In the past several years, Zetta Elliott has emerged as a major author of speculative fiction featuring African-American protagonists. Her two previous books for young readers, the young adult novel A Wish After Midnight (2010) and the middle grade novel…
Tag: middle grade literature
On Leadership and Social Justice: A Review of March Book One
As a college student in 1958, John Lewis read a comic-book account of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the activism of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. By that point, Lewis had come to question the Jim Crow measures that limited…
Human Rights & Children’s Books: USBBY & PEN
United States Board on Books for Young People, USBBY, and International Board on Books for Young People, IBBY, provide an excellent source of information, reviews, and lists of outstanding international books – an international celebration of diversity. Each year…
AFRICA IS MY HOME
AFRICA IS MY HOME, A CHILD OF THE AMISTAD By Monica Edinger and illustrated by Robert Byrd Monica Edinger skillfully – and delightfully – tells an extraordinary story through the voice of a young girl who experiences an extraordinary journey. …
Surviving Depression: A Review of Every Day After
The long recession and weak recovery have kindled interest in the Great Depression and the ways that families responded to sudden economic deprivation nearly a century ago. Laura Golden’s new middle grade novel Every Day After (Delacorte) mines the author’s…
When the Water Runs Out: A Review of Parched
This past month has gone into the record books as the rainiest June in my city’s history. Last year was one of the warmest on record, and in late October a rare East Coast hurricane devastated the New York metropolitan…
Childhood Meets the Real World: A Review of P.S. Be Eleven
In Portugal last fall I was struck by the lengths to which parents would go to shelter their children from the hardships of the economic crisis. When I visited the malls and department stores to practice my Portuguese vocabulary, I…
Hiding in Plain Sight: A Review of Odette’s Secrets
This coming Sunday evening, April 7, marks the beginning of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Jews around the world will place candles in their windows and recite prayers to remember the six million Jews who died between 1933 and 1945…
Dogs at Work: A Review of Adalyn’s Clare
Adalyn is a bright student but has trouble fitting into her fourth grade class. Friendless and prone to tantrums, she frequently has to take refuge in a small tent in the school counselor’s office. One day, a yellow Labrador retriever…
Division and Partition: A Review of A Beautiful Lie
We’re nearing the end of an election season marked by the length and rancor of the campaign. Many on all sides long for it all to be over, but no matter who wins, I remain concerned about the level of…