Tag: diversity

Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Finding Family

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Family Story with Photographs

Finding-FamilyIn Finding Family (Bloomsbury, 2010) by Tonya Bolden we get to see the characters grow and change in this historical middle grade novel set in 1905 Charleston, West Virginia. Author Tonya Bolden was Inspired by old pictures to create the story. Here’s a brief summary:
12-year-old Delana is being raised by a great aunt and her grandpa. Aunt Tilley loves visiting kinfolk by pulling the pictures out of a basket. But Aunt Tilley has been scattered lately and changing stories. Grandpa doesn’t say much and Delana thinks he doesn’t love her, so when Aunt Tilley dies, she wants to go home with various family members, not that she’s brave enough to tell them.
See what else the author has written on her website. As for me, I’m planning to check out some of her nonfiction!

Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

One Crazy Summer

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

One Strong Girl!
onecrazysummerOne Crazy Summer (Amistad, 2010) by Rita Williams-Garcia is set in 1968 and would be eye-opening for younger readers to learn how blacks, then called Negroes, were treated. Even for me living at that time in a community where I didn’t see much prejudice, it’s rather shocking.

12-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters are flying from Brooklyn to California to spend time with their mother Cecile who left them 7 years ago right after Fern was born. Cecile doesn’t want them–takes the money Pa sent and spends it on takeout food. Girls had been hoping for a trip to Disneyland. Mom sends the kids to a Black Panther summer camp to get rid of them!

I loved Delphine and her determination!

I also loved reading about Rita herself on her website. (NoMo? You’ll only know what it is if you visit…) She’s written four award winning books! Find out about them and what else she’s written under the My Books tab.

Posted in Award Winners, So Many Good Books, YA Novels

Split

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

split.gif“Now I have to start lying.” Isn’t that a great first line?!
16-year-old Jace shows up at his brother Christian’s apartment, or at least what he hopes is his brother’s apartment, and the last name says Marshall, not Witherspoon. He drove all the way from Chicago to Albuquerque and he might not be in the right place?
Split (Alfred A. Knopf, 2010) by Swati Avasthi is a story about escaping domestic abuse. But physically escaping is easier than escaping the damage done. You’ll have to read the book to see whether Jace and Christian can do so in this award winning debut novel. (Split won in the Cybils YA Fiction category for 2010!)
There’s a book trailer on Swati’s site. Plus you can enjoy reading about her playlists and naming (and renaming) her characters.

Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

The Fences Between Us

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

diary.jpgThe Fences Between Us: The Diary of Piper Davis, Seattle, Washington, 1941 (Scholastic, 2010) by Kirby Larson is a very good book written in diary style. The story deals with a lot of issues of the war, but especially the incarceration of the Japanese.
Here’s an intro to the story: Piper lives with her dad and sister in Seattle. Her brother Hank has enlisted in the Navy. Then the attack on Pearl Harbor happens. It’s a while before they know he is okay and then the members of the Japanese Baptist church start getting arrested. Margie gets married and when Piper’s dad decides to go to Eden, Idaho in fall of 1942 where his congregation has gone to Camp Minidoka, Piper has to go along. She ends up going to school in the camp and experiencing a lot of what the Japanese have to put up with except she gets to go home at night.
Kirby is the Newbery honor winner for Hattie Big Sky. Read about her other books on her website.

Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

The Walls of Cartagena

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

cartagena.jpgOn twitter someone recently asked for recommendations of historical books for boys and I realized I hadn’t written up this one!
The Walls of Cartagena (Simon & Schuster, 2008) by Julia Durango is a historical novel based on real people in the 17th century. This very good and memorable story introduced me to some history and a place previously unknown to me.
Here’s a brief look at the story: Calepino was taken in by a wealthy woman when his slave mother died and has been raised with a life of privilege. But now at 13, because of his gift with languages, he is having to go with Father Pedro and help minister to those coming off the slave ships.
At last year’s SCBWI conference in LA, Julia accepted a Golden Kite for her book Sea of the Dead. I love what Julia says about herself on her blog: “Purveyor of Children’s Books & Monkey Business.” You’ll see why if you read about her other books. I love the picture of her house and her “out of the box” author visit idea, too.