LITERATURE

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African American Book Clubs :

Renaissance in Charleston: Art and Life in the Carolina Low Country, 1900-1940
Format Hardcover
Subject Literary Criticism & Collections / American
ISBN/SKU 082032518X
Author James M. Hutchisson (Edt)
Publisher Univ of Georgia Pr
Publish Date August 2003

Review
During the first half of the twentieth century, the city of Charleston, South Carolina underwent a cultural revival known as the Charleston Renaissance. Directed at a general as well as a scholarly audience, this volume contains 11 essays on the writing, art, and thought that came from this remarkable community during the period 1900-1940. Topics include, for example, the avant-garde poetry of Beatrice Ravenel, the Gullah-inflected modernism of Julia Peterkin's Scarlet Sister Mary , and the racial politics of historic preservation in Charleston. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)


Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
vii
Preface ix
Introduction: The Charleston Renaissance Considered
1 (18)
Harlan Greene

James M. Hutchisson

The Lowcountry Lady and the Over-the-Mountain Man: Josephine Pinckney, Donald Davidson, and the Burden of Southern Literature
19 (16)
Barbara L. Bellows

To Sell the City of Charleston: The Visual Arts and the Charleston Renaissance
35 (22)
Martha R. Severens

``Mr. Bennett's Amiable Desire'': The Poetry Society of South Carolina and the Charleston Renaissance
57 (19)
Harlan Greene

Beatrice Ravenel: Avant-Garde Poet of the Charleston Renaissance
76 (20)
Curtis Worthington

Professional Authorship in the Charleston Renaissance: The Career of DuBose Heyward
96 (19)
James M. Hutchisson

The Only Volume in the Octagon Library: The Early Architecture of Charleston
115 (11)
Gene Waddell

The Legend Is Truer Than the Fact: The Politics of Representation in the Career of Elizabeth O'Neill Verner
126 (16)
Stephanie E. Yuhl

Gullah-Inflected Modernism: Julia Peterkin's Scarlet Black Madonna
142 (13)
Judith Giblin James

Laura Bragg and Her ``Bright Young Things'': Fostering Change and Social Reform at the Charleston Museum
155 (21)
Louise Anderson Allen

James T. Sears

Charleston's Racial Politics of Historic Preservation: The Case of Edwin A. Harleston
176 (23)
Susan V. Donaldson

Appendix: A Who's Who of the Charleston Renaissance 199 (12)
Notes 211 (32)
Selected Bibliography 243 (2)
Contributors 245 (2)
Index


The Chicago Black Renaissance And Women's Activism
Format Hardcover
Subject Social Science / Women's Studies
ISBN/SKU 0252030478
Author Anne Meis Knupfer
Publisher Univ of Illinois Pr
Publish Date November 2005

American Voices of the Chicago Renaissance
Format Hardcover
Subject Literary Criticism & Collections / American
ISBN/SKU 0875802583
Author Lisa Woolley
Publisher Northern Illinois Univ Pr
Publish Date April 2000

Review
Expanding on the view that 20th century Chicago-area writers transformed American literary standards by emphasizing the everyday speech of modern urban life, Woolley (English, Wilson College) shows how women and African Americans in particular negotiated the literary vernacular and linguistic purity movements. Among those featured in commentary and photos are reformer Jane Addams, poet Carl Sandburg, editor Harriet Monroe, and writers Marita Bonner and Fenton Johnson who adapted African- American traditions to the Chicago Renaissance style. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)


Table of Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 3 (13)
Dialect is A Virus

Chicago's Literary Vernacular amid Linguistic Purity Movements
16 (23)
Carl Sandburg and Vachel Lindsay

Composite Voices of the Open Road
39 (29)
Renaissance Women, Reformers, and Novelists
68 (83)
``The Best Conversation The World Has to Offer''

Chicago's Women Poets and Editors
91 (29)
Fenton Johnson and Marita Bonner

From Chicago Renaissance to Chicago Renaissance
120 (27)
Conclusion
147 (4)
Notes 151 (8)
Works Cited 159 (14)
Index 173


Papers of Clarence Mitchell Jr: Naacp Labor Secretary And Director
Format Hardcover
Subject Political Science / Civics
ISBN/SKU 0821416626
Author Denton L. Watson
Publisher Ohio Univ Pr
Publish Date July 2005

The Ticket To Freedom: The Naacp And The Struggle For Black Political Integration
Format Hardcover
Subject History / United States / 20th Century
ISBN/SKU 0813028329
Author Manfred Berg
Publisher Univ Pr of Florida
Publish Date June 2005

Not yet published
Review
Berg, a German historian, directs this work to scholars and general readers in an effort to correct what he views as the underrating of the contributions of the NAACP to American racial equality. The NAACP took a bold approach, not accommodating the slow timetable for racial equality favored by whites. The group pushed ahead with public protests of customs and legal challenges to laws that segregated and disadvantaged blacks, its efforts culminating in the Brown v. Board of Education triumph. The NAACP early on targeted lynching as the violent and grievous signifier of race hatred. The organization saw efforts to secure voting rights as central to full citizenship for black Americans. Berg details the growth of the NAACP, its successes and failures, and the major figures who helped advance the NAACP, including W. E. B. DuBois, Thurgood Marshall, Moorfield Storey, Walter White, and Oswald Garrison Villard. This book, first written in German, is part of a series of new perspectives on the history of the South. ((Reviewed May 1, 2005)) Copyright 2005 Booklist Reviews.

Roy Wilkins: Leader Of The Naacp
Format Library
Subject Juvenile Nonfiction / Biography & Autobiography / People Of Color
ISBN/SKU 1931798494
Author Calvin Craig Miller
Publisher Morgan Reynolds Pub
Publish Date May 2005

Table of Contents
From Poverty to Prosperity
9 (12)
Birth of the NAACP
21 (11)
Newspaper Crusader
32 (9)
Return to the South
41 (14)
Time for Change
55 (17)
A New Career
72 (19)
Jim Crow Goes to War
91 (14)
The Fight Becomes Clear
105 (13)
The Top Job
118 (16)
Not Backing Down
134 (17)
Promises Kept
151 (13)
Timeline 164 (1)
Sources 165 (6)
Bibliography 171 (2)
Web sites 173 (1)
Index 174

The First Waco Horror: The Lynching Of Jesse Washington And The Rise Of The NAACP
Format Hardcover
Subject History / United States / State & Local
ISBN/SKU 1585444162
Author Patricia Bernstein
Publisher Texas A & M Univ Pr
Publish Date March 2005

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 3 (170)
1. "Alert, Pushing, and Rich"
7 (22)
The Setting of the Waco Horror

2. "Active for Good"
29 (34)
The Beginnings of the NAACP

3. "Yours in a Glorious Cause"
63 (15)
The Investigator

4. Prelude to a Lynching
78 (9)
"Slogan Is Harmony and Efficiency"

5. An "Exciting Occurrence"
87 (32)
The Lynching

6. "Enough to Make the Devil Gasp"
119 (8)
How Could This Happen?

7. "The News Will Go Far"
127 (10)
The Immediate Aftermath

8. "Who Is She; a Detective?"
137 (22)
The Investigation

9. "Inject Lynching into the Public Mind"
159 (14)
The Follow-up Reaction

10. "Sheriff Stegall Is Prepared to Defend the Jail" 173 (19)
Change Comes at Last to Waco

Epilogue 192 (15)
"One of the Best Vote-Getters the County Ever Saw"

Notes 207 (28)
Bibliography 235 (10)
Index 245


The NAACP's Legal Strategy Against Segregated Education: 1925-1950
Format Paperback
Subject Political Science / Civil Rights
ISBN/SKU 0807855952
Author Mark V. Tushnet
Publisher Univ of North Carolina Pr
Publish Date January 2005

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Setting the Course: The Grant from the Garland Fund
1 (20)
The Legal Background: From Margold to Houston
21 (13)
The Influence of the Staff
34 (15)
Thurgood Marshall and the Maryland Connection
49 (21)
Securing the Precedents: Gaines and Alston
70 (12)
The Campaign in the 1940s: Contingencies, Adaptations, and the Problem of Staff
82 (23)
The Strategy of Delay and the Direct Attack on Segregation
105 (33)
Conclusion: Some Lessons from the Campaign
138 (29)
Epilogue 167 (20)
Notes 187 (38)
Bibliography 225 (12)
Index 237


Freedom's Sword: The NAACP and the Struggle Against Racism in America, 1909-1969
Format Hardcover
Subject History / United States / 20th Century
ISBN/SKU 0415949858
Author Gilbert Jonas
Publisher Routledge
Publish Date December 2004

Annotation
The remarkable, lasting achievements of the NAACP's first sixty years at the forefront of the struggle against American racism are detailed in a history that provides a detailed history of the organization's formative years and its role in key events and aspects of the civil rights movement.


Table of Contents
Foreword xiii
Julian Bond

Introduction 1 (6)
Creating a Change Agent: the NAACP's Early Years

During which the new group rejects Booker T. Washington's accommodationist views for W. E. B. DuBois's militancy
7 (24)
The Law as a Weapon Against Unjust Laws

How Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall crafted the strategy that produced Brown v. Board of Education
31 (36)
Southern Retaliation Against Negro Determination

The NAACP's assault on Jim Crow places it in mortal combat with the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizens Councils
67 (42)
Leading the African-American Quest for Political Power

James Weldon Johnson leads the fight against lynching, then Walter White Defeats President Hoover's Supreme Court nominee
109 (26)
Comes the Revolution: The Struggle Between The NAACP and the Communist Party USA

White and Wilkins Thwart the Communist Attempts to Win the Loyalty of American Negroes
135 (16)
World War II and Its Consequences for Race

The NAACP presses FDR to utilize Negro troops and open up defense industry jobs to Negroes with Mrs. Roosevelt's help
151 (18)
The Politics of Political Advancement

Passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill: As Dr. King leads southern civil rights confrontations, Roy Wilkins and Clarence Mitchell---with President Johnson's help---guide the passage of this unprecedented bill through Congress
169 (34)
Revolution at the Ballot Box

The fight for the 1965 voting rights act---led by the NAACP, a broad coalition joined by LBJ, Dirksen, and Humphrey wins congressional approval of voting rights bill
203 (28)
Black Workers, White Unions, and the Struggle for Job Equality

A. Philip Randolph and the NAACP challenge the AFL, while looking to John L. Lewis and the CIO for equity in the workplace
231 (34)
Head to Head with the Garment Workers Union

A case study of conflict between a powerful union and the NAACP: Herbert Hill exposes the racial labor practices of David Dubinsky and the Ladies Garment Workers Union
265 (16)
The End of Pretense: Organized Labor Refuses to Desegregate

George Meany and the AFL-CIO reject the NAACP's pleas to open labor's doors to opportunities for African Americans
281 (22)
Roy Wilkins: The Gentle Giant

Advisor to presidents and the nation's leading spokesman for black Americans, Wilkins' steady hand on the tiller brings the NAACP to its apogee
303 (54)
The NAACP Develops Financial Muscle

New white income sources drive program expansion---from Ford Foundation to Rockefeller, from General Motors to AT&T, the nation's neavy financial hitters extend their support to the NAACP
357 (34)
Epilogue 391 (8)
Notes 399 (72)
Bibliography 471 (10)
Photo Credits 481 (2)
Index


White: The Biography of Walter White, Mr. Naacp
Format Hardcover
Subject Biography & Autobiography / People Of Color
ISBN/SKU 1565847733
Author Kenneth Robert Janken
Publisher W W Norton & Co Inc
Publish Date February 2003

Annotation
A portrait of the late executive secretary of the NAACP documents his efforts as a civil rights champion and his work to outlaw segregation and racism, noting how his physical appearance as an African-American with light-colored skin enabled him to work undercover to expose southern lynch mob activities.


Review
Janken (African American studies, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) has written the first scholarly biography of Walter White, a major figure in the struggle for civil rights. Named assistant secretary of the NAACP in 1918 and secretary in 1931, White was probably most noted for his investigation of lynchings of African Americans, which culminated in his exposι, Rope and Faggot (1929). Although his efforts to secure federal antilynching legislation in the 1930s failed, he did bring national attention to the horror of this crime. Under his leadership, the NAACP also intensified its legal struggle against segregation. Although essentially positive about White's accomplishments, Janken also notes his flaws, especially his tendency to micromanage and perhaps to enjoy the celebrity life a bit too much. This is a model biography of an important and neglected leader in the search for racial justice. Highly recommended for most libraries.-Anthony Edmonds, Ball State Univ., Muncie, IN Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.


Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Preface: The Man Called White xiii
Becoming Black
1 (28)
Witness for the Prosecution
29 (28)
Ambitions
57 (32)
Socializing and Civil Rights in the Harlem Renaissance
89 (40)
A Crooked Path to Power
129 (32)
A Hard Decade
161 (38)
Walter, Eleanor, and Franklin: The Federal Antilynching Campaign, 1933-1940
199 (34)
Radicals, Liberals, and Labor: The NAACP in the New Deal and the Great Depression
233 (28)
Live from the War Zones: Hollywood, Harlem, Europe, and the Pacific
261 (36)
The Making of a Cold War Liberal
297 (28)
Looking for a Larger Pond
325 (36)
``Mr. NAACP'' Is Dead: The Legacy of Walter White
361 (12)
Notes 373
Bibliography 345 (114)
Index 459

Till Victory Is Won: Famous Black Quotations from the Naacp
Format Paperback
Subject History / United States / 20th Century
ISBN/SKU 0743428250
Author Janet Cheatham Bell (EDT)
Publisher Pocket Books
Publish Date February 2002

Annotation
A collection of more than two hundred quotations--dealing with the topics of Protecting Civil Rights, Achieving Educational Excellence, Nurturing Economic Development, Reaching Youth, and Gaining Political Power--features the words of Hank Aaron, Maya Angelou, colin Powell, Oprah Winfrey, Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, and other notable African Americans. Original. 35,000 first printing.


Review
Better suited to the African American studies collection than the reference shelf, this anthology of approximately 250 inspirational quotations gives a human, and often emotionally moving, dimension to goals fought for by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) during its nearly 100-year history. Founders and leaders of the association as well as rank-and-file members are quoted. NAACP award winners are also included, adding the voices of celebrities, politicians, and athletes on such issues as educational excellence and economic development. Ten black-and-white photos illustrate important personalities and activities of the NAACP, and the book's research value is augmented by a chronology of events and lists of Springarn Medal winners and NAACP programs. Bell, editor of Famous Black Quotations and five other quotation anthologies, has included a four-page bibliography and an index by name of source. The relatively small number of quotations limits the book's usefulness as a reference source, as does the omission of information about where and when the quotations first occurred. Two more comprehensive collections, both recently published, are African American Quotations (LJ 9/15/98) and Songs of Wisdom: Quotations from Famous African Americans of the Twentieth Century (LJ 2/1/00). Recommended for public libraries. Vivian Reed, California State Univ., Long Beach Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.


Table of Contents
``Lift Every Voice and Sing'' xiii
Foreword xv
Julian Bond

Know Something to Believe in Something
1 (8)
Protecting Civil Rights
9 (24)
Achieving Educational Excellence
33 (22)
Nurturing Economic Development
55 (22)
Reaching Youth
77 (24)
Gaining Political Power
101 (24)
A Brief History of the NAACP
125 (24)
Chronology of NAACP Landmarks 149 (8)
Spingarn Medal Winners 157 (12)
Further Reading 169 (4)
NAACP Programs 173 (4)
Call for Centennial Submissions 177 (1)
Contact Information 178 (1)
NAACP Membership Application 179 (2)
Index 181 (6)
About the Author 187

Julian Bond, Civil Rights Activist and Chairman of the Naacp: Civil Rights Activist and Chairman of the Naacp
Format Library
Subject Juvenile Nonfiction / Politics & Government
ISBN/SKU 0766015491
Author Denise M. Jordan
Publisher Enslow Pub Inc
Publish Date September 2001

Annotation
Portrays the life and career of the African American civil rights leader. politician, educator, and chairman of the NAACP.


Review
Gr 6-8-Coming of age during the Vietnam era, Bond made his mark as an early organizer for SNCC in Atlanta. He became nationally known when he was elected to the Georgia State House of Representatives but was refused a seat because of his outspoken antiwar views. When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his expulsion and he was seated in the Georgia Legislature, his prominence was ensured and he was catapulted onto the national stage. In a variety of capacities since that time, he has actively sought to end racism and discrimination. Captioned, black-and-white photos show Bond at different stages of his life. A well-put-together, straightforward introduction to a respected activist.-Janet Woodward, Garfield High School, Seattle, WA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.


Table of Contents
``The Infamous Mr. Bond''
7 (10)
Growing Up
10 (12)
School Days
22 (9)
Sitting In
31 (11)
Communications Director
42 (9)
``I'm Julian Bond''
51 (12)
Expelled
63 (11)
Chicago 1968
74 (14)
The Voice of Black America
88 (11)
Chairman of the Board
99 (10)
Race Man
109 (5)
Chronology 114 (2)
Chapter Notes 116 (8)
Further Reading 124 (1)
Internet Addresses 125 (1)
Index 126

Kweisi Mfume: Congressman and Naacp Leader
Format Library
Subject Juvenile Nonfiction / Politics & Government
ISBN/SKU 0766012379
Author M. Elizabeth Paterra
Publisher Enslow Pub Inc
Publish Date September 2001

Annotation
Having been a gang member as a youth, civil rights leader Kweisi Mfume had to work hard to turn his life around and find a future for himself --which he succeeded in doing in a big way by receiving a college degree, becoming a political activist, radio announcer, congressman, and NAACP president.


Review
Writing styles of individual authors affect the readability of each volume in this series, ranging from enthusiastic to plodding and prosaic. The books will be useful where other material on each subject is limited. Unexceptional black-and-white photos are included as are websites and chronologies. Bib., ind. [Review covers these African-American Biographies titles: Julian Bond, Matthew Henson, Kweisi Mfume, Bessie Coleman, Harriet Tubman.] Copyright 2002 Horn Book Guide Reviews


In Search of Democracy: The Naacp Writings of James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and Roy Wilk Ins (1920-1977
Format Hardcover
Subject Political Science / Civil Rights
ISBN/SKU 019511633X
Author Sondra Kathryn Wilson (EDT)
Publisher Oxford Univ Pr on Demand
Publish Date July 1999

Review
These historical documents provide insight into the accomplishments of the NAACP through the writings of three of its most dynamic activistsAJames Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and Roy Wilkins. Wilson (The Selected Writings of James Weldon Johnson, Vols. 1 & 2) guides us meticulously through the written remains of half a decade of struggle against white supremacyAfrom Johnson's 1920s reports to the NAACP's Board of Directors to Wilkins's 1976 commentary on the FBI harassment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Much of the primary material is being published here for the first time, offering an overdue reappraisal of Civil Rights history in America. Well organized (and complete with appendixes, notes, and a bibliography), this is worthy reading for both general and scholarly readers.AEdward G. McCormack, Univ. of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast, Long Beach Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.


Table of Contents
Introduction 3 (6)
PART I The Selected Writings of James Weldon Johnson, 1920--1937 9 (124)
James Weldon Johnson

A Chronology

Selected Reports of the NAACP Secretary to the Board of Directors, 1920--1929
13 (5)
December 1920
18 (5)
Anti-Lynching

Haiti

Reduction of Southern Representation Arkansas Situation

Ku Klux Klan

Louisville Bond Issue Civil Rights

Publicity

Literature Sent Out

March 1921
23 (4)
Anti-Lynching

New Jersey Legislature

Arkansas Cases Delegation to Senator Harding

National Woman's Party Haitian Mission

Publications

Publicity

Literature Sent Out Spingarn Medal Award

June 1921
27 (7)
Anti-Lynching

Tulsa, Oklahoma, Riots

Relief Fund Arkansas Situation

Jasper County Peonage Cases

Other Peonage Cases

Anti-Lynching Measures

Dyer Bill Inter-racial Commission

Committee on the Census

Haiti Jim Crow

Washington Correspondent

Frank A. Linney

``Birth of a Nation''

Boston Publicity

Publications

Literature Sent Out

August 1921
34 (7)
Anti-Lynching

Tulsa Riot Case

Arkansas Situation

Ray Extradition Case

Maurice Mays Case

Colored Railway Trainmen

Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill

Inter-racial Commission Bill Colored Men in the Navy

Haiti

Pan African Congress

Case of Arthur K. Bird

Morrestown, N.J., Case

Harlem Hospital Publicity

Colored Press

Publicity

February 1922
41 (6)
Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill

Lynching

The Bullock Extradition Case School Histories

Publicity

October 1923
47 (6)
Annual Conference

Twenty-Fourth Infantry

Johnstown, Pa. McCoy Rendition Case

Spruce Pine, N.C., Deportation

Publicity

October 1924
53 (7)
Residential Segregation

Washington Segregation Case

Louisiana Segregation Law

School Segregation

Young Women's Christian Association

Rochester Dental Clinic

Case of Samuel A. Browne William Pickron Rape Case

Louise Thomas

Mamie Pratt Case The Elias Ridge Case

Ellis Island Case

Lonnie Hunter, et al. Oteen Veterans Hospital

Senator Capper and the Ku Klux Klan Race Riot, Bridgewater (Va.)

Publicity

July 1925
60 (5)
Annual Conference

The Seventeenth Annual conference

General Bullard's Slander

Military Training Camps

Twenty-fourth Infantry The Luther Collins Case

The Elmer Williams Case

``Birth of a Nation''

Publicity

February 1926
65 (5)
Washington Segregation Case

Defense Fund

Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill

Anti-Intermarriage Bill

Disfranchisement

Ku Klux Klan (New York)

Lynching

Detroit Mob Violence

Oswald Durant Case

Attack on Fourteen-Year-Old Colored Girl

Case of the Rev. W. A. Price

Publicity

May 1926
70 (6)
Anti-Lynching Legislation

Louisiana Segregation Case

Kansas City, Mo., Segregation Case

Reprint of Decision in Louisville Segregation Case

Ku Klux Klan (Imperial, Pa.)

