My People

My People by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr.
2010 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award

This book features a poem by Langston Hughes illustrated with photographs of black people. The poem is short and simple--- only 33 words! But written in the 1920's when the words must have meant a lot, celebrating the beauty of the black people inside and out. The black and white photography that illustrates the poem are lovely, moving, silly,  beautiful, young and old and you wanna like all the people in the book.

Walking Home Rosie Lee

Walking Home to Rosie Lee by A. LaFaye, illustrated by Keith D. Shepherd
no awards that I know about, but it was published in 2011, so there might be some coming still! I think it's worthy myself!

This story takes place right after the civil war, when slaves were set free. "War's over. Government say we free. Folks be on the move. Getting the feel for freedom. Not me. I'm looking for my mama, Rosie Lee."

So many families were separated during slavery and the war. Rosie Lee had been sold away from her children, and now her boy Gabe set off to find her. It is a well told story about a slice of history that there aren't as many stories about.

I like this picture book A LOT and would heartily recommend it.

The Patchwork Path; a Quilt Map to Freedom

The Patchwork Path; A Quilt Map to Freedom by Bettye Stroud, illustraed by Erin Susanne Bennett
no awards that I know about

I liked this book. I thought, surely it is on one of these award lists. But I didn't find it anywhere, but I recommend it!

It tells the story of a girl named Hannah, learning to quilt "The year I turned ten, Mama taught me to make a special quilt. . . . But Mama wanted me to learn more than just how to sew. While we stiched, she told me a secret. 'Each pattern holds a special meaning,' Mama whispered. 'Hannah, this quilt will show you everything you need to know to run to freedom.'"

And Hannah eventually uses this quilt as a map to freedom. . . . leaving in a drenching rain, hiding under the floor of a church, staying with Quakers, and finally making it to Canada.
Makes me want to sew a quilt.

I liked the art work in this book too. The quilt square patterns are shown and the illustration style is bold and colorful like a quilt.

Love, Louise

Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow; A Story of Young Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Sounds like a Rainbow; A Story of Young Jimi Hendrix by Gary Golio, illustrated by Javaka Steptoe
2011 Coretta Scott King Illustator Award

I enjoyed learning more about this legendary electric guitar player and innovator, still considered by many to be the greatest guitarist in musical history. This picture book tells about his life, growing up knocking about the city of Seattle in difficult circumstances, but drawn to art and music and wondering if he could play the sounds and colors of his world on a musical instrument. Trying first on a one string ukele in the house, and later on a $5 guitar.

Self taught, couldn't read music and rose to incredible fame in about four years time.

The pictures are cool colorful drawings/collages.

The story does not tell about his death at age 27, but there is a thoughtful afterward that does tell about the end of his young life as a result of a bad mix of prescription drugs and alcohol and gives resources for getting help and learning more about drugs and addiction. The author is a clinical social worker who has worked with lots of people on issues of substance abuse and addition.

Lockdown

Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers
2011 Coretta Scott King Author Award
2010 National Book Award Finalist

Exceptionally great book in my opinion. This is a great literal example of the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover"; I never would have picked this up off the library shelf if I wasn't on this mission to read all the Coretta Scott King award books. It's called Lockdown. It has a photo of handcuffs on the cover. It just didn't look like my kind of book.  I loved it.

Walter Dean Myers knows what he is doing. He has won Coretta Scott King awards or honors 9 times, the Newbery honors twice and the Caldecott honors once, The Jane Adams Award twice, and the Christopher award once. Walter Dean Myers knows what he is talking about: he grew up in Harlem, dropped out of school, and started writing seriously at night after working all day as a construction worker. He tends to write about African American teenagers dealing with inner city issues, and this book is no exception.

The story is told in the voice of a fourteen year old boy named Reese who is in a juvenile detention facility. You meet the other kids serving their time at "Progress Center" and a few of the staff as well. The story is gritty and I would recommend it for teens and not for younger children. The author does a stunning job of showing Resses' perspective on all that happens. You actually understand why he repeatedly gets in fights, you experience the view from the detention cell,  you feel a little relieved when the facility goes on "lockdown" because as Reese points out, "When I first got to Progress, it freaked me out to be locked in a room and unable to get out. But after a while, when you got to thinking about it, you knew nobody could get in, either." 


One of the threads that I found most compelling was Reese's agony over whether or not to plead guilty for something he never did because the detectives presented it as an "opportunity" to get less time, and he wasn't confident that he'd get a fair trial. 

Reese gets selected to participate in a trial work release program where he is taken three times a week to a senior care facility and helps out. He spends time caring for an elderly white man who is pretty prickly and gruff, but Reese listens to his stories, put's up with the old man calling him a criminal, and over time they build a friendship.

