Imagine this scene: The inauguration of the president of the United States is about to take office. A group of dignitaries has gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol. Thousands of citizens are waiting for the ceremony to begin. News teams are ready to record the momentous occasion. The president-elect and the chief justice of the Supreme Court — two of the most powerful people in the country — step forward. The chief justice says a few words. Then the two of them link the little fingers of their right hands and shout “pinky swear!”
Would that accomplish the same thing as having the president-elect raise one hand, put the other hand on a Bible, and repeat a lot of solemn words? Is a pinky-swear equal to an oath of office?
An oath of office and a pinky-swear (or pinky-promise) are “words of promise,” as are vows and pledges. A promise is a declaration of an intent to do something or to refrain from doing something. Throughout history and in almost every culture and country, people have developed different forms of promises. Promises, pledges, vows, and oaths are all things that humans have invented to reassure themselves that the people in their lives are telling the truth and that they do what they say they’re going to do.
An oath is a turbo-charged promise. They’ve traditionally been made while invoking the name of God, a god, or a deity of some kind. The understanding is that if the promise is not kept, something will be forfeited to the deity — perhaps even life itself. Sometimes the oath specifies the forfeiture, such as “upon my wife” or “upon my honor.”
Oaths have become a way of promising allegiance to a ruler or a government, and breaking them involve consequences. In the United States, violating an oath of office can result in impeachment or removal from office. Lying in court while “under oath” can result in a jail sentence for the crime of perjury.
Vows are also seen as more than simple promises. They are often made as part of a religious ceremony, such as a wedding.
Pledges are promises, but they don’t have quite the same power as oaths and vows. Joining a fraternity, sorority, or a civic organization often involves making a pledge. Sometimes a pledge is a promise to one’s self, such as a pledge to stop drinking alcohol.
To emphasize their importance, oaths, vows, and pledges often involve a lot of falderol, such as being made in a specific place, while wearing special clothing, or with special music playing.
Then there’s the pinky-swear or pinky-promise. When I was growing up, we made promises by saying “cross my heart and hope to die,” which served the same purpose. Pinky-promises are often between friends, which actually might make them even more important than swearing an oath to a distant government.
Many adults belittle the pinky-promise, but children tend to take them very seriously. I think that shows that even young children understand the importance of doing what you say you’re going to do. What I love most about pinky-promises is that they don’t involve a lot of falderol. They can be made on a playground during recess while wearing dirty sneakers.
The children’s books below each offer a different view of promises in their various forms.
The Steel Pan Man of Harlem
By Colin Bootman
The Steel Pan Man of Harlem is the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin but with a twist: The story is set in Harlem, not Hamelin, and it involves a steel pan (or steel drum), not a flute.
The story is set in Harlem in what looks to be the 1940s, and the city has a major rat problem. “Rats were everywhere,” reads the text, and by everywhere, it means sleeping in human beds, lounging in coffee cups, even frolicking in a bathtub, complete with rat-sized inner tubes. The rats are too clever to be caught in traps and too fast to be caught by exterminators. The citizens are outraged and demand that the mayor do something.
One day a stranger appears in a subway station. He takes out a shiny, round steel pan and begins to play music. The people nearby start clapping their hands, snapping their fingers, and tapping their feet. Many of them begin dancing. Even the rats begin dancing! Then the Steel Pan Man packs up his drum and walks away.
The Steel Pan Man presents himself to the mayor of Harlem and offers to rid the city of its rat problem for one million dollars. The mayor is at first outraged by the cost, but when he remembers how angry the citizens are, he agrees, and the men shake hands on the deal.
The Steel Pan Man makes good on his promise. He enchants the rats with his music, and they all march onto a barge, which sails away. (No rats were harmed in the making of this story! They are seen on the endpapers enjoying life on a distant beach.)
The major doesn’t make good on his promise, and the Steel Pan Man gets his revenge, although with a slightly different outcome than in the original story. Hint: It involves an uncontrollable urge to dance.
An author’s note provides information about the origin of the steel pan (or drum). He notes that hearing The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning at the age seven had a big impact on him. He later combined the story with memories of his childhood in Trinidad, where the steel pan is the national instrument and “a symbol of Caribbean unity and culture.”
