Diversity: Darby

Darby

by: Jonathon Scott Fuqua

This book is about a 9 year old little girl named Darby growing up in South Carolina in the 1920's. Darby is white and her best friend is black. This is something that just doesn't happen during this time period. Darby looks forward to coming home from school each day and meeting Evette in the woods to play. Darby's dream is to become a journalist. She writes for the local daily newspaper and her fathers friend is the editor. With Evettes help, Darby gets better and better at her writing and starts getting an article published every week. When she sees her friends brother getting beat up by a member of the Ku Klux Klan she writes about it. Her father is against the Klan and doesn't like the acts of the man who beat up Evettes brother and allows her to write the article. Her family faces hard times after the article is published. The KKK even burn a cross in their yard. I think this book is a great book to use in a high 5th or 6th grade reading class. This books catches the readers attention because it is written in first person through the eyes of a 9 year old. There is also a lot of history in this story. It is a good book to bring up some class discussion and inferences about how people felt during the 1920's, when the story took place. I recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction and wants to read about what life might have been like for a nine year old little girl growing up with a friend no one thought she should have.

Diversity: If a Bus Could Talk

If a Bus Could Talk

by: Faith Ringgold

This book is full of great information about the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement and the courageous acts of Rosa Parks. This book starts out with a little girl who gets on a talking bus. The bus is the exact bus Rosa Parts first sat in the "wrong" seat. The bus tells the story of the things Rosa Parks went through from a young age through adulthood. This is a great story that tells the hardships of Mrs. Parks in a way that younger students can understand. This would be a great book to use in a 2nd though 5th grade classroom. Because of the length and depth of some of the facts, I would not use the whole book in a K-1 classroom, but would address the topic and maybe share parts of the story. I recommend this book when discussing the Civil Rights Movement or during black history month. The pictures were great! The details of the pictures really helped show the feelings of the characters. The talking bus was also a great way to get and hold the younger students attention. I think this book is a must in a classroom collection!



Laurence Yep

Sweetwater

BY: Laurence Yep

This book is a science-fiction novel written with much creativity. As I read this book I realized how narrow minded I am. I feel like I had a hard time following the story because I kept thinking about reality and how the things in this story do not exist. I feel like a student in seventh or eighth grade could could really get into this book. With the main character, Tyree, being male, this is a great book to open the mind of young male readers. This book tells the story of how he has tow work with his new alien friend and his blind sister to help save the way of life for their small community living on the planet Harmony. He learns to play the most beautiful song from the alien song master, Amadeus. Though they are faced with many dangers such as sea dragons, diminishing food supply, and the rising sea that will soon destroy their city, they work hard to save what they love and learn to get along with the alien people. This is a great book for entertainment and would also open some great discussion about how one views the different parts of the story. The book is very inventive and is open to the readers point of view about how he/she interprets what is happening.
Other books by Laurence Yep include:
Dragonwings and Dragons Gate
The Earth Dragon Awakes: The San Fransisco Earthquake of 1906
The Dragon's Child: A story of Angel Island
and many more!



Jerry Pinkney

The Ugly Duckling

by: Jerry Pinkney

This story was the traditional story of the little duckling that hatches and is different from everyone else. After much torment, he decides to run away. Through the rough winter he runs into many problems. Once winter is gone he decided to follow a group of swans. When they approach the duckling he apologizes for being so ugly. This is when he looks in the water and sees that he is the most beautiful swan of them all. I like this story because it shows students that everyone develops at their own pace and that the bad things in their life will change. One thing I do not like about this story is the importance of beauty. I think that children are under so much pressure to be beautiful already. Though I will continue to share this story with children, I like to tell them that beauty can come in many forms. Beauty can be on the outside or the inside.

Some other books illustrated by Jerry Pinkney are:

Three Little Kittens

The Moon Over Star

Little Red Riding Hood

Sweethearts of Rhythm

God Bless the Child

and many more!!!!

PNLA Award

New Moon

By: Stephanie Meyer

This books won the PNLA award. The Pacific Northwest Library Association's Young Reader's Choice Award is the oldest children's choice award in the U.S. and Canada.  Nominations are taken only from children, teachers, parents and librarians in the Pacific Northwest ~ Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

This is the third book in the Twilight Saga. This is one of the most popular series of books that are out at this time. I have read and greatly enjoyed each of this books. This particular book is about a human, Bella, who desperately wants to marry a vampire, Edward. This is the story of the hardships they face when the voltori, leaders of the vampire race, are avid on Bella being changed to a vampire. Bella is greatly in favor of changing into a vampire, but Edward loves her too much to do this to her. This is a great book for mature 8th grade readers and high school students. Many of my fifth grade students read the first two books, but I feel that some of the content in the last too is too mature for this age. I wouldn't recommend this as a classroom read, but it is a great book for teenage readers to choose for entertainment. There could be some great discussions on the choices Bella makes and arguments on whether or not Edward should change her, but these discussion should probably stay out of the classroom.

Pura Belpre Honor Book

Breaking Through

By: Francisco Jimenez

This book is a Pura Belpre Honor Book. This award is jointly sponsered by the ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) and part of the ALA (American Library Association) as well as the REFORMA (National Association to Promote Library and information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking). This award was founded in 1996 and its primary aim is to recognize Latino/a writers and illustrators whose work best portrays affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature of children and youth.

This book is about a family of illegal immigrants whose father dug them into America when Fransico was only 4. At the young age of 6, Fransico is working in the fields of California trying to help his family raise enough money to move around in search for more work. His main goal is not to get sent back to Mexico because he was to get a good eduation in America. His nightmare came true when the immigration officers walked into his school and took him out. His family had to go back to Mexico until they could get what they needed to return to the US legally. This book tells about the things Fransico had to go through to get back to the US and finally graduate from High School in California. This book really made the reader understand and almost feel the hardships that the immigrant family went through and also helped you understand why they chose to go through them. This would be a great book to read in a middle or lower high school setting. Most of the content and discussions would be too mature a topic for elementary students.

Young Adult Canadian Book Award

True Confessions of a Heartless Girl

By: Martha Brooks

This book is the winner of the 2002 Governor Gernaral's Literary Award. This award is like the Canadian Newbery. This is a story about a seventeen year old girl who runs into a lot of trouble. She is pregnent and shows up to a Canadian town with a pocket full of stolen money and driving a stolen truck. This is a story full of the hardships this girls faces and how things slowly and subtley turn around for her. This is a story for a mature young audience. I think this would be a great story for high schools students. The characters are very detailed and well though out. Even though Noreen makes many mistakes and goes through a lot of hardships, she always seems to run into people who love her anyways. This book will make you really take a look at the people that surround you and appreciate them for who they are. Sometimes the best things in life are right in front of you and  you don't even know it.