Picture Book Biography - Carter Reads the Newspaper by Deborah Hopkinson

Biography of Carter G. Woodson
Illustrated by Don Tate

2019 Peachtree Publishers

HC $17.95

36 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.24 - 156 ratings

My rating:  4

Endpapers:  Line drawings of 27 noteworthy Black Americans
Includes a list of 43 black Americans with their dates, a timeline of Woodson's life, a full author's note and illustrator's note, and a long list of resources and bibliographic information.

1^st line/s:  "Each February we celebrate Black History Month.  It's a time to honor heroes like Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King.  But there's one hero we sometimes forget.  Carter G. Woodson didn't help people escape from slavery, start a bus strike, or lead a movement of millions.  Yet without him, we might not have Black History Month.  This is his story."

My comments:  A great read aloud to introduce Carter G. Woodson to elementary students.  Great information and lovely illustrations.

Goodreads:  “Carter G. Woodson didn’t just read history. He changed it.” As the father of Black History Month, he spent his life introducing others to the history of his people.
          Carter G. Woodson was born to two formerly enslaved people ten years after the end of the Civil War. Though his father could not read, he believed in being an informed citizen. So Carter read the newspaper to him every day. When he was still a teenager, Carter went to work in the coal mines. There he met a man named Oliver Jones, and Oliver did something important: he asked Carter not only to read to him and the other miners, but also research and find more information on the subjects that interested them. “My interest in penetrating the past of my people was deepened,” Carter wrote. His journey would take him many more years, traveling around the world and transforming the way people thought about history.
          From an award-winning team of author Deborah Hopkinson and illustrator Don Tate, this first-ever picture book biography of Carter G. Woodson emphasizes the importance of pursuing curiosity and encouraging a hunger for knowledge of stories and histories that have not been told. Illustrations also feature brief biological sketches of important figures from African and African-American history. 

PICTURE BOOK - So Tall Within by Gary D. Schmidt

Sojourner Truth's Long Walk Toward Freedom
Illustrated by Daniel Minter

2018, Roaring Brook Press

$18.99 HC

48 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.51 - 282 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers:  Solid rusty cranberry

Dedication from the author:  For Ashley Bryan, with gratitude for a long friendship

1^st line/s:  Poetry:  "In Slavery Time, when Hope was a deed waiting to be planted,"
Prose:  "Isabella lived in a cellar where the windows never let the sun in and the floorboards never dept the water out."

My comments:  Okay, I loved this book.  Poetry, prose, and good storytelling. Lovely illustrations. Gary Schmidt makes this historical woman real, which is such a difficult thing to do.  Making real people from the past come to life is something not many people can do well, ti's certainly done well here.  What an inspiration!

Goodreads:  From celebrated author Gary D. Schmidt comes a picture book biography of a giant in the struggle for civil rights, perfectly pitched for readers today.
          Sojourner Truth was born into slavery but possessed a mind and a vision that knew no bounds. So Tall Within traces her life from her painful childhood through her remarkable emancipation to her incredible leadership in the movement for rights for both women and African Americans. Her story is told with lyricism and pathos by Gary D. Schmidt, one of the most celebrated writers for children in the twenty-first century, and brought to life by award winning and fine artist Daniel Minter. This combination of talent is just right for introducing this legendary figure to a new generation of children.

MOVIE - Marshall

PG-13 (1:58)

Wide release 10-13-17

Viewed Tuesday evening, 10-17-17 at the Regal Theater in Harrisburg
IMBd:  6.8

T Critic: 87     Audience:  87
Critic's Consensus:  Marshall takes an illuminating, well-acted look at its real-life subject's early career that also delivers as an entertainingly old-fashioned courtroom drama.

