ONE CRAZY SUMMER- RITA WILLIAMS-GARCIA

OK, so I really do know that almost everyone in the Kidlitosphere world has already read ONE CRAZY SUMMER. People already know it's the story of Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern, three girls who were abandoned by their mother when they were very young. Now, seven years later, the girls are being sent cross country, from New Jersey, where they live with their father and grandmother, to California, to become reacquainted with their mother. Their mother, Cecile, however, is less than pleased about the trip. She is a poet, deeply involved with the Black Panthers, and doesn't really want to be disturbed by her daughters. Each morning, she sends the girls out the door to a day camp run by the Black Panthers.

This is a great piece of historical fiction. Kids will learn a lot about Huey Newton and the Black Panthers. More important to me, however, it's a terrific story about abandonment, and forgiveness, and people doing the best that they can, given their life circumstances. This year, for whatever reason, we have a ton of kids who are not living with their moms. And that deep grief is always at the surface, bubbling over and impacting their learning on a daily basis.. I can't wait to share this book with some of them, then, so that they know they are not alone…

A really great read for upper intermediate or middle schoolers…

P.S. I also know that almost everyone else in the world has had a Kindle, or a Nook, or some other e-reader for a while. BUT, I didn't have one, and my mom bought me a Kindle for an early Valentine's present, and I love it. Way, way fun!

OPRAH- THE LITTLE SPEAKER by Carole Boston Weatherford

REVIEW COPY PROVIDED BY PUBLISHER

I've taught in urban schools for almost thirty years. And while I love, love, love what I do, and would never want to be anywhere else, some days are just down right hard. There are days, lots of them, when I think, "I do not want to hear another story about someone's mom going to jail. I do not want to look at another child and wonder whether we can find someone to donate a coat. I do not want to comfort another child who needs a mommy far more than they need a teacher."

Days like that, I need to surround myself with books that help me to believe and to hang on. Books about people who have made it in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds. OPRAH: THE LITTLE SPEAKER is one of those books. This picture book biography by noted children's author Carole Boston Weatherford details the life of Oprah Winfrey. But not her life as a talk show hostess. Or magazine editor. Or actress. Instead, it tells the story of Oprah's growing up years on her grandparents' pig farm. The family did not have indoor plumbing. Oprah did not have a bed of her own. She wore shoes only on Sundays. But she had a grandma who told her she could be anything she wanted to be. Who taught her to read and write. And prayed and believed that God had big plans for her.

My students need to read lots of books like this.

NEW PICTURE BOOKS FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH

I’m always on the lookout for picture books that teach intermediate grade kids about history and life. Here are a couple I found this weekend:
NIGHT BOAT TO FREEDOM
BY MARGOT THIES RAVEN
PICTURES BY E.B. LEWIS
Granny Judith asks twelve-year-old Christmas John to row Molly, the cook’s daughter, across the river from Kentucky to Ohio. Although John is terrified he will be caught, he complies with his grandmother’s wishes, and rows Molly across the river. This trip is followed by many more dangerous journeys throughout the course of the next year. Each time John returns, Granny asks what color his passengers wore. She uses that information to create a quilt, made from squares of “freedom colors.” Finally, there are only two squares left, and it is time for Christmas John and Granny to journey across the river themselves. The original story, taken from true accounts in the WPA’s Slave Narrative Collection, is riveting, and the illustrations, done by EB Lewis are absolutely beautiful.


LET THEM PLAY
BY MARGOT THIES RAVEN
PICTURES BY CHRIS ELLISON

South Carolina, 1955. The Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars want to play in the state Little League Tournament. All of the white teams in the state, however, refuse to play the all-black All Stars and pull out of the tournament. This boycott earns the All Stars a spot at the Little League World Series. The Cannon Street Team is invited to attend the World Series as guests, but is not allowed to play. The title of the book, “Let Them Play,” comes from the chant shouted by the spectators who attended the World Series. Pair this book with TEAMMATES, BASEBALL SAVED US, or SISTER ANNE’S HANDS.