Mae Among the Stars written by Roda Ahmed Illustrated by Stasia Burrington Reviewed by Jane Lyons (MAT 2022) Mae Among the Stars is a historical fiction picture book inspired by Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space. The story begins with Mae as a little girl. She was working on an assignment for school […]
Tag: historical fiction
Town Is by the Sea
Written by Joanne Schwartz Illustrated by Sydney Smith Reviewed by Lindsey Smith It’s hard to find good children’s books about working class people. Sí Se Puede by Diana Cohn and A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams come to mind of course, but they’re lonely exemplars in a sparse field. Town Is by the Sea […]
Fatty Legs
Written by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton Illustrated by Liz Amini-Holmes “This book is a rare book” proclaims the first line of the foreword in this book. And it is. Fatty Legs is the true story of an Inuit girl, Olemaun (or Margaret) who leaves her home in the Arctic Circle to attend a […]
The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth and Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth and Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. Reviewed by Isabelle Grant. “When Dad went to a bank to borrow money to open a bookstore for black people, the banker said no. He said Dad could have a loan to sell fish and chips or […]
Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968
Written by: Alice Faye Duncan Illustrated by: R. Gregory Christie Reviewed by: Macey Putnam (2020-2021) Mountaintop Dream big. Walk tall. Be strong. March on. Don’t quit. Never stop. Climb up the MOUNTAINTOP! As the title details, Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968 is written from the perspective of a young girl […]
Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Parks
Linda Sue Park, the award winning author of A Single Shard, A Long Walk to Water, and Project Mulberry brings middle grade readers Prairie Lotus — a deeply moving work of historical fiction set on the colonized prairie in 1870. The resemblance to the Ingalls-Wilder series is not coincidental. In the back matter, Parks details […]