Cag:  5/Loved it

Directed by Reginald Hudlin

Open Road Films

Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad, Sterling K. Brown, Kate Hudson, James Cromwell

My comments:  What an excellent movie!  I particularly loved all the humor and the growing relationship between Samuel Friedman and Thurgood Marshall.  Perhaps these parts were added with "creative license," in that writing a biopic about something that happened 76 years ago (1941) can't be full of the truth, and this is a movie, after all, not a documentary. The actors, and acting, were superb (although Kate Hudson's portrayal seemed a little off to me). Powerful storytelling about a piece of our history - a LARGE piece - that is shaming and shameful.  There was an older (white) couple sitting behind me in the theater that were cheering and clapping every time something positive happened, or every time someone put an arrogant white person in their place.  They applauded at the end.  That's how I felt, applause is necessary.  Highly recommended.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Starring Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad, Kate Hudson, Dan Stevens, Sterling K. Brown, and James Cromwell. Director Reginald Hudlin's Marshall, is based on an early trial in the career of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. It follows the young lawyer (Chadwick Boseman) to conservative Connecticut to defend a black chauffeur (Sterling K. Brown) charged with sexual assault and attempted murder of his white socialite employer (Kate Hudson). Muzzled by a segregationist court, Marshall partners with a courageous young Jewish lawyer, Samuel Friedman (Josh Gad). Together they mount the defense in an environment of racism and Anti-Semitism. The high profile case and the partnership with Friedman served as a template for Marshall's creation of the NAACP legal defense fund.

Civil Rights and Being Black in America

PICTURE BOOKS
1960s
Bass, Hester - Seeds of Freedom (2015) Huntsville, AL 1962-1963, peaceful desegregation
Faulkner, Matt - A Taste of Colored Water (2008) during desegregtion
Pinkney, Andrea Davis - How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down (2010) Greensboro sit-ins
Ramsey, Calvin Alexander - Belle, the Last Mule at Gee's Bend (2011) the mule that pulled MLKs casket
Tonatiuh, Ducan - Separate is Never Equal; Sylvia Mendez and her Family's Fight for Desegregation

Between the 1860s and 1960s
Malaspina, Ann - Finding Lincoln (2009) segregation
McKissack, Patricia C. _ Stitchin' and Pullin' a Gee's Bend Quilt (2007)
Shange, Ntozake - We Trouble the Waters (2009)- poems about being black in the south in the 1940s

Slavery in America (including Underground Railroad)
Hendrix, John - John Brown : His Fight for Freedom (2008)
Johnson, Angela - All Different Now (2014) emancipation
Levine, Ellen - Henry's Freedom Box (2007) being sold away from family
Polacco, Patricia - January's Sparrow (2009)  runaways to freedom
Slate, Joseph - I Want to Be Free (2009)
Stroud, Bettye - The Patchwork Path: a Pathway to Freedom (2005)
Weatherford, Carole Boston - Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (2006)
Whelan, Gloria - The Listeners (2009) plantation

Famous People in Black History
Blue, Rose & Corinne J. Naden - Ron's Big Mission (2009) a story about Ron McNair in 1959
Cook, Michelle - Our Children Can Soar (2009) 2-pg. biographies of people important to black history
Hendrix, John - John Brown : His Fight for Freedom (2008)
Shange, Ntozake - Coretta Scott (2009) Picture book biography
Taveres Matt - Henry Aaron's Dream (2010)
Weatherford, Carole Boston - Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (2006)

NOVELS
Anderson, Laurie Halse - Chains (2008) Slavery during the American Revolution (YA)
Latham, Irene - Leaving Gee's Bend -(2010) 1932 Alabama (Middle Grades)
Sturm, James - Satchel Paige; Striking Out Jim Crow (2007) (Graphic Novel for Middle Grades)

PICTURE BOOK - All Different Now - Angela Johnson

Juneteenth; the First Day of Freedom
Illustrated by E. B. Lewis

2014, Simon & Schuster

32 pgs.
HC $17.99

Goodreads rating:

My rating:

Endpapers: mottled light green
Very little white on pages!

1^st line/s:   "A June morning breeze off the port blew the smell of honeysuckle past the fields, across the yard, and into our room to wake us up."

My comments:  As usual, E. B. Lewis's illustrations are breathtaking.  He tells about their creation in an Illustrator's Note at the back of the book.  The first 24 pages tell the story of Juneteenth - June 19th - the emancipation of slavery - with simple verse and these incredible paintings.  The last five pages are more information - resources, reminisces, timeline, history, glossary.  Wow.  A huge piece of US history, simply and beautifully told and referenced.

Goodreads:  Through the eyes of one little girl, All Different Now tells the story of the first Juneteenth, the day freedom finally came to the last of the slaves in the South. Since then, the observance of June 19 as African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond. This stunning picture book includes notes from the author and illustrator, a timeline of important dates, and a glossary of relevant terms.

