De la Peña, Matt. Last Stop on Market Street. Illus. by Christian Robinson. New York: Penguin, 2015. Print.
The rain is coming down, and Nana and CJ are on foot. As CJ complains about getting wet, and not having a car like his friend, Nana responds with positivity, and takes him on the No. 5 Bus for a special trip. Nana greets fellow bus passengers warmly (including a blind man tuning a guitar, a woman with a jar of butterflies, and two teens listening to music), and in her interactions, models kindness and empathy. As the blind man plays a tune, CJ is moved by the music, and his mind swirls with visions of butterflies, hawks and freedom. Their trip ends with a walk down a run-down neighborhood, and the final destination is revealed: a soup kitchen where Nana and CJ serve meals together. As CJ takes this journey with Nana, he sees that with the right outlook, beauty can be found in any place.
I first read this book in January, 2015. Of course, it won the Newbery Medal for 2016, and when the award was announced in Boston at ALA MidWinter, I was fortunate enough to be there to hear it. As I sat in my seat beforehand, chatting with fellow librarians, someone from the press asked the whole row if we had any predictions. I remember my reply was "Last Stop on Market Street: Caldecott". Of course I was partially right about this, as it did win a Caldecott Honor Medal as well as a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award.
It is now February, and our Scholastic Book Fair Week is upon us. One of the featured books is indeed Last Stop on Market Street. As I visited some classes to talk about the book fair, I brought this book along with me, and read it aloud. I could tell that our readers were enjoying the story, but I also re-discovered several gems about this book which I shall share:
- First, the stained-glass windows on the church (opening of the book) are lovely. The alternating triangles remind me of work by illustrator Molly Bang.
- Two people in the street outside the church are holding umbrellas -- a signal of what is to come. Nana has brought her umbrella as well, showing us that no matter the weather, she will go to the soup kitchen to help.
- See the location of the gutter on the double-page spread where Nana and CJ first encounter rain. The trunk really does resemble a straw, just as Nana says.
- Mr. Dennis, the bus driver, gives CJ a coin by pulling it out of his ear. (The coin is mentioned later in the book.) There are people around us who enjoy their work, and do little acts of kindness like this every day. This is part of the beauty that Nana wants us to notice.
- The woman with the butterflies in the jar intrigues me. Where does one go with butterflies in a jar? (This character has found beauty for herself.) This line always causes wonder when I read it aloud to classes.
- Nana's hand offers comfort/empathy/agreement to those around her: the blind man on the bus, and to CJ when they get off the bus.
- The double-page spread where CJ closes his eyes to listen to the music is a stopping point. You do pause here because you know CJ is changing in some way. The music, Nana's words, and the passengers on the bus have all had an effect on CJ. And from then on, when he asks a question, he is asking for a different reason -- not because he is complaining any more, but because he is truly wondering.
I still think about CJ's story, even though it has been on my shelves for over a year, and I have read it several times. I find it comforting to know that no matter how many times I turn to this book, I find something that will make me wonder or pause (just like CJ), proving once again that picture books are meant to be enjoyed repeatedly. One quick read of a picture book is never sufficient to appreciate its full meaning.