I’ve always loved the Anna Hibiscus picture books by Nigerian-born Atinuke so when publisher Kane Miller sent me copies of the latest in the Anna Hibiscus chapter book series, I was super excited! My 6 year old and I have…
Category: People & Places
Iran’s Revolution and War: A Review of Lost Boys
On August 19, 1953 a clandestine military operation led by the United States and Great Britain toppled the democratically elected government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran and installed Shah Reza Pahlevi, who immediately reversed Mossadegh’s nationalization of oil facilities. For…
What’s Happening with the Constitution?
The 2016 Presidential election was the second in this century to feature a victorious candidate who came in second in the popular vote. Such a result has baffled observers from other countries, none of which have the same Electoral College…
Kid Fights City Hall in The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora
At the beginning of the summer, 13-year-old Arturo Zamora is not looking forward to his “promotion” to the position of Junior Lunchtime Dishwasher at his family’s Cuban restaurant in a suburb of Miami, Florida. Not only will he miss his…
Fables for Our Time: The Garden of Peace and The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet
In eras of censorship children’s stories, written as fables and often featuring animals, have offered messages of resistance and a set of alternative values – ones of justice, equality, freedom and inclusion. Whether these picture book fables will soon challenge…
The Warden’s Daughter
Guest post by Padma Venkatraman THE WARDEN’S DAUGHTER By Jerry Spinelli Cammie, the protagonist of Jerry Spinelli’s latest novel, lives in a flat adjoining the county prison. Her mother dies in the act of saving Cammie’s life when Cammie…
The Human Cost of the International Drug War: A Review of An Uninterrupted View of the Sky
Seventeen-year-old Francisco Quispe loves soccer, but even though he’s smart, he doesn’t expect much of a future in school because of his Aymara heritage and appearance. Along with his friend Reynaldo, he dreams of selling knockoff soccer shirts and equipment…
Read Like a Pirate in The Treasure of Barracuda
One of the best things about children’s books in translation is that they provide a window into what other countries publish—different artistic styles in illustrated books, different senses of humor, what constitutes a happy ending, and more. This is certainly…
Oppression or Adventure: A Child’s Perspective in My Night in the Planetarium
Innosanto Nagara, the Indonesian-born graphic artist and acclaimed author/illustrator of A Is for Activist and Counting on Community, tells his own story of facing dictatorship and oppression in My Night in the Planetarium. At the age of seven, he watched…
Artist Fights the Inquisition in Caravaggio: Painter on the Run
Since antiquity, artists of all kinds have challenged regimes that have demanded mindless conformity. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church dominated, and the greatest thinkers of the time prospered by doing its work (Michelangelo painting the ceiling of the…