Children are sure to love this version of the Pied Piper tale. The illustrations of people — and dogs and cats! — jitterbugging in the streets are energetic and colorful, and the scenes of the rats are hilarious. It certainly demonstrates the importance of always keeping one’s word.
You can learn more about Colin Bootman here.
A Very Important Day
By Maggie Rugg Herold
Illustrated by Catherine Stock
In A Very Important Day, 219 people from 32 countries have something very important in common. As the story progresses, each two-page spread gives a little information about one family or one individual. Their last names — Batungbakal, Huerta, Patel, Leonov, Soutsos, Hao, Báez, Zeng, Idris, Akuffo, McTaggart, and Castro — give hints about their nationalities or ethnic backgrounds. We learn more from their conversations with each other and with their neighbors and friends. They receive congratulations and even gifts in recognition of this very important day.
All of the people are seen preparing for and traveling through a snowstorm — on foot, by bus, or by ferry — toward what is clearly a very important event. We don’t learn what the event is until everyone converges at a courthouse. Then we see all 219 of them in a courtroom, where a judge leads them in repeating the oath of citizenship. What they have in common is that they have all become citizens of the United States on this very important day.
Catherine Stock’s illustrations work in tandem with the text to give details about the characters’ countries of origin. The way in which they are all bundled in winter clothing and being pelted by the same snowfall shows that they have a lot in common.
The back matter provides an explanation of how a person becomes a citizen of the United States: by being born here, by being born to a United States citizen living in another country, or by order of a court of the United States. It also gives the text of the oath of citizenship, which begins with “I hereby declare, on oath …”
This book is even more important now than it was when it was published in 1995. It’s important for young readers to know what is involved in becoming a citizen of the United States — that it is a matter of law, not based on how people look, speak, or dress, and that it involves a solemn promise.
Betsy Who Cried Wolf!
By Gail Carson Levine
Illustrated by Scott Nash
Betsy Who Cried Wolf! gives a much more humorous look at oaths. In this story, young Betsy takes the Shepherds’ Oath on her eighth birthday. She sets out with her first flock of sheep and a determination to be the best shepherd the Bray Valley has ever seen. At the same time, a very hungry wolf named Zimmo has a Plan to get some of Betsy’s sheep.
When Betsy first spots Zimmo, she looks at her written checklist to be sure she’s seeing a wolf. (“Hungry eyes? Check. Sharp teeth? Check.”) Then she blows her whistle and cries “Wolf!” By the time the townspeople have arrived, Zimmo has disappeared, and Betsy is given a scolding. When Zimmo tricks her again, Betsy is sent back to Shepherd School and even has to sit on the dunce stool. She fumes about no one believing that she really did see a wolf.
Betsy is given another chance. When she sees Zimmo again and cries wolf, the townspeople don’t come, just as Zimmo had hoped. Determined to protect her sheep, Betsy throws her lunch plate at him. When he stops to gobble her mother’s meat pies, she notices that he’s very skinny. Feeling sorry for him, she changes her approach to protecting her sheep. He and Betsy become coworkers, and he even gets to take the Shepherds’ Oath.
The story on its own is giggle-worthy, but Scott Nash’s illustrations bring on the belly laughs. The sheep are like a wise-cracking Greek chorus, giving commentary that appears in thought balloons throughout the story. For example, when the wolf howls and the sheep cower behind Betsy, one of them can’t resist saying, “He has a lovely voice.” The endpapers provide even more sheepish fun.
Despite the comical details, Betsy takes her oath seriously.
You can learn more about Gail Carson Levine here. More information Scott Nash can be found here.
Maddi’s Fridge
By Lois Brandt
Illustrated by Vin Vogel
When Maddi and Sofia get hungry and thirsty while playing, Sofia races up the stairs to Maddi’s apartment and throws open the refrigerator, expecting to see the bounty of food that she would see in her own fridge. Instead she sees only a little bit of milk that is being saved for Maddi’s brother. When Sofia asks why Maddi’s family doesn’t have more food, she says it’s because they don’t have any money to buy more. She asks Sofia to promise not to tell anyone, and Sofia promises.
