. In this arresting picture book, written by Nikki Grimes, recipient of the American Library Associations\u2019 Children\u2019s Literature Legacy Award, with stunning art by Wendell Minor, a young Black boy named Jayden from New York City is forced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":177,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1186","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/384"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1186"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1215,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1186\/revisions\/1215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}