WHAT FLOWERS REMEMBER by SHANNON WIERSBITZKY “Heirloom flowers are born from seeds that…have been handed down from generation to generation….While gathering seeds in my hand, some big, some as tiny as a grain of sand, I’ve wondered if they hold…
Category: People & Places
A Cat’s View of Palestine: Deborah Ellis does it again
You know, if somebody just told me the premise of this book (“American girl dies suddenly and finds herself reincarnated, with all her memories intact, as a cat living in Palestine”) I would have thought, That is too cheesy for…
Families Around the World
Marketed as non-fiction, Families Around the World is based on real families interviewed by author Margriet Ruurs, and told in the first person by a child in that family. Each geographical family gets a two-page spread in which colorful illustrations…
Review: Babe Conquers the World
Babe Conquers the World: The Legendary Life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias, by Rich Wallace and Sandra Neil Wallace, is a wonderful new biography out now from Calkins Creek. I have to admit, my reading of Babe Conquers the World got off to…
On Personal and Collective Memory: An Interview with Marjorie Agosín
Last week I reviewed Marjorie Agosín’s debut novel for middle grade readers, I Lived on Butterfly Hill. This lyrical novel is the story of a perceptive and courageous girl living in Valaparaío, Chile and facing traumatic political events that force…
Attention illustrators: you can help raise money to fund a library in Ethiopia
Last week, I attended a dinner fundraiser for the non-profit Ethiopia Reads, which was honoring children’s writer Jane Kurtz (also a co-founder of the non-profit). I met the most amazing 11 year old there, who is single-handedly (with his mother’s…
Anna Was Here, asking the hard questions of life
I recently read Anna Was Here by Jane Kurtz. Anna is the young daughter of a minister, growing up in Colorado, when her father decides to move his family to Kansas in order to help his home church through a…
Walking through Guatemala’s War with Caminar author Skila Brown
When I was a kid, I devoured books about World War II and the Civil War. These weren’t the only wars that meant anything to me, but they were the only wars written about by children’s authors. In my personal…
Beyond Magenta: An Interview With Susan Kuklin (Part I)
In a desert of positive and honest information for teens about peers who identify as transgender, gender queer, gender nonconforming and intersex, Susan Kuklin has provided a much needed oasis with the publication of her new book Beyond Magenta: Transgender…
Finding peace with Grandfather Gandhi
Grandfather Gandhi (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus $17.99 Writer Bethany Hegedus teamed up with Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Arun, to create this masterful biography of his beloved grandfather in a story of memories that guide…