The story follows Reese to a year after his release. Never downplaying the precariousness of his situation even with all he's learned and been through, but definitely ending on a hopeful note.

I've now read all the 2011 Coretta Scott King books, and it's an impressive batch of books over all.
One Crazy Summer,  Dave the Potter: Artis, Poet, Slave, Zora and Me, Lockdown, Ninth Ward, Yummy: The Last Days of a South Side Shorty, Jimi Sounds Like  Rainbow: A Story of Young Jimi Hendrix. Go read them!

You'll enjoy a visit to Walter Dean Myer's website:
Walter Dean Myers Biography

And to this site Walter Dean Myers' Second Chance Initiative | Resources for Parents and Educators of Kids in Grades 4 - 12 | All About Adolescent Literacy | AdLit.org where you can learn more about his books and more about The Second Chance Initiative, a project the author started to reach out to teens and help them make better decisions. I love any successful person who then works to extend their success to others.

Here is also an interview with the author from the National Book Award site: Walter Dean Myers, Lockdown - 2010 National Book Award YPL Finalist, The National Book Foundation

I'm looking forward to reading more of his books!

An Apple for Harriet Tubman

An Apple for Harriet Tubman bu Glennette Tilley Turner, illustrated by Susan Keeter
no award that I know of, though I don't see why not!

I love this book. It's based on stories told to the author by Harriet Tubman's great niece Alice Brickler, who learned it from Harriet herself. I like it when stories about big people and big events have specific little details that pull us in.

Harriet Tubman loved apples. Who knew?
This story carries her from picking apples while being forbidden to eat any, and getting whipped for taking a bite of one.  . . . to owning her own land in NY and planting a row of apple trees that she ate her fill of shared with her neighbors.

Both of my children (age 10 and 7) enjoyed the book also.

Rosa

Rosa by Nikki Giovanni, illustrated by Bryan Collier
2006 Caldecott Honor Book
2006 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award

More poets should write history for children. This is a splendid and powerful book. And beautifully written. I suspect that Nikki Giovanni was able to talk with Rosa and others in the story personally. The text is full of intimate details about what people were thinking and doing through out first days of the historic events of the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.

 "Jo Ann Robinson was at the PIggly Wiggly when she learned of the arrest. She had stopped in to purchase a box of macaroni and cheese. She always served macaroni and cheese when she baked red snapper for dinner. A sister member of the Women's Political council approached her just as she reached the check out lane.
 'Not Mrs. Parks!' Mrs Robinson exclaimed. She then looked furtively around. 'Pass the word that everybody should meet me at my office at ten o'clock tonight," she said."

I love the person of Rosa Parks. Her long life lived with dignity and strength.

Pete Seeger tells a story about being at a training for civil rights activists at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. On the last day, they went around the circle and everyone said what they were going to do when they got home. Several "movers and shakers" were there, and each person spoke about their plans. But one woman, when it was her turn, said she just didn't know what she would do. That, was Rosa Parks.

She wasn't just a worn out seamstress. She was an activist making a choice. A spontaneous choice! But one very much in keeping with her participation in the movement.

Here is a link to her website: Rosa Louise Parks Biography

The illustrations strong and luminous, by Bryan Collier, someone who has won a bunch of awards before and since. I like his work and his choices about what he illustrates, often powerful stories from African American History. Here is a link to Bryan Collier's website. I enjoyed learning about him, especially his dedication to community service and empowerment of young people. Bryan Collier | Bio

I personally liked this book a bit better than the 2006 Medal winner! And would definitely recommend it!

Zora and Me

Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon
2011 Corretta Scott King new talent award

I didn't realize this was an award winner until just now. I was going to post about it anyhow, because I thought it was very good. I found it because I was looking for books about Florida to share with the kids before we traveled there earlier this fall. This book caught my eye while I was searching because Zora Neale Hurston's book Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of my all time favorite books, and this book is a fictionalized account of her growing up years in Eatonville Florida.

It's based on her writing and other historical info and is true enough to fact that it is the only project to be endorsed by the Zora Neale Hurston Trust that was not written by Hurston herself.

I read this one aloud to Jabu (age 10) and we both enjoyed it. I was a little worried about selling him on it at first, but I shouldn't have been concerned. . . the first chapter tells the story of an alligator attack! He was hooked from that point on!

The characters of Zora and her friends (one of whom is telling the story), the people of Eatonville both distinguished and odd, were all people I was glad to meet and the authors did a great job of bringing them to life.

There were several strands of the story that I appreciated very much. One featured a misunderstood loner named Mr. Pendir who the kids in the book spent most of the story being completely afraid of. Turns out "All the time Mr. Pendir had lived in Eatonville knocking around in his old house, alone and weary-looking, he had been making things, and the things he made were beautiful."