PICTURE BOOK - Giant Steps to Change the World - Spike Lee & Tonya Lewis Lee

Illustrated by Sean Qualls

2011, Madstone: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 

32 pages

Goodreads rating: 3.93

My rating: 3

Endpapers: pink background, with 12 different quotes in 12 differently-colored and shaped quadrilaterals

Illustrations:  I liked some of them a lot, but others didn't do anything at all to inspire me...

My comments:  I hunted for this book in anticipation of using it during one of my Owning Up/Character education lessons each week.  Unfortunately, it's not going to work for that.  The ideas put forth are wonderful but....vague.  Each set of pages referred to someone special in the history of the world.  Granted, there were quotes from each of them on the endpapers, but an addendum at the end of the book - or even a separate space on each page - would have been informative and helpful.
     Perhaps researching, or even discussing, the people ahead of time....or finding picture books about some of them...this would be the good ENDING to a mini-unit, but does not stand up well on its own.

Mohammad Ali
Harriet Tubman
Jesse Owen
Ben Carson
Marva Collins
Albert Einstein
Langston HughesJean-Michel Basquait
Barack Obama
the Tuskegee Airmen
Neil Armstrong
Mother Teresa

Goodreads:  "On some days your dreams may seem too away far to realize… Listen to the whispers of those that came before..." 
          Following the success of their much beloved picture books, Please, Baby, Please and Please, Puppy, Please; Academy Award nominated director Spike Lee, and his talented wife Tonya Lewis Lee offer up an inspirational picture book about activism and taking the big steps to set things right set to beautiful illustrations by the award-winning Sean Qualls. Using examples of people throughout history who have taken "giant steps", this book urges kids to follow in their footsteps and not be hindered by fear or a sense that you are not good enough. Despite the challenges, even the smallest step can change the world. So, what's your next step going to be?

MOVIE - The Butler

PG-13 (2:12)

Wide release 8/16/2013

at El Con on 9/4/2013 with Sheila

RT Critic: 72 Audience: 82

Cag:  5 Loved it 

Directed by Lee Daniels

The Weinstein Company

Actors:  Forest Whitaker, Opray Winfrey, Liev Schrieber, James Marsden, Alan Rickman, John Cusack, Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Rotten Tomatoes summary:  LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER tells the story of a White House butler who served eight American presidents over three decades. The film traces the dramatic changes that swept American society during this time, from the civil rights movement to Vietnam and beyond, and how those changes affected this man's life and family.

My comments: I totally enjoyed this for many reasons.  One, it is a great overview of the Civil Rights Movement.  Two, the lead actors were great, and it was really, really fun to see other well-known actors play presidents and first ladies (Jane Fonda was Nancy Reagan, James Marsden was Jack Kennedy, Liev Schrieber was Lyndon Johnson, and Alan Rickman was Ronald Reagan, to mention just a few).  And three, it was based on a true story.  Granted, I don't know how much of it was true, but if Gaines' son, Louis, was indeed a part of all the civil rights media giants of the 60s and 70s as portrayed, then the Gaines family truly had a huge part in US history.  It was long ... but I barely noticed, I was so enthralled with the movie.  Highly recommended.

Henry Aaron's Dream - Matt Tavares

Candlewick, 2010
$16.99
40 pgs.
For: Gr. 2-5
Endpapers: pumpkin pie

Well, this book brought tears to my eyes. It's a powerful picture book biographyt, told in free verse, about Hank Aaron and all he had to go through to become a respected baseball player. It sure wasn't easy...

The illustrations cover 2/3 of the page, leaving the 1st or 4th vertical quarter for the words - on a creamy yellowish beige. They're done in strong, bold watercolors and with ink and pencil. Perfect for the story. Same writer and illustrator - he did a marvelous job.

A High-5 for sure!

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down - Andrea Davis Pinkney

Illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Little Brown & Co., 2010
$16.99
40 pages - one folds out
Endpapers: plum

A powerful piece of the history of America, an integral chink in the chain that made up the timeline of the Civil Rights movement, the Greensboro sit-ins are eloquently described in this powerful picture book.

