It's Monday, What Are You Reading? August 7, 2023

 

Please visit the amazing blogs: Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers who host this terrific meme each week.

I am still enjoying summer reading! Here are a few recent highlights. Click on the book covers to learn more about the books.

This book is on the Maine Student Book Award List this year. It is a great historical fiction choice that gives a unique perspective of WWII. 

This graphic novel is also on the MSBA list. 

I predict that it will never be on my shelf. 

Told through the voice of a teacher trying to explain slavery to students. An honest, important book to read, share and discuss. 

Powerful illustrations add to the emotional experience. 

Listening 

Upcoming Reading

I am trying to work my way through many of the Maine Student Book Award book for this year so I can recommend them to my students. I am also reading books from various mock Caldecott lists. 

What are you reading friends? 

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday-The First Step by Susan E. Goodman

My Friend Alyson Beecher at Kid Lit Frenzy hosts a weekly link up to share Nonfiction Picture Books. Please visit her amazing website.

The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial

by Susan E. Goodman

Illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Published January 2016

Bloomsbury Children's

40 Pages

Review copy provided by publisher

Goodreads Summary

In 1847, a young African American girl named Sarah Roberts was attending a school in Boston. Then one day she was told she could never come back. She didn't belong. The Otis School was for white children only.

Sarah deserved an equal education, and the Roberts family fought for change. They made history. Roberts v. City of Boston was the first case challenging our legal system to outlaw segregated schools. It was the first time an African American lawyer argued in a supreme court.

These first steps set in motion changes that ultimately led to equality under the law in the United States. Sarah's cause was won when people--black and white--stood together and said, No more. Now, right now, it is time for change!

With gorgeous art from award-winning illustrator E. B. Lewis,The First Step is an inspiring look at the first lawsuit to demand desegregation--long before the American Civil Rights movement, even before the Civil War.

Backmatter includes: integration timeline, bios on key people in the book, list of resources, and author's note. 

My Thoughts

This is a beautiful, inspirational story of the struggle of one father's determination to get his daughter the education she deserved. I felt for Sarah and her family. I can imagine that this story will be met with outrage by the students that read it. How lucky they are to grow up in a time where diversity is the norm in schools. This story needs to be told so that children can learn about the struggle of segregation and the unfaltering determination of so many that created change. 

The narrative is accompanied by soft, muted watercolor and gouache illustrations. The integration timeline in the back shows the timeline of segregation in our country and the author's note provides even more information. 

I will certainly share The First Steps with my fourth graders. I would recommend this book for grades 3-5. 

Possible Companion Texts

  

Read what others have to say about this book.

Kids Reads

Publishers Weekly

School Library Journal

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday-January 27, 2016

My Friend Alyson Beecher at Kid Lit Frenzy hosts a weekly link up to share Nonfiction Picture Books. Please visit her amazing website.

Two Friends:Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass
by Dean Robbins
Illustrated by Sean Qualls and Selina Alko
Published Jan. 5, 2016
Orchard Books
Nonfiction Picture Book
32 Pages
Review copy (F&G) provided by publisher.

Goodreads Summary
Two friends, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass, get together for tea and conversation. They recount their similar stories fighting to win rights for women and African Americans. The premise of this particular exchange between the two is based on a statue in their hometown of Rochester, New York, which shows the two friends having tea.

My Thoughts

I love reading books where I learn something new. While I knew a bit about each of these two important Americans, I did not realize they were friends and worked to help each other. The text contains a bit written on present tense as the friends sit down for tea and some information written in past tense about their childhoods and what they wanted to change. I did wish the book included more specific information about each person as it seemed a bit brief. 

The illustrations are wonderful. The two illustrators included actual quotes in collage form. which I thought worked very well. 

I would recommend Two Friends for Grades 1-4. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                              Photo taken of the F&G

Possible Companion Text

Here is a very short video showing the sculpture of the Two friends having tea. 

See what others have to say about Two Friends.

Publishers Weekly

Kirkus