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…
Category: People & Places
The 2016 Skipping Stones Honor Awards
For 28 years the non-profit multicultural children’s magazine Skipping Stones has offered young readers a journey around the world without their ever having to board an airplane. Founded in 1988 by educator Arun Toke, the quarterly magazine offers articles for…
An Interview with Jessica Spotswood, Editor of A Tyranny of Petticoats
Young adult historical fiction has experienced a much awaited (at least for this author of historical fiction with international settings) renaissance in the past year or two. Many of the heralded titles focus on the feats of girls and young…
The Real Magic Realism: A Review of The Head of the Saint
Translated fiction for teen readers is not easy to find. Despite the recent success of adult titles by Elena Ferrante, Steig Larsson, Roberto Bolaño, Haruki Murikami, and others, and the growing number of acclaimed picture books from other countries, middle…
Bullying Across Cultures: A Review of Falling into the Dragon’s Mouth
Despite efforts to eradicate it, bullying remains a problem in schools, communities, workplaces, and online. Holly Thompson’s debut middle grade novel in verse, Orchards, portrays a seventh grader whose bullying of a former friend contributed to that girl’s suicide, an…
The Role of Art in Wartime: A Review of Symphony for the City of the Dead
In 1943, in the middle of the Second World War, an American diplomat nearly loses the microfilmed score of a symphony, and millions of lives hang in the balance. Why? This fascinating vignette begins M.T. Anderson’s stunning nonfiction work Symphony…
The 2015 Skipping Stones Honor Awards
For 27 years the non-profit multicultural children’s magazine Skipping Stones has offered young readers a journey around the world without their ever having to board an airplane. Founded in 1988 by educator Arun Toke, the quarterly magazine offers articles for…
Fall Roundup of Annick Press Titles
DNA Detective by Tanya Lloyd Kyi is not only a lot of fun to read, it’s amazingly, densely informative. This could easily be used as part of a science curriculum for fifth or sixth graders (although I myself will…
The Many Faces of Josephine Baker
In this multi-layered portrait of one of the most famous African-American performers of the 20th century for Chicago Review Press’s Women of Action series, Peggy Caravantes presents us with Josephine Baker: a flamboyant, difficult woman whose dream of integration and…
Review: Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed
High school senior Naila’s conservative immigrant parents believe that they offer her ample freedom. She may choose how she wears her hair, she has a non-Pakistani best friend, and they are even planning to allow her to go away to…