"We must . . . meet hate with love." (MLK Jr.)

On February 1, 1960 - 50 years ago - four black college classmates sat down at a Woolworth's counter for a cup of coffee and donut. They were ignored. FOR WHITES ONLY. They were peaceful...patient...quiet...polite. They sat and sat and sat. They were never served. The next day, more students showed up at the counter. The word spread. Well-behaved, well-dressed young people began to sit at lunch counters all over the south. Eventually, people took notice. And just like the bus boycott that Rosa Parks had begun five years before by not giving up her seat, a huge message was sent --- and heard.

The Civil Rights timeline at the end of the book is excellent.

I wish I liked Brian Pinkney's illustrations more. He uses slashes of black to outline the figures and predominant details, then a water color wash swirls throughout. Much clearer and less confusing that Chris Rashka's illustrations, but still a little too free-form for me. However, this husband-wife teamwork is pretty cool.

15. Leaving Gee's Bend - Irene Latham

For: Middle grades
G. P. Putnams, 2010
HC, $16.95
230 pages
Rating: 4

This is the story of three days in the life of 10-year old sharecropper Ludelphia Bennett in 1932. Ludelphia lives in Gee's Bend, Alabama, a tiny, extremely poor black community on the banks of the Alabama River, 40 miles by road from the closest town. Gee's Bend is now famous for the quilts that have been produced by the hands of the women who lived there through the depression and afterwards. I was lucky enough to see the exhibition of these quilts a year or two ago in a huge exhibition in San Francisco. The quilts and their stories have traveled - and are still traveling - all around the country. What incredible stories! I've thought many times of these people, of these quilts, of the lives in that community, even researching quilt shops and museums in Alabama for a future summer trip. So when this book came out, I reserved it at the library immediately.

Ludelphia has had nothing but rotten luck for much of her life, and it certainly continues in this story. One bad thing after another happens to her - but I can attest, this is the reality of our lives sometimes. For the first time in many years, Ludelphia's mother has delivered a healthy baby. However, she herself is dying from pneumonia and influenza. There's nothing that can be done. So Ludelphia sets off across the river to try and find a doctor. Along the way she bumps into one adventure after another. And along the way, she has the tangible comfort of stitching together used, torn-up pieces of cloth into a story quilt for her mother.

When the author, Irene Latham, first saw the quilts of Gee's Bend, she was as entranced by them and their stories as I was. But she had the gumption to research and travel and visit and talk to people and create this story. A story based on incidents that she researched. She has given the world - and the children of the world who have no idea about this section of our country in more segregated times than now - a glimpse into a sharecropper's life. I get it. The kid's will get it. There's good story telling going on here. I thank Irene Latham for writing this book.

View the book trailer on YouTube.

Here's a review of a reader that didn't like the book. If you read the reviews, make sure you read the comments after. There was much more bias on the reviewer's side than on the author's side (in my humble opinion). When a reviewer really bashes a book - a lengthy bashing - it's always interesting to see that reviewer's background - gives a little insight into where the left-field comments (or what appear to be left-field comments) are coming from. Talk about picking apart a book! She sure reads for a different reason than I do!

This was a good historical fiction which I will recommend to my students. However, I'm not sure the title is apt. I would ask my students to create a new title and tell me why they chose what they did. Takers, anyone?

12. Chains - Laurie Halse Anderson

Audio read by Madisun Leigh
Brilliance Audio, 2008
7 unabridged cds: 8 hours
320 pages
Rating: 4- an excellent read

Anything and everything bad that could happen to a slave happened to the protagonist in this book.

John Brown: His Fight for Freedom - John Hendrix

Abrams Bks for Young Readers, 2009
$18.95
40 pgs
for: 3rd grade upward
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Dark Reddish-Brown

I've been to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia many times. Not only is it a small (and quaint) town, but it is also a National Historical Park with fascinating history. It sits on a piece of land where WV, VA, and MD all come together, and where two rivers, the Potomac and Shenendoah, converge. And it is famous for John Brown. But all the information I ever knew about this man was foggy. An abolitionist, yes. But some have called him a madman. A very controversial one. So I was greatly excited to find this book.

