At the end of October, some of us Pirate Tree-sitters will be gathering in person in Fresno, California for a panel at the USBBY conference, where we will explore the literature of children in wartime. Each of us will talk…
Category: Violence/War & Peace/Refugees
Daniel Half Human and the Good Nazi
I’ve been thinking a lot about how citizens in a democracy come to support extremists in hard times, and whether they understand the consequences of extreme ideas and politicians who consider their opponents enemies deserving of elimination. A recent bestseller,…
Youme Landowne: Creating a Safe Place to Talk About Hard Things
Youme Landowne is the author and illustrator of the picture book Selavi (That is Life): A Haitian Story of Hope (Cinco Puntos Press), which tells the true story of how street children came together in Haiti to create their own…
Racism, bullying, and Africa: Exploring Zimbabwe in Out of the Shadows by Jason Wallace
On the 17thof April, 1980, at Zimbabwe’s independence celebration, Bob Marley sang his famous song for Africa’s independence: “Every man got a right to decide his own destiny, And in this judgment there is no partiality.” Part of…
Family Secrets: A Review of A Time of Miracles
About a month ago, I saw the French Canadian film Incendies when it came to the Albany area. The film follows twins, a sister and brother, who live in Montreal. Following the death of their Lebanese-born mother, they receive a…
Crossover Dreams: A Review of Dragon Chica
Reading Ann Angel’s review of Carlos Eire’s memoir Learning to Die in Miami—and then reading the book itself—got me thinking about the crossover genre, books originally published for adults that have found a wide audience of teens, or books published…
I and I — Experience Bob Marley
I AND I — BOB MARLEY Readers young and old experience the power of words and music, poetry and rhythm in this picture-book biography written in verse. Young people may not know Bob Marley’s name but many will recognize his…
Writing Breaks the Silence
In this guest post by Susanne Gervay, an Australian children’s writer, Susanne shares information about why she’s written her books. My parents were post war Hungarian refugees who found home in the ‘new world.’ There were good times but also…
The Vietnam War: Exposed in Sherry Shahan’s new young adult novel, Purple Daze
One of my all-time favorite young adult novels is Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood by Benjamin Alire Saenz. Set in 1969, it tells the story of several young people growing up in a barrio in New Mexico, the Vietnam war…
Tough Subjects, books by Deborah Ellis
Nancy Bo Flood April 15, 2011 Deborah Ellis is a Canadian activist and author who takes on tough subjects, like this one: CHILDREN OF WAR; VOICES OF IRAQI REFUGEES Refugees, they are here, but are they welcome? We have been…