Mob Violence at Carteret (N.J.) Poteau (Okla.) Schools

Death of Dr. William A. Sinclair Lynching

Detroit Mob Violence Case

Indianapolis Segregation Ordinance

Cornelia Harris (Tennessee ``Incest'' Case)

Case of Mrs. Purnell

Case of Miss Espanola Holliday

Seventeenth Annual Conference

Publicity

November 1926
76 (5)
Washington Segregation Cases

LaBelle, Fla., Lynching Investigation Louisville Libel Case

Ray Vaughn and the United States Naval Academy Football Team

The Sweet Case

Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill Samuel A. Browne Case

New York University Discrimination The Aiken (S.C.) Lynching

Publicity

September 1927
81 (3)
Maurice Mays Case

Los Angeles Bathing Beach Segregation Case Pan African Congress

San Diego Hospital Discrimination

Publicity

October 1927
84 (5)
Extradition Case

The Edward Glass Case

The Samuel Kennedy Case

James Blevins Case

Gary (Indiana) School Desegregation Coffeyville (Kansas) Riot Cases

The Anderson Case (Fort Huron, Mich.)

The Abe Washington Case (Jacksonville, Fla.)

Peonage Investigation

Segregation in Government Departments

Roswell Hamilton Case

Discrimination by Siasconsett (Mass.) Bus Line Publicity

March 1929
89 (5)
Richmond (Va.) Segregation Ordinance

District of Columbia Appropriations Bill

Charleston Public Library Discrimination Case Roy Freeman Case

Robert Bell and Grady Swain

Edward Glass Case

Mr. Francis Willis Rivers Admitted to New York Bar

Smoker for Clarence Darrow

Lynching

Publicity

October 1929
94 (7)
Expulsion of Negro Members of Brooklyn (N.Y.) Protestant Episcopal Church

Shooting of Lincoln University Student by Brooklyn (N.Y.) Policeman

Louisiana Murder Case

Florida White Primary Case Asbury Park (N.J.) Case

Gary (Indiana) School Case

Arkansas White Primary Case

Turley Wright Rape Case

Lynching

Death of Mr. Louis Marshall

Will of Mr. Alfred M. Heinsheimer

Publicity Emergency Fund

Institute of Pacific Relations

Speeches, Essays, and Articles, 1920--1937
101 (32)
``The N.A.A.C.P Fight Against Lynching''
102 (3)
``Is the Negro a Danger to White Culture?''
105 (4)
``Presiding at Annual Mass Meeting Speech''
109 (3)
``Haiti and Our Latin American Policy''
112 (2)
``Achievements and Aims of the N.A.A.C.P.''
114 (2)
``The Militant N.A.A.C.P.''
116 (5)
``Address Before the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the N.A.A.C.P.''
121 (3)
``Leadership and the Times''
124 (9)
PART II The Selected Writings of Walter White, 1929--1955 133 (334)
Walter White

Selected Reports of the NAACP Secretary to the Board of Directors, 1932--1954
137 (3)
February 1932
140 (9)
The Scottsboro Cases

The Texas Primary Case

The Case of Robert Bell and Grady Swain

The Gary (Indiana) School Case

``The Birth of a Nation''

Judge James Baldwin

Senator La Follette's Unemployment Bill

The Villa Lewaro

The Daniel H. Williams Will

The Cutter House, Princeville, Illinois

Annual Conference Committee on Negro Work

The Tom Carraway Case

United States Supreme Court

The Case of Ernest Herring

Lynching

Haiti Rosenwald Offer

Publicity

March 1933
149 (8)
The Wagner Resolution

The Harlem Hospital Inquiry

The Joseph Crawford Extradition Case

The Scottsboro Cases

The Beaver Country (Pa.) Deportation Cases

The Lebanon, Tennessee, Mob Violence Cases

The Doris Weaver Case

University of North Carolina Discrimination Case

The Theodore Jordan Case

The Will Sanders Case

The Jess Hollins Case

Flogging at Clearwater, Florida

``The Green Pastures''

``Run Little Chillun Benefit'' Committee to Call upon President Roosevelt

Mr. Harold Ickes, Secretary of Interior

Publicity

January 1934
157 (6)
Overview

Mississippi Flood Control Project

The N.R.A. Legal Defense

Education

Lynching

Costigan-Wagner Anti-Lynching Bill

The Writers' League against Lynching

Harlem Hospital Committee

Cooperation

February 1936
163 (9)
The Van Nuys Resolution

Senator Borah and Anti-Lynching Legislation

Conference with President Roosevelt

Governor Eugene Talmadge (Georgia)

American Federation of Labor

Scottsboro Defense Committee

Brown, Ellington, and Shields (Kemper County, Miss.)

Amendment to the Lindbergh Kidnapping Law

University of Maryland Case

University of Missouri

``Medical Opportunities for Negroes''

Christmas Seals

Governor Lehman's Offer

National Office Lease

N.A.A.C.P. Birthday Celebration

Monthly Mass Meetings

Publicity

August 1940
172 (7)
Annual Conference

Republican and Democratic Platforms on the Negro

Mob Violence and Lynching at Brownsville, Tennessee Lynching

The Anti-Lynching Bill

Chicago Exposition

Federal Housing Authority Discrimination

Negroes in the Armed Forces The Ku Klux Klan

Norfolk, Virginia, Teachers' Salary Case Wilmington, Ohio, School Segregation Case

Texas Primary Case

February 1942
179 (10)
National Defense

The American Red Cross

Proposal of Volunteer Negro--White Division

Distribution of Leaflets at Joe Louis Fight Negro Hero at Pearl Harbor

Army Death Penalty Withdrawn Posters, Murals, Etc., Re: Defense and Stamps

Proposed Cuts in Non-Defense Expenditures

Farm Security Administration Loans for Poll Taxes

Speakers Bureau

The Secretary's California Trip Lynching

University Cases---University of Missouri (Bluford vs. Canada)

University of Tennessee Cases

Teachers' Salary Cases Birmingham, Alabama

Atlanta, Georgia (William H. Reeves School Board)

Richmond, Virginia (Antoinette E. Bowler vs. School Board)

Newport News, Virginia (Dorothy Roles vs. School Board) Palm Beach County, Fla., Stebbins vs. Board of Public Instruction Hillsborough County, Fla., Hilda T. Turner vs. Board of Public Instruction

Duval Country, Fla., Mary White Blocker vs. Board of Public Instruction

Marion County, Fla., Stark vs. Board of Public Instruction

September 1945
189 (7)
The Full Employment Act

The Fair Employment Practice Commission

The Pan-African Congress

National Public Housing Conference

National Housing Agency

Delmo (Missouri) Farm Homes

Office of Defense Transportation

The Washington Bureau

School Lunch Bill: H.R. 3370

Senator Eastland's Attack on the Negro Soldier

Voting Records of Senators and Congressmen

Veterans' Discrimination

Congressman Rankin ``Stay Out of Harlem'' Order

Work of the Membership Secretary

November 1947
196 (3)
Report of the President's Committee on Civil Rights

Petition to the United Nations

Probe of Alleged Communists in Hollywood Voting Record of Congressmen Published in Bulletin

N.A.A.C.P. Sends Greetings to C.I.O. A.F.L. Conventions

Forrestal Asked to Abolish Jim Crow

President Urged to Consider Eight-Point Medical Program

Article by Secretary in Saturday Review of Literature Article by Secretary in Collier's

April 1951
199 (10)
Annual Convention

Washington Conference on Civil Rights Winstead Amendment

Eighth Orientation Conference

Conference with Finletter

F.E.P.C.

Conferences with Secretary of State Acheson and Mr. Charles Wilson

American Jewish Congress Award to N.A.A.C.P.

Kappa Alpha Psi Contribution

Levittown Contribution to Inc. Fund---Ike Williams

Charges against Miss Loretto Chappell

Ford Foundation

Segregated Hospitals

Electoral College Resolution

Apprentice Training Legislation

Florida and North Carolina Elections

Segregation in the Armed Services Atomic Energy Commission

Investigation of Baltimore Employment Service

Mob Action against Florida Residents

Important Specific Cases

June 1951
209 (7)
Annual Convention

Washington Conference

N.N.P.A.--N.A.A.C.P. Conference--Cocktail Party

Public Housing

Bill to Protect Servicemen

Secretary's Statement Re: MacArthur

Ford Foundation Application

Committee to Defend Dr. Du Bois

Violence against Negroes

Appointment of Negro to Military Court of Appeals

December 1951 and January 1952
216 (5)
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, 1952

Madison Square Garden Benefit

Death of Senator Capper

Bombing and Death of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Moore

Committee on Government Contract Compliance

Changes in Field Staff

Talmadge Demands Purge of Negroes on T.V.

Stuyvesant Town Evictions Withdrawn

N.A.A.C.P. Annual Meeting

Freedom of Choice Movement

Cost of Segregation

Stork Club

Death of Bishop Gordon

Death of Judge Patterson

Senate Rules Change Inadequate

Loyalty of Philleo Nash

Death of Harold Ickes

May 1954
221 (6)
Philip Murray Award

Virgin Island Bill

Supreme Court Decision in School Cases

Atlanta Conference

Loyalty Investigation of Dr. Bunche

Annual Convention

Speeches, Essays, and Articles, 1929--1955
227 (78)
``I Investigate Lynchings''
228 (9)
``The Negro and the Supreme Court''
237 (9)
``On Racist Textbooks''
246 (2)
``The Negro on the American Stage''
248 (6)
``Discrimination in Federal Control Construction''
254 (4)
``Negro Citizenship''
258 (2)
``Memorandum from Secretary'' Re: The Crisis, March 12, 1934
260 (5)
``Reds vs. the Freedom Train''
265 (1)
``White Hails Film on Anti-Semitism''
266 (2)
``Moral Advance Seen in Report by Committee on Civil Rights''
268 (1)
``Abolition of Racial Segregation at Truman's Inaugural Praised''
269 (2)
``Fate of Democrats in 1950 Seen Hinging on Stand on Civil Rights''
271 (1)
``A Sign of Political Change in the South''
272 (1)
``Fifty Years of Eighting''
273 (4)
``Report of Civil Rights''
277 (4)
``N.A.A.C.P. Forty-second Annual Meeting Speech''
281 (2)
``N.A.A.C.P. Annual Convention Speech''
283 (7)
``N.A.A.C.P. Forty-fourth Annual Meeting Speech''
290 (4)
``N.A.A.C.P. Forty-Fifth Annual Meeting Speech''
294 (7)
PART III The Selected Writings of Roy Wilkins, 1955--1977
Roy Wilkins, A Chronology
301 (4)
Selected Reports of the NAACP Secretary/Executive Director to the Board of Directors, 1955-1973
305 (3)
May 1955
308 (5)
Annual Conference

Annual Convention Board Meeting

Bandung Conference

Supreme Court Decision of May 21---Statement Celebration of May 17, 1954, Decision---Freedom Day

Killing of Rev. G. W. Lee of Belzoni, Miss.

Request Change in A.A.A.S. Convention Site

Humphrey--Daniel Resolution

Retention of Anti-Bias Ban in Army Bill

Death of Mrs. Bethune

Change in Convention Site by American Psychiatric Association

Eastland Resolution to Investigate Supreme Court

April 1963
313 (3)
Birmingham, Ala.

Reply to Congressman Powell

Clarksdale, Miss.

Firing of Dick Gregory

Freedom Walkers

Interview with U.S. News and World Report

Speaking Engagements

Death of Mrs. A. Philip Randolph

May 1963
316 (6)
Jackson, Miss.

Clarksdale, Miss.

Birmingham, Ala.

Supreme Court Anti-Segregation Ruling

Prince Edward County

Durham, N.C.

Discrimination in Federal Employment

Philadelphia Jim Crow Union

September 1963
322 (3)
Beating of N.A.A.C.P. Official---Shreveport, La.

Birmingham, Ala., Church Bombing

Challenge to Two Southern Governors Strengthened Version of Rights Bill

Inequitable Death Sentence Protested

Christmas-Buying Boycott

Speaking Engagements, Radio, T.V., Etc.

December 1963
325 (2)
Assassination of President Kennedy

President's Message to Congress

The Conference with President Johnson

Civil Rights Legislation

Speaking Engagements

April 1964
327 (3)
Civil Rights Bill

Strategy Meeting of Leadership Conference Dirksen Amendments

New Field Worker

Russian Magazine Article by Executive Secretary

Wallace in Indiana Primary

May and June 1964
330 (6)
Civil Rights Bill

Conference with Former President Eisenhower May 17 Celebration

Tribute to Cardinal Spellman

Goldwater Rights Stand

N.A.A.C.P. Telecast

Medgar Evers Memorial Day New York City Subway Rampage

Death of Prime Minister Nehru

July and August 1964
336 (8)
Speaking Engagements

Republican and Democratic Conventions Hospital Aid to Mississippi Victims

Pre-Convention Rally, Atlantic City, N.J.

Voter Registration

Call to Major Civil Rights Organizations

Board Members Study Mississippi Conditions Signing of Civil Rights Bill

Thanks for Cloture

Death of Senator Clair Engle

October 1964
344 (3)
Speaking Engagements

``Moral Decay'' Film

Congratulations to Dr. King

Urge Clemency for Condemned South Africans

Keating--Kennedy Campaign

Support of Candidates Who Voted for Civil Rights Bill

March 1965
347 (5)
Speaking Engagements

Alabama Voting Drive---March 7 Brutality Selma-to-Montgomery, Ala.

Death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, Rev. James Reeb, and Mrs. Viola Liuzzo

Voting Rights Bill---President's Message to Congress

Wire to Sponsors of Bill

Testimony Before Sub-Committee of House Judiciary Committee

June, July, and August, 1965
352 (4)
Weekened Conference in Birmingham

Visit of British Parliamentary Delegation

Memorial Service for Ambassador Stevenson

Meeting with President Johnson

Personnel Changes

U.S. Policy in Vietnam

Death of Judge Watson

Convention Greetings

Los Angeles Riot

January--March 1971
356 (3)
Speaking and Other Engagements

Angela Davis

Dwight D. Folsom

White House Briefings on Revenue-Sharing

Radio Corporation of America

Death of Whitney M. Young, Jr.

All White Private Academies

Food Stamps and Lunch Programs

First Quarter 1973
359 (4)
Speaking Engagements

N.A.A.C.P. Urges Senate to Reject Nomination of Peter Brennan for Secretary of Labor

Death of Lyndon Johnson

Death of Elmer A. Carter

Atlanta, Ga., School Desegregation Cases

Speeches, Essays, and Articles, 1955--1977
363 (104)
``The War against the United States''
365 (5)
``Integration Crisis in the South''
370 (5)
``The Film Industry and the Negro''
375 (4)
``Address Given at the National Negro Publishers Association''
379 (5)
``Mr. Wilkins Replies''
384 (3)
``At Youth for Integrated Schools''
387 (3)
``Freedom, Franchise, and Segregation''
390 (9)
``The Meaning of Sit-ins''
399 (7)
``Medgar W. Evers: In Memoriam''
406 (2)
``We Want Freedom Now''
408 (2)
``At American Association of Advertising Agencies''
410 (5)
``At Conflict '66---Virginia Polytechnic Institute''
415 (3)
``At White House Conference `To Fulfill These Rights' ''
418 (2)
``Sail our N.A.A.C.P. Ship `Steady as She Goes' ''
420 (9)
``Voluntary Segregation---A Disaster''
429 (1)
``Toward a Single Society''
430 (7)
``Ego and Race''
437 (1)
``Ralph J. Bunche''
438 (1)
``Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.''
439 (2)
``In Back of the Busing Issue``
441 (1)
``A. Philip Randolph''
442 (2)
``Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles''
444 (1)
``The Task Ahead''
444 (7)
``Come over into Macedonia and Help Us!''
451 (5)
``Black Power or Black Pride''
456 (1)
``How Old the Civil Rights Movement''
457 (1)
``Black Mayors''
458 (2)
``Integration, the Only Way''
460 (1)
``Intelligence Tests''
461 (1)
``Black History Missing''
462 (2)
``Paul Robeson''
464 (1)
``Harassment of Dr. King''
465 (2)
Appendices 467 (40)
NAACP: A Chronology, 1909--1977
467 (31)
The Call: A Lincoln Emancipation Conference
498 (3)
The Committee of Forty
501 (2)
Resolutions
503 (2)
NAACP Officers, Executive Committee, and General Committee, 1910
505 (2)
Notes 507 (2)
Bibliography 509 (4)
Index

The Crisis Reader: Stories, Poetry, and Essays from the N.A.A.C.P.'s Crisis Magazine
Format Paperback
Edition 1ST
Subject
ISBN/SKU 0375752315
Author Sondra K. Wilson (EDT)
Publisher Random House Inc
Publish Date February 1999

Annotation
Created in 1910 by the board of the NAACP, Crisis magazine became the forum of record for black writers, artists, and thinkers, all of whom are represented in this collection of works that also includes four previously unpublished poems by James Weldon Johnson. Original.


Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix (10)
INTRODUCTION xix (8)
Sondra Kathryn Wilson

EDITING THE CRISIS xxvii
W.E.B. Du Bois

Part One: Poetry 3 (44)
GWENDOLYN BENNETT

To Usward
3 (1)
ARNA BONTEMPS

Hope
4 (1)
Dirge
4 (1)
WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE

Scintilla
5 (1)
BENJAMIN GRIFFITH BRAWLEY

The Freedom of the Free
6 (2)
STERLING BROWN

After the Storm
8 (1)
JAMES D. CORROTHERS

The Road to the Bow
9 (1)
JOSEPH S. COTTER, SR.

Shakespeare's Sonnet
10 (1)
COUNTEE CULLEN

Dad
11 (1)
Bread and Wine
12 (1)
Sonnet to Her
12 (1)
ALLISON DAVIS

Gospel for Those Who Must
13 (1)
JESSIE FAUSET

Again It Is September
14 (1)
Recontre
14 (1)
"Courage!" He Said
15 (2)
LESLIE PINCKNEY HILL

The Teacher
17 (1)
Vision of a Lyncher
17 (1)
FRANK HORNE

Letters Found Near a Suicide
18 (5)
Harlem
23 (1)
LANGSTON HUGHES

The Negro Speaks of Rivers
24 (1)
The South
24 (1)
Being Old
25 (1)
ROSCOE C. JAMISON

Negro Soldiers
26 (1)
CHARLES BERTRAM JOHNSON

Old Things
27 (1)
True Wealth
27 (1)
FENTON JOHNSON

My Love
28 (1)
GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON

Prejudice
29 (1)
Motherhood
29 (1)
Decay
29 (1)
Courier
30 (1)
JAMES WELDON JOHNSON

Father, Father Abraham
31 (1)
Brothers
31 (3)
Helene
34 (1)
The River
35 (1)
Moods
36 (1)
A Passing Melody
36 (1)
CLAUDE MCKAY

The International Spirit
37 (1)
ALICE DUNBAR NELSON

Sonnet
38 (1)
The Proletariat Speaks
38 (2)
EFFIE LEE NEWSOME

Exodus
40 (1)
Bluebird
40 (1)
The Little Page
41 (1)
ANNE SPENCER

Dunbar
42 (1)
White Things
42 (1)
JEAN TOOMER

Song of the Son
43 (1)
Banking Coal
44 (3)
Part Two: Fiction 47 (144)
FENTON JOHNSON

The Servant
47 (4)
JESSIE FAUSET

Emmy
51 (28)
JAMES D. CORROTHERS

A Man They Didn't Know
79 (10)
CHARLES W. CHESNUTT

The Doll
89 (9)
Mr. Taylor's Funeral
98 (11)
The Marked Tree
109 (13)
ARTHUR HUFF FAUSET

A Tale of the North Carolina Woods
122 (5)
RUDOLPH FISHER

"High Yaller"
127 (18)
EDWIN DRUMMOND SHEEN

The Death Game
145 (15)
ANITA SCOTT COLEMAN

Unfinished Masterpieces
160 (4)
MARITA O. BONNER

Nothing New
164 (8)
Drab Rambles
172 (9)
FRANK HORNE

The Man Who Wanted to Be Red
181 (10)
Part Three: Plays 191 (30)
JOSEPH SEAMON COTTER, JR.

On the Fields of France
191 (3)
WILLIS RICHARDSON

The Broken Banjo
194 (17)
MARITA O. BONNER

Exit, an Illusion
211 (10)
Part Four: Essays 221 (188)
PERSONAL ESSAYS
WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE

Twilight: An Impression
221 (3)
E. FRANKLIN FRAZIER

All God's Chillun Got Eyes
224 (3)
MARITA O. BONNER

On Being Young--a Woman--and Colored
227 (5)
The Young Blood Hungers
232 (5)
LOREN R. MILLER

College
237 (5)
COUNTEE CULLEN

Countee Cullen to His Friends
242 (3)
AUGUSTA SAVAGE

An Autobiography
245 (2)
LITERARY AND CULTURAL ESSAYS
JESSIE FAUSET

New Literature on the Negro
247 (8)
The Symbolism of Bert Williams
255 (5)
JAMES WELDON JOHNSON

Placido
260 (3)
Negro Authors and White Publishers
263 (4)
ALAIN LOCKE

Steps Toward the Negro Theatre
267 (6)
CARL DITON

The National Association of Negro Musicians
273 (3)
CLAUDE McKAY

Soviet Russia and the Negro
276 (12)
W. E. B. DU BOIS

ALAIN LOCKE

The Younger Literary Movement
288 (5)
MAUD CUNEY HARE

Antar, Negro Poet of Arabia
293 (11)
WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE

The Negro in Literature
304 (13)
W. E. B. DU BOIS

Criteria of Negro Art
317 (9)
ALLISON DAVIS

Our Negro "Intellectuals"
326 (8)
R. NATHANIEL DETT

A Musical Invasion of Europe
334 (7)
C. RUTH WRIGHT

Negro Authors' Week: An Experiment
341 (4)
SOCIAL ESSAYS 345 (64)
WALTER WHITE

The Work of a Mob
345 (6)
W. E. B. DU BOIS

Documents of the War
351 (9)
Marcus Garvey
360 (6)
MORDECAI WYATT JOHNSON

The Faith of the American Negro
366 (5)
E. FRANKLIN FRAZIER

Cooperation and the Negro
371 (3)
WILLIAM PICKENS

John Brown Day
374 (3)
HORACE MANN BOND

Temperament
377 (8)
JAMES WELDON JOHNSON

Three Achievements and Their Significance
385 (9)
ROBERT W. BAGNALL

The Present South
394 (6)
SUSIE WISEMAN YERGAN

Africa--Our Challenge
400 (9)
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES OF CONTRIBUTORS 409 (12)
BIBLIOGRAPHY 421

Inheritors of the Spirit: Mary White Ovington and the Founding of the Naacp
Format Paperback
Subject Biography & Autobiography / People Of Color
ISBN/SKU 0471327247
Author Carolyn Wedin
Publisher John Wiley & Sons Inc
Publish Date January 1999

Summary
"By highlighting the life of a key figure in the NAACP Wedin has given us a welcome addition to the literature of that organization."--Library Journal
"In its densely researched, sensitively interpreted, and crisply written evocation of her subject's career, Professor Wedin's biography opens a wide window onto much of the inner life of the NAACP as it evolves from a virtual one-person show scripted by the incomparable (and sometimes insufferable) Du Bois through the unflappable stewardship of James Weldon Johnson and the manic operational brilliance of Walter White to become, in classic Weberian progression, a well-honed bureaucracy of lawyers, accountants, field secretaries, and lobbyists--and, overwhelmingly, of African Americans . . . a vibrant, valuable chronicle of an eighty-year dedication to economic, racial, and gender justice."--from the Foreword by David Levering Lewis

CAROLYN WEDIN is professor of English at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater and the editor of Black and White Sat Down Together: Reminiscences of an NAACP Founder by Mary White Ovington.