It certainly looks like John Hendrix has researched thoroughly and well. He has written - and beautifully illustrated - an intelligent history, making John Brown human, and giving the facts of his thinking and crusading. In a two-page Author's Note he gives his feelings about John Brown, his beliefs and reactions. I found it extremely interesting.

John Brown hated the idea of slavery. He hated the idea that all men were NOT equal. He took it as his life's mission to try to do something to stop slavery in the United States. Although there was an instance in Kansas where, in acute frustration, he was involved in killing people, that does not seem to be a major part in his overall quest. All he wanted to do was stop slavery by amassing by creating an army of black and white believers that could help. Creating an army certainly means war, but I think he realized that it would not be a bloodless fight. Harriet Tubman was one of his biggest supporters and allies!

This book gives a reader great insight into the murky history of John Brown. I liked and appreciated it a lot. And the illustrations - pen and ink with an acrylic wash - greatly added to the telling of this story.

We Trouble the Waters - Ntozake Shange

Illustrated by Rod Brown (paintings)
Amistad/Collins, 2009
32 pages
$16.99
Endpapers: Navy Blue

Being black in the south during Jim Crow - that's what these poems are about. Told in the first person, they are full of powerful voice/s. Poems entitled "Booker T. Washington School, 1941", "Water Fountains," Where I Live," Crying Trees," "Roadkill," "You Vote/You Die!" "The Klu Klux Klan," "Thank You Rosa Parks," "Martin Luther King, Jr.," " Brother Malcolm," "Sittin Down is Standin Up,".....

A couple of poems near the end have some interesting information added, to help people unaware of the history, or at least some of it. I wish there had been more explanations in the same vein for earlier poems. These are great poems, but many kids would need more explanation.

Cleanin Gal

if they catch me sittin/jus' for a moment
i might lose this heah job/but i can't 'ford to do that
all my children/matt, maceo, bertha, mae, sunshine, and the baby
'long with ma/look to me for vittles and shelter/
it's just that i got to scrub all these floors till tehy'd look like glass/
that takes all day and i still aint got to the laundry yet/
boilin clothes/starchin shirts/
Lawd have mercy i got to spend all day tomorrow ironin
so the missus and her mate can go to some bigshindig/
sposin i quit/how we gonna eat/no i aint going nowhere/
& there aint not fancy dunds or dancin in my future/
just scrubbin & scrubbin what aint mine

Heah Y'all Come

now the children run freely
toward each other
knowin no fears of the other
so what? she's brown and her lips thick
so what? yarmulkes atop their heads
Buddha's smile graces their faces
now America welcomes all the babies
si si/todos los ninos are ours
yes yes/wa alaikum salaam
& the gods watch over all children
& the flag protects each American
all

January's Sparrow - Patricia Polacco

Philomel Books, 2009
$22.99
96 good-sized pages
For: grades 3/4+
Rating: 5
Endpapers: Pale, shimmery, sage green

When I was in college, the main owrk for passing my social studies methods course was creating a curriculum about the Underground Railroad. I read and researched every children's book I could possibly find. That was .... a number of years ago ... but I have added occasionally to that curriculum. This book has to one of the best of any of them.

This story begins and ends in the voice of January, a black runaway slave that was captured, tortured, and put to death for his actions. Two days later, his adopted family, the Crosswhites, decided to run when they discovered their sons were to be sold away from them. The youngest was a girl named Sadie, and most of the story is told from her point-of-view. It's not an easy story. It tells of violence and hatred and ridiculous laws. It also tells of compassion and caring that travels well beyond the usual bonds of friendship.

The Crosswhite family makes it safely to Marshall, Michigan, which is free. However, they are still runaway slaves and can be arrested and returned to their owners if they are caught. Marshall is a friendly town of blacks and whites living together, so they decide to stay and rest for awhile. Seasons come and go until they'v been there for four years, and a new baby girl has been born to the family. But then....yup....they are found by their viscious owner.

What brave people. Not just the family, but the people of the town. Apparently the town is only a dozen miles away from where Patricia Polacco herself lives, and she'd always heard stories about this family. One of the Marshall, Michigan middle school teachers did most of the research for the book. A destination for one of my upcoming summer trips? I've only spent a short amount of time in Michigan....

Okay, I'll admit to springing a few tears at the end of this long read. It's more than a picture book. I can't get through Polacco's fabulous Pink and Say without crying, and this is a wonderful addition to her collection.

Finding Lincoln - Ann Malaspina

Illustrated by Colin Bootman
Albert Whitman & Co., 2009
$16.99
32 pages
for: all kids - elementary especially
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: med. brown
Author's Note

This is an essential book to share with kids. This took place just 50 years ago. This is not ancient history. It's heartbreaking. What were people thinking??? Segregation??? A very difficult happenstance for me to fathom at all.

Louis walks past the public library every day - but he is not allowed to enter. It's for WHITES ONLY.

He wants to find more information on Abraham Lincoln. The only way is to find a book that might have the information. The small collection of books that's been gathered in the church basement has nothing relevant. So he takes a huge chance and walks into the library. He is berated and asked to leave immediately. But one librarian whispers to him to come back the next day after five. He does, and she sneaks him in, finding him just the right book.

Okay, so libraries became desegrated in the mid-60's...and not without fights and injuries. What is wrong with people? I just don't understand, I never will...and I guess I don't want to!

Great story telling. Lovely illustrations that really capture the thoughts and "essence" of people on their faces. This is a wonderful book....but how sad that it had to be written!

Heroes and She-roes - J Patrick Lewis

Poetry
Poems of Amazing and Everyday Heroes
Illustrated by Jim Cooke
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2005
40 pages
for: elementary school kids (and all the rest of us, too)
Rating: 5
Endpapers: Avocado

Poems of heroes in general. Poems about specific heroes. Heroes that I didn't know about. Heroes I never really thought about. There are so many heroes in our lives to consider. This is book to help kids - and us all - remember that!

Each of the 21 poems has information about the person or event that is the subject of the poem, which makes the book even more interesting. The illustrations are portraits: witty, colorful. I can picture an overhead for each page or double page to greet the kids in the morning as they enter the classroom, for reflection, journaling, even handwriting, and of course, for plain old enjoyment!

Heroes and She-roes

Give thanks to the he- and she-roes
Who will turn upon a dime
When occasion calls for action ---
And be there in half the time.

Roll red carpets out for she-roes
And to heroes raise a toast
For extraordinary courage ---
Yet you’ll never hear them boast.

Lend your hand to he- and she-roes,
To the valiant and the brave,
To those simple people know by
Two simple words: The gave.

The Elementary School Teacher

A teacher is a person
Unafraid
To get the third degree
From Second Grade!

Teachers are pathfinders, guides, truth-seekers, champions, role models, and guardians. Some of the greatest heroes and she-roes can be found in classrooms.


(I had to include this. It makes me feel really good...and reminds me of the many teachers and mentors that have helped create the teacher that I am today.)

The Organizer

Cesar Chavez
Migrant Labor Organizer, 1927-1993

Cesar was a peaceable fighter
With his back against the wall.
He was the David to Goliaths,
One worker against them all.

Up from the Mexican culture,
He rallied migrants to unite
And challenged consumers to boycott
Five years for the grape pickers’ plight.

Cesar won and lost many battles
But never resorted to arms,
And the carried the torch for La Causa
Across California farms.

Poor migrants, whose harvest was hunger,
Depended on him to be strong,
To ignite the fight and fight for right
And everywhere right the wrong.


Here are the other subjects included:

The Seeker (Helen Keller)
The Explorers (Meriwether Lewis & William Clark)
The Unknown Rebel (Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China, June 5, 1989)
The Wonder Dog (Togo, Alaska, 1925)
The Little Angel of Colombia (Alabeiro Vargas, Columbia South America) REALLY INTERESTING!
The Peacemaker (Mohandas Gandhi)
The Nun (Sister Jeannette Normandin)
The Great One (Roberto Clemente) Includes some unknown-to-me information
The Bareback Rider (Lady Godiva) No kidding - talk about fascinating...
The Preachers (MLK, Jr. & Mahalia Jackson)
The Riveter ("Rosie the Riveter)
The Journalist (Ida Wells-Barnett)
The Soldier (Joan of Arc)
The Steadfast (Rosa Parks)
The Immigrants
The Child Laborer (Iqbal Masih) Whoa! This'll make me dig deeper...


Wonderful. Should be in every 3-6th grade classroom!