But the one that still stays with me the strongest (I'm writing this actually a couple of months after reading the book) involved a sister and a brother of mixed race. The brother was brown, the sister could "pass" and DID. The price of turning away from her people was very dear and watching Jabu come to realize that as the story unfolded was definitely worth the read all by itself.

I liked this book very much and would recommend it.

Ninth Ward

Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes
2011 Corretta Scott King Honor

Lenesha is 12 and lives in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans and this is her story. And the story of the 9 days stretching from the Sunday before Hurricane Katrina to the Tuesday after the storm hit. It's also the story of Mama Ya-Ya, the midwife, seer, and healer that has raised Lanesha since birth; a boy named TaShon and his dog Spot.  Lanesha shares the gift of sight with her Mama Ya-Ya, so the story includes the ghosts that visit her.

This story is beautifully written and conceived. The author says in her acknowledgements "Books were my lifeline during a difficult childhood. For my entire writing life, I've been waiting to grow up enough to write what I hoped would be a good book for young audiences." I think she's achieved that.

First of all,  you will love Mama Ya-Ya  and Lanesha. They are both fascinating and likable people. Mama Ya-Ya is wise and loving. Lanesha is smart and sweet and determined. They are complex characters with their share of hard times, but the love between them is sure and strong.

What I admire most about this book is the balance between the devastation, terror, and drama of the hurricane and the levees breaking---- and the love between the characters (both living and dead), the will to survive and the coming of age that comes of that effort, and the hope remaining intact in the midst of all the destruction and chaos.

It describes the intensity of the storm from the mayor announcing the mandatory evacuation. . . "Mama Ya-Ya bites her lip, shakes her head muttering, 'How can it be mandatory if I don't have a way to go?'"

To the earth shaking force of the hurricane passing over. . . "The house shakes, teetering, in the wind and rain's violent game. Dodgeball. Tug-of-war. Shakes Sways and I swear, it's going to fall. . . fall. . . fall over. Down. The bed is rattling, creeping across the floor like it grew feet."

To the water rising . . .  " I sit and count, 'One, one thousand, two, one thousand, three, one thousand. . .' I count until my mouth cracks dry. I watch the black liquid crawling up the steps. Sixty-one one thousands equals a minute. I count six hundred minutes. That's ten minute for the water to rise halfway up a step. Another ten to cover a new step. Twenty minutes for each whole step. There are twelve steps to the attic floor.

Twenty minutes times twelve. We've got two hours left.

Survive."

But through out all that intensity is a cord of loving wisdom and fortitude that is like a torch passed from Mama Ya-Ya to Lanesha. "As time slips by, as the water rises, I try to think about what's next, about what Mama Ya-Ya would want me to do.

8 + 4 = 12. Spiritual strength. Real strength, Lanesha. Like butterflies."


I very much enjoyed this book and can recommend it!

Henry's Freedom Box; A True Story from the Underground Railroad

Henry's Freedom Box; A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
2008 Caldecott Honor Book

This is a powerful book worth reading and sharing. It's not a happy book and deals with gritty real life issues. Henry is a slave that successfully puts himself in a box and mails himself to freedom. But the "success" of that plan is against the backdrop of his dispair after his wife and children have been sold, never to be seen again.

The illustrations by Kadir Nelson are beautiful and convey the emotions of the story well. The text is also excellent. There is depth and sensitivity in how she shares the story. She doesn't overplay any of the painful elements, she tells it like it is, but in a steady poets voice, without punishing us with the facts.

"His friend James came into the factory. He whispered to Henry, "Your wife and children were just sold at the slave market." 


"No!" cried Henry. Henry couldn't move. He couldn't think. He couldn't work. 
"Twist that tobacco!" The boss poked Henry. 


Henry twisted tobacco leaves. His heart twisted in his chest. 


The pictures and stories together also convey well the closeness in the bonds between mother and child, husband and wife. I also appreciate the white people in the story who don't believe in slavery and assist in the plan, especially the character of Dr. Smith, who helped Henry mail himself to Philadelphia.

Slavery is something I have discussed with my children starting in pre-school. I think it's a necessary discussion and I appreciate this and other picture books for giving us the jumping off places and the context and details for those conversations. My son LOVED learning about history from a young age and developed a keen sense of justice from reading this kind of book, and we read a lot of books about African American history. My daughter is more inclined towards fantasy than non-fiction, so we haven't done as MUCH of this kind of reading, but I intentionally include this kind of book in the mix.

I recommend this book.