Annotation
A portrait of Ovington and her role in founding the NAACP


Table of Contents
Finding Her Avenue.
Taking Root.
From Social Researcher to Activist.
White Woman in a Colored World.
The NAACP Is Born.
Growing Pains.
Chairman of the Board.
Catalyst to the Harlem Renaissance.
Rifts and Evolution.
Traveling Fund-Raiser.
"Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing."
Notes.
Bibliography.
Index.

The Chicago Naacp and the Rise of Black Professional Leadership, 1910-1966
Format Hardcover
Subject Political Science / Civil Rights
ISBN/SKU 025333313X
Author Christopher Robert Reed
Publisher Indiana Univ Pr
Publish Date October 1997

Review
Focusing on the branch leadership, the author examines the history of one of the most influential branches of the NAACP from its inception in 1910 to its eventual decline in influence in the face of the Black Power movement of the 1960s. Depending largely on archival sources, he explores the chapter's successes in improving opportunity in housing, employment, education, and public accommodations and finds that the branch's locus of power resided mainly in the presidency of the organization. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.


Table of Contents
PREFACE vii (6)
DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii
1. Prologue: Making the NAACP Branch "a Necessity" in Chicago
1 (7)
2. Progressive-Era Chicago, 1900-1919
8 (9)
3. From Vigilance Committee to Branch, 1910-1916
17 (27)
4. "The New Negro" in the Black Metropolis, 1917-1924
44 (22)
5. The Black Patriarchy, 1925-1932
66 (24)
6. A. C. MacNeal and the "Whole Loaf or None at All," 1933-1937
90 (19)
7. Crises of Charter and War, 1938-1945
109 (19)
8. Democracy at Work, 1946-1953
128 (33)
9. At the Apex of Militant Activism, 1954-1957
161 (31)
10. Epilogue: The Era of the "Civil Rights Revolution," 1958-1966
192 (11)
NOTES 203 (44)
INDEX 247

Great Ambitions: From the "Separate but Equal" Doctrine to the Birth of the Naacp (1896-1909)
Format Paperback
Subject
ISBN/SKU 0791026906
Author Pierre Hauser
Publisher Chelsea House Pub
Publish Date January 1995


Annotation
Discusses attempts to combat segregation, Booker T. Washington, Ida Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. DuBois, and others, and the N.A.A.C.P


Review
*(1896-1909) A well-balanced, readable text details the achievements of selected African-American men and women who rose above the ignominy of slavery and its aftermath to make significant contributions in the fields of education, politics, business, civil rights, and the humanities. Subjects include Booker T. Washington, Madam C. J. Walker, and Ida Wells-Barnett. Illustrated with black-and-white photographs. Bib., ind. Copyright 1998 Horn Book Guide Reviews


The "Naacp Comes of Age": The Defeat of Judge John J. Parker
Format Hardcover
Subject
ISBN/SKU 0253325854
Author Kenneth W. Goings
Publisher Indiana Univ Pr
Publish Date September 1990

Marcus Garvey: Black Nationalist Leader
Format Library
Subject Juvenile Nonfiction / Biography & Autobiography / People Of Color
ISBN/SKU 0791081591
Author Mary Lawler
Publisher Chelsea House Pub
Publish Date October 2004

Annotation
A biography of the black leader who started a "Back-to-Africa" movement in the United States, believing blacks would never receive justice in countries with a white majority.


Creative Conflict in African American Thought: Frederick Douglass, Alexander Crummell, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Marcus Garvey
Format Paperback
Subject History / United States / 19th Century
ISBN/SKU 0521535379
Author Wilson Jeremiah Moses
Publisher Cambridge Univ Pr
Publish Date May 2004

Table of Contents
Part I. Introduction: Consistency ... the Hobgoblin of Little Minds: 1. The meaning of struggle
Part II. Frederick Douglass: The Individualist as Race Man: 2. Where honor is due: Frederick Douglass and representative man
3. Writing freely? Douglass's racialization, and desexualization
4. Frederick Douglass, superstar
Part III. Alexander Crummell: the Anglophile as Afrocentrist: 5. Africa, Christianity, and civilization
6. Crummell and the new south
7. Crummell, Du Bois, and presentism
Part IV. Booker Taliafero Washington: The Idealist as Materialist: 8. Booker T. Washington and the meaning of progress
9. Protestant ethic versus conspicuous consumption
Part V. Burghardt Du Bois: The Democrat as Authoritarian: 10. Du Bois on religion and art
11. Du Bois and democracy: a tragic realism
12. Du Bois protestant perfectionism and progressive pragmatism
Part VI. Marcus Moziah Garvey: The Realist as Romantic: 13. The birth of tragedy: Garvey's heroic struggles
14. Becoming history: Garvey and the genius of his age
Part VII. Conclusion: Saving Heroes from their Admirers: 15. Reality, contradiction and the meaning of progress.


Marcus Garvey: Controversial Champion of Black Pride
Format Library
Subject Juvenile Nonfiction / General
ISBN/SKU 0766021688
Author Anne E. Schraff
Publisher Enslow Pub Inc
Publish Date January 2004
Add to cart

Annotation
Chronicles the life of Marcus Garvey, a controversial black leader who began a crusade for African Americans to fight against oppression in the early years of the twentieth century.


Review
Reviewed with Kramer's Mahalia Jackson. Gr. 6-10. These two new titles in the African-American Biographies series offer straightforward introductions to their subjects. Mahalia Jackson follows the life of the renowned singer from her childhood in New Orleans to her success as a world-famous gospel singer who made the music popular through her unique style. A good deal of attention is given to Jackson's civil rights activism. Marcus Garvey profiles the controversial leader of the early twentieth century Pan-African movement. Schraff offers some interesting insight into Garvey's legacy and how his separatist views on race influenced the later civil rights movement. The writing is not especially engaging in either book, but these titles offer solid information about their respective subjects. Included in each book are a chronology, chapter notes, suggestions for further reading, and recommended Web sites. ((Reviewed February 15, 2004)) Copyright 2004 Booklist Reviews.


Modern Black Nationalism: From Marcus Garvey to Louis Farrakhan
Format Paperback
Subject
ISBN/SKU 0814787894
Author William L. Van Deburg (EDT)
Publisher New York Univ Pr
Publish Date January 1997

Review
This wide-ranging selection of 52 documents in 37 sections locates black nationalism's historical roots and 20th-century sprawl. With an incisive introduction and headnotes, historian Van Deburg (African American studies, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison) insightfully maps the movement's diversity and doctrinal debates, from its foundations to its expression in the Black Power era and into today. The persistent vitality and attraction of black nationalism's core concepts of self-definition and self-determination emerge from the variety of sources interviews, speeches, pamphlets, and essays. Although the book is without competition as a multifaceted documentary text of modern black nationalism's theoretical assumptions, operational agenda, and promotional efforts, it complements Wilson J. Moses's Classical Black Nationalism: From the American Revolution to Marcus Garvey (New York Univ. Pr., 1996) and Van Deburg's New Day in Babylon: The Black Power Movement and American Culture, 1965-1975 (LJ 8/92). Highly recommended for collections on blacks and U.S. political ideology. Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe Copyright 1998 Library Journal Reviews


Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1 (18)
Suggestions for Further Reading 19 (4)
One Foundations of Modern Black Nationalism
Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association
23 (9)
Universal Negro Improvement Association, Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World, 1920
24 (8)
Federal Surveillance of ``Negro Agitators''
32 (2)
Memorandum to Special Agent Ridgely, 1919
33 (1)
J. Edgar Hoover

Cyril Briggs and the African Blood Brotherhood
34 (6)
The African Blood Brotherhood, 1920
35 (3)
Race Catechism, 1918
38 (2)
W. E. B. Du Bois and Pan-Africanism
40 (11)
To the World (Manifesto of the Second Pan-African Congress), 1921
41 (6)
Africa, 1924
47 (4)
Black Nationalism and the Harlem Renaissance
51 (8)
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, 1926
52 (5)
Langston Hughes

I Am a Negro--and Beautiful, 1926
57 (2)
Amy Jacques Garvey

Depression-Era Communists and Self-Determination in the Black Belt
59 (5)
Speech on Black Self-Determination, 1931
60 (4)
Clarence A. Hathaway

Uncovering a ``National'' Past
64 (9)
The Suppression of Negro History, 1940
65 (8)
J. A. Rogers

A. Philip Randolph and the March on Washington Movement
73 (5)
Why Should We March? 1942
74 (4)
Richard B. Moore and the Pan-Caribbean Movement
78 (6)
Speech on Caribbean Federation at the Luncheon Meeting for Lord Listowel, 1953
80 (4)
Carlos Cooks and the African Nationalist Pioneer Movement
84 (9)
Speech on the ``Buy Black'' Campaign, 1955
85 (8)
Robert F. Williams and ``Armed Self-Reliance''
93 (4)
Speech from Radio Free Dixie, 1963
94 (3)
Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam
97 (9)
Know Thyself, 1965
99 (2)
The Making of Devil, 1965
101 (2)
A Program for Self-Development, 1965
103 (3)
Malcolm X and the Organization of Afro-American Unity
106 (13)
Basic Unity Program, 1965
108 (11)
Two Black Nationalism in the Black Power Era
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Black Empowerment
119 (8)
Position Paper on Black Power, 1966
120 (7)
Frantz Fanon: Raising the Consciousness of the Colonized
127 (6)
Concerning Violence, 1961
128 (5)
Cointelpro and ``Black Nationalist Hate Groups''
133 (3)
Memorandum to Special Agent in Charge, Albany, New York, 1967
134 (2)
J. Edgar Hoover

Black Power Politics
136 (22)
National Black Political Convention, The Gary Declaration, 1972
138 (6)
National Black Political Convention, Model Pledge, 1972
144 (1)
Speech to the Congress of African Peoples, 1970
145 (13)
Amiri Baraka

Black Power in Education
158 (17)
Questions and Answers about Black Studies, 1969
160 (12)
Nathan Hare

Third International Conference on Black Power, Report of the Workshop on Education, 1968
172 (3)
Roy Innis and the Congress of Racial Equality
175 (7)
Separatist Economics: A New Social Contract, 1969
176 (6)
James Forman and the ``Black Manifesto''
182 (6)
Manifesto to the White Christian Churches and the Jewish Synagogues in the United States of America and All Other Racist Institutions, 1969
183 (5)
Black Power and Black Labor: The League of Revolutionary Black Workers
188 (9)
General Program (Here's Where We're Coming From), 1970
189 (3)
Our Thing Is Drum, 1970
192 (1)
Fight on to Victory: Interview with Ken Cockrel and Mike Hamlin, 1970
193 (4)
Liberating the ``Subjugated Territory''
197 (6)
The Anti-Depression Program of the Republic of New Africa, 1972
198 (5)
``First of all and Finally Africans''
203 (12)
Pan-Africanism--Land and Power, 1969
204 (11)
Stokely Carmichael

Black Art and Black Nationalism
215 (8)
The Role We Want for Black Art, 1969
217 (5)
Jeff Donaldson

Aunt Jemima, 1968
222 (1)
Murry N. DePillars

The Black Church and Black Power
223 (17)
National Committee of Black Churchmen, The Black Declaration of Independence, 1970
225 (4)
The Black Messiah and the Black Revolution, 1969
229 (11)
Albert B. Cleage, Jr.

Revolutionary Nationalism: The Black Panther Party and the Revolutionary Action Movement
240 (16)
Armed Black Brothers in Richmond Community, 1967
242 (2)
On Meeting the Needs of the People, 1969
244 (5)
Eldridge Cleaver

What We Want, What We Believe: Black Panther Party Platform and Program, 1966
249 (3)
Revolutionary Action Movement, The African American War of National-Liberation, 1965
252 (4)
Black Women and Liberation
256 (19)
Panther Sisters on Women's Liberation, 1969
258 (11)
To My People, 1973
269 (6)
Assata Shakur

Three Black Nationalism and Contemporary Society
Maulana Karenga: ``Keeper of the Tradition''
275 (13)
The Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles): Their Meaning and Message, 1988
276 (12)
Afrocentricity
288 (7)
The Afrocentric Idea in Education, 1991
289 (6)
Molefi Kete Asante

Melanin and the Dynamics of Genetic Survival
295 (8)
The Neurochemical Basis for Evil, 1988
296 (7)
Frances Cress Welsing

Black Theology and ``The Dream of Freedom''
303 (12)
Black Theology and the Black Church: Where Do We Go from Here? 1977
304 (11)
James H. Cone

Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam
315 (13)
P.O.W.E.R. at Last and Forever, 1985
316 (12)
The Black Belt Question Revisited
328 (5)
Which Way for the Black Belt Thesis? 1984
329 (4)
James Forman

The ``New Afrikan'' Case for Reparations
333 (9)
An Act to Stimulate Economic Growth in the United States and Compensate, in Part, for the Grievous Wrongs of Slavery and the Unjust Enrichment Which Accrued to the United States Therefrom, 1987
334 (8)
Imari Obadele

Toward African Liberation
342 (4)
Pan-African Revolutionary Socialist Party, A Plan of Action, 1984
343 (3)
``Political Prisoners and Prisoners-of-War''
346 (21)
The Black Panthers: Interviews with Geronimo ji-jaga Pratt and Mumia Abu-Jamal, 1992
347 (20)
``Forward Ever, Backward Never''
367 (8)
Interview with Charles Lionel James, 1987
368 (7)
Index 375


They Had a Dream: The Civil Rights Struggle from Frederick Douglass to Marcus Garvey to Martin Luther King and Malcolm X
Format Paperback
Edition REPRINT
Subject
ISBN/SKU 0140349545
Author Jules Archer
Publisher Penguin USA
Publish Date February 1996

Annotation
Traces the evolution of the civil rights movement and its impact on history through biographical sketches of four prominent, influential African Americans--Frederick Douglass, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. Reprint. SLJ. PW.


Review
According to PW, dialogue and excerpts from speeches and writings are woven into thorough accounts of the private lives of four pivotal civil rights leaders for a "balanced and substantive" look at their lives and contributions. Ages 10-up. (Feb.) Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information.


Table of Contents
Introduction viii
The History of the Black Struggle in America
1 (35)
Frederick Douglass
36 (46)
Marcus Garvey
82 (38)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
120 (64)
Malcolm X
184 (39)
The Black Struggle Today and Tomorrow
223 (28)
Bibliography and Suggested Further Reading 251 (3)
Index 254


Rasta and Resistance: From Marcus Garvey to Walter Rodney
Format Paperback
Subject
ISBN/SKU 0865430357
Author Horace Campbell
Publisher Africa World Pr
Publish Date May 1987

Table of Contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1 (10)
Do You Remember the Days of Slavery?
11 (32)
Slavery and the Roots of Resistance
11 (3)
Do You Remember on the Slave Ship, How They Brutalised my Very Soul?
14 (1)
When I Hear the Crack of the Whip, my Blood Runs Cold
15 (4)
Resistance to Slavery in Jamaica
19 (2)
Going Back to Africa, Cause I'm Black
21 (1)
Me No No Quashie
22 (2)
Of the Spiritual World and the Material World
24 (2)
Religion and Resistance
26 (1)
The Armed Slave Revolts
26 (5)
From Emancipation to the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865
31 (4)
Cleave to the Black
35 (8)
Ethiopianism, Pan-Africanism and Garveyism
43 (26)
The Scramble for Africa
44 (3)
Ethiopianism
47 (3)
Pan-Africanism and Garveyism
50 (3)
Garveyism and Racial Consciousness
53 (4)
Garvey and the Symbols of Racial Pride
57 (6)
Garveyism in Jamaica
63 (6)
The Origins of Rasta - Rasta and the Revolt of the Sufferers in Jamaica 1938
69 (24)
The Origins of Rastafari
70 (3)
Rastafari, the Black World and the Italian Invasion of Abyssinia
73 (3)
Rastafari and the Ethiopian World Federation
76 (2)
The Capitalist Depression in Jamaica
78 (3)
And the People Rise Up in 1938
81 (5)
The Transition from Colonialism to Neo-Colonialism
86 (2)
Idealism and Materialism in Jamaica
88 (5)
Man in the Hills: Rasta, the Jamaican State and the Ganja Trade
93 (28)
Locksmen
95 (3)
Rastaman A Lion - from Quashie to Lion
98 (3)
Hail Jah Rastafari
101 (2)
Are Rastas Violent Cultists?
103 (1)
The University Report
104 (2)
Rasta, Ganja and the State
106 (1)
Outlawing a Popular Custom
107 (2)
Kola Nuts and Ganja
109 (3)
Operation Buccaneer
112 (3)
Coptics and the New Subversion
115 (6)
Rasta, Reggae and Cultural Resistance
121 (32)
Rasta and the Rediscovery of the Cultural Heritage of the Slave
121 (3)
The Roots of Reggae
124 (4)
Walter Rodney's Groundings with his Brothers
128 (5)
Dis Ya Reggae Music-Roots, Rock, Reggae
133 (7)
Bob Marley and the Internationalisation of Reggae and Rasta
140 (4)
Marley in Zimbabwe
144 (3)
Bob Marley, Rasta and Uprising
147 (1)
Cultural Resistance and Political Change
148 (5)
The Rastafarians in the Eastern Caribbean
153 (22)
The Nationalist Forebears of the Rasta
154 (4)
The Dreads
158 (1)
Rastas, Union Island and the Sea
159 (3)
The Rastas and the Grenadian Revolution
162 (5)
Rasta, Ganja and Capitalism
167 (2)
Rastas in Trinidad
169 (2)
Rastas, Guyana and the Left
171 (2)
Conclusion
173 (2)
The Rastafari Movement in the Metropole
175 (36)
Rastas and the Decline of the African Liberation Support Committee
175 (2)
The African Liberation Support Committee
177 (3)
The Canadian Dimension
180 (1)
Rasta, the Black Worker, and the British Crisis
181 (3)
The Education System and the Growth of the Rastas
184 (5)
Rastas and the State: The Case of Birmingham
189 (2)
From Shades of Grey to Cashmore's Rastaman
191 (1)
The Shades of Grey Report
192 (3)
Blacks, Rastas and the Prisons
195 (2)
Rasta and the Challenge of the Crisis
197 (2)
Rastafari Women
199 (1)
Whither Rasta? From Cultural Resistance to Organised Resistance
200 (2)
The New Cross Massacre and Uprisings
202 (1)
Uprising in 1981
203 (3)
Conclusion
206 (5)
Repatriation and Rastafari, the Ethiopian Revolution and the Settlement in Shashamane
211 (21)
Back to Africa
211 (1)
The Slaves and the Concept of Repatriation
212 (1)
The Sierra Leone Scheme
213 (1)
The Liberian Settlement
214 (3)
Marcus Garvey, Liberia and Repatriation
217 (1)
Garveyism and Bilbo
218 (2)
Rastafari and Repatriation
220 (4)
The Shashamane Settlement and the Ethiopian Revolution
224 (2)
The Unfolding of the Revolution
226 (3)
Rastas, Repatriation and Africa
229 (3)
Conclusion: Rastafari: From Cultural Resistance to Cultural Liberation 232 (4)
Index 236

The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers
Format Hardcover
Subject
ISBN/SKU 0520044568
Author Robert A. Hill (EDT)
Publisher Univ of California Pr
Publish Date November 1983

Annotation
Letters and archival documents depict the life of Marcus Garvey


Shaky Bones: a story of the Harlem Renaissance
by Pamela Dell

Author: Dell, Pamela

In 1926, a twelve-year-old aspiring poet nicknamed Shaky Bones enters the first annual Harlem All-School Young Poets Competition.


Maple Plain, Minn.: Traditions Books, c2004, 47 p.

Reviews for this Title:
School Library Journal Review: (The following is a combined review for Gavilan: A Story of Hollywood during the McCarthy Era and Shaky Bones: A Story of the Harlem Renaissance.) Gr 4-6–This series blends fact and fiction to describe moments in American history. Unfortunately, these titles are uneven. The books are attractive, full of archival black-and-white photographs with informative captions and sidebars throughout, but the first-person narratives are slight and dry. In Gavilan, seventh-grader Ben is ostracized when neighborhood kids learn that his father has been blacklisted. In Shaky Bones, 12-year-old Simon Brocade is growing up in a vibrant cultural atmosphere and aspires to be a poet, but is confronted with the accusation of plagiarism. In both titles, conversations are stilted and unfamiliar vocabulary is highlighted in a distracting manner (in bold and in a larger font) within the text. While the factual material is well presented, the books are unlikely to be read for pleasure. Each volume includes a brief history of the period, a time line, extension activities, and a few additional resources. A fine idea, but not well executed.–Rita Hunt Smith, Hershey Public Library, PA (Reviewed March 1, 2004) (School Library Journal, vol 50, issue 3, p208)



Other titles associated with this book:
Shaky Bones: a story of the Harlem Renaissance


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
1591870402


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20040620
• TID: 124908

Ebony rising: short fiction of the greater Harlem Renaissance era
edited by Craig Gable

Author: Various Authors

Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c2004, xlii, 552 p.
Notes:
Fifty-two short stories
Includes bibliographical references and index.


