In November I reviewed the timely and relevant novel How It Went Down (Henry Holt, 2014) by Kekla Magoon, a novel that begins with an incident all too timely — an African American teenager has been shot and killed by…
Tag: interviews
The Morris Finalist Blog Tour: An Interview with Isabel Quintero
Welcome to the Morris Finalist Blog Tour, featuring the outstanding 2015 debut authors and their books! In December, YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association, of the American Library Association) announces the list of finalists, and we learn of the winner…
Environmental Awareness for the Very Young: Stacy Nyikos’s Toby
It is often hard to convince people of the value of saving endangered species. One can argue for the importance of biodiversity, but when one asks people to sacrifice—whether not to build that beach resort, for instance—there has to be…
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…
On Basketball, Race, and Life: An Interview with Kevin Waltman
Kevin Waltman’s YA novel Next (Cinco Puntos Press, 2013) is the first in a four-book series that chronicles the high school years of talented basketball player Derrick (D-Bow) Bowen. As a freshman, Derrick struggles for playing time with a hard-nosed…
LOOKS LIKE DAYLIGHT
LOOKS LIKE DAYLIGHT by Deborah Ellis, Foreword by Loriene Roy Sit down. Open this book, LOOKS LIKE DAYLIGHT. You will be surprised. Deborah Ellis traveled across the North American continent – the U.S. and Canada – to interview Native…
Laugh with the Moon Blog Tour: An Interview with Shana Burg
This month, author Shana Burg has visited a number of blogs as part of her blog tour for her newly-released middle grade novel Laugh with the Moon (Delacorte). The novel, set in rural Malawi, portrays 13-year-old Clare, whose father has…
Happy Book-day! An Interview with Zetta Elliott
Tomorrow, Saturday, March 3 marks the official launch of Ship of Souls. If you’re in the New York City area, the “Book-day” event will take place at the site of the African Burial Ground National Monument, 290 Broadway in Manhattan…
Teen Book Bloggers Forge a New Reviewing Model: An Interview with Maggie Desmond-O’Brien
This weekend I have been in Chicago for the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) conference, followed by the ALAN workshop. (Many have wondered about this: ALAN stands for Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE.) As part of…
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,…