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2.59k reviews by:
librarybonanza
Age: Preschool-1st grade
Identity: possibly Anishinabe/Ojibwe
Identity, author: Cherokee Nation
Identity, illustrator: Chickasaw Nation
Sport: Dance
An illness keeps River from dancing at their tribal powwow, but finds inspiration and healing from her family and friends as they perform the jingle dress dance. Although the illness is never identified by the author, it allows it to be more relatable as many children have experienced disappointment from sickness themselves.
The supplemental information is extremely interesting, especially the origins of the jingle dress healing ceremony during the 1918 flu epidemic and how jingle dress dancers shared videos online during COVID-19 to help heal people worldwide.
Identity: possibly Anishinabe/Ojibwe
Identity, author: Cherokee Nation
Identity, illustrator: Chickasaw Nation
Sport: Dance
An illness keeps River from dancing at their tribal powwow, but finds inspiration and healing from her family and friends as they perform the jingle dress dance. Although the illness is never identified by the author, it allows it to be more relatable as many children have experienced disappointment from sickness themselves.
The supplemental information is extremely interesting, especially the origins of the jingle dress healing ceremony during the 1918 flu epidemic and how jingle dress dancers shared videos online during COVID-19 to help heal people worldwide.
Age: Preschool-Kindergarten
Familiar Experience: Taking a walk outside
Family: Uncle and niece
Identity: Chinese American
Text: English and Chinese
Mia and Uncle Eddie take a cheerful 10-block walk to the restaurant, counting objects and people from 1-10 as they stroll along. In the corner of every page, Hu provides a visual of the number in Chinese and English. This is an excellent educational tool to help children see the numerical representation of the numbers 1-10.
As an aside, Uncle Eddie manages to slide in an English/Chinese pun at the end and it is glorious.
Familiar Experience: Taking a walk outside
Family: Uncle and niece
Identity: Chinese American
Text: English and Chinese
Mia and Uncle Eddie take a cheerful 10-block walk to the restaurant, counting objects and people from 1-10 as they stroll along. In the corner of every page, Hu provides a visual of the number in Chinese and English. This is an excellent educational tool to help children see the numerical representation of the numbers 1-10.
As an aside, Uncle Eddie manages to slide in an English/Chinese pun at the end and it is glorious.
Age: Infant-Preschool
Animals: Adult and offspring names
Text: Spanish and English
Simple text celebrate the bond between a mother and her child as they imagine themselves being adult/juvenile animal pairings. As time passes, the child leaves and becomes an entirely different animal--and so does the mother! But they are mother and child just the same, forever. A nice twist on a common sentimental tale since it goes beyond just a list of animal pairings.
Animals: Adult and offspring names
Text: Spanish and English
Simple text celebrate the bond between a mother and her child as they imagine themselves being adult/juvenile animal pairings. As time passes, the child leaves and becomes an entirely different animal--and so does the mother! But they are mother and child just the same, forever. A nice twist on a common sentimental tale since it goes beyond just a list of animal pairings.
Age: 2nd-high school
History: The Kingdom of Ndongo (West Africa), transatlantic slave trade, American slavery (Virginia)
Tough Issues: Family separation, death, slavery
When a school-aged girl is asked to trace her lineage back to her ancestral country, she feels ashamed that she can only go back three generations to those that were born in the states. That is until her grandmother tells her and her family about their genealogical story without sugar coating the terrible injustice done to African people nor fully resting on the misery that was inflicted.
Hannah-Jones, creator of the 1619 Project and Watson place particular emphasis on widening our understanding of African American origins, dividing the book equally into thirds: the vibrant Ndongo culture, the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, and the grimness of slavery. The goal of the 1619 Project is to readjust the United States timeline to begin at the introduction of slavery and how instrumental this injustice was in shaping our nation and the future of all black and white folks.
While this book has been written for children, my only issue was that there was no backmatter to explain the 1619 Project, explicitly connecting the purpose of this book to the goals of the project. However, this concern is far outweighed by the significance and beauty that this book brings to educational circles.
History: The Kingdom of Ndongo (West Africa), transatlantic slave trade, American slavery (Virginia)
Tough Issues: Family separation, death, slavery
When a school-aged girl is asked to trace her lineage back to her ancestral country, she feels ashamed that she can only go back three generations to those that were born in the states. That is until her grandmother tells her and her family about their genealogical story without sugar coating the terrible injustice done to African people nor fully resting on the misery that was inflicted.