Contents:
Hope deferred / Alice Dunbar-Nelson -- The closing door / Angelina Weld Grimke -- Mary Elizabeth / Jessie Redmon Fauset -- The comet / W. E. B. Du Bois -- The foolish and the wise: Sallie Runner is introduced to Socrates / Leila Amos Pendleton -- The foolish and the wise: Sanctum 777 N. S. D. C. O. U. meets Cleopatra / Leila Amos Pendleton -- Becky / Jean Toomer -- Esther / Jean Toomer -- Vignettes of the dusk / Eric Walrond -- Blue aloes / Ottie B. Graham -- Slackened Caprice / Ottie B. Graham -- The city of refuge / Rudolph Fisher -- The golden penknife / S. Miller Johnson -- Mademoiselle Tasie / Eloise Bibb Thompson -- Grist in the mill / Wallace Thurman -- Hannah Byde / Dorothy West -- Muttsy / Zora Neale Hurston -- The Eatonville anthology / Zora Neale Hurston -- Cordelia the Crude / Wallace Thurman -- Smoke, lilies, and jade / Richard Bruce Nugent -- Wedding day / Gwendolyn B. Bennett -- City love / Eric Walrond -- Lynching for profit / George S. Schuyler -- Highball / Claude McKay -- Game / Eugene Gordon -- Masks / Eloise Bibb Thompson -- Bathesda of Sinners Run / Maude Irwin Owens -- He must think it out / Florida Ruffin Ridley -- Anthropoi / John F. Matheus -- Prologue to a life / Dorothy West -- Sanctuary / Nella Larsen -- Door-stops / May Miller -- Cross crossings cautiously / Anita Scott Coleman -- Why Adam ate the apple / Mercedes Gilbert -- The needle's point / J. Saunders Reddiing -- Crazy Mary / Claude Mckay -- His last day / Chester Himes -- A summer tragedy / Arna Bontemps -- Barrel staves / Arna Bontemps -- Why, you reckon / Langston Hughes -- Spanish blood / Langston Hughes -- John Archer's nose / Rudolph Fisher -- Mob madness / Marion Vera Cuthbert -- Gesture / Georgia Douglas Johnson -- Pope Pius the only / Richard Bruce Nugent -- Silt / Richard Wright -- The return of a modern prodigal / Octavia B. Wynbush -- Hate is nothing / Marita Bonner -- The whipping / Marita Bonner -- A modern fable / Chester Himes -- A matter of record / Ted Posten -- Girl, colored / Marian Minus.

Other Contributors:
Gable, Craig, 1967-

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0253343984 : Hardcover - University Press
0253216753


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Added to NoveList: 20040920
• TID: 128392

Angel of Harlem: a novel based on the life of Dr. May Chinn
Kuwana Haulsey

Author: Haulsey, Kuwana, 1973-

Chronicles the odyssey of Dr. May Chinn from aspiring musician, through her struggles against racism to become a doctor, to her friendships with Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, to her accomplishments in 1920s New York City.


New York: One World/Ballantine Books, 2004, 340 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review: This novelized account of the life of Dr. May Chinn, a woman who broke the barriers in the medical profession in the 1920s and became a leading specialist in cancer treatment, also features the dazzling cultural, social, and political life of the Harlem Renaissance. Haulsey traces Chinn’s early life of abject poverty, a childhood illness that left her face scarred for much of her life, and the stultifying social conditions of the time, including the evaluation of a racist professor that forces her to give up a life in music and switch to medicine. Written in the first person, Chinn recounts rejection by her father and a lifelong effort at reconciliation, lost loves, and an unerring dedication to providing health care to the poor and dispossessed. Along the way, she develops friendships with Harlem’s luminaries, including Paul Robeson, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston. Haulsey manages to convey the human dimensions of a young woman struggling with self-doubt, family conflicts, and societal limitations.
-- Vanessa Bush (BookList, 09-01-2004, p61)

Publishers Weekly Review: May Edward Chinn (1896–1980), the first black female doctor in New York City, is the inspiration for Haulsey's (TheRed Moon) stirring second novel. May's mother, Lulu, makes tremendous sacrifices for her talented daughter, working to send May to the best schools and to secure a piano for May to explore her musical talent. A high school pregnancy is a hurdle, but Lulu arranges for the baby's informal adoption, and May aces the entrance examination for Columbia's Teacher's College. When a racist professor forces her away from music, she turns to science, doggedly continuing through medical school despite setbacks and discouragement, earning the grudging respect of her colleagues, the gratitude of her patients and the attention of a series of suitors. After she completes an internship at Harlem Hospital (the first black woman to do so), she works in a sanatorium before eventually opening her own practice. The novel is faithful to the known details of Chinn's life, and the vibrancy of 1920s Harlem shines through in Chinn's fictitious encounters with prominent historical figures of the time, from Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes to Jean Toomer, Fats Waller and Wallace Thurman. Haulsey's respectful homage to Chinn and her accomplishments will bring overdue attention to this notable figure in African-American history. Agent, Eileen Cope at Lowenstein/Yost Associates. (Sept. 28)
— Staff (Reviewed September 6, 2004) (Publishers Weekly, vol 251, issue 36, p46)



Other titles associated with this book:
Novel based on the life of Dr. May Chinn


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0375508708 : Hardcover
0375761330 : Paperback


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20050220
• TID: 131382

Sleeper wakes, The: Harlem renaissance stories by women
Edited and with an introduction by Marcy Knopf. Foreword by Nellie Y. McKay

Author: Various Authors

A collection of Harlem Renaissance stories written by women includes works by Jessie Redmon Fauset, Dorothy West, Angelina Weld Grimke, Zora Neale Hurston, and Nella Larson


New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, copyright 1993, 277 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Kirkus Reviews Fourteen black women write of racism and exploitation, passing southern folkways, social and color discrimination within the black community, and love and corruption among upper-class whites--all in styles that range from romantic melodrama to social realism, irony to broad humor. Many of the 28 stories here--written during the flowering of black literary culture in the 20's and 30's and most published originally in African-American magazines (The Crisis, Opportunity, etc.)--have never before been reprinted. For those who know Harlem Renaissance names like Jessie Redmon Fauset and Nella Larsen without having found examples of their work, Knopf's anthology provides a convenient introduction, although--perhaps typical for magazine fiction--many of the pieces are less valuable as literature than for what they reveal about the cultural context. Dorothy West writes affectingly of family situations impinged upon by racial issues. In Marita Bonner's more tragic vision, the narrator of "One Boy's Story" plays out a bloody, mythic drama. Leila Amos Pendleton's uneducated protagonist insists Socrates ("Sockertees") and Cleopatra ("Clea Patrick") were black; in spite of the Afrocentric vision, her dialect stories would probably not pass muster today. The "wonder-quality of her soul" can't stop Angelina Weld Grimkͺ's tragic Agnes from a desperate act of violence. Zora Neale Hurston's "John Redding Goes to Sea," written while Hurston was an undergraduate at Howard, confirms her critical standing by showing her youthful skill and talent. Editor Knopf (Univ. of Wisconsin) also provides historical background, brief bios for 11 authors; her discussion of the fiction rarely goes beyond summary and sometimes reveals surprise endings. Not always a great read, but the only anthology of its kind.
(Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 1993)



Other Contributors:
Knopf, Marcy, 1969-: editor; McKay, Nellie Y.

Other titles associated with this book:
Harlem renaissance stories by women
Women's Harlem Renaissance stories


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0813519446 : Hardcover - University Press


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 000147

Home to Harlem
by Claude McKay ; foreword by Wayne F. Cooper

Author: McKay, Claude, 1890-1948

Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1987, c1928, xxvi, 340 p
ISBNs Associated with this Title:
1555530230
1555530249
1874509980 : Paperback
0911860274 : Hardcover


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Added to NoveList: 20040620
• TID: 124567


Here in Harlem: poems in many voices
by Walter Dean Myers

Author: Myers, Walter Dean, 1937-

Acclaimed writer Walter Dean Myers celebrates the people of Harlem with these powerful and soulful first-person poems in the voices of the residents who make up the legendary neighborhood: basketball players, teachers, mail carriers, jazz artists, maids,veterans, nannies, students, and more. Exhilarating and electric, these poems capture the energy and resilience of a neighborhood and a people.


New York: Holiday House, 2004, 88 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ In this Whitman-esque ode to time and the city, the "crazy quilt patterns" of Harlem are reflected in the voices of the neighborhood's "big-time people and its struggling folk," of little girls and blind old veterans, poets and mechanics, boxers and nannies, ballplayers and blues singers, laborers and jazz artists. Echoes of Cullen, Hughes, and Hurston, Baldwin, Wright, and DuBois, Marcus, Malcolm, and Martin, Booker T., Van Der Zee, and the Duke reverberate in this chorus of voices, modeled on Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology. The volume celebrates the varied music of the neighborhood—plaintive, joyful, expansive, sly, and bluesy—and photographs from the author's collection offer a superb visual complement. One of Myers's best—and that's saying a lot. Sure to be a classic. (Poetry. 12+)
(Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2004)



Features about this author or title:

1. Annotated Book List - A Place Within Myself: Walter Dean Myers and the Fiction of Harlem Youth


Other related features:

1. Annotated Book List - A Place Within Myself: Walter Dean Myers and the Fiction of Harlem Youth

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> ALA Notable Children's Books -> 2005 -> Older Readers Category

3. Awards (Best Fiction) - Young Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> YALSA Best Books for Young Adults -> 2005


Author Web Sites:
1. About Walter Dean Myers : Features author-supplied biographical information and an interview.


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0823418537 : Hardcover - Juvenile


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20050120
• TID: 131195

Best short stories by Negro writers, The: an anthology from 1899 to the present

Author: Various Authors

Other Contributors: Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967: editor

Boston,: Little, Brown, [1967], xvii, 508 p.
Notes:
Later edition published as: The Best Short Stories by Black Writers (Boston: Back Bay Books)


Other titles associated with this book:
The Best short stories by Black writers



Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 121587

Lift every voice and sing: a pictorial tribute to the Negro National Anthem
by James Weldon Johnson

Author: Johnson, James Weldon, 1871-1938

Twenty-two black-and-white photographs accompany this version of the song that has come to be considered the African American national anthem.


New York: Jum at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children, 2000, [32] p.

Notes:
Lyrics set to music by James' brother, John Rosamond Johnson


Reviews for this Title:
School Library Journal Review: K-Gr 8-A beautiful collection of black-and-white photographs are matched with the words of the song, which was composed in 1900 by James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson for a special celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The 22 archival photographs bring readers face-to-face with the power, strength, and dignity of a people. A back lashed with ugly scars; a child asleep on a sack of cotton; a pair of worn, weathered hands; three little girls singing in church; a line of marchers against a cloudy sky-these powerful images have an emotional appeal that transcends ethnic background. This stunning blend of poetry and visual images speaks to the human spirit.-Eunice Weech, M. L. King Elementary School, Urbana, IL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly Review: In honor of this song's centennial anniversary, this volume collects 22 often stirring black-and-white archival photographs to illustrate Johnson's powerful lyrics, set to music by his brother, John Rosamond Johnson. Smith's rather spotty introduction offers a brief biographical sketch of the siblings and outlines the genesis of the song (though it is the back jacket flap that suggests that James W. Johnson was asked by the Florida high school where he served as principal to compose the song for a celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday). Two decades later, in 1920, the NAACP proclaimed the composition "The Negro National Anthem." Crisply reproduced photographs ranging from the sobering to the uplifting correspond to the words of the anthem. "Out from the gloomy past,/ Till now we stand at last/ Where the white gleam/ of our bright star is cast" shows an enchanting toddler girl in a white wool coat and matching hat holding hands with two adults among a crowd. A photograph of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech is paired with "Lest our feet stray from the places,/ Our God, where we met Thee.... " Other memorable shots include the scarred back of a captive man ("Stony the road we trod,/ Bitter the chastening rod"), an exhausted boy cotton-picker asleep in the fields and a girl learning to read. Unfortunately, though the photos are credited, they neither include the year nor the context in which they were taken. The melody line concludes the book, and the many children featured in the photographs will draw a young audience into this affecting volume. All ages. (Jan.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews Celebrating the centenary of the song frequently dubbed "The Negro National Anthem," this matches those stirring lyrics to equally heartfelt black-and-white photos. Ranging from family groups, choirs, and crowds to a whip-scarred back, wrinkled hands and a tear-streaked cheek. Included are civil-rights marchers, cotton pickers, portraits formal and candid, the famous, and the unknown. The photographs are so well chosen and so thoughtfully laid out that it's a shame more recognition is not given to the book's designer. Introduced with a personal and historical note by Henrietta M. Smith, capped by James Weldon Johnson's brother's simple musical arrangement, it's a fitting tribute to a long struggle. Read it—better yet, sing it—to children, and let them pore over the powerful pictures. (musical notation, photo credits) (Picture book. 6+)
(Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2000)



Other Contributors:
Johnson, John Rosamond, 1873-1954

Other titles associated with this book:
Lift every voice & sing
Lift ev'ry voice and sing
Pictorial tribute to the Negro National Anthem


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0786806265 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0786825421
0802782507 : Hardcover - Juvenile
014118387X : Paperback
0802774423 : Paperback
0802782515 : Library binding - Juvenile
0606087990 : DEMCO Turtleback
9997483197 : Hardcover - Juvenile
9997506499 : Hardcover - Juvenile


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20050120
• TID: 131221

Conquest, The: the story of a Negro pioneer
Introduction by Leathern Dorsey

Author: Micheaux, Oscar, 1884-1951

Lincoln, NE: Bison Books, copyright 1994, 311 p.
Notes:
Originally published in 1913


Other Contributors:
Dorsey, Leathern

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0803282095 : Paperback - University Press
0743460588 : Paperback
0836986326 : Hardcover - Reference
0585266352 : E-Book


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 045204

Journal of Biddy Owens, The: the Negro leagues
by Walter Dean Myers

Author: Myers, Walter Dean, 1937-

Teenager Biddy Owens' 1948 journal about working for the Birmingham Black Barons includes the games and the players, racism the team faces from New Orleans to Chicago, and his family's resistance to his becoming a professional baseball player. Includes a historical note about the evolution of the Negro Leagues.


New York: Scholastic, 2001, 141 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review:

Gr. 5-7. In this fictional journal, part of the My Name Is America series, 17-year-old Biddy Owens tells of his year as “equipment manager, scorekeeper, errand boy, and sometimes right fielder” for the Birmingham Black Barons. The year is 1948, the last year of the Negro Leagues, and the book offers not just one boy’s experiences and growth but also an appreciation of the trials and triumphs of black ballplayers, particularly in the South. Biddy’s episodic story takes readers from his home, where economic troubles strain relations, to the road, where a remark like “We don’t serve no nigras here” is commonplace to the ballparks of America, in which the playing field is generally level (if a little rocky). The book has two other notable aspects. First, the writing is infused with a love of baseball that is never sappy. And second, this novel clearly portrays the ongoing racial prejudice of the era without making that the focus of the story. A very readable addition to the series.

(Reviewed February 1, 2001) -- Carolyn Phelan

School Library Journal Review: Gr 5 Up–Myers writes in the voice of the 17-year-old equipment manager for the 1948 Birmingham Black Barons baseball team. Through Biddy's journal, readers are introduced not only to the last great year of the Negro Leagues, but also to the institutional racism and blatant bigotry that existed in mid-20th-century America. The teen documents the action of the games, records the jokes and discussions that take place on the long bus rides to distant ball parks, complains about his younger sister, and writes about his hopes and desires for the future. A sometimes right fielder, he realizes that he will never be a great player and turns his dreams to attending college and becoming a journalist or sports writer. Intertwined with detailed descriptions of hits, runs, wins, and losses, Biddy describes his anger at not being served at a five-and-dime lunch counter and his yearning to stand up for his rights. Myers refers to actual players of the time: everyone talks about Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige; Willie Mays is a member of the Birmingham Black Barons; and Biddy meets Hank Aaron, who plays for the Indiana Clowns. A final section includes a fictional epilogue, a historical note, black-and-white photos, and information about the author. Direct readers who want more information to Patricia McKissack's Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball League (Scholastic, 1994).–Shawn Brommer, South Central Library System, Madison, WI (Reviewed April 1, 2001) (School Library Journal, vol 47, issue 4, p146)

Kirkus Reviews Biddy Owens, 17, "equipment manager, scorekeeper, errand boy, and sometimes right fielder" for the Birmingham Black Barons, narrates in diary form the twilight time of the Negro Leagues. This solid entry in the "My Name Is America" series must cover a lot of ground—Jim Crow laws, the beginnings of civil-rights unrest, the integration of the major leagues, adolescent yearnings (soft-pedaled), and baseball, baseball, baseball—but Myers (Bad Boy, above, etc.) handles it all with relative ease. There is rather more exposition of life in the South than would likely have appeared in a contemporary journal, but this is not too intrusive and is quickly overshadowed by Biddy's agreeable voice as he weighs a baseball career (unlikely, given his admittedly limited ability) against going to college. Biddy's family comes to life as honestly as the historical figures he works with on a day-to-day basis. Baseball legends Satchel Paige, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron all make cameo appearances, but the characters who dominate are those whose careers largely ended with the Negro Leagues: the 1948 Black Barons, led by second baseman and manager Piper Davis, whose fierce determination to win carries the team—and the reader—through a grueling pennant race to what was to become the last Negro League World Series. The tale is suffused with pride and affection for these first-class ballplayers who labored as second-class citizens, and with a real wistfulness at the passing of an era. Rich historical context, fully realized characters, great baseball action, and trademark Myers humor combine to make this one a homerun. (Fiction. 9-14)
(Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2001)



Features about this author or title:

1. Annotated Book List - A Place Within Myself: Walter Dean Myers and the Fiction of Harlem Youth


Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Sports -> Baseball


Author Web Sites:
1. About Walter Dean Myers : Features author-supplied biographical information and an interview.


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0439095034 : Hardcover - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 095988


SURVEYS, HANDBOOKS, TREATISES
Patton, Sharon F. African-American Art. N6538.N5 P371 1998.

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Driskell, David C., ed. African American Aesthetics: a Postmodernist View.This collection builds on the pioneering work of Locke, Herring and Porter. African-American art is discussed in the context of American art, in illustrated scholarly essays.

Hooks, Bell. Art on My Mind: Visual Politics.

Vlach, John M. The Afro-American Tradition in Decorative Arts. Folio Originally published to accompany a major exhibition, this is a pioneering work on folk traditions.

Fine, Elsa Honig. The Afro-American Artist: a Search for Identity. This well-illustrated historical survey from the colonial period on, includes extensive notes and bibliography.

Atkinson, J. Edward. Black Dimensions in Contemporary American Art. A visual survey of 50 artists, with short introductory essays by Edward Spriggs, then Director of the Studio Museum in Harlem, and David Driskell.

Dover, Cedric. American Negro Art. A heavily illustrated survey from the colonial period to the 20th century. Artist and general index, selected portraits of artists, and bibliography. An important contribution following in the footsteps of Locke and Porter.

Porter, James A. Modern Negro Art.By the first African-American art historian, the "father of Black art history," this is the classic work on the subject, the "first to denote and define the African impulse in the visual arts in the U.S." Porter also arranged the first exhibition of contemporary African art in the U.S. (1951, Howard University). David Driskell's introduction to the 1992 edition is an important review of the development of African-American art history.

Locke, Alain. Negro Art: Past and Present. Locke was the "first major advocate, critic, patron, and writer on Afro-American art." His landmark work surveys the linkages of African-American art to the legacy of African art. For an excellent bibliography of Locke's publications see Note 18, p. 25 in Against the Odds listed on p. 4 of this bibliography.

Du Bois, W.E.B. The Negro American Artisan. Du Bois' huge body of work includes this important title, probably the first survey of African-American art. (See also the W.E.B. Du Bois WWW site in Internet Resources.)

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ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND DICTIONARIES

African-American Mosaic: a Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture. Main Library Reference. An essential recent publication; see also the WWW Page listed under Internet Resources.

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History.Main Library Reference. This major 5-volume work includes entries on art collections in vol. 1, painting and sculpture in vol. 4, and many cross-references and biographies of figures such as James A. Porter.

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BIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCE WORKS
Part A. The following three titles should be consulted first:

Cederholm. Afro-American Artists: a Bio-Bibliographical Directory. The first major biographical dictionary of African-American artists, covering the colonial period to 1973. Includes exhibition catalogs; reviews; periodicals, including newspapers; and books. The A-Z entries include brief biographical information, lists of works and exhibitions, collections and reference sources for each artist. An essential work.

Igoe. 250 years of Afro-American Art: an Annotated Bibliography. A comprehensive work including 3900 artists covering three centuries. Generally, photographers, architects and designers are excluded. Basic, Artist, and Subject (topical and organizational) bibliographies, with appendices on anonymous artists and artist groups.

Thomison. The Black Artist in America: an Index to Reproductions.Listing Black artists from the colonial period to the present, this source is useful as a biographical work; it cites reproductions that have appeared in books, periodicals and catalogs through 1990, including most media as well as folk art. Selective subject index, bibliography, list of institutions, audiovisual materials and exhibition catalogs.

Part B.

ISBN 1878271385
11 x 11 inches (27.9 x 27.9 cm), Hardcover binding, 96 pages
150 b/w illus,
Out of print and out of stock (publication date 1/1/1992)
A PAPress publication; Carton quantity: 25
$22.95

Jack Travis has put together an elegant volume of essays, biographical sketches, and photographs of architectural work entitled African American Architects in Current Practice ... In black-and-white photos and drawings, he makes a clean edged presentation of the works of 35 African-American architects by what they do ... Supplementing the projects are short bios of the architects and an essay by each, all of which deepen the definition of the architects to who they are.
—Stephanie Stubbs, AIA Memo

"A long overdue book. Jack's edited monograph gives due recognition to the contribution of African Americans that have remained invisible. The book ... begins with introductory essays, followed by the practies that are profiled, and ending with summary information, including a chronology of landmark events, list of distinguished practitioners, and professional resources."
—Roberta Feldman, FAE

Commentaries by Vincent Scully, Dean Harry G. Robinson III, Sharon E. Sutton, Eugene Kohn, Harvey Gantt, and Michael Adams supplement the profiles of the architects. These distinguished educators and professionals provide a wideranging overview of the role of black Americans in the pratice and education of architecture.

