Guest post by Padma Venkatraman ONE LAST WORD By Nikki Grimes I, for one, am immensely grateful that one last word will not be the last word by this talented author whose work has gained much well-deserved recent attention.…
Category: Black history
The Legendary Miss Lena Horne by Carole Boston Weatherford
Perhaps no singer-of-color, especially one of Lena Horne’s generation, can have a career unaffected by the politics of race. What is revealing to me in this beautifully-illustrated [by Elizabeth Zunon] book is the depth of Horne’s involvement in bringing about…
STRANGE FRUIT, BILLIE HOLIDAY AND THE POWER OF A PROTEST SONG
Here is a WOW picture book, and so timely: STRANGE FRUIT, BILLIE HOLIDAY AND THE POWER OF A PROTEST SONG a book for all ages written by Gary Golio and illustrated by Charlotte Riley-Webb. What a woman, Billie Holiday. And…
Tiny Stitches by Gwendolyn Hooks, illustrated by Colin Bootman
Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case by Patricia Hruby Powell
I can’t think of a time when we have needed a profound book like this more than we do now. Since we are evidently in a period of doomed-to-repeat-history, it’s important that young readers (whose parents are not that much…
My Seneca Village by Marilyn Nelson
My Seneca Village By Marilyn Nelson Most people in the United States have heard about New York City’s Central Park, but few have heard of Seneca Village, a community built on a portion of land that later was developed…
Brick by Brick, written by Charles R. Smith Jr. and Illustrated by Floyd Cooper
Brick by Brick Written by Charles R. Smith Jr. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper The White House was built brick by brick by numerous workers, including many who were slaves. In 1792 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue did not exist; the…
Review: The Quickest Kid In Clarksville
At the 1960 Olympic Games, African American sprinter Wilma Rudolph became the first woman from the United States to win three gold medals at the same Olympics. Rudolph grew up in Clarksville, Tennessee, a segregated town. After her victories, Rudolph…
Returning to a Painful Past: A Review of The Door at the Crossroads
Fans of Zetta Elliott’s 2008 time travel novel for teens, A Wish After Midnight (originally self-published, then republished by Amazon Encore in 2010) have waited a long time for the sequel. Patience, however, has been rewarded by a second volume…
Like a Bird:The Art of the American Slave Song by Cynthia Grady
There is a lot to learn and love in the text of this book, if you can tear yourself away from the fascinating illustrations by Michele Wood. Each page is like a separate painting in an exhibit, each a small…