Written by Lisa Fipps Reviewed by Erin Healy (2021-2022) “But every time I try to stand up for myself, the words get stuck in my throat, like a giant glob of peanut butter. Besides, if they even listened, They’d just snap back, ‘If you don’t like being teased, Lose weight.’” If you have ever lived […]
Tag: 3rd-5th
Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin
Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin Written and Illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh Reviewed by Jane Lyons Upper Elementary Picturebook This children’s book tells the story of two cousins. Charlie lives in the United States, and Carlitos lives in Mexico. They write to each other about their lives in hopes that they can meet together […]
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Written and Illustrated by Grace Lin Reviewed by Julia Marlin Minli and her parents live in a village in the Valley of Fruitless Mountain where everything is dry and faded brown. All day, Minli and her parents work in the fields, trying to “coax rice out of the stubborn land.” Minli’s only escape from the […]
The Undefeated
The Undefeated By Kwame Alexander, Illustrated by Kadir Nelson. The Undefeated is an illustrated poem that serves as “a love letter to black life in the United States.” The book begins by honoring the resiliency of Black Americans in the face of “unspeakable” tragedies since enslavement, then proclaiming the fierce bravery of activists who changed […]
Jacob Riis’s Camera: Bringing Light too Tenement Children
This picture book details the life of Jacob Riis and how he fought to change New York City for the better. Riis was an immigrant from Denmark who came to New York to make his fortune, but like so many others in the 1800s he found that jobs for immigrants in America were difficult to […]
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
The Day You Begin written by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by Rafael López Reviewed by Sarah Conley “There will be times when the world feels like a place that you’re standing all the way outside of…” The Day You Begin is a bright and colorful book despite its initially sober tone. We follow several characters […]