Afro-American Folk Art and Crafts. . Covers quilters, sculptors, instrument-makers, basketmakers, builders, blacksmiths and potters from the colonial period. A lengthy bibliography, subject guide, filmography, and important essays such as Robert Farris Thompson's 1969 essay on African influences.

Black Artists on Art. This 2-volume work by Samella Lewis is an illustrated survey of several hundred contemporary (1969) African-American artists and Black artists working in the U.S. Includes artists' statements and brief biographical entries at the end of the volumes.

Black Photographers, 1840-1940: an Illustrated Bio-Bibliography. and An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography of Black Photographers, 1940-1988. . Deborah Willis-Thomas' groundbreaking companion volumes are heavily illustrated, with excellent bibliographies and exhibition chronologies. Short biographical entries include exhibitions and collections in which works are included, as well as a selected bibliography.

Directory of People of Color in the Visual Arts. 759 artists, art historians, critics and arts administrators are listed, with indexes by state, ethnicity and discipline.

Folk Artists Biographical Index. Ethnicity is indicated in the artist entries; since a large proportion of folk artists are African-American this is an important source.

Free Within Ourselves: African-American Artists in the Collection of the National Museum of American Art. While not a biographical work per se, this serves as a reference work, a cross-section of 31 artists from one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of African-American art (including the work of self-taught artists) from the colonial to contemporary period. Many illustrations, excellent bibliography of archival resources, books, exhibition catalogs, and articles, and a list of the African-American artists represented in the NMAA (105 as of 1992) which are searchable online (see Inventory of American Painting in the Internet section).

Twentieth-Century African-American Writers and Artists. An A-Z work which includes about 80 "prominent" painters and sculptors (i.e. who have exhibited in major museums.). Summary of artist's life, short critical note, exhibition and collections list and selected bibliography.

20th Century American Folk, Self-taught, and Outsider Art. Guide to the artists, organizations, publishers,museums, and listing by state. Bibliography of books, exhibition catalogs and articles. NB: Excludes decoys, quilts and pottery.

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INDEXES, BIBLIOGRAPHIES, AND LIBRARY CATALOGS

African-American Traditions in Song, Sermon, Tale, and Dance, 1600s-1920: an Annotated Bibliography of Literature, Collections, and Artworks.

*Art Abstracts (1984-present). Indexes about 300 journals in the visual arts; covering topices from architecture to video.

*Art Index Retrospective 1929-1984.

*Artbibliographies Modern (1974-present). Indexes articles, books, dissertations, and exhibition catalogs on twentieth-century art.

*Arts and Humanities Citation Index. A major index for the arts and humanities,covering a broad range of scholarly journals.

*BHA: Bibliography of the History of Art (1973-present, including RILA and RAA). The major scholarly resource for the history of art.

Catalog of the Library of the National Museum of African Art. Includes a number of citations under the heading African-American Art and it sub-headings.

Davis. Black Artists in the United States: an Annotated Bibliography of Books, Articles, and Dissertations on Black Artists, 1779-1979. The annotated entries also include general periodicals such as Ebony, Encore, The Messenger, Afro-American Woman's Journal, etc. Includes an index.

Design and Applied Arts Index. Index Shelves. Use heading Black Designers and its cross-references.

Ethnoarts Index. Index Shelves. See subject index under African Diaspora. Indexes books, articles, chapters, conference papers, theses, dissertations, exhibition reviews, and auction catalogs.

Holmes. The Complete Annotated Resource Guide to Black American Art: Books, Doctoral Dissertations, Exhibition Catalogs, Periodicals, Films, Slides, Large Prints, Speakers, Filmstrips, Video Tapes, Black Museums, Art alleries...Comprehensive but dated; useful for the many citations of exhibitions without catalogs, but only ephemeral checklists, etc. (list by organization). Also a helpful chronology from 1875 to 1980, of books, films, exhibitions, etc.

Karpel. Arts in America: a Bibliography. The major, though dated, bibliography for American art. Includes bibliographies, collections and exhibition catalogs, a list of serials and periodicals, index by medium, etc. Uses term Blacks, with numerous sub-headings. (Also uses Afro-Americans but fewer citations under that heading. See the Index volume (4).

*Newspaper Abstracts (1989-Present). An excellent source for exhibition reviews, book reviews, and articles on African-American art, covering a wide range of newspapers.

Staats. African Americans and the Visual Arts: a Resource Guide to Books, Articles, and Dissertations, 1900-1990. A basic, un-annotated, bibliography from a wide range of sources.

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COLLECTION AND EXHIBITION CATALOGS: a selection
African-American Artists, 1880-1987: Selections from the Evans-Tibbs Collection. One of the premier collections and archives of African-American artists' work in the U.S., the Evans-Tibbs Collection is located in Washington, DC.

Africobra: the First Twenty Years. Africobra was a political movement with a black ideology founded in the 1960s.

Afro-American Collection, Fisk University. The collections at Fisk, including many African objects brought back by missionaries, were begun in the 19th century. The Harmon Foundation gave Fisk approximately 400 works of art in 1968. David Driskell, a former director, provides an essay in this catalog of 63 artists. Selected bibliography.

Against the Odds: African-American Artists and the Harmon Foundation. The Foundation provided support to African-American artists beginning in the '30s. In the late '60s, its collections were dispersed among Fisk and Hampton Universities, the National Museum of American Art, and the National Portrait Gallery. This catalog includes an essay on early exhibitions of African-American art, and the Foundation's early activities. Biographical entries on the artists, and the exhibition record of the Foundation.

Baking in the Sun: Visionary Images from the South: Selections from the Collection of Sylvia Warren Lowe. This catalog includes 16 'outsider' artists, both Black and White, 180 works of art; and a chapter on Africanisms in Afro-American visionary art.

Barnett-Aden Collection. Founded in 1943 by James V. Herring and Alonzo J. Aden of Howard University, this gallery welcomed artists of every race. The catalog of this rich collection includes a brief survey of African-American art of the 19th and 20th centuries, and is heavily illustrated (120 ills.); biographies of the artists.

Black Art Ancestral Legacy: the African Impulse in African-American Art. An essential work, a major exhibition catalog with scholarly essays. Forty-nine artists are represented, with substantial biographical entries and photos of the artists.

Black Folk Art in America, 1930-1980. Another major exhibition.

Black History and Artistry: Work by Self-Taught Painters from the Blanchard-Hill Collection.

Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture and Modernism.

Caribbean Festival Arts.

Exhibition of African Negro Art [Howard University, 1953]. Curated by James V. Herring, who founded the Art Department at Howard, the first such program in a predominantly black institution of higher learning; in the '30s, Howard was the center for African-American art.

Exhibition of Productions by Negro Artists [Harmon Foundation]. 1933 Permanent Reserve II.

Faces of the Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americas. An essential exhibition catalog by Robert Farris Thompson.

Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art. A fine private collection assembled in just the space of a decade. Includes both trained and folk artists, 124 pieces/70 artists in this exhibition.

Hidden Heritage: Afro-American Art, 1800-1950. An exhibition curated by David Driskell to include artists not in the 1976 "Two Centuries" exhibition.

Negro Artists: an Illustrated Review of Their Achievements. Permanent Reserve II. Another exhibition of the Harmon Foundation.

Next Generation: Southern Black Aesthetic. An exhibition at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, NC, which often features African-American artists.

Two Centuries of Black American Art. A landmark exhibition, the largest of its type at the time, of 63 artists from numerous public and private collections. Curated by David Driskell.

United American Healthcare Corporation Collection. Established in 1992, this Detroit collection includes 20th century works by African-American artists; the catalog features 10 artists from the collection, with 72 works of art.

Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art. A major private collection of 19th and 20th century African-American art; catalog of a traveling exhibition.

Almost to freedom
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson ; illustrations by Colin Bootman

Author: Nelson, Vaunda Micheaux

Tells the story of a young girl's dramatic escape from slavery via the Underground Railroad, from the perspective of her beloved rag doll.


Minneapolis, Minn.: Carolrhoda Books, c2003, 1 v. (unpaged)
Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review: Gr. 1-3. Lindy’s beloved rag doll, Sally, tells how Lindy’s family escapes on the Underground Railroad to find freedom “in a place called North.” The doll’s narrative and Bootman’s dark, dramatic paintings bring close the child’s daily experience: the cruel separation and physical punishment, and then the adventure of running away and hiding. At times it’s hard to distinguish Sally from Lindy--why not just let the child tell the story herself? But then there’s an anguished twist in the plot: the child and her doll are separated. Lindy gets away, but in the turmoil she leaves her doll behind. When another escaping child finds Sally and hugs her to herself, the story comes full circle. That’s a powerful way to express the sorrow of loving families torn apart, and Bootman’s stirring portraits, many of them set at night, in rich shades of purple and brown, show that the small rag doll bears witness to historical events of cruelty and courage.
-- Hazel Rochman (BookList, 09-15-2003, p247)

School Library Journal Review: Gr 1-4???A compelling story told from the point of view of an enslaved child's beloved rag doll. Made for young Lindy by her mama, Miz Rachel, the hand-stitched toy is the girl's most prized possession. She tells her, "Your name be Sally. We gonna be best friends." When the child's father is sold and Lindy is beaten for asking Massa's son how to spell her name, the horrid conditions of the cotton plantation become intolerable. One night Miz Rachel wakes Lindy and they run for their lives. They are reunited with Mr. Henry and the fugitive family heads North to freedom. They are given shelter at a station on the Underground Railroad, but must flee from slave catchers in the middle of the night. In the frantic scramble, Sally is left behind. The doll is lonely for her friend and worries for the safety of Lindy and her folks. When another child and her mother are sheltered in the basement, the doll joins her new best friend on her trip to Freedom. This accessible story is told in language that is within the experience of a young child and makes its impact without frightening or overwhelming readers. It is ultimately a story of hope and resilience, love and friendship. The evocative oil paintings are expertly rendered and effectively convey the powerful emotions of the tale. A fine addition to most collections.???Luann Toth, School Library Journal --Luann Toth (Reviewed December 1, 2003) (School Library Journal, vol 49, issue 12, p122)

Kirkus Reviews A doll's-eye view of slavery and escape fails to succeed. Miz Rachel fashioned Sally out of cloth for her little girl, Lindy. Doll and girl spend all their time together in the field working, at the meetings where freedom is discussed, and even when Lindy's papa is sold "down the river." Every last familiar plot twist is here: the difficult field work, the cruel overseers, the beating Lindy endures when she is caught writing words in the sand, the harrowing escape, the reunion with Lindy's papa, who has somehow managed to meet his family on a darkened river road, and the kindly white couple who hides the threesome in a cellar. Dark, expressive paintings accompany the narrative, though the brilliantly white headscarves seem oddly misplaced during the nighttime escape. The dialect fluctuates haphazardly from sentence to sentence losing the voice altogether. The unusual choice of a doll as narrator may appeal to some readers. Reread Deborah Hopkinson's Under the Quilt of Night (2001) instead. (author's note, limited glossary) (Picture book. 6-10)
(Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2003)



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Other Contributors:
Bootman, Colin: ill

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
157505342X : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
1575056747 : E-Book - Juvenile


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20040220
• TID: 122271

Amazing Grace
Illustrated by Caroline Binch

Author: Hoffman, Mary, 1945-

Although a classmate says that she cannot play Peter Pan in the school play because she is Black, Grace discovers that she can do anything she sets her mind to do.


New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1991, unpaged.

Reviews for this Title:
School Library Journal Review: K-Gr 2-- Grace loves stories, whether she hears them, reads them, or makes them up. Possessed with a marvelous imagination as well as a strong flair for the dramatic, she acts the stories out, always giving herself the most exciting parts. Thus, it is natural when her teacher announces a classroom production of Peter Pan , that Grace wants to play the lead. One classmate says she can't because she's a girl and another says she can't because she's black. When a saddened Grace relates the days events to her mother and grandmother, they tell her she can be anything she wants to, if she puts her mind to it. Inspired by her family's support, her own indomitable spirit, and an excursion to a weekend ballet starring a lovely Trinidadian dancer, Grace shines during her audition, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind as to who will play Peter Pan. Gorgeous watercolor illustrations portraying a determined, talented child and her warm family enhance an excellent text and positive message of self-affirmation. Grace is an amazing girl and this is an amazing book. --Anna DeWind, Milwaukee Public Library

Publishers Weekly Review: "Grace was a girl who loved stories." Empowered by the strength of her imagination and the love of her mother and Nana, this dramatic, creative girl constantly adopts roles and identities: Joan of Arc, Anansi the Spider, Hiawatha, Mowgli, Aladdin. When her class plans a presentation of Peter Pan , "Grace knew who she wanted to be." She holds fast despite her classmates' demurrals; Nana, meanwhile, reminds her granddaughter that she can do anything she imagines. When Nana takes Grace to see a famous black ballerina--"from back home in Trinidad"--the determined youngster is aroused by the performance, and wins the role of her dreams. Featuring colloquial dialogue and endearing characters, Hoffman's ( My Grandma Has Black Hair ) tale is truly inspiring. First-timer Birch contributes evocative, carefully detailed watercolor paintings, which add their own share of emotional power and personal passion. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Kirkus Reviews Grace loves to act out her favorite stories, taking every part from Joan of Arc to Mowgli. But when her class learns that they will be doing Peter Pan, the other kids tell Grace she can't have the lead: Peter's neither black nor a girl. Fortunately, Nana and Ma have contagious confidence in Grace's ability, and at the tryouts the class also agrees that Grace is best. It's easy to catch the wholesomely assertive spirit here--as Binch does, in this excellent debut, with her detailed, realistic watercolors; vibrant Grace almost springs from the page.
(Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 1991)



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1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> ALA Notable Children's Books -> 1992

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4. Teaching with Fiction - Exploring Strong Female Characters in Picture Books

5. Teaching with Fiction - R-E-S-P-E-C-T... It's What All Children Need to See


Author Web Sites:
1. Mary Hoffman, Children's Writer : Features author, book and contact information, news, a web journal, links, and an about-the-author quiz.


Other Contributors:
Binch, Caroline: illus

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0803710402 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0871298090 : Paperback - Juvenile
1854303341 : Hardcover - Juvenile
1854303368 : Hardcover - Juvenile
1854303384 : Hardcover
1854303392 : Hardcover - Religious
0613692306 : Prebind - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 110637

Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the sky
Faith Ringgold

Author: Ringgold, Faith

With Harriet Tubman as her guide, Cassie retraces the steps escaping slaves took on the Underground Railroad in order to reunite with her younger brother.


New York: Crown, c1992, 1 v. (unpaged)

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, For the Young: /*STARRED REVIEW*/ Ages 6-9. Cassie, who flew above New York in Tar Beach, now soars among the stars with her little brother Be Be. They come across a mysterious freedom train in the sky and meet Harriet Tubman. While Be Be hops aboard the train right away, Cassie holds back and has to trail it on foot, following the path of her slave ancestors, who took the Underground Railroad north to freedom. Aided by Tubman's whispering voice, Cassie escapes from a plantation, hides in woods and swamps, and learns to recognize safe houses where people will help her. Finally, she flies over Niagara Falls to Canada and freedom, celebrates with Aunt Harriet and Be Be. If the best way to understand others is to walk a mile in their shoes, Cassie learns her people's history well; so will readers of this impressive picture book. Ringgold's dynamic paintings combine historical fact with strongly realized emotions. One powerful double-page spread, based on a recurring dream of Tubman's, shows Aunt Harriet and Be Be flying toward each other within a circle of women dressed in white. Two pages of historical notes on Tubman and the Underground Railroad, including a map and bibliography, round out the volume. While primitive art is not new to picture books, few artists have used it with the narrative and emotional resonance that Ringgold creates in this impressive book. ((Reviewed Nov. 1, 1992)) -- Carolyn Phelan

School Library Journal Review: Gr 2 Up-- Using the symbolic motif of flying as she did in Tar Beach (Crown, 1991), Ringgold reintroduces Cassie and Be Be Lightfoot, who soar above oceans that look like cups of tea and meet a "ramshackled train in the sky" whose conductor is Harriet Tubman. Aunt Harriet, as she is called, explains that the railroad in the sky retraces her route to freedom every 100 years. Meanwhile, Be Be jumps on board. Cassie, who misses the train, must follow, living the slave existence, always one step behind, hoping to rejoin her brother in Canada. What follows is a compelling journey in which the author masterfully integrates fantasy and historical fact in such a way that readers join Cassie in experiencing the fear and the mystery of such a trip. The spare but eloquent text conveys much information, and the artist's flat, primitive illustrations in acrylic on canvas paper lend power and symbolism to one of the most dramatic chapters in American history. Everywhere, Cassie finds clues leading her to Be Be. Everywhere, she receives whispered directions from Aunt Harriet that lead her forward. Everywhere, the threat of capture lurks in the background in the form of the sinister chalkwhite faces of bounty hunters. Although adults may have difficulty with literal interpretation, children with only basic background will recognize that the story is both fact and fantasy--history and allegory. With gripping immediacy, Ringgold puts readers in the story on the side of the victims, insuring, through powerful words and images, "that we will never forget the cost of freedom." Groundbreaking! --Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT

Publishers Weekly Review: Cassie and Be Be, the young protagonists of Ringgold's Tar Beach , literally wing their way through American history in this otherworldly journey. On a fantastical flight, the kids encounter an "old ramshackled train in the sky"--a remnant of the Underground Railroad whose conductor is Harriet Tubman. Rambunctious Be Be boards the train, leaving his worried sister to follow behind with only directions from "Aunt Harriet" and the kindness of strangers to guide her. Despite this work's laudable aims, its weighty subject matter, heavy symbolism and glitches in logic will likely prove daunting to young readers. The children's ability to fly is never explained, while the text mentions their earthbound parents' concern for them. A sense of time is apparent only in the final spread, which places the action in 1949, the 100th anniversary of Tubman's first flight to freedom. Ringgold's rich oils are somewhat more surreal than those in her acclaimed Tar Beach , portraying faceless hordes of slaves; other paintings present such historical details as Southern swamps and farmhouses. Cassie, Be Be and Harriet resonate with pride and energy, but their spirits can't help this work take flight. Ages 4-9. (Feb.)



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Author Web Sites:
1. Faith Ringgold's Web Site : Ringgold shares information about herself, her books, and works in progress..


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0517587688 : Library binding - Juvenile
051758767X
0517885433 : Paperback - Juvenile
0785784837 : Prebind
0606084789 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0780759494 : Prebind


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 114036

Beauty, her basket
by Sandra Belton ; pictures by Cozbi A. Cabrera

Author: Belton, Sandra

While visiting her grandmother in the Sea Islands, a young girl hears about her African heritage and learns to weave a sea grass basket.


New York: Greenwillow Books, 2004, 32 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review: Gr. 1-4. Set in the Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia, this follows a young girl into a world whose rhythms are planted in history. The unnamed young narrator is visiting her nana for the summer. She takes in the seascape and the patois rolling lyrically from Nana's tongue, but she is especially intrigued by the grass baskets crafted by the island people. By example and through anecdote, she learns about the African origins of the basketry, along with the skilled rice farming and fishing that slaves brought with them to America. Through these lessons, she comes to appreciate the beauty of her heritage, both past and present. As with Pictures for Miss Josie (2003) and From Miss Ida's Porch (1993), Belton once again uses a narrative tale to illuminate priceless nuggets of African American history. Dark, sometime dreamy pastels evoke the island setting and the warm, loving family backdrop. Pair this with Margot Theis Raven's Circle Unbroken [BKL F 15 04], also about the tradition of basket crafting.
-- Terry Glover (BookList, 03-01-2004, p1192)

School Library Journal Review: Gr 1-4–Inside Nana's house in the Sea Islands is a basket that smells of the sea and is woven from grasses that grow by the shore. Nana calls it "Beauty, Her Basket." Her granddaughter, intrigued by this curious name, wants to know its origin, and, on the day this story takes place, Nana has promised to tell her. She explains how "Way back in the olden day" those "made to slave" brought with them from Africa the secrets of how to make nets for catching fish, pots for carrying water from the sea, and "the knowing of how to make the basket." And, although so much was ugly in the slave times, the basket, like flowers, is "always a child of beauty." Nana's Gullah patois and the serious subject matter make this a somewhat challenging book. Full-bleed illustrations in darkly brilliant acrylics float and swirl across the page, complementing the lush, evocative tone of the text. Libraries with a focus on regional literature will want to purchase this one.–Anna DeWind Walls, Milwaukee Public Library (Reviewed June 1, 2004) (School Library Journal, vol 50, issue 6, p96)



Other related features:

1. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best


Other Contributors:
Cabrera, Cozbi S.: illustrator

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0688178219 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0688178227


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20040620
• TID: 125174

Black cowboy, wild horses: a true story
Julius Lester ; [illustrator] Jerry Pinkney

Author: Lester, Julius

A black cowboy is so in tune with wild mustangs that they accept him into the herd, thus enabling him singlehandedly to take them to the corral.


