books4yourkids

  WOMEN: The National Geographic Image Collection Introduction by Susan Goldberg,  Editor in Chief of National Geographic Magazine Review Copy from National Geographic With WOMEN , you can expect the superb photojournalism that National Geographic is known for. What is so special about this book, published in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of 19th Amendment, is the fact that this collection was created by women. From the introduction by Goldberg, the tenth editor of National Geographic magazine since its founding in 1888, and the first woman to hold this position (not to mention the foreword by Jean Case, the first woman elected Chairman of the Board of the National Geographic Society) the focus is clear: exploring the history, challenges and triumphs of women over 130 years and across 50 countries, as documented by National Geographic, while acknowledging the lack of equality for women in so much of the world through interviews and essays. Goldberg closes her introduction thes

Hidden Figures: Young Readers' Edition by Margot Lee Shetterly is the "untold, true story of four African-American women who helped launch our nation into space." While I am very unlikely to read a non-fiction (even a young readers' edition) book about science and/or the space race and almost equally unlikely read a biography about mathematician, I found Hidden Figures: Young Readers' Edition highly readable and hard to put down. What kept me reading were the continual challenges faced by Dorothy Vaughn, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden during their time working at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, VA at what was NACA and became NASA. Shetterly provides excellent back matter in her book, starting with a timeline of important historical events, and including a glossary, index, source notes and further reading section, as well as an index. The loss of manpower on the home front during WWII spurred President Roosevelt to desegregate th

Jump at the Sun The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston   by Alicia D. Williams illustrated by  Jacqueline Alcántara With colloquial and figurative language, Williams introduces readers to an iconic American author as a young story-loving-story-teller who bursts to life and nearly jumps off the pages of this effervescent picture book biography. As a young girl who lingers at the Eatonville general store to hear "townsfolk swap stories," and creates characters out of a carved bar of soap and an ear of corn to act out her own stories, Zora's creativity is boundless. As a teen, the death of her beloved mother, who told Zora to "jump at de sun. You might not land on de sun, but at least you'd get off de ground," and a harsh new stepmother, drive Zora to work to for the two things that make her happiest - going to school and telling stories. At twenty-six, Hurston lies about her age, saying she is sixteen, so she can attend public school

Lillian's Right to Vote by  Jonah Winter , illustrated by Coretta Scott King Award winner   Shane W. Evans , commemorates the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The importance of this landmark piece of legislation is brought to life of readers with in the character of Lillian, a 100-year-old Black woman from Alabama and her "long haul up that steep hill" as she walks to her polling place, the courthouse. As Lillian climbs the hill, she reminisces about her life and her family's, as enslaved people. She sees her great-great grandparents on the auction block. She sees her great grandfather, Edmund, an infant in arms when his parents were sold, now grown and picking cotton for his master from dawn to dusk. As she walks on, Lillian sees Edmund going to vote in 1870, thanks to the Fifteenth Amendment, sure to note that, despite this momentous addition to the U.S. Constitution, women are not allowed to vote. The hill gets steeper as Lillian sees her grandfath

  Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen  begins The United States v. Jackie Robinson ,  "Long before anyone heard of Rosa Parks, a guy named Jack refused to move to the back of the bus. And like Rosa, Jack made history, too." Adding yet another superlative picture book biography to the shelves, Bardhan-Quallen and illustrator R. Gregory Christie share the story of Jack Robinson and his fight against segregation and discrimination before he became the national hero, American icon and baseball star, Jackie Robinson. The United States v. Jackie Robinson begins with Jack's childhood in Pasadena, CA, where the Robinsons were the only Black family on their street. White neighbors even started a petition to get the Robinsons to leave, but Jack's mother, Mallie refused to leave, teaching her children to stand up for what was right, even when it was difficult to do. A natural athlete, Jack was recruited by UCLA, becoming the first person in the history of the college to earn v

If the words "Loving v. Virginia" are familiar to you, the first thing they probably make you think of is the landmark court case of 1967 that invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage. In her verse novel, Loving VS. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case ,  Patricia Hruby Powell  puts people, emotions and lives to these names and, along with  Shadra Strickland , who chose a visual journalism style of illustration, the perfect match for the documentary aspects of the novel that show up as photographs, to court documents, state health bulletins and more, tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving in a powerful way that will resonate with young readers. Alternating narrative voices between Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving, Powell begins their story by giving readers a clear idea of what school segregation looked like with a photograph of a white classroom in 1950 beside that of a Black classroom in 1941, quoting the words of George W

Streetcar to Justice: How Elizabeth Jennings Won the Right to Ride in New York  by Amy Hill Hearth is a compact, richly researched account of Elizabeth Jennings, the woman who refused to give up her seat on a streetcar in 1854, one hundred years ahead of Rosa Parks. There are so many fascinating facets to the story of Elizabeth Jennings, but Hearth must set the scene for readers first, detailing the differences and similarities to  circumstances and events from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, Hearth begins Streetcar to Justice with, "Three Notes about Language," informing readers that, while the word colored , "is not accepted today because it has evolved into a loaded word meant to be racist and hurtful," it was commonly used to refer to African Americans in Elizabeth Jennings's era. Hearth also lets readers know that the term civil rights is used mainly to describe the movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and she replaced it wit