Sofia starts to think of ways she could help Maddi. She tries taking food in her backpack to share with Maddi at school, but she learns that it is not a good idea to carry fish or eggs in a backpack. She finally succeeds with some burritos, tortillas, beans, cheese, and a little milk. Then she realizes that the little food she was able to take to Maddi would not be enough, and she decides to break her promise and tell her mother.
Sofia’s mother says, “Let’s see what we can do together.” She and Sofia and Sofia’s little brother pack bags of food to take to Maddi’s apartment, where the two mothers talk and the two girls go to the park. Maddi knows that Sofia broke her promise, but Sofia says, “You’re more important. I wanted you to have milk, too.” She asks Maddi if they are still friends. Maddi says, “Always.” Sofia says, “Double always.”
What is especially wonderful about this book is that it has a second storyline intertwined with the one about Maddi’s fridge. Sofia is the fastest runner, but Maddi is able to scoot to the top of a climbing wall with ease, while Sofia struggles. Maddi never ridicules Sofia for this but instead encourages her friend. “Keep trying,” she says. “You’ll get it.” On the day when Sofia finally makes it to the top, she says, “Thanks for helping me, Maddi. I couldn’t do it alone.” “That’s what friends are for,” Maddi tells her. Despite Maddi’s poverty, the two girls are never portrayed as less than equals.
The illustrations by Vin Vogel never stray anywhere close to “poverty porn.” They are bright and colorful with touches of humor to lighten the tough subject matter.
An endnote gives suggestions on how to help friends with empty refrigerators and provides a link to www.MaddisFridge.com, where still more information is available.
Maddi’s Fridge is a great opener for conversations about hunger and about when breaking a promise might be the right thing to do.
You can learn more about Lois Brandt here. More information about Vin Vogel can be found here.
We Are Water Protectors
By Carole Lindstrom
Illustrated by Michaela Goade
It’s almost impossible to summarize We Are the Water Protectors. You need to experience each word and each illustration to understand the full impact of the book, which was written by Carole Lindstrom, who is Anishinaabe/Metis and tribally enrolled with the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, and illustrated by Michaela Goade, who is of Tlingit descent and tribally enrolled with the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes.
“Water is the first medicine,” says the narrator, as she stands in a river with her grandmother. Her grandmother has taught her that water is sacred. She has also been told of a black snake that will destroy the land. In the illustrations, the black snake is a pipeline that “Courses through the water, Making it unfit to drink.”
The narrator shouts, “TAKE COURAGE!” and declares that she will keep the black snake away from her village’s water. She is determined to rally her people to “Stand for the water. To stand for the land. To stand as ONE. Against the black snake.”
The narrator ends with “The black snake is in for the fight of its life.” A crowd of protestors — some Indigenous, some not, but all water protectors — is seen taking a stand against a pipeline.
I think that children know intuitively and instinctively the importance of protecting the water and the land. Even if they are not directly aware of the destruction caused by oil pipelines, they are sure to be aware of the harm being done to the environment by pollution of many types. The simple but lyrical text and the lush, vibrant illustrations of We Are Water Protectors will reassure them that there are people in the world who are taking a stand to protect the planet and that they can take a stand, too.
The author’s note and the illustrator’s note provide more information that adults can use to help children understand what being a water protector can mean for them.
The final page of the book gives the Earth Steward and Water Protector Pledge, which reads:
I will do my best to honor Mother Earth and all its living beings, including the water and land. I will always remember to treat the Earth as I would like to be treated.
I will treat …
the winged ones,
the crawling ones,
the four-legged,
the two-legged,
the plants,
trees,
rivers,
lakes,
the earth
with kindness and respect.I pledge to make this world a better place by being a steward of the Earth and a protector of the water.
You can learn more about Carole Lindstrom here. More information about Michaela Goade can be found here.
Talking with children about the important of keeping your promises can sometimes make them feel like they’re being lectured, and nobody likes that. These picture books introduce the topic in clever, imaginative ways. I can’t promise that young readers will enjoy them, but I think they will.
Thanks to Cheryl Holt at pixabay.com for the featured image above.