New York: Dial Books, c1998, 1 v. (unpaged)

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, For the Young: Ages 5-9. One of every three cowboys who helped tame the Wild West was either Mexican or black. This is the true story of one of the latter, Bob Lemmons. In language rich with simile and metaphor, Lester's account focuses on the former slave's uncanny tracking abilities as he trails a herd of mustangs as well as his mission to tame the wild horses and lead them back to the corral. Pinkney's earth-colored gouache and watercolor paintings add the look of the Texas plains to Lester's account and capture the energy of the horses as they gallop across sweeping, double-page spreads. Lester and Pinkney's manifest love and respect for the West and cowboys of color, whose contributions have been too long overlooked, distinguish their latest collaboration. ((Reviewed May 1, 1998)) -- Michael Cart

School Library Journal Review: Gr 2-4--Pinkney and Lester add a picture-book chapter to the lore of this nation's "true West" with the retelling of a story of a wild horse hunt by the black cowboy Bob Lemmons. He and his stallion, Warrior, wander on the prairie until they find the tracks of the animals they seek. Bob then spends days in a very slow approach to the herd. Horse and rider finally join the herd and are accepted by the wild horses, until at last Bob challenges the lead stallion for control. On Warrior's back, he fights the stallion, defeats him, and then leads the animals into captivity in the ranch corral. Throughout, both text and pictures emphasize the blending of all life. The linkages between the cowboy, the animals, and the natural world are so strong that lines separating them are blurred. Lester and Pinkney's stated aims were to recast their childhood love of cowboys and the Old West with more recent historical research into the contributions of men of color, both black and Hispanic. They have done that, and achieved something else as well: youngsters will reflect on the relationships between humans and other animals. Pinkney's pictures were never better, making it all the more unfortunate that text boxes cover some of the action. Lester's overuse of metaphor is also a drawback. Still, this book will inspire heavy-duty thinking on the part of young readers.--Ruth Semrau, formerly at Lovejoy School, Allen, TX

Publishers Weekly Review: A spirit of freedom pervades the pages of this picture book, accompanied by the sound of thundering hooves and the feel of the heat and dust of the plains. Based on an incident in the life of Texas cowboy Bob Lemmons, the tale centers on his success in corralling a herd of wild mustangs with only the aid of his horse. Possessed of a legendary tracking ability, Lemmons, a former slave, follows the drove day and night, infiltrating the herd astride his black steed, Warrior. In a dramatic climax, he defeats the mustang stallion for possession of the herd. Lester and Pinkney, who previously collaborated on John Henry and Sam and the Tigers, reunite in an impressive display of teamwork, transporting readers, through the alchemy of visual and verbal imagery, to the heart of the action. The resulting sense of immediacy offers a vivid taste of the cowboy life, whether it's hunkering down all night during a sluicing rain or riding under the wide-open skies. Lester studs his seamless prose with powerful descriptions, such as when a hawk is "suspended on cold threads of unseen winds," or the mustangs sweep toward the corral as "a dark surge of flesh flashing across the plains like black lightning." The fluid brushwork of Pinkney's watercolors seem tailor-made for the flow of muscle, mane and tail of wild mustangs galloping across the prairie. Notable for the light it sheds on a fascinating slice of Americana, this book is essential for anyone interested in the Wild West. Ages 5-up. (May)



Features about this author or title:

1. Author Biographies for Young Adults - Julius Lester


Other related features:

1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Parents' Choice Award -> Story Books category -> 1998 -> Silver Awards

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Young Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Parents' Choice Award -> Story Books category -> 1998 -> Silver Awards

3. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best

4. Teaching with Fiction - Galloping through Reading with a Good Horse Book


Author Web Sites:
1. About Julius Lester : Features biographical information and reviews of selected titles.


Other Contributors:
Pinkney, Jerry: ill

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0803717873 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0803717881


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 111814

Coming on home soon
by Jacqueline Woodson ; illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Author: Woodson, Jacqueline

After Mama takes a job in Chicago during World War II, Ada Ruth stays with Grandma but misses her mother who loves her more than rain and snow.


New York: Putnam's, c2004, 32 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review: /*Starred Review*/ K-Gr. 3. As in their award-winning picture book The Other Side (2001), Woodson and Lewis tell a moving historical story of longing and separation. The setting here is the home front during World War II, and Ada Ruth's mama leaves to find work in the city ("They're hiring colored women in Chicago since all the men are off fighting in the war"). At home with Grandma, Ada Ruth holds on to memories of Mama's love and writes to her. Times are hard, and for a long time "no letter or money coming." Ada Ruth takes in a stray kitten, and even though Grandma says they can't keep it, Ada Ruth does, and its purring softness is big and warm on her lap. The race, class, and gender struggle is part of the larger drama ("A colored woman working on the railroad!"), but for Ada Ruth, it's the waiting, quietly expressed in her simple, poetic first-person narrative. Lewis' beautiful watercolors establish the setting, not the South this time, but a spacious rural landscape with snow and icy storms, and inside, the loving portrayals of the women in warm, neat rooms with an empty chair. Period and place are wonderfully specific; the yearning is timeless.
-- Hazel Rochman (BookList, 08-01-2004, p1925)

School Library Journal Review: /* Starred Review */ K-Gr 3–A beautifully written and illustrated story from the creators of The Other Side (Putnam, 2001), set during World War II. Ada Ruth waits for the return of her mother, who left home in search of a job. "They're hiring colored women in Chicago since all the men are off fighting in the war." Perfectly matched words and illustrations masterfully bring to life all the emotions that the girl is experiencing as she, her grandmother, and a stray kitten that has come to stay all try to comfort and console one another. As snow continues to fall, the large watercolor pages are filled with scenes of wistful longing–looking out the window, bringing in firewood, giving the kitten some milk, knitting, listening to news on the radio, and capturing the disappointment when the postman passes without stopping. Finally, a letter arrives and, with it, some much-needed money. The first line of the letter reads, "Tell Ada Ruth I'll be coming on home soon." Now, images convey a warm sense of anticipation. The final painting shows a woman with her back to readers approaching a house… home. A tender, heartfelt story that will touch readers.–Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH (Reviewed October 1, 2004) (School Library Journal, vol 50, issue 10, p137)

Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ In a perfect pairing with Woodson's text, Lewis manages to make his rich watercolors glow with the light of memory in a simple story of another time of war. His figures and objects fill the real space they inhabit, however, and appear fully present in our consciousness. Ada Ruth misses her mama, who has gone off to work cleaning railroad cars in Chicago. During WWII, when the men were fighting, women were needed to work—even, as Ada Ruth's mother says, colored women. When a starving kitten comes to their door, Ada's grandmother doesn't see how they can keep it, but puts down a saucer of milk just the same. The narrative is filled with quietness: as the snow falls; as Ada and Grandma wait for the mail that will bring news and money; as the kitten insinuates itself into mealtimes, skimpy or not. Longing, loneliness, pride, and doing what needs to be done shine off the pages and into the hearts of readers. (Picture book. 5-8)
(Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2004)



Features about this author or title:

1. Author Biographies for Young Adults - Jacqueline Woodson


Other related features:

1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> ALA Notable Children's Books -> 2005 -> Middle Readers Category

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Booklist Editors' Choice -> Books for Youth: Young Readers Category -> 2004

3. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Caldecott Honor Books -> 2005

4. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Booklist Editors' Choice -> Books for Youth: Young Readers Category -> 2004

5. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Caldecott Honor Books -> 2005

6. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Charlotte Zolotow Honor Books -> 2005

7. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best


Author Web Sites:
1. Jacqueline Woodson's Web Site : Woodson shares information on herself and her books.


Other Contributors:
Lewis, Earl B.: illustrator

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0399237488 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20041120
• TID: 129301

Ellington was not a street
written by Ntozake Shange ; illustrations by Kadir Nelson

Author: Shange, Ntozake

A poem from the author's first collection of poetry pays tribute to the community of talented artists that frequented her childhood home.


New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2004, 40 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ Deeply colored paintings enrich this homage to African-American men who made history and influenced culture, including Duke Ellington, Paul Robeson, Dizzy Gillespie, and W.E.B. DuBois. Nelson's setting is a home, filled with the folks who made it happen, as observed by a small girl whose presence, greeting the guests or peeking around the corners, adds the child's point of view. The poetic text is spare, with only a few words on each spread, but they match the majesty of the scene. Children will need context to understand the brief lines, and happily, an author's note provides it. In bell hooks style, none of the lines or names are capitalized, nor do they have punctuation. Intended for children today who know these names as commemorative plaques on buildings or streets, the deceptively simple text reveals the feel of the Harlem Renaissance: "Politics as necessary as collards, music even in our dreams." A tribute to what these men did for African-Americans, indeed all Americans, is soulfully and succinctly stated: "Our doors opened like our daddy's arms, held us safe and loved." Exquisite. (Picture book. 4-8)
(Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2003)



Other related features:

1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> ALA Notable Children's Books -> 2005 -> Middle Readers Category

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Award -> Illustrators category

3. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Parents' Choice Award -> Picture Books category -> 2004 -> Gold Awards

4. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Award -> Illustrators category

5. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Parents' Choice Award -> Picture Books category -> 2004 -> Gold Awards

6. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best


Other Contributors:
Nelson, Kadir: illustrator

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0689828845 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20040520
• TID: 124110

Goin' someplace special
Patricia C. McKissack ; [illustrated by] Jerry Pinkney

Author: McKissack, Pat, 1944-

In segregated 1950s Nashville, a young African American girl braves a series of indignities and obstacles to get to one of the few integrated places in town: the public library.


New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c2001, 36 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review: Ages 5-8. Tricia Ann excitedly gets her grandmother's permission to go out by herself to "Someplace Special" --a place far enough away to take the bus and to have to walk a bit. But this isn't just any trip. Tricia's trip takes place in the segregated South of the 1950s. That means Tricia faces sitting at the back of the bus, not being allowed to sit on a whites-only park bench, and being escorted out of a hotel lobby. She almost gives up, but a local woman who some say is "addled," but whom Tricia Ann knows to be gentle and wise, shows her how to listen to the voice inside herself that allows her to go on. She arrives at her special destination--the public library, whose sign reads "All Are Welcome." Pinkney's watercolor paintings are lush and sprawling as they evoke southern city streets and sidewalks as well as Tricia Ann's inner glow. In an author's note, McKissack lays out the autobiographical roots of the story and what she faced as a child growing up in Nashville. This book carries a strong message of pride and self-confidence as well as a pointed history lesson. It is also a beautiful tribute to the libraries that were ahead of their time.
(Reviewed August 1, 2001) -- Denise Wilms

School Library Journal Review: Gr 3-5-'Tricia Ann's first solo trip out of her neighborhood reveals the segregation of 1950s' Nashville and the pride a young African-American girl takes in her heritage and her sense of self-worth. In an eye-opening journey, McKissack takes the child through an experience based upon her own personal history and the multiple indignities of the period. She experiences a city bus ride and segregated parks, restaurants, hotels, and theaters and travels toward "Someplace Special." In the end, readers see that 'Tricia Ann's destination is the integrated public library, a haven for all in a historical era of courage and change. Dialogue illustrates her confidence and intelligence as she bravely searches for truth in a city of Jim Crow signs. Pinkney re-creates the city in detailed pencil-and-watercolor art angled over full-page spreads, highlighting the young girl with vibrant color in each illustration. A thought-provoking story for group sharing and independent readers.-Mary Elam, Forman Elementary School, Plano, TX Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly Review: McKissack draws from her childhood in Nashville for this instructive picture book. "I don't know if I'm ready to turn you loose in the world," Mama Frances tells her granddaughter when she asks if she can go by herself to "Someplace Special" (the destination remains unidentified until the end of the story). 'Tricia Ann does obtain permission, and begins a bittersweet journey downtown, her pride battered by the indignities of Jim Crow laws. She's ejected from a hotel lobby and snubbed as she walks by a movie theater ("Colored people can't come in the front door," she hears a girl explaining to her brother. "They got to go 'round back and sit up in the Buzzard's Roost"). She almost gives up, but, buoyed by the encouragement of adult acquaintances ("Carry yo'self proud," one of her grandmother's friends tells her from the Colored section on the bus), she finally arrives at Someplace Special—a place Mama Frances calls "a doorway to freedom"—the public library. An afterword explains McKissack's connection to the tale, and by putting such a personal face on segregation she makes its injustices painfully real for her audience. Pinkney's (previously paired with McKissack for Mirandy and Brother Wind) luminescent watercolors evoke the '50s, from fashions to finned cars, and he captures every ounce of 'Tricia Ann's eagerness, humiliation and quiet triumph at the end. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
— Staff (Reviewed August 6, 2001) (Publishers Weekly, vol 248, issue 32, p89)

Kirkus Reviews In a story that will endear itself to children's librarians and, for that matter, all library lovers, 'Tricia Ann begs her grandmother to be allowed to go alone to Someplace Special. Mama Frances acquiesces, sending her off with instructions: " 'And no matter what, hold yo' head up and act like you b'long to somebody.' " 'Tricia Ann's special place is not revealed until the end, but on the way there, the humiliating racism she encounters on the city bus, in the park, and in a downtown hotel almost causes her to give up. " 'Getting to Someplace Special isn't worth it,' she sobbed." When she recalls her grandmother's words: " 'You are somebody, a human being—no better, no worse than anybody else in this world,' " she regains the determination to continue her journey, in spite of blatant segregation and harsh Jim Crow laws. " Public Library: All Are Welcome" reads the sign above the front door of Someplace Special; Mama Frances calls it "a doorway to freedom." Every plot element contributes to the theme, leaving McKissack's autobiographical work open to charges of didacticism. But no one can argue with its main themes: segregation is bad, learning and libraries are good. Pinkney's trademark watercolors teem with realistically drawn people, lush city scenes, and a spunky main character whose turquoise dress, enlivened with yellow flowers and trim, jumps out of every picture. A lengthy author's endnote fills in the background for adults on McKissack's childhood experiences with the Nashville Public Library. This library quietly integrated all of its facilities in the late 1950s, and provided her with the story's inspiration. A natural for group sharing; leave plenty of time for the questions and discussion that are sure to follow. (Picture book. 5-9)
(Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2001)



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1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> ALA Notable Children's Books -> 2002

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Award -> Illustrators category

3. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Parents' Choice Award -> Picture Books category -> 2001 -> Gold Awards

4. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Award -> Illustrators category

5. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Parents' Choice Award -> Picture Books category -> 2001 -> Gold Awards

6. Picture Book Extender - The Other Side

7. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best

8. Teaching with Fiction - Fiction from the 50 States: Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina

9. Teaching with Fiction - 'It's Not Fair!' Picture Books About Equality, Justice and Fairness


Author Web Sites:
1. About Pat McKissack : Features a biography of the author and details on selected books.


Other Contributors:
Pinkney, Jerry: ill

Other titles associated with this book:
Someplace special
Going someplace special


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0689818858 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 116924

Hot day on Abbott Avenue
by Karen English ; illustrated by Javaka Steptoe

Author: English, Karen

After having a fight, two friends spend the day ignoring each other, until the lure of a game of jump rope helps them to forget about being mad.


New York: Clarion Books, 2004, 32 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review: K-Gr. 2. Hot Day is the story of two girls having a “never-going-to-be-friends-again day.” Mired in stubborn silence on a hot summer day, Kishi and Renee refuse to do anything together--not even when Mr. Paul asks for help in his garden or when Miss Johnson suggests they make lemonade. The glue needed to put this duo back together comes in the form of a red-hot game of double-dutch, a siren’s song to the eager players. The day’s sleights are forgotten as the game kicks into high gear, one chant after another buoying the participants beyond the sticky temperatures. When the ice cream man comes around, a shared blue ice pop strengthens the bonds of friendship anew. English’s story is engaging in its own right, but it is Steptoe’s stunning, mixed-media illustrations that make the book soar like a champion jumper. Hopefully this summery charmer will prove the first of many collaborations between these two Coretta Scott King award winners.
-- Terry Glover (BookList, 07-01-2004, p1847)

School Library Journal Review: /* Starred Review */ PreS-Gr 3–Innovative illustrations add depth and texture to an evocative text. It's a sunny summer day, but close friends Kishi and Renιe are on the outs and stubbornly refuse to play together. Their tempers flare right along with the temperature, but eventually the sweltering midday heat subsides and both are lured from their porches by a vigorous game of double Dutch. By the time the ice-cream man turns the corner, all is forgiven and forgotten. Steptoe's found-object and cut-paper collages highlight facial features and depict oppressive summertime weather to perfection. The characters' full, pouting lips and clingy, perspiration-drenched clothes are made of sheer crepe paper; faces, eyelids, and limbs are cut from cardstock; and substantial twists of raffia and twine become jump ropes and dreadlocks. The images are busy without being cluttered. English's simple narrative consists mostly of two to three sentences per page and ends on a gratifying note. This book cheerfully illustrates the significance of a short memory in a lasting friendship.–Catherine Threadgill, Charleston County Public Library, SC (Reviewed July 1, 2004) (School Library Journal, vol 50, issue 7, p75)

Kirkus Reviews It's a hot day—it's also a "best-friend-breakup day." As Miss Johnson works her crossword puzzle and dozes, as Mr. Paul weeds his flower bed, Kishi and RenΙe remain resolutely apart: it appears that Kishi bought the very last blue ice pop, even though she knows that's RenΙe's favorite. It's a "never-speak-to-her-again-even-if-she-was-the-last-person-on-earth day." But then the siren song of jump-rope chanting calls and the girls are reunited in double-dutch—finding final resolution in one last, shared blue ice pop. English has childhood spats down pat, the apocalyptic sundering of a friendship miraculously healed by play. Steptoe's textured collage illustrations feature tissue-paper clothing over paper skin, all set against a background of rough wooden boards. He renders facial features in a highly naturalistic manner, with outsized lips and flat noses; it's an effect that may initially be off-putting for readers accustomed to smooth prettiness, but the total effect is both original and emotionally effective (particularly when the girls are squinty-mad, the ugliness of their emotions showing up clearly on their faces). The final scenes, of play and ice pops, are full of movement and energy and joy. "So good!" (Picture book. 5-8)
(Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2004)



Other related features:

1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> ALA Notable Children's Books -> 2005 -> Young Readers Category

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> School Library Journal Best Books -> 2004

3. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> School Library Journal Best Books -> 2004

4. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best

5. Teaching with Fiction - Making Amends: Apology and Forgiveness


Other Contributors:
Steptoe, Javaka, 1971-: illustrator

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0395985277 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20040820
• TID: 126322

Max found two sticks
Brian Pinkney

Author: Pinkney, Brian

Although he doesn't feel like talking, a young boy responds to questions by drumming on various objects, including a bucket, hat boxes, and garbage cans, echoing the city sounds around him.


New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, c1994, 1 v. (unpaged)

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, For the Young: /*STARRED REVIEW*/ Ages 4-8. Max makes music that imitates the sounds of the city around him and the rhythms within himself. Sitting on the steps of his house, the small boy finds two sticks and taps on his thighs; then he pats on Grandfather's window-washing bucket, and it's like light rain falling on the windows. When Mother comes home from shopping, he taps on her hatboxes and on his friends' soda bottles. He imagines the sound of a marching band in the clouds. On the neighborhood garbage cans he pounds out the sound of the subway thundering down the tracks. The text is a spare, rhythmic accompaniment to Pinkney's scratchboard illustrations of oil paint and gouache, which swirl and circle through the double-page spreads, filling them with energy and movement. The small solitary boy doesn't feel like talking, but his music communicates with the world. In a great climax, a marching band--just like the one he imagined--comes sweeping around the corner and the last drummer tosses Max his spare set of sticks. "Thanks," Max calls, and he doesn't miss a beat. ((Reviewed Apr. 1, 1994)) -- Hazel Rochman

School Library Journal Review: Gr 1-3-On a day when Max doesn't feel like talking to anyone, a strong breeze shakes two heavy twigs to the ground in front of his brownstone home. Picking them up, the young African-American boy begins to beat out a rhythm that imitates the sound of pigeons startled into flight. Soon he is tapping out the beat of everything around him-rain against the windows, the chiming of church bells, and the thundering sound of a train on its tracks. The snappy text reverberates with the rhythmic song of the city, and Pinkney's swirling, scratchboard-oil paintings have a music of their own. This is an effective depiction of the way in which self-expression takes on momentum, as Max's quiet introspection turns into an exuberant celebration of the world around him.-Anna DeWind, Milwaukee Public Library

Publishers Weekly Review: Max doesn't much feel like talking, so he lets his drumsticks (two twigs, actually) respond to questions and imitate the sounds of his city neighborhood--pigeons startled into flight, rain tapping against a window, a train thundering down the elevated track. By linking Max's "drums" to activities from each previous page (for example, his grandfather is seen washing windows on one page, and in the next, Max is drumming on the cleaning bucket), Pinkney unobtrusively tugs the story forward. The fluid lines of his distinctive scratchboard illustrations fairly swirl with energy, visually translating Max's joy in creating rhythm and sound (Pinkney is well suited to the task, having been a drummer since the age of eight). A serendipitous ending finds the drummer from a passing marching band tossing a spare set of real drumsticks to the delighted Max. Ages 4-8. Children's BOMC alternate. (Feb.)

Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ Sitting on his stoop near the end of a tidy block of row houses, Max seizes on a couple of sticks that blow from a tree and begins tapping: on his own thighs; on the bottom of Grandpa's window-washing bucket; on a hatbox his mother brings home, bottles, a garbage can. Unobtrusively, Pinkney slips in new information about Max's family in each spread, as the boy experiments creatively with what's at hand, imitates rhythms he hears ("the sound of pigeons, startled into flight," church bells, the wheels of the train where his father's a conductor). In a satisfying conclusion, the drummer in a passing band tosses Max his extra drumsticks. Pinkney's scratchboard illustrations, designed with a sure hand and overlaid with rich, subtle shades of sky blue, leaf green, and brick applied in free, painterly strokes, are superb; they vividly convey the imagination and vitality of this budding young musician. A perfect marriage of idea and art.
(Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 1994)



Other related features:

1. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best


Other titles associated with this book:
Two sticks
Stick drumming


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0671787764 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 113603

Mirandy and Brother Wind
by Patricia C. McKissack ; illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

Author: McKissack, Pat, 1944-

To win first prize in the Junior Cakewalk, Mirandy tries to capture the wind for her partner.


New York: Knopf, c1988, [32] p.

