Black History Month - a review

Yesterday I read and reviewed a very powerful book about what it was like to grow up during the the days when the civil rights movement was in full swing in the southern states. The book was written by a woman whose father marched next to Martin Luther King Jr, and who played a critical role in the struggle to secure civil rights for African Americans. Here is my review:

Child of the Civil Rights Movement

Paula Young Shelton

Illustrated by Raul Colon

Picture Book

Ages 6 to 8

Random House, 2010, 9780375843143

    Paula was born in New York and she has never experienced the Jim Crow laws that her southern parents grew up with. She has not seen the ugliness of racism, and she has not been made to feel like a lesser person because of her skin color. Now her parents have decided that they need to lend their support to the civil rights movement in the south; it is time to go home.

   When they get to Atlanta, Paula’s father, Andrew Young, joins the battle for civil rights beside Martin Luther King Jr. To Paula he is “Uncle Martin,” and he is the kind man who plays with her in the pool and who comes to dinner. At these dinners, Paula listens to what Uncle Martin says and to the opinions of Ralph Abernathy, Randolph Blackwell, and the other men and women who are leading the effort to get justice and freedom for African Americans. Together, over the baked chicken and the creamy macaroni and cheese, this “family” decides how they should proceed with their campaigns. Marches, sit-ins, and boycotts are all planned around the dinner table. The underlying theme is that there is to be no violence. Even if they are beaten and imprisoned, the African Americans should not respond with aggression.

   This first hand account as described by Paula Young Shelton, Andrew Young’s daughter, is not only incredibly moving, but it is also very informative. Readers will get a very real sense of what it was like to be an African American child who was living in the middle of the civil rights movement. They will meet some of the key players in the movement, and will come to understand how much southern African Americans suffered under the boot of the Jim Crow laws.

   Raul Colon’s distinctively evocative illustrations perfectly compliment the text.

You can purchase the book on Amazon here.

An Anniversary - Composer George Frederic Handel's birthday

On this day in 1685 George Frederic Handel was born. I can still remember going to a concert of his Music for the Royal Fireworks when I was quite young. The performance was outdoors, and the music was accompanied by a real fireworks display, which was coordinated to compliment the music. It was wonderful. While I was driving around in my car today my local public radio station was playing Handel's Fireworks in honor of his birthday, and I was reminded of that concert and how much I have enjoyed Handel's music over the years.

I have reviewed two books about Handel that you can view on the Handel feature page. I hope you enjoy the reviews.

Here is a video Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks - with fireworks!

The 2010 Doodle for Google contest

The 2009 Doodle for Google winning doodle

On February 3^rd Google launched their third annual ”Doodle 4 Google” contest, a competition open to all K-12 students in the U.S. to create their own Google “doodle”. Applicants will design a doodle based around the theme “If I could do anything I would…”.  The winning doodler will have his or her artwork viewed by millions on the Google homepage, win a college scholarship, earn computers for his or her school, and have his or her winning design exhibited in the Smithsonian’s, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

Dr. Seuss Enterprises President Susan Brandt joins an esteemed panel of expert jurors to pick finalists for the 3^rd annual “Doodle 4 Google” contest. The panel includes leaders in the animation, illustration and cartoon industries. “Dr. Seuss created a legacy of work inspiring children to dream and use their imagination to accomplish real life goals. I am honored to join this panel of experts in choosing the finalists for this wonderful contest.” Susan Brandt, President of Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P.

Teachers must have their students registered by midnight PDT March 17, 2010.

Parents and students should direct their teacher to this website to register: www.google.com/doodle4google.

Doodle submissions must be received by March 31, 2010.

Black History Month - a review

In honor of Black History Month I have reviewed this excellent award winning title about a little slave girl, her doll, and the Underground Railroad.

Almost to Freedom

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Colin Bootman

Picture Book

Ages 5 to 8

Lerner, 2003, 9781575053424

  Sally is a homemade rag doll. She doesn’t have any hair, and she isn’t glamorous, but she wears a pretty bandana and has a lovingly embroidered face. Sally was made for Lindy, a little slave girl living on a plantation in Virginia, and from the day Sally is put in Lindy’s arms, the doll and the little girl are inseparable. Sally is with Lindy when the little girl is working under the hot sun in the cotton fields. She is also there when the grownups are talking about Freedom. Lindy - and Sally - learn that the only way to get Freedom is to “run away” to a place that the grownups call “North.”
   At first Lindy is not sure why Freedom is such a good thing, but after she is cruelly whipped by the overseer for wanting to know how to spell her name, Lindy comes to understand that Freedom truly is something worth risking everything to get.

   One night Lindy is woken up when it is still dark and she, Sally, and Lindy’s mama, leave the plantation forever. They are off to find Freedom in the North.

   In this singular picture book, children will get to see what it was like to be a runaway slave through the sewn on eyes of a little rag doll. They will see what it was like to travel along the Underground Railroad, and come to appreciate the dangers the slaves faced.

   At the back of the book, the author provides her readers with more information about the Underground Railroad, and she also explains where the inspiration for her story came from.

   This title was one of the 2004 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor books.

A review of a book that celebrates winter sports

Last Friday the Winter Olympics started, and my family and I have already spent some wonderful hours watching people doing the ski jump, speed skating around and around, and bumping down moguls. We have also witnessed some bone shaking falls. I discovered this morning that I had a book on my shelf that would suit the mood of these Olympic days, so I decided to review it for you. 

Snowy sports: Ready, Set, Play!

Per-Henrik Gurth

Picture Book

Ages 3 to 5

Kids Can Press, 2009, 9781553373674

   It is wintertime and it is cold outside. A group of friends put on their warm clothes and go outside to “play!” Wearing their hats, gloves, mittens, jackets, and earmuffs, they venture out into the snow and onto the ice to enjoy a variety of winter sports.

   On the ice the friends figure skate, they play hockey, and they race around a track, speed skating. On the snow they downhill ski, snowboard, and fly through the air as they shoot down and off a ski jump.

   Children will greatly enjoy learning about the winter sports described in this simple and charming picture book. Animals characters drawn in bright and cheerful colors fill the pages, and on every spread children are introduced to the names of some of the items seen in the winter scenes.

I am hopefully that I will be swishing down the slopes at Mount Shasta in California this Friday. Hopefully there will be enough snow. It has been uncommonly warm here this winter. Here we are wearing long sleeve t-shirts in Oregon while people in Tennessee are up to their ankles in snow!