Bring Me Some Apples and I'll Make You a Pie -Robbin Gourley

A Story About Edna Lewis
Clarion Books, 2009
For: ages 4-8
46 pgs.
Includes five recipes at end
Rating: 4

Bright, lovely watercolors.

In this story, we follow Edna and her siblings living on a farm, surviving from its fruits and labors - from early spring to late fall. From the first wild strawberries to the gathering of the last walnuts and pecans, we follow the seasons as the family gathers fruits, share stories and songs, and cook fresh food.

Ednas Lewis goes on to become an award-winning chef, best known for her fresh southern cuisine.

The book ends with five recipes: strawberry shortcake, apple crisp, corn pudding, and the following two:

Pecan Drops
(makes 2 1/2 - 3 dozen cookies)

350 degrees. Grease cookie sheet.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, flour and salt and mix well, then blend in vanilla and pecans. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the greased cookie sheet, bake on the middle rack of the oven for 10 minutes until lightly browned.

Nut-Butter Squares
325 degree oven

1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 cups flour
2 T. vanilla
1 egg, separated
2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans

With mixer, cream sugar and butter. Add flour, vanilla, and egg yolk. Dough will be stiff. Using your hands, spread dough into an 11 x 15 jelly roll pan. Brush dough with lightly beaten egg white. Sprinkle nuts across dough, then press into the dough with your fingers.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Keep checking that nuts don't burn. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into squares.

54. Satchel Paige - James Sturm

Striking Out Jim Crow
A Graphic Novel
Illustrated by Rich Tommaso
The Center for Cartoon Studies, 2007
96 pgs.
$16.99
Rating: 4

The title was a little misleading - I thought, for a bit of the beginning, that the protagonist was Satchel Paige. When I figured out it wasn't, at that this was a linear story and not vignettes, I went back and started over, understanding the story.

From the point-of-view of a young black man that faced the pitching of Satchel Paige, we learn of many things - about the great black pitcher, about the lack of any rights for blacks, in baseball or in life, at this point in time (the book goes from 1929 through 1944), and at the life of one sharecropping family in the south during this time.

The introduction by Gerald Early sets up the history of black baseball in America and the true story of Satchel Paige, at the end are short discussions of various pieces of historic information brought up in the book: Wages, The Railroad, Sharecropper Shacks, The Negro National League, African American Press, Bullet Rogan, Paige's Personal Catcher, Paige's Pitches, Rituals and Rhythms, Speek and Daring, Barnstorming, The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals, Jim Crow's Unwritten Laws, Lynching, The Role of Church, The N-Work, Calling in the Infielders, His Next Gig.

You get a real feel for the man, the time, and this tiny slice of black history - all in graphic novel form.

Our Children Can Soar - Michelle Cook

A Celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of Change
Multi-Illustrators including:
...Bryan Collier (Thurgood Marshall)
...Leo & Diane Dillon (George Washington Carver)
...E. B. Lewis (endpiece)
...James Ransome (intro)
and more!
Purblished: 2009
Rating: 5
$16.99
Endpapers: Red

"Our ancestors fought
.....so George could invent.
George invented
.....so Jessse could sprint.
Jesse sprinted
....."

From George Wasington Carver, Jesse Owens, Hattie McDaniel, and Ella Fitzgerald to Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, Ruby Bridges, MLK Jr, through Thurgood Marshall and our most recent president, Barack Obama, this book is a celebration of Black Americans oin American history who paved the way .

Each two-page spread is devoted to one person and illustrated by a different illustrator. The text throughout is the simple text above. There are paragraph bios and paragraphs explanations for each illustration at the end of the book.

This is a beautiful book, perfect for teaching about Civil Rights and Black History.

Coretta Scott - Ntozake Shange

Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
2009
For: School-age kids
Rating: 4
Endpapers: blue
$17.99

Kadir Nelson's been very, very busy recently...I think this is the third of his books published in 2009. It's gorgeous (as usual). And wow, what a cover!

Coretta Scott King (1927-2006)

This story, in verse form, does not take us to or beyond her husband's assassination. It's really the story of how the two of them moved on their journey toward civil rights.

"... hundreds then thousands
white and black
marched
in Alabama
Carolina
Georgia
and Chicago."