books4yourkids

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

The Fierce 44 Black Americans Who Shook Up the World Written by the staff of The Undefeated Portraits by Robert Ball Review Copy from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt The Fierce 44: Black Americans Who Shook Up the World joins the growing ranks of a genre I just dubbed "Portrait Biographies," adding an inspirational new collection to the shelves. The 2016 publication of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls  and its overwhelming success, as well as a push for diversity in children's books has resulted in a wealth of non-fiction that can be both a great introduction and a superb starting place for further research. The Fierce 44 brings a lot to the table, from the writers of The Undefeated who, as Editor in Chief Kevin Merida notes in his preface, debated fiercely over who would be included in the collection of "dreamers and doers, noisy geniuses and quiet innovators, record breakers and symbols of pride and aspiration," to their decision to keep the list

  HAVE I EVER TOLD YOU BLACK LIVES MATTER?  by Shani Mahiri King illustrated by Bobby C. Martin Review Copy from Tilbury House Publishers This book is alive. Reading it - and it must be read out loud - gives your voice meaning and poetry. King's powerful words, combined with Martin's vibrant graphics, feel like a parade, a celebration, an inspiration and an affirmation - Black lives matter.  King begins, "Black lives matter, in America and in the world. Have I ever told you that?" Over the course of almost fifty pages, one hundred and sixteen Black Americans are named, and some quoted, organized by their contributions and accomplishments. Beginning with the first patriot to die for the dream of American independence, Crispus Attucks, King time travels, rushing right up to today. Ibram Kendi, Coulson Whitehead, Chadwick Boseman, Simone Biles, Kendrick Lamar and Gwen Ifill - names I have never seen in a children's book before, appear alongside Miles Davis, Sojourner

Written in free verse by Carole Boston Weatherford and richly illustrated by  Eric Velasquez , Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library is a truly amazing book about a truly amazing man. Born in Puerto Rico in 1874 in Puerto Rico, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg was Afro-Puerto Rican. As a child, he questioned why his history book did no include stories of great Africans and was told, "Africa's sons and daughters had no history, no heroes worth noting." It became Schomburg's life's work and passion to find these histories, make them public and preserve them. Immigrating to New York City in 1891, Schomburg wanted to pursue a profession like medicine or law, but was denied further schooling because he had no proof of his formal education in Puerto Rico. While working as a law clerk and a mail clerk and raising his family, Schomburg also began scouring rare book stores for Africana, educating himself and the world. The works and stories of heroes Schomburg dis

  You Should Meet: Shirley Chisholm   by Laurie Calkhoven illustrated by Shea O'Connor Review Copy from Simon & Schuster This entry in the You Should Meet series introduces readers to this amazing Black woman and the many accomplishments and first she achieved. Bearing in mind the longstanding systemic racism in America that we are just beginning to reckon with as a nation, as well as our patriarchal political system, I came to this book cautiously, wondering how these enormous challenges Chisholm fought against could/would be addressed when condensing the life of a great woman into a short biography for kids. An introduction sets the stage, if somewhat sparsely, framing Chisholm as someone who dared to dream when "people said you shouldn't even try," and as someone who fought for what she believed in. It then goes on to say that Chisholm was the first African American woman ever elected to Congress and the first African American, male or female, from either part