BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE
APPEALS TO: SOME
Gorsuch (the Supreme Court Justice) gives us a new look at the events leading up to, during, and after the creation of the Declaration of Independence. The book is quite text heavy - I can’t see a teacher reading all of it aloud in one sitting. My personal favorite part is looking into what happened to some of the signers during the revolution and a bit afterwards - stories I don’t remember hearing before.
Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS
BUYING ADVISORY: EL - ADVISABLE
APPEALS TO: SEVERAL
Alice Dunnigan knew all about injustice, but she wanted to tell stories of spirit. When she was 13 years old, she wrote to a Black newspaper asking for a job -- and got it. It was only the beginning. She worked hard as a teacher, a cleaner, a typist, and a journalist. She became the first Black woman in the Capitol Press Corp. But what she really wanted was the ear of President Truman. What did Alice do to meet the President?
Writing Toward Justice is an inspiring story about how one woman's truth, power, and grit earned the respect of President Harry S. Truman. I liked learning about another black hero in the civil rights movement.
PGPowers
BUYING ADVISORY: EL - OPTIONAL; MS, HS - ADVISABLE
APPEALS TO: SOME
The stories of two little girls separated by decades, both of whom are incarcerated by barbed wire.
WenJen and Encarnacion share the story of Fort Sill, Oklahoma - site of Japanese imprisonment during WWII and immigrant child imprisonment in 2014 - using reverso poetry and a stark color palette. In communities affected by recent detainments, the book could be helpful for children still processing. I see the most value in secondary schools as a way to foster conversation about immigration - especially as the backmatter talks about the Japanese experience and the lies told by the US government.
Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS
BUYING ADVISORY: EL - OPTIONAL; MS, HS - ADVISABLE
APPEALS TO: SEVERAL
A young black girl, Olivia, is upset when her white friend, Alison, can't come to her neighborhood Block Party because Alison’s mother says it isn’t safe. At home, Olivia’s neighbor, Ms. Effie, explains the history of redlining, a secret practice historically used by banks to deny funding loans to people of color.
Hawthorne gives us a succinct, honest look at the practice of redlining, a proven historical practice that kept people of color out of “good, white” neighborhoods. This is the first picture book that I can remember tackling the issue. Though Hawthorne has written a picture book, I am not sure that elementary students are the right audience - I would proudly show this to any middle school or high school teacher who touches on the subject in any way.
Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS
BUYING ADVISORY: EL - ADVISABLE
APPEALS TO: SOME
In 1966 The Jewish Theological Society's library building caught fire. While firefighters were able to finally extinguish the flames, 70,000 of the 200,000 books in the collection were destroyed by fire. The rest were waterlogged. If a solution wasn’t found, these histories and torahs from all over the world would be lost.
This forgotten story shows the power of community and is a great story of resilience. While students probably won’t read it on their own, it would fit into the curriculum in many different ways.
Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS
