HEALING WATER a story of disease and compassion Fact is sometimes stranger than fiction. The combination of historical facts plus a riveting story can be an unforgettable way to read about and relate to history. Joyce Moyer Hostetter successfully does…
Category: historical fiction
The Intersectionality of Black and Gay: A Review of Zero Fade
In an acclaimed piece on reviewers and diversity, author Malinda Lo addressed some of the familiar criticisms leveled against diverse books by reveiwers who just don’t “get it.” Most common criticism #2 was “so many (too many?) issues.” She saw…
Learning From the Past to Stand Up for Our Rights: A Review of Audacity
The early part of the twenty-first century has been called the New Gilded Age because of growing inequality, worsening work conditions, and the way that the richest Americans have used their economic power to gain special favors from politicians at…
Surviving the Armenian Genocide: A Review of Like Water on Stone
In the summer of 1984 Dana Walrath and her husband traveled to the city of Palu in Western Armenia, inside the present-day border of Turkey. There, she saw the mill and lands that once belonged to her ancestors on her…
Interview With Author Kekla Magoon
In November I reviewed the timely and relevant novel How It Went Down (Henry Holt, 2014) by Kekla Magoon, a novel that begins with an incident all too timely — an African American teenager has been shot and killed by…
BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Celebration of Books, New & Old
This month, Black History Month, we celebrate books by and about African- Americans, old and young, who have been leaders, artists, musicians, teachers, activists, and courageous citizens. Last month as a nation we celebrated the life, work, and words of…
Morris Award Finalist Blog Tour: The Carnival at Bray
Welcome back to the Morris Award Finalist Blog Tour, where I am posting at the last minute due to shoveling more than a foot of snow from my driveway, sidewalk, and roof and then being too tired to do anything…
Civil Rights and Intersectionality: Lies We Tell Ourselves
The past ten years have seen 50-year milestones for significant events in the Civil Rights Movement, and with them have come a number of books, fiction and non-fiction, for young readers. Stories of school desegregation, in which a white student…
Mental Illness, 50 Years Ago: A Review of Crazy
Laura Wahlberg has a secret that she hides from her friends and teachers—her mother’s mental illness. Once upon a time, her mother wanted to be an artist, but now her mother stares into space, often not recognizing her own family…
The Post-Apocalyptic Present: A Bird on Water Street
The landscape resembles the surface of a distant, inhospitable planet. The air smells of sulfur. Children carry inhalers and adults die young of cancer. There are no trees, no birds, no insects even. Periodically, alarms sound as victims of mining…