We think of war as happening to children in other places. In doing so, we fail to think about young people in the United States whose everyday lives mirror the lives of young people in the world’s combat zones. For…
Category: Out of the Mainstream: Gender, Ethnicity, and Disability
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…
In Trouble: The Past That May Become Our Future
Peter Marino’s thoughtful review of Ruth and the Green Book made me think of the 1950s—a time many people idealize as one of harmony and prosperity. Yet much of this harmony and prosperity was achieved through the exclusion and exploitation…
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…
Blog Tour: The Grand Plan to Fix Everything
When I started teaching high school social studies in New York City, I shared a classroom with the bilingual social studies teacher, and we soon became friends. Born in Puerto Rico, he moved to New York City as a toddler,…
In the Mainstream: Huntress
What would it be like to live in a world in which gay and lesbian relationships are treated as normal and we can choose partners of either gender without prejudice? Malinda Lo asked this question of readers in her acclaimed…
Preserving an Endangered Culture: Lucine Kasbarian and The Greedy Sparrow
Last month Armenians throughout the United States and the world commemorated the 1915 genocide as part of Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month. To coincide with this remembrance, Marshall Cavendish published Lucine Kasbarian’s adapted folktale from Armenia, The Greedy Sparrow. While…
Underground (Finding the Light to Freedom)
Underground (Finding the Light to Freedom), written and illustrated by Shane W. Evans, is a minimalist rendering of the Underground Railroad which will appeal to the earliest of word-recognizers. With typically two words on a page, it manages to capture…
On Writing The Queen of Water: An Interview with Laura Resau
Earlier this week I posted a review of Laura Resau and María Virginia Farinango’s novel The Queen of Water. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to interview Resau about the collaborative process, the key decisions made by the co-authors…