SPIRIT SEEKER: JOHN COLTRANE’S MUSICAL JOURNEY written by Gary Golio and illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez. The illustrations are stunning and disturbing. Each painting is full of strong, powerful, sometimes dark, symbolism. The tone and color of each image reflects the…
Category: Environment
Human Rights for Kids: A Review of The Stamp Collector
Some readers might know that I’m in Portugal right now and will be here until the end of the year, as my husband has a visiting professorship. This afternoon I was looking at the bookshelf of the young woman from…
A grandparent comes to live and provides a special glimpse into multi-generational love even as it opens new horizons to the author
This week readers get a Q & A between Ann Angel and writer Sheri Sinykin’s transformation from middle grade novelist to picture book author followed by guest writer Donna Pierquet’s heartfelt review of the picture book Zayde Comes to Live. Sheri admits this…
Virginia Hamilton, Speeches, Essays, & Conversations
Virginia Hamilton, Speeches, Essays, & Conversations, edited by her husband Arnold Adoff and Kacy Cook. Virginia Hamilton was and still is a major literary figure whose work has been recognized with nearly every possible children’s literary award. Her books for…
Change the World Before Bedtime
Change the World Before Bedtime has a simple, upbeat premise about being stewards of the earth and of each other. As an activity book, there is no plot per se, but a series of suggestions for how to make others…
The path we might take to grow or hide
The Opposite of Hallelujah by Anna Jarzab (Delacrote Books for Young Readers) $16.99 Growing up Catholic and being named after a nun, I recall myself as a kid scared to death I was also expected to grow up and…
THAT MAD GAME, GROWING UP in a WARZONE
THAT MAD GAME, GROWING UP IN A WARZONE, An Anthology of Essays from Around the Globe. Edited by J.L.Powers “Imagine…” If all high school students and their parents would read this book, perhaps they would then yearn for peace, clamor…
Guest Blog with Dr. Peter DeWitt: Dignity For All: Safeguarding LGBT Students
Peter DeWitt is the author of Dignity For All: Safeguarding LGBT Students (Corwin Press, 2012). Click here for my review. Cowhey (2012) writes, “When it comes to issues of family diversity, teacher self-censorship remains the status quo in many schools.…
Upon unraveling the theory of accidents and fate….
Today’s post was written by guest blogger Donna Pierquet, a graduate of the Mount Mary College Writing master of arts in writing program: The Theory of Everything by J.J. Johnson (Peachtree Publishers) $16.95 The world of a teenage girl…
Turning despair into strength
Tap Out by Eric Devine (Running Press Kids) $9.95 Tap Out proves to be a gripping and dark novel about a teenaged boy who only knows grinding despair but discovers a ray of hope within the walls of a local gym. As the novel unfolds, we’re provided…