Reviews for this Title:
School Library Journal Review: PreS-Gr 3 Sultry watercolor washes in a realistic flowing style spread luxuriously and consistently over every two pages in this story set in the rural south. Young Mirandy wants to win her town's cakewalk jubilee, a festive dance contest. (According to the "Author's Note," this dance was "first introduced in America by slaves. . .and is rooted in Afro-American culture.") Everyone says that if she captures the Wind he will do her bidding, but nobody seems to know how to capture him. In the end, Mirandy does believe that she has captured Brother Wind, but she also proves that she is a true friend to clumsy Ezel. McKissack's sincere belief in the joy of living is delightfully translated into this story which concludes, "When Grandmama Beasley had seen Mirandy and Ezel turning and spinning, moving like shadows in the flickering candlelight, she'd thrown back her head, laughed, and said, `Them chullin' is dancing with the Wind!' " A captivating story, with a winning heroine, told in black dialect. Gratia Banta, Germantown Public Library, Ohio

Publishers Weekly Review: As a prefatory note explains, this picture book was inspired by a photo of the author's grandparents winning a cakewalk"a dance rooted in Afro-American culture"and her grandfather's boast that, in her dancing, his wife had captured the wind. In the book, Mirandy determines to catch Brother Wind and have him for her partner in the upcoming junior cakewalk. She tries a number of tactics springing from folk wisdom, and finally succeeds in trapping her prey in the barn. At the contest, Mirandy chooses to dance with her friend Ezelbut, with Brother Wind to do her bidding, the two friends win the cakewalk in style. Told in spirited dialect and rendered in lavish, sweeping watercolors, this provides an intriguing look at a time gone by. As a story, however, it proves somewhat disappointing. After the colorful description of cakewalking in the author's note and the anticipation created through Mirandy's own eagerness, the brief and rather static scenes portraying the dance itself are a letdown. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)

Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ When Ma Dear tells Mirandy that "whoever catch the Wind can make him do their bidding," Mirandy vows that she'll dance with the Wind at her first cakewalk. She tries one thing and then another to catch him--pepper to make him sneeze, the advice of the conjure woman--while scorning her friend Ezel as too clumsy to dance with. But when Orlinda makes fun of Ezel's dancing, Mirandy leaps to his defense and chooses him as her partner--and together they win the junior cakewalk with such style and grace that Grandmama says, "Them chullin' is dancing with the Wind!" As she did in Flossie and the Fox, McKissack has created in Mirandy a character full of vigor, humor, and imagination. Pinkney captures the liveliness of the story in his expansive paintings, dappled with impressionistic hues; these are prosperous, happy country folk of a few years ago (McKissack notes that her grandparents won a similar contest in this Afro-American dance in 1906). The half-imaginary wind is shown, top-hatted, in evanescent blues. An entertaining, unusual story.
(Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 1988)



Other related features:

1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> ALA Notable Children's Books -> 1989

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Caldecott Honor Books -> 1989

3. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Award -> Illustrators category

4. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Caldecott Honor Books -> 1989

5. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Award -> Illustrators category

6. Explore Fiction - Easy -> Explore Fiction -> Activities -> Artistic Activities -> Dancing

7. Explore Fiction - Easy -> Explore Fiction -> Places -> North America -> United States -> South

8. Features for Teachers - Wind Dramas

9. Picture Book Extender - When the Wind Stops

10. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best


Author Web Sites:
1. About Pat McKissack : Features a biography of the author and details on selected books.


Other Contributors:
Pinkney, Jerry: illus

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0394887654 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0394987659
0679883339 : Paperback - Juvenile
0613024230 : Prebind
0606108777 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0679826688 : Hardcover - Audio
0780768418 : Prebind


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 112637

When I am old with you
story by Angela Johnson ; pictures by David Soman

Author: Johnson, Angela, 1961-

A child imagines being old with Grandaddy and joining him in such activities as playing cards all day, visiting the ocean, and eating bacon on the porch.


New York: Orchard Books, c1990, [32] p.

Reviews for this Title:
School Library Journal Review: The bond between grandparent and grandchild transcends time, and sometimes transcends an adult's sense of logic, reaching a deeper level of truth. In this story, a small child imagines a future when he will be old with his Grandaddy and will sit beside him in a rocking chair and talk about everything. They will go fishing, drink cool water from a jug, and play cards "till the lightning bugs shine in the trees." The poignant reality that time will never allow these two to coexist at the same age is softened by the fact that they do not have to be the same age in order to share happy times. What the boy dreams of doing with his Grandaddy someday are the same things that they are doing now. This tender story is complemented by Soman's beautifully executed watercolors, which vibrate with life and love. The African-American child and grandfather are distinct individuals, yet also universal figures, recognizable to anyone who has ever shared the bond of family love across generations. --Anna DeWind, Milwaukee Public Library

Publishers Weekly Review: "When I am old with you, Grandaddy," says a small black child, "I will sit in a big rocking chair beside you and talk about everything." And he does, rushing and tripping through all the activities they share--walking on the beach, riding the tractor, visiting friends. As in Johnson and Soman's Tell Me a Story, Mama , the success of this serene book depends on its portrayal of the relationship between a child and an adult. Although the repeated line "when I am old with you" is unnecessarily coy, and the plotless text is somewhat static, the joy the two characters have in each other's company is richly evoked by Soman's vivid, burnished watercolors. Yellow halos of light surround the fireflies, a summer wind blows embroidered curtains through a farmhouse window, morning sun reflects on the water--but most beguiling are the faces of the child and his grandfather, which shine with warmth and love. Ages 4-7. (Aug.)

Kirkus Reviews The author and illustrator of Tell Me a Story, Mama (1989) collaborate on another portrait of a warm intergenerational relationship. Here, a little gift imagines what it will be like when she's as old as Grandaddy: they'll still be doing the same things together--fishing, exploring the attic, playing, or chatting in their old rockers. Younger listeners will respond to the affection between the two, even though they'll miss the gentle subtext as the child reassures her grandfather: "We won't be sad" when "we remember when this field was a forest"; "We can look at the old pictures. . .It might make us cry. . .but that's O.K." Older children should find the story a good opening for discussion of their concerns about aging. Soman's watercolors are lovely, his people sensitively characterized, his settings deftly suggested with watery strokes. Only the cartoonish style used to depict the incidental animals strikes a discordant note. A pleasant, thoughtful addition to the books about African-Americans, and grand. parents.
(Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 1990)



Other related features:

1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> ALA Notable Children's Books -> 1991

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Honor Books -> Authors category -> 1991

3. Awards (Best Fiction) - Young Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Honor Books -> Authors category -> 1991

4. Explore Fiction - Easy -> Explore Fiction -> Family -> Extended Families -> Grandfathers

5. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best

6. Teaching with Fiction - Learning the Knowledge of the Elders -- Intergenerational Stories


Author Web Sites:
1. About Angela Johnson : A short biography of the author and description of her books.


Other Contributors:
Soman, David: illus

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0531058840 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0531084841
0531070352 : Paperback - Juvenile
0606056963 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0613377958 : Prebind
0780732960 : Prebind


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 111048

Working cotton
written by Sherley Anne Williams ; illustrated by Carole Byard

Author: Williams, Sherley Anne, 1944-1999

A young black girl relates the daily events of her family's migrant life in the cotton fields of central California.


San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, c1992, 1 v. (unpaged)

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, For the Young: /*STARRED REVIEW*/ Ages 4 and up. "The rows of cotton stretch as far as I can see." The voice is that of Shelan, a migrant child laborer in the cotton fields of central California, and the words hold both physical reality and bitter metaphor. She tells of a long day of work with her family--from the cold smoky dawn to night. Byard's double-page acrylic paintings set the soft whiteness of the cotton crop against landscapes and portraits of glowing color, and the sense of beauty and space underlines the child's confinement. The text, based on Williams' Peacock Poems (a National Book Award nominee), is spare, colloquial, and immediate, a way of life concentrated in a single day. The family is warm, but friendship is fleeting when "you hardly ever see the same kids twice, 'specially after we moves to a new field.'" There's no self-pity or squalor, and no false nobility either, but rather a sense of bone-weariness and lost potential and no end in sight: "It's a long time to night." Williams says in a note that she drew on her childhood experience in the cotton fields of Fresno: her book speaks for children everywhere at work far from home. With its restrained, poetic text and impressionist paintings, this is a picture book for older readers, too. ((Reviewed Sept. 1, 1992)) -- Hazel Rochman

Publishers Weekly Review: A hot, arduous and typical day in the life of a family of migrant cotton pickers is the subject of Williams's striking first picture book. Shelan describes how her parents, brothers and sisters arrive at the cottonfields before dawn and toil till night to fill sacks with the fluffy white harvest. At times both gritty and poetic, Williams's text is written completely in Shelan's dialect. Though the phrasing may require careful reading, it adds a necessary authenticity to the story while presenting a difficult way of life. However, the author does not pass a negative judgment here: her characters play, sing and admire nature--when they have the chance. Bayard's intense acrylic paintings capture the beauty of the California landscape as well as the intensity of human struggle--thoughtfully reflected in her cast's sweaty faces. Vast fields of white cotton tufts against an endless blue sky create an appropriate sense of isolation. Though some may object to the portrayal of African Americans picking cotton, Shelan's family is to be respected for embracing life and doing whatever it takes to make their way in the world. An auspicious debut. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Kirkus Reviews We gets to the fields early, before it's even light. Sometimes I still be asleep." In grave cadences, young Shelan describes a day of picking with her migrant family. In one of Byard's powerful, impressionistic acrylics (repeated on the jacket), Shelan stares penetratingly at readers as she Mumps wearily amid pries of cotton; otherwise, the figures here are stooped, shadowy, tragically impersonal images with lowered eyes. The artist and poet (the text is reworked from two of Williams's Peacock Poems, 1975) effectively capture a strong sense of family, of exhaustion at day's end, and, most poignantly, Shelan's isolation--children she meets in one field are generally gone by the next, and there seems to be no life for her or her family beyond their work. A brief, deeply felt portrait.
(Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 1992)



Other related features:

1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Caldecott Honor Books -> 1993

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Honor Books -> Illustrators category -> 1993

3. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Caldecott Honor Books -> 1993

4. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Honor Books -> Illustrators category -> 1993

5. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best


Other Contributors:
Byard, Carole M., 1941-: ill

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0152996249 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0152014829 : Paperback - Juvenile
0606121145 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
061302351X : Prebind
0780768647 : Prebind


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 116221

Bud, not Buddy
Christopher Paul Curtis

Author: Curtis, Christopher Paul

Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.


New York: Delacorte Press, c1999, 245 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 4-6. Bud, 10, is on the run from the orphanage and from yet another mean foster family. His mother died when he was 6, and he wants to find his father. Set in Michigan during the Great Depression, this is an Oliver Twist kind of foundling story, but it's told with affectionate comedy, like the first part of Curtis' The Watsons Go to Birmingham (1995). On his journey, Bud finds danger and violence (most of it treated as farce), but more often, he finds kindness--in the food line, in the library, in the Hooverville squatter camp, on the road--until he discovers who he is and where he belongs. Told in the boy's naive, desperate voice, with lots of examples of his survival tactics ("Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar out of Yourself"), this will make a great read-aloud. Curtis says in an afterword that some of the characters are based on real people, including his own grandfathers, so it's not surprising that the rich blend of tall tale, slapstick, sorrow, and sweetness has the wry, teasing warmth of family folklore. ((Reviewed September 1, 1999)) -- Hazel Rochman

School Library Journal Review: Gr 4-7-When 10-year-old Bud Caldwell runs away from his new foster home, he realizes he has nowhere to go but to search for the father he has never known: a legendary jazz musician advertised on some old posters his deceased mother had kept. A friendly stranger picks him up on the road in the middle of the night and deposits him in Grand Rapids, MI, with Herman E. Calloway and his jazz band, but the man Bud was convinced was his father turns out to be old, cold, and cantankerous. Luckily, the band members are more welcoming; they take him in, put him to work, and begin to teach him to play an instrument. In a Victorian ending, Bud uses the rocks he has treasured from his childhood to prove his surprising relationship with Mr. Calloway. The lively humor contrasts with the grim details of the Depression-era setting and the particular difficulties faced by African Americans at that time. Bud is a plucky, engaging protagonist. Other characters are exaggerations: the good ones (the librarian and Pullman car porter who help him on his journey and the band members who embrace him) are totally open and supportive, while the villainous foster family finds particularly imaginative ways to torture their charge. However, readers will be so caught up in the adventure that they won't mind. Curtis has given a fresh, new look to a traditional orphan-finds-a-home story that would be a crackerjack read-aloud.-Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly Review: As in his Newbery Honor-winning debut, The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963, Curtis draws on a remarkable and disarming mix of comedy and pathos, this time to describe the travails and adventures of a 10-year-old African-American orphan in Depression-era Michigan. Bud is fed up with the cruel treatment he has received at various foster homes, and after being locked up for the night in a shed with a swarm of angry hornets, he decides to run away. His goal: to reach the man he--on the flimsiest of evidence--believes to be his father, jazz musician Herman E. Calloway. Relying on his own ingenuity and good luck, Bud makes it to Grand Rapids, where his "father" owns a club. Calloway, who is much older and grouchier than Bud imagined, is none too thrilled to meet a boy claiming to be his long-lost son. It is the other members of his band--Steady Eddie, Mr. Jimmy, Doug the Thug, Doo-Doo Bug Cross, Dirty Deed Breed and motherly Miss Thomas--who make Bud feel like he has finally arrived home. While the grim conditions of the times and the harshness of Bud's circumstances are authentically depicted, Curtis shines on them an aura of hope and optimism. And even when he sets up a daunting scenario, he makes readers laugh--for example, mopping floors for the rejecting Calloway, Bud pretends the mop is "that underwater boat in the book Momma read to me, Twenty Thousand Leaks Under the Sea." Bud's journey, punctuated by Dickensian twists in plot and enlivened by a host of memorable personalities, will keep readers engrossed from first page to last. Ages 9-12. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal Review: Gr 4-7-Motherless Bud shares his amusingly astute rules of life as he hits the road to find the jazz musician he believes is his father. A medley of characters brings Depression-era Michigan to life. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.



Features about this author or title:

1. BookTalk - Bud, Not Buddy


Other related features:

1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> ALA Notable Children's Books -> 2000

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Award -> Authors category

3. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> International Reading Association Children's Book Award -> Older Readers (winners prior to 2002)

4. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> New York Times Notable Books -> Children's Books -> 1999

5. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Newbery Medal

6. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Oprah's Kids' Reading List -> 9-to-12 Years

7. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Parents' Choice Award -> Story Books category -> 1999 -> Gold Awards

8. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Prairie Pasque Children's Book Award (South Dakota)

9. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> School Library Journal Best Books -> 1999

10. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> William Allen White Children's Book Award (Kansas) -> Sixth-Eighth Grade Winners

11. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Young Reader's Choice Award (Pacific Northwest) -> Junior

12. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> School Library Journal Best Books -> 1999

13. Awards (Best Fiction) - Young Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Award -> Authors category

14. Awards (Best Fiction) - Young Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> International Reading Association Children's Book Award -> Older Readers (winners prior to 2002)

15. Awards (Best Fiction) - Young Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> New York Times Notable Books -> Children's Books -> 1999

16. Awards (Best Fiction) - Young Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Parents' Choice Award -> Story Books category -> 1999 -> Gold Awards

17. Awards (Best Fiction) - Young Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> William Allen White Children's Book Award (Kansas) -> Sixth-Eighth Grade Winners

18. Awards (Best Fiction) - Young Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> YALSA Best Books for Young Adults -> 2000

19. Book Discussion Guide - The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963

20. Explore Fiction - Young Adult -> Explore Fiction -> Contemporary -> Music

21. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best

22. Teaching with Fiction - Fathers in Fiction


Author Web Sites:
1. Fan Site for Christopher Paul Curtis : Features author, book, and award information, plus pictures.


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0385323069 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0440413281 : Paperback - Mass Market
0553526758 : Cassette - Audio
0553494104 : Paperback - Mass Market
080728209X : Cassette - Audio
0786225742 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0807204781 : CD - Audio
0613367839 : Glued Binding
0606229558 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0756909996 : Glued Binding
0807205028 : CD - Audio
0739331795 : CD - Audio
1404618848 : Hardcover - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 088174

Dream bearer, The
Walter Dean Myers

Author: Myers, Walter Dean, 1937-

During a summer in Harlem, David relies on his mother and a close friend and on an old man he meets in the park to help him come to terms with his father's outbursts and unstable behavior.


New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins/Amistad, c2003, 180 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review: Gr. 5-8. Growing up in Harlem, 12-year-old David manages to keep his wits about him and his heart in the right place as he copes with his father, who is depressed and sometimes violent, and his older brother, who is hanging out with a dangerous crowd. After befriending Mr. Moses, an old man who speaks of himself as a dream bearer, David begins to hear stories that reflect the African American experience over the centuries. In the end, he finds that he not only has made Mr. Moses’ dreams part of himself but also has his own dreams to help him understand those around him. The portrayal of David’s family, particularly his relationship with his troubled father, is sharply realized and sometimes moving, and the Kenyan immigrant family of David’s friend, Sessi, introduces a fresh point of view. Narrated by David, this well-crafted novel has some original characters and insights.
(Reviewed July 1, 2003) -- Carolyn Phelan

School Library Journal Review: Gr 5-8–While shooting hoops in his Harlem neighborhood with his friend Loren, 12-year-old David Curry befriends an ancient, shamanlike gentleman named Moses Littlejohn. Claiming to be a 300-year-old dream bearer–one who harnesses and preserves human dreams–Mr. Moses slowly imparts his dreams with exciting storytelling finesse to the boys, eventually helping David cope with his abusive father and older brother's descent into gangs and drug dealing. The story admirably addresses the many facets of anger and forgiveness within the African-American community, making it potentially compelling as a politically driven children's novel. However, unlike Myers's Monster (HarperCollins, 1999) and other previous works, the seams between political agenda and storytelling become more visible, and the author's ability to intertwine plot and message loses its subtlety as lengthy emotional outbursts break the otherwise intriguing action into bits and pieces. As a result, this stop/start style will most likely distract and frustrate younger readers from grasping Myers's overall picture. Still, the book says much about the importance of forgiveness and understanding in the world today, and for that reason, librarians will want to have a copy on their shelves even though its demand won't reach the heights of Myers's classics.–Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library (Reviewed June 1, 2003) (School Library Journal, vol 49, issue 6, p146)

Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ A mysterious stranger is hanging around David Curry's Harlem playground. Moses Littlejohn is an African-American man with white hair, a stubbly beard, baggy clothes, and a faraway look in his eyes that makes him look like the picture of the Ancient Mariner in David's school textbook. Moses says he's 303 years old and has been carrying dreams for hundreds of years, now looking for someone to pass them onto. David is not so sure about this, but he does feel there is something about this old man and his dreams that helps him make sense of his own life with a violent father who seems crazy, an older brother flirting with street life, and a mother trying to hold her family together. This quiet, subtle story works on a number of layers with several themes—dreams, visions, home, community, and manhood. Moses's dreams offer no easy solutions to David's problems, but they become part of him, add to his knowledge, strength, and understanding, and nudge him toward a renewed relationship with his father and an appreciation of the danger and the magic of Harlem. (Fiction. 10+)
(Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2003)



Features about this author or title:

1. Annotated Book List - A Place Within Myself: Walter Dean Myers and the Fiction of Harlem Youth


Other related features:

1. Annotated Book List - A Place Within Myself: Walter Dean Myers and the Fiction of Harlem Youth

2. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best


Author Web Sites:
1. About Walter Dean Myers : Features author-supplied biographical information and an interview.


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
006029521X : Hardcover - Juvenile
0060295228
0064472892 : Paperback - Juvenile
0060542772 : Cassette - Audio
078625923X : Hardcover - Juvenile
0606326359 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0756932424 : Glued Binding


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20040620
• TID: 124746

I've already forgotten your name, Philip Hall!
Bette Greene ; pictures by Leonard Jenkins

Author: Greene, Bette, 1934-

Beth Lambert, a teenaged girl who lives in the small town of Pocahantas, Arkansas, experiences the ups and downs of friendship with members of the Pretty Penny Club and best friend Philip Hall.


New York: HarperCollins, c2004, 167 p.
Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review: Gr. 4-7. Children familiar with Get On Out of Here, Philip Hall (1981) and other books about Beth Lambert and her warm African American family and friends in Pocahontas, Arkansas, will want this latest story. As usual, her sassy first-person narrative reports on the wild farce and earth-shattering misunderstandings among her friends and neighbors, as well as on her slowly budding romance with gorgeous Philip Hall. The cast is huge, and all the references to past events will confuse those new to the series. But fans will recognize the folksy blend of sweetness and meanness, and they will enjoy the quarrels, lies, insults, and cover-ups that climax in an intense arm-wrestling competition between two people whom Beth loves: her granny and Philip Hall. Guess who gets the prize? Jenkins' occasional black-and-white sketches capture the fun.
-- Hazel Rochman (BookList, 05-01-2004, p1559)

School Library Journal Review: Gr 4-7–Fans of the earlier titles in the series will enjoy this lighthearted look at Beth Lambert's further trials and tribulations in small-town Arkansas. She must smooth things out when she and her friend Philip Hall have a falling out and deal with the Pretty Penny club members, who are angry at their new president and want her back as their leader. Diplomatic Beth, somewhat tempered by experience, encourages them to work things out. She has more important fish to fry, like solving the mystery of who stole poor Baby Beth, her brother Luther's prize-winning singing pig. While "every able-bodied man in Pocahontas" is searching for Gorilla Man, the monster of the mountain, the savvy sleuth teams up with Philip Hall for some fancy detective work. These ludicrous dramas culminate in a misguided arm-wrestling contest between Walnut Ridge and Pocahontas, in which poor Philip must wrestle Beth's grandmother for the grand prize, and the old lady surprises everyone with her unmatched strength. Readers new to the series may find references to past adventures confusing or off-putting, but those familiar with the characters may enjoy Beth's latest escapades.–Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools (Reviewed March 1, 2004) (School Library Journal, vol 50, issue 3, p212)

Kirkus Reviews Pre-teenagers Beth Lambert and Philip Hall were first introduced to readers in the 1970s. Now there is a nostalgic small-town feel as the two deal with the ins and outs of their friendship. Beth's friends in the Walnut Ridge Irritated Oysters club reluctantly bid her goodbye as she returns from her grandparents' home to her good ole hometown of Pocahontas, Arkansas. A little jealousy and curiosity come between the two and before Beth knows it, Philip is preparing to arm-wrestle a non-existent foe from Walnut Ridge. When the town's mayor issues a challenge to the mayor of Walnut Ridge to send the foe or any arm-wrestler who is better, Mama Regina (Beth's grandmother) arrives in town, and after much drama, the townspeople reluctantly match her up with the town's champion: Philip Hall. The climax is predictable and the drama contrived. Only a few readers will find the setting or events credible—even if viewed in a historical context. (Fiction. 8-10)
(Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2004)



Other related features:

1. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best

2. Teaching with Fiction - Fiction from the 50 States: Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi


Other Contributors:
Jenkins, Leonard: illustrator

Other titles associated with this book:
I have already forgotten your name, Philip Hall!
I have already forgotten your name, Philip Hall!


