Dive into Chicago’s past with relevance to the racial issues still facing Chicago and other communities today with this nonfiction read. A Few Drops of Red, sets the stage of all of the different events that led up to the race riots; from immigrants from Europe and southern Blacks coming to Chicago, to the meat […]
Lovely. Amazingly, a solidly middle grade story about escaping child abuse by running away on the streets of a city in India. Join the friends Viji, Ruku, Muthi and Arul as they create family and provide for each other until tragedy strikes. Ms. Venkatraman is able to convey all this in a child’s voice and […]
Bob Graham is a wonderful whimsical picture book writer whose books are worthy of poring over: How to Heal a Broken Wing; A Bus Called Heaven; April and Esme, tooth fairies; and more! The Poesy Ring traces a gold ring from County Kerry in 1830 through its various travels until it ends up in a […]
Jonah Winter and Red Nose Studio have teamed up to create an incredible, fun book about Elvis’ childhood for kids! It relays, in short emotive prose, what if felt like to grow up dirt poor, hungry, and amazed by one’s first cheeseburger. The book deals frankly with the issue of Elvis’ appropriation of Black music […]
Sharon Draper, the acclaimed author of the beloved, Out of my Mind (2012), returns with an enjoyable book that manages to provide a girls’ eye view of racial issues, from police profiling to skin color dynamics. Isabella’s mom is white and her dad is black and her parents are divorced and she’s traded back and forth once […]
YA Fiction The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman Turtles All the Way Down by John Green I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sánchez The Hazel Wood: A Novel by Melissa Albert Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi Slider by Pete Hautman The Astonishing Color of […]
Deeply moving, this book intended for older children and teens will be an education for adults as well. Carla Killough McClafferty presents the stories of William Lee, Christopher Sheels, Caroline (Branham), Peter Hardiman, Ona Marie Judge, and Hercules, six of the best known slaves owned by our first president. The author also presents detailed information […]
A hilarious read about poverty and wealth, hunger and hamburgers from Polly Horvath. Rupert is very poor and always hungry; there is never enough food at home. A ridiculous accident happens on Christmas Day that introduces him to the ultra-wealthy Rivers family. The book is a series of bizarre adventures hungry Rupert goes on with […]
This is a fictional story that takes as its starting point the real polar bear that was given to King Henry III of England by King Haakon IV of Norway in 1252. Who might the bear’s Norwegian keeper have been? Why did he stay in England to care for the now royal bear? By turns […]
Hilary McKay has written a historical novel of WWI, with the endearing Clarry Penrose as main character. Clarry’s mother died in childbirth so she’s never known a mother’s love. But she loves her brother fiercely and loves her cousin Rupert in Cornwall whom she sees every summer. She’s determined to fend for herself and get […]
