Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
In the middle-grade novel Indigo and Ida by Heather Murphy Capps (Carolrhoda Books, April 2023), teenager Indigo Fitzgerald discovers a biography (with loose personal letters) about the nineteenth-century investigative writer Ida B. Wells. As she reads of Ida’s reporting on frequent lynchings in the South during the post-Reconstruction era, Indigo is inspired to focus her
Kid Trailblazers by Robin Stevenson, illustrated by Allison Steinfeld (Quirk Books, 2022) includes brief biographies of “changemakers and leaders,” focusing on events and habits formed in each of their childhoods. I loved that some of those highlighted were from around the world. The biographies were full of pertinent information without being overwhelming. Colorful pictures accompany
Note: I recieved a digital review copy of this book, an adaptation for young adults. Also, I haven’t read the original, so these are just my thoughts on this adaptation as a book for young adults. I had only ever been familiar with the word caste in terms of the people who live in India,
Iqbal by Francesco D’Adamo (translated by Ann Leonori) is a young adult novel based on the true story of a boy who, as a child slave in Pakistan, changed the outlook for the hopeless children who work at the rug-making factory he has been transferred to. As told from the fictionalized perspective of a young girl
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai (2011 National Book Award for Young People and Newbery Honor Award) is a novel in poetry about a young girl’s relocation to American from Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It is about the challenge of starting over and the pain of discrimination in a strange new country and
Martin and Mahalia: His Words, Her Song by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney (Little, Brown, August 2013) is a poetic biography of the two influential civil rights individuals who together shared a message during the March on Washington in 1963. Brian Pinkney’s illustrations are sweeping and colorful, bringing the reader in to
My son’s favorite phrase this month is “That’s not fair!” I’ve made an extra effort to try to help him understand why we have certain rules. And after reading the young adult nonfiction account, People Who Said No, of some people who said “No! This is not fair!”, I felt like I have some solid
Play Ball, Jackie! by Stephen Krensky and illustrated by Joe Morse (Millbrook Press, 2011) tells the story of Jackie Robinson’s open day of baseball as told from the perspective of a young Italian-American boy and his father. I’m not a fan of baseball, but there was something touching about this story even for someone unfamiliar with baseball
White Water by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein and illustrated by Shadra Strickland (Candlewick, August 2011) is based on a true story from the childhood of one of the authors in the Jim Crow South. One afternoon, two boys, one white and one African-American, got off a bus and ran for the drinking fountain. As they
Three books I ended up reading during the 48-hour Book Challenge were about slavery, plus I’m still in the middle of Gone with the Wind, which provides a quite different perspective on the institution. I really enjoyed the topical reading, because it’s giving me a more holistic view of slavery in different eras through different
My Caldecott challenge: Although these Caldecott winner and honor books are not, for the most part, books I’ve read aloud to my son, I still found them interesting. A few I had strong negative opinions of; they show that even books that earned the Caldecott award do become dated! I’m rather conflicted about this Caldecott
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