Hannah-Jones, creator of the 1619 Project and Watson place particular emphasis on widening our understanding of African American origins, dividing the book equally into thirds: the vibrant Ndongo culture, the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, and the grimness of slavery. The goal of the 1619 Project is to readjust the United States timeline to begin at the introduction of slavery and how instrumental this injustice was in shaping our nation and the future of all black and white folks.
While this book has been written for children, my only issue was that there was no backmatter to explain the 1619 Project, explicitly connecting the purpose of this book to the goals of the project. However, this concern is far outweighed by the significance and beauty that this book brings to educational circles.
Age: Middle School
LGBTQ+: Gay friend, gay-questioning protagonist
Location: small town Louisiana
Tough Issue: Grief & processing, death of a brother, paternal abuse
With a fast-moving plot, a "shorter" page length, and a gnawing question at the root of the story, this makes an appealing book for all junior high students. On top of the lgbtq themes, Kingston and his family have been rocked out of orbit with the sudden death of his brother (heart attack). Each family member isolates themselves, grieving in unhealthy ways that builds up to a powerful ending.
LGBTQ+: Gay friend, gay-questioning protagonist
Location: small town Louisiana
Tough Issue: Grief & processing, death of a brother, paternal abuse
With a fast-moving plot, a "shorter" page length, and a gnawing question at the root of the story, this makes an appealing book for all junior high students. On top of the lgbtq themes, Kingston and his family have been rocked out of orbit with the sudden death of his brother (heart attack). Each family member isolates themselves, grieving in unhealthy ways that builds up to a powerful ending.
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Age: Infant+
"Some books are about a single wish. Some books are about three wishes. The infallible team of Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld have combined their extraordinary talents to create this exuberant book of endless good wishes. Wishes for curiosity and wonder, for friendship and strength, laughter and peace."
The way Rosenthal creates her pairings are so poetic and the illustration pairings bring the concepts to life, giving younger and older children a new look at familiar words.
"Some books are about a single wish. Some books are about three wishes. The infallible team of Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld have combined their extraordinary talents to create this exuberant book of endless good wishes. Wishes for curiosity and wonder, for friendship and strength, laughter and peace."
The way Rosenthal creates her pairings are so poetic and the illustration pairings bring the concepts to life, giving younger and older children a new look at familiar words.
Love the title, love the cover, but was not a fan of bodies that were excluded from the pictures and some of the forced rhymes.
Age: K-2nd grade
Family: Grandma, granddaughter, grandson
Whether her grandkids are bored, fighting with each other, or feeling lonely and isolated, grandmother encourages them to use their imaginations to escape their negative feelings and rise above as "somebody somewhere at some point" has done before them. She then tells them of their ancestors and how they "learned to fly" when their wrists and ankles were cuffed in iron but "nobody can ever cuff your beautiful and brilliant mind."
When they move to a new place and are ignored by their white neighbors, the kids call upon the wise words of their grandmother and fly above the pain of rejection, with such joy that the kids on the ground slowly join them one by one.
Lopez' illustrious illustrations paired with Woodson's light yet powerful poetic text make an amazing story about the power of adult role models, imagination, and African American identity.
Family: Grandma, granddaughter, grandson
Whether her grandkids are bored, fighting with each other, or feeling lonely and isolated, grandmother encourages them to use their imaginations to escape their negative feelings and rise above as "somebody somewhere at some point" has done before them. She then tells them of their ancestors and how they "learned to fly" when their wrists and ankles were cuffed in iron but "nobody can ever cuff your beautiful and brilliant mind."
When they move to a new place and are ignored by their white neighbors, the kids call upon the wise words of their grandmother and fly above the pain of rejection, with such joy that the kids on the ground slowly join them one by one.
Lopez' illustrious illustrations paired with Woodson's light yet powerful poetic text make an amazing story about the power of adult role models, imagination, and African American identity.
Age: Preschool-1st grade
Little worm is looking for the culprit that put an ear worm in their head only to discover that all the other animals have their own catchy tunes on their minds. In the end, it turns out that daddy worm has quite the flair for making up his own songs for moving Little Worm around throughout their day.
The cumulative style, the white backgrounds, the catchy tunes (I found that "Skip to My Lou" works best), the tantalizing mystery: all absolutely perfect for a library storytime or classroom read aloud.
Little worm is looking for the culprit that put an ear worm in their head only to discover that all the other animals have their own catchy tunes on their minds. In the end, it turns out that daddy worm has quite the flair for making up his own songs for moving Little Worm around throughout their day.
The cumulative style, the white backgrounds, the catchy tunes (I found that "Skip to My Lou" works best), the tantalizing mystery: all absolutely perfect for a library storytime or classroom read aloud.