Gloria Houston’s picture book My Great-Aunt Arizona was published in 1992, but it feels older. This is because of the book’s subject matter, its approach, and because of Susan Condie Lamb’s illustrations.
This book is essentially a quiet celebration of the author’s great aunt. It tells Arizona’s story in a steady pace, and there are no great plot swings. Instead, readers get a perspective on an entire life, a life well-lived and full of love, and on how it continues to live on in Arizona’s students. There is, again, limited raw excitement, but a good blend of both mind and heart: the book celebrates reading, teaching, learning, and a bond of affection that unites all of those.
This would be useful to use in the classroom or a home school, as a model for telling the life story of a family member.