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0060518359 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0060518367


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20040620
• TID: 124967

Red rose box, The
by Brenda Woods

Author: Woods, Brenda (Brenda A.)

In 1953, Leah Hopper dreams of leaving the poverty and segregation of her home in Sulphur, Louisiana, and when Aunt Olivia sends train tickets to Los Angeles as part of her tenth birthday present, Leah gets a first taste of freedom.


New York: Putnam, 2002, 136 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review: Gr. 5-8. “This is your box of femininity,” reads 10-year-old Leah when a rose-patterned case arrives on her birthday. Along with silk and jewelry, there are train tickets for Leah, younger sister Ruth, and their mother to travel from Sulphur, Louisiana, to Los Angeles, to visit long-estranged Aunt Olivia. It’s 1953, and Leah is amazed by California. There are no Jim Crow laws, and Aunt Olivia and her husband live in a home as luxurious as the rose box. Still, Leah misses what’s familiar. Later, when the girls visit their aunt and uncle on their own, a tragic event takes their home and their parents, and the girls move permanently to Los Angeles. In language made musical with southern phrases, this first novel shapes the era and characters with both well-chosen particulars and universal emotions. Some of the transitions between events feel too brief, and the tragedy is heavily foreshadowed. But young readers will connect with Leah and feel her difficult pull between freedom, comfort, and her deeply felt roots.
(Reviewed June 1, 2002) -- Gillian Engberg

School Library Journal Review: Gr 4-6–Leah Hopper and her younger sister, Ruth, live in segregated rural Louisiana in the early 1950s. For her 10th birthday, the older girl receives a traveling case–a "red rose box"–from her mother's wealthy sister. Among other treasures, it contains train tickets for a family visit in Los Angeles. A long-lasting rift between Aunt Olivia and the children's mother is finally mended during the reunion. In L.A. there is no sign of the racial prejudice that the Hoppers are so accustomed to as a black family in the South, and the girls reluctantly return home. Later, during a trip to New York City with Aunt Olivia and Uncle Bill, they feel the same way, and then a hurricane strikes their hometown, killing their parents. With this devastating loss, the sisters realize that riches and comforts cannot substitute for the kind of family life they had. This is a bittersweet story with good descriptions of settings; a skillful use of figurative language; and well-realized, believable characters. Ruth is the embodiment of a sassy eight-year-old and the adults are genuine, loving, and supportive. The one false note is the portrayal of race relations as near perfect outside the South. This story of grief and loss ends on a hopeful note and will appeal to readers.–Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC (Reviewed June 1, 2002) (School Library Journal, vol 48, issue 6, p149)

Publishers Weekly Review: Woods's moving first novel opens in sleepy Sulphur, La., in June 1953, when Leah receives a 10th birthday present from her estranged aunt in Los Angeles: a traveling case covered with red roses. The gift holds treasures the likes of which Leah has never seen: costume jewelry, a pink silk bed jacket ("like what rich white women wears b'fore bed at night," her grandmother tells Leah and her sister), pink satin slippers, nail polish, lipstick. A letter of apology from Leah's aunt to Leah's mother occasions a visit to L.A. with her mother, grandmother and younger sister, and Leah revels in the luxuries of her aunt's privileged world, a stark contrast to the subsistent lifestyle the child knows. Exposure to the freedom from segregation that exists south of the Mason-Dixon line also makes a dramatic impression on the heroine. After the girls' parents perish in a hurricane and the siblings move into the elegant home of kind Olivia and her husband, the youngsters want for nothing. Yet Leah's thoughts of her parents and past haunt her constantly: "It felt like I was a million miles from Sulphur and crayfish, cotton fields and hand-me-down clothes, a one-room schoolhouse, segregation, and Jim Crow. But I knew one thing. I knew that I would gladly give up this new comfort and freedom to be in my mama's arms, to feel the tenderness in my daddy's touch one more time." Though the repetition of similar reflections occasionally slackens the pace of Woods's narrative, she creates some memorable characters, especially Leah, and probes historical events in a personal context that may open many readers' eyes. Ages 10-up. (May)
— Staff (Reviewed May 20, 2002) (Publishers Weekly, vol 249, issue 20, p66)

Kirkus Reviews Leah Hopper lives in tiny Sulphur, Louisiana, at a time when Jim Crow laws reign supreme. But she dreams of becoming a teacher, and although she is nurtured by a tender, loving family, she knows that this dream might be unattainable if she remains in the South. She gets a first glimpse of the world beyond via a family visit to her well-to-do Aunt Olivia in glamorous Los Angeles, where her eyes are opened to the possibilities of freedom. While accompanying their aunt on a trip to New York, Leah and her younger sister Rose hear the terrible news that a deadly hurricane has struck Sulphur, killing both their parents, as well as many friends and neighbors. The sisters must begin new lives in California while dealing with their devastating loss. Woods allows Leah to tell her own story, using the language with which she is most comfortable. Her dialect and syntax change, and she carefully corrects herself as she gains more education and experience. She sees clearly and notices everything. She paints a picture of every character down to the exact skin shade and hairstyle. Her power of description is so strong that the reader feels the searing heat and poverty of rural Louisiana and her amazement at the startling richness and openness of California. She shares her grief and guilt over her belief that her parents' death has allowed her to escape from poverty and racism. This is a work that beautifully and accurately evokes a particularly painful and hopeful time through an insider's eyes, and yet it is also a timeless, universal tale of a young girl's road to maturity. An impressive debut. (Fiction. 10-14)
(Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2002)



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3. Explore Fiction - Young Adult -> Explore Fiction -> Contemporary -> Growing Up Brave

4. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
039923702X : Hardcover - Juvenile
0142501514 : Paperback - Juvenile
0606296581 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0613878221 : Glued Binding
0756929377 : Glued Binding


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
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• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
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• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20020720
• TID: 082002

Roll of thunder, hear my cry
Mildred D. Taylor ; frontispiece by Jerry Pinkney

Author: Taylor, Mildred D.

A Black family living in the South during the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which their children don't understand.


New York: Dial Press, c1976, 276 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Kirkus Reviews At first Cassie Logan and her brothers, a year or so older than they were in the much briefer, gong of the Trees, (1975) are only dimly aware of rumors that two men have been killed and one badly burned by a white mob. Then Mary, their mother, tries to organize a boycott against the Wallaces, the local storeowners and instigators of the violence, and Logan land and lives are put on the line. Cassie's own spirit is demonstrated straight off, on the first day of the school year, when she refuses to accept a schoolbook labeled "condition--very poor, race of student--nigra." Like her parents, Cassie learns that she must pick her shots carefully to survive, and she takes pains to learn a few blackmail-level secrets from her special tormentor, Miz Lillian Jean, before giving the older girl a good thrashing. Tragically though, brother Stacey's friend T.J. who isn't so careful, starts hanging around with the Wallace boys and winds up facing a lynch mob after they talk him into helping them rob a store. Although the Logans, whose ownership of desirable farmland has made them a target of white persecution, live in a virtual state of siege, and even after Papa sets fire to his own cotton to divert the attention of the mob from T.J., the story ends unmelodramatically not far from where it began--after a string of hard-fought victories and as many bitter defeats and with the money for the next tax payment on the land still not in sight. Taylor trusts to her material and doesn't try to inflate Cassie's role in these events, and though the strong, clear-headed Logan family is no doubt an idealization, their characters are drawn with quiet affection and their actions tempered with a keen sense of human fallibility.
(Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 1976)



Features about this author or title:

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Other titles associated with this book:
Hear my cry
Thunder roll, hear my cry


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
014034893X : Paperback - Juvenile
0140384510 : Paperback - Juvenile
0803726473 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0142401129 : Paperback - Juvenile
0803774737 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0807206210 : Cassette - Audio
0881030430 : Glued Binding
0140862943 : Cassette - Audio
1557344396 : Paperback - Reference
0606118071 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0307281728 : CD - Audio
0606007202 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
014131186X : Paperback - Juvenile
0821919857 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0807206229 : Cassette - Audio
0394667913 : Cassette - Audio
1581180578 : Hardcover - Large Print
1557361401 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0553244027 : Paperback - Juvenile
0613883519 : Glued Binding


Credits:
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• Baker & Taylor
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• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 080953


Sahara Special
Esme Raji Codell

Author: Codell, Esme Raji, 1968-

Struggling with school and her feelings since her father left, Sahara gets a fresh start with a new and unique teacher who supports her writing talents and the individuality of each of her classmates.


New York: Hyperion Books For Children, c2003, 175 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review: Gr. 4-6. Codell, author of an award-winning adult nonfiction book, Educating Esme (1999), about teaching in an inner-city Chicago school, brings her experience to bear in this debut novel. Sahara is a quiet, self-conscious kid, who misses her absentee father and can’t seem to fit in at school. When her poor school performance and letters to Dad she’s hidden in her desk come to light, she’s put in Special Needs, an experience so dreadful that her mother pulls her out for another crack at fifth grade. As it turns out, her new teacher is just what she needs to build confidence and set her on a path to becoming a writer. It’s meant to be Sahara’s story, but it’s her teacher, “Ms. Pointy,” who takes over. Pointy’s audacious, yet caring, demeanor and her undisguised disdain of educational bureaucracy will be a revelation to kids, who will see narrator Sahara as a sympathetic, but pale, second stringer. Codell works in wonderful metaphors and important life lessons, but that’s not always enough to carry the peripatetic goings on, which come across as two parts message and one part story. An upbeat and certainly well-intentioned novel, but flawed.
(Reviewed April 1, 2003) -- Stephanie Zvirin

School Library Journal Review: Gr 3-6?In this delightful first novel, readers meet Sahara Jones in the school hallway, where she's been pulled out of class for sessions with the Special Needs teacher. It seems that Sahara's official school file is filled with her letters to her father, who had left the family, instead of her completed assignments. Sahara is a secretive writer; she fills her journal at home, then rips out the pages and stuffs them on the public library shelves behind the 940s for someone to discover someday. At her mother's insistence, the girl is taken out of the Special Needs program but is forced to repeat fifth grade. Enter a new teacher, Madame Poitier, who encourages her class to do, to write, to be, as never before. Sahara is sweeter than Harriet the Spy, as needy and engaging as Ramona, and is sure to be a character whom children will want to read about and get to know. Codell's take on fifth graders, teachers, Special Needs students, and mothers is very funny, and underneath the humor glows real warmth and love. A special novel that readers will not be able to put down.?Linda Beck, Indian Valley Public Library, Telford, PA (Reviewed July 1, 2003) (School Library Journal, vol 49, issue 7, p124)



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ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0786807938 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0786816112
0786826274 : Library binding - Juvenile
0807217212 : Cassette - Audio
0756943302 : Glued Binding


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• TID: 121549

Some friend
Marie Bradby

Author: Bradby, Marie

In 1963, Pearl, an eleven-year-old black girl in Fairfax, Virginia, learns about the real nature of friendship from the popular but untrustworthy Lenore, and Artemesia, a poor girl who moves into the neighborhood for a brief time.


New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2004, 245 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review: Gr. 4-8. Growing up in Fairfax, Virginia, in the early 1960s, 11-year-old African American Pearl is vaguely aware of prejudice around her, and she’s jealous that her older brother gets to go with Daddy to the March on Washington. Her focus, however, is really on family and friends. She wants to hang out with Lenore and the cool girls, who know about clothes and stuff and who take her to the recently integrated roller rink. They jeer at the new migrant worker kid, Artemisia, who wears Goodwill clothes and helps her mom clean houses at night. Pearl really likes Artemisia, who is a gifted artist and dancer, and they have fun together, but when the girls taunt the newcomer and beat her up, Pearl does nothing, to her everlasting shame. Artemisia is too good, especially in contrast with the demonized, privileged Lenore, but Pearl’s first-person narrative is absolutely true to the viewpoint of the child, suddenly forced to confront issues of loyalty and betrayal. The bullying is a dramatic way to show the politics of class and prejudice, then and now.
-- Hazel Rochman (BookList, 02-15-2004, p1073)

School Library Journal Review: Gr 4-7–A somewhat predictable but affecting coming-of-age story about the consequences of hanging out with the "wrong crowd." Set in 1960s Maryland, against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, the story centers on an 11-year-old African-American girl who is desperate to find a friend. Exactly why Pearl is friendless isn't quite clear, because she comes across as a thoughtful and intelligent child. She is thrilled when beautiful and popular Lenore starts including her in social activities, even if Lenore manipulates her into lying and wearing too much makeup. Pearl also wants to be friends with Artemesia, who's talented and interesting and introduces her to wondrous things like art. But Artemesia also happens to be poor, and that doesn't sit well with Lenore and her crowd. They label Artemesia a "creepy girl" and worse. Pearl knows they're wrong, but isn't brave enough to stand up for her. During the climactic confrontation, Pearl watches helplessly as Artemesia is cruelly attacked by the popular girls. The following day, she discovers that Artemesia has left town for good. Pearl is left to ponder the consequences of her inaction, and mourn the loss of the one person who truly was her friend.–Ronni Krasnow, New York Public Library (Reviewed March 1, 2004) (School Library Journal, vol 50, issue 3, p203)

Kirkus Reviews Finding a friend can be hard when there are few kids in your neighborhood, but being a friend can be even harder. Feeling ignored by her family as the next-to-last of four children, fifth-grader Pearl Jordan is thrilled when boy-crazy, daring Lenore pals up with her. Grounded by her strict mother because of Lenore, Pearl befriends Artemesia, a poor girl from a migrant working family, whose drawing talent turns out to be amazing. When Lenore and chums make fun of Artemesia and physically attack her, Pearl doesn't defend her, only to discover later that her true friend has moved again. Set in the early 1960s, when American Bandstand, Chatty Cathys, 45 records, and pay toilets were in vogue and segregation prevailed, Brady weaves the issue of integration throughout, e.g., Pearl's family is "colored" and her father and brother march to hear Martin Luther King. A sensitive, realistic portrayal told in first person of a girl's tough lesson about the meaning of friendship. (Fiction. 9-12)
(Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2003)



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1. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0689856156 : Hardcover - Juvenile


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• Baker & Taylor
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• Added to NoveList: 20040620
• TID: 124889

Trouble don't last
by Shelley Pearsall

Author: Pearsall, Shelley

Samuel, an eleven-year-old Kentucky slave, and Harrison, the elderly slave who helped raise him, attempt to escape to Canada via the Underground Railroad.


New York: Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 2002, 160 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review: /*Starred Review*/ Gr. 5-10. Far from the romantic Underground Railroad stories about brave abolitionists and hide-and-seek adventure, this powerful historical novel is harsh and realistic, not only about the brutal effects of slavery that the runaways carry with them forever but also about the prejudice and hardship they encounter on their journey to freedom. First-novelist Pearsall is a museum historian in Ohio and her astonishing story is based on fact. Her runaway heroes are brave and determined to save each other; they’re also rough, mean, and frightened. The conductors aren’t saints: some are scared runaways and their help is often limited. The patrollers are always close. The story is told by Samuel, 11, who is forced to run with Harrison, an old slave, from the Kentucky plantation to Ohio in 1859, and finally to freedom in Canada. Harrison hates taking orders, even from the conductors, and Samuel rages at having to disguise himself as a girl. Yet when they find shelter with caring people, Samuel says with simple eloquence that his words of thanks are too small and what he wants to say is too big. This is a thrilling escape story, right until the very last chapter, but always there’s the memory of daily life under slavery and the anguish of family separation. Samuel’s mother was sold off when he was a baby: will he ever see her again?
(Reviewed February 1, 2002) -- Hazel Rochman

School Library Journal Review: Gr 5-8–Strong characters and an inventive, suspenseful plot distinguish Pearsall's first novel, a story of the Underground Railroad in 1859. Samuel, the 11-year-old slave who narrates the story, is awakened by 70-year-old Harrison, who has decided to flee their tyrannical Kentucky master. The questions that immediately flood the boy's mind provide the tension that propels the novel: What has precipitated the old man's sudden desire for freedom? Why would he risk taking Samuel along? Harrison is mindful of the dangers and wary of trusting even the strangers who might offer help. Samuel, an impulsive boy who seems prone to trouble, is grudgingly accustomed to his life of servitude and reluctant to leave it. As days of hiding and nights of stealthy movement take them farther away from their former lives, Harrison and Samuel forge a bond that strengthens their resolve. Faith, luck, and perseverance see the man and boy safely into Canada, where a new journey–one of self-discovery and self-healing–begins. Pearsall's extensive research is deftly woven into each scene, providing insight into plantation life, 19th-century social mores, religious and cultural norms, and the political turmoil in the years preceding the Civil War. Samuel's narrative preserves the dialect, the innocence, the hope, and even the superstitions of slaves like Harrison and himself, whose path to freedom is filled with kindness and compassion as well as humiliation and scorn. This is a compelling story that will expand young readers' understanding of the Underground Railroad and the individual acts of courage it embraced.–William McLoughlin, Brookside School, Worthington, OH (Reviewed January 1, 2002) (School Library Journal, vol 48, issue 1, p138)

Publishers Weekly Review: /* Starred Review */ This action-packed, tautly plotted first novel presents a quest for freedom on the Underground Railroad that realistically blends kindness and cruelty. "Trouble follows me like a shadow," begins 11-year-old narrator Samuel. When Harrison, one of the elderly slaves who raised him after the master sold off the boy's mother, decides to run away, Samuel must go with him. "Truth is," Samuel confesses, "even the thought of going straight to Hell didn't scare me as much as the thought of running away." His fears prove justified. Samuel and Harrison's journey thrusts them into uncertainty and peril, and introduces an imaginatively and poignantly rendered cast. Characters include a black man who helps them cross the Ohio River, all the while threatening them with a pistol and a knife if they don't do exactly as he says (he abandons a less cooperative fugitive to certain capture) and a creepy young white widow who converses with her husband's ghost. Throughout, Pearsall seamlessly refers to Samuel's and Harrison's hardships under slavery, creating a sense of lives that extend past the confines of the book. This memorable portrayal of their haphazard, serendipitous and dangerous escape to freedom proves gripping from beginning to end, Ages 9-12. (Jan.)
— Staff (Reviewed December 17, 2001) (Publishers Weekly, vol 248, issue 51, p91)

Kirkus Reviews At fellow slave Harrison's insistence, young Samuel is catapulted into an escape attempt from a Kentucky plantation that has been his whole world. Troublesome Sam has been in the care of elderly Lilly and Harrison since the sale of his mother long ago. Life has been so circumscribed by his condition of slavery that it is hard for him to understand the stakes or even want to succeed. Samuel's naοvetΙ is realistic but almost irritatingly persistent as danger mounts. Old man Harrison, whose creative ethics and gritty determination guide them on their way, is increasingly revealed as a complex man, and Samuel gradually gains an understanding of himself and the world around him. The vile nature of slavery is not underplayed as the notion of owning a person clearly creates both horrendous hubris and evil in the owner as well as tremendous pain and suffering of the owned. One of the best underground railroad narratives in recent years, Pearsall's portrayal of both helping and helped are more rounded and complex than the more simplistic view often espoused. Greed, hypocrisy, and sanctimonious paternalism are clearly perceived by the fugitives dependent on these strangers who hold lives in their hands. This succeeds as a suspenseful historical adventure with survival at stake and makes clear that to succeed Harrison and Samuel, as well as others, must never give up even while combating manhunters, bloodhounds, mental illness, disease, hunger, cold, and their own despair. (Fiction. 11-14)
(Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2001)



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Author Web Sites:
1. Shelley Pearsall's Web Site : Pearsall provides information on herself and her books.


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0375814906 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0375914900
0440418119 : Paperback - Mass Market
0613857062 : Glued Binding
0606298487 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
075691535X : Glued Binding


Credits:
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• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 101741

Watsons go to Birmingham, 1963, The
a novel by Christopher Paul Curtis

Author: Curtis, Christopher Paul

The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.


New York: Delacorte Press, 1995, 210 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 4-8. In a voice that's both smart and naive, strong and scared, fourth-grader Kenny Watson tells about his African American family in Flint, Michigan, in 1963. We get to know his strict, loving parents and his tough older brother, who gets into so much trouble his parents decide to take him back "home" to Birmingham, Alabama, where maybe his strong grandmother will teach him some sense. Several of the family stories are a bit self-conscious (we keep being told we're going to laugh as Dad puts on a show and acts the fool), but the relationships aren't idealized. Racism and the civil rights movement are like a soft rumble in the background, especially as the Watsons drive south. Then Kenny's cute little sister is in a Birmingham church when a bomb goes off. She escapes (Curtis doesn't exploit the horror), but we're with Kenny as he dreads that she's part of the rubble. In this compelling first novel, form and content are one: in the last few chapters, the affectionate situation comedy is suddenly transformed, and we see how racist terror can invade the shelter of home. ((Reviewed August 1995)) -- Hazel Rochman

School Library Journal Review: Gr 6 Up--Kenny's family is known in Flint, Michigan, as the Weird Watsons, for lots of good reasons. Younger sister Joetta has been led to believe she has to be overdressed in the winter because Southern folks (their mother is from Alabama) freeze solid and have to be picked up by the city garbage trucks. Kenny, the narrator, does well in school and tries to meet his hard-working parents' expectations. After a string of misdeeds, Mr. and Mrs. Watson decide that tough guy, older brother Byron must be removed from the bad influences of the city and his gang. They feel that his maternal grandmother and a different way of life in Birmingham might make him appreciate what he has. Since the story is set in 1963, the family must make careful preparations for their trip, for they cannot count on food or housing being available on the road once they cross into the South. The slow, sultry pace of life has a beneficial effect on all of the children until the fateful day when a local church is bombed, and Kenny runs to look for his sister. Written in a full-throated, hearty voice, this is a perfectly described piece of past imperfect. Curtis's ability to switch from fun and funky to pinpoint-accurate psychological imagery works unusually well. Although the horrific Birmingham Sunday throws Kenny into temporary withdrawl, this story is really about the strength of family love and endurance. Ribald humor, sly sibling digs