This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, which claimed the lives of up to a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The massacre revealed the helplessness of international organizations and spurred the establishment of the International Criminal…
Author: lynmillerlachmann
On Basketball, Race, and Life: An Interview with Kevin Waltman
Kevin Waltman’s YA novel Next (Cinco Puntos Press, 2013) is the first in a four-book series that chronicles the high school years of talented basketball player Derrick (D-Bow) Bowen. As a freshman, Derrick struggles for playing time with a hard-nosed…
An Undocumented Immigrant Looking for Hope: The Secret Side of Empty
As happened at the turn of the previous century, the new century has seen a massive migration of people from one country to another. Escaping oppression and war, the effects of climate change, or the lack of economic opportunity, the…
A General’s Life After War: Review of The Compassionate Warrior
A growing body of literature for middle grade and teen readers explores the lives of child soldiers, young refugees, and other survivors of war. In the past, however, biographies of those who sent others to war often celebrated the feats…
Young and Wrongly Accused
Years ago, my husband and I saw the documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, about three teenage misfits in West Memphis, Arkansas who were accused—and then convicted—or the grisly murder of three eight-year-old boys. Two of…
Into The Deep
In the past several years, Zetta Elliott has emerged as a major author of speculative fiction featuring African-American protagonists. Her two previous books for young readers, the young adult novel A Wish After Midnight (2010) and the middle grade novel…
Kidnapped in Uganda: A Review of War Brothers
The experiences of child soldiers in various parts of Africa have been the subject of novels, memoirs, and even picture books in recent years. For adult and older teen readers, outstanding titles include Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone,…
On Leadership and Social Justice: A Review of March Book One
As a college student in 1958, John Lewis read a comic-book account of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the activism of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. By that point, Lewis had come to question the Jim Crow measures that limited…
The Graphic Novel/Essay in Pursuit of Science: A Review of How to Fake a Moon Landing
For the past several years I have been photographing scenes and creating stories using Lego minifigures, and my work in this medium has led to my wider reading of graphic novels. I have become acquainted with the great variety of…
Exploring the Range of New Adult: A Review of Sideshow of Merit
Ann Angel’s interview with Lauren Myracle about The Infinite Moment of Us touched on the emergence of New Adult—a publishing category designed to appeal to readers in their upper teens and early twenties. Various other discussion groups have focused on…