One Crazy Summer

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

2011 Coretta Scott King Award Winner

2011 Newbery Honor Book

2011 Scott O’Dell Prize for Historical Fiction

2010 National Book Award Finalist

Delphine is the oldest of three sisters at eleven years old. Dephine, and her younger sisters Vonetta and Fern travel from Brooklyn, where they live with their Pa and "Big Ma" (his mother) to Oakland CA during the summer of 1968. The girls have been sent to meet their mother, Cecile, who left them immediately after Ferns birth, and isn't exactly "motherly." Cecile has changed her name to Nzilla, is a poet with a small printing press in her kitchen, and is involved with the Black Power movement. The girls spend their summer going to Black Panther summer camp where they get a free breakfast, learn the meaning of revolution, make friends with the children of freedom fighters who's parents gave their lives in the struggle or are imprisoned. It's a long way from Brooklyn and Pa and Big Ma. Cecile seems distinctly NOT glad to see them, and Delphine steps up to look out for her sisters the best she can. 

You will love these three girls. Several other characters are also memorable. The window into that time and place and movement is very satisfying. The intensity of Cecile/Nzilla and the mother she isn't is very compelling. Near the end of the book the girls take place in a rally that leaves them empowered. But the real culmination of the story happens the night before they leave when Cecile and Delphine have a heated discussion where Delphine finally learns her mothers life, and in the last moment before they step on the plane, to go home. 

I like this book! I could totally recommend it. Middle school and up. There are complex issues and scenes of arrests, stories about black panthers who were killed in episodes of police brutality, etc. So, I'd consider it ideal for adults and young people to read together as it would be a rich jumping off place for lots of worthy discussion! 

I feel the quote on the back of the book by Linda Sue Park (Newbery Medal author for her book The Single Shard) summed it up well: "One Crazy Summer is a genuine rarity: a book that is both important in it's contents and utterly engaging in its characters. . . with the tremendous bonus of being beautifully written."

Dave the Potter, Artist, Poet, Slave

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave

by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan Collier

2011 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award

2011 Caldecott Honor Book

This is a picture book. I found it in the picture book part of our library, although it is a biography. It tells the story of Dave the Potter. A slave who made pots, they estimate he might have made 40,000 pots in his lifetime. Unique to his artistry, and especially surprising under his circumstance, he wrote little poems on many of the pots, and signed his name. Tiny 2-4 line poems, and it is from these poems that much of his life story is pieced together. He was also one of only 2 potters known to that time who could make really LARGE pots --- up to 40 gallons.

This book describes his life and the process of making pots---- from dirt, to wheel, to glaze, with simple lovely words and beautiful illustrations. A great book to share with young children and older ones.

Love, Louise

PS I shared this book with my daughter age 6 last night. We had an excellent discussion about slavery. My son (now 10) LOVED biographies from pre-school on and we discussed slavery, the civil rights movement, etc. etc. from age 3 forward. My daughter hasn't been so inclined towards non-fiction, and we haven't talked about history as much. I've started dedicating a half an hour to read with her each evening, just the two of us. It's a very sweet time, not related to bedtime, just a special time for us! And I realized last night that I'd like to sneak more historical/biographical picture books into the mix. The jumping off points for discussion from these books are SO invaluable.

My children are African American. I am of mixed heritage--- Japanese on my mothers side, Russian Jewish on my fathers side. My husband is European American. My son's sense of self in terms of his racial identity and African American heritage, and his perceptiveness about race dynamics in our daily experience, I think is very strong, and I believe the books that we read and talked about were a big contributor to this. Other stuff also contributed! Books alone wouldn't take care of this. . . . but they were a very positive factor!

Anyhow, I want to up this part of my daughters education and sense of self! So . . . bring on the books!

Yummy the Last Days of a Southside Shorty

Yummy the Last Days of a Southside Shorty

by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy DuBurke

Coretta Scott King 2011 Honor book

This is a comic book style telling of a true story of a 1994 gang violence incident in Chicago's Southside. I was not aware of the news story when it happened. It is a tragic story of a young kids involvement in gangs and a particular boy nick named Yummy, a member of the Black Disciples gang, who murdered a girl when he was 11 years old. He was on the run for some days after that. Then he called home and was considering turning himself in, when he was was picked up by some Black Disciples and murdered by his own gang members. Very scary and sad to know about. Very important message to circulate.

I'd recommend the book. Obviously not for young kids. But I would share it with Jabu age 10, with plenty of parent-kid discussion to go along.

Love, Louise

PS--- I found I couldn't stop thinking about this story as I went about my day yesterday. And not just because it was disturbing. It's a powerful important story, well told. I'm glad this book exists and I hope a lot of young people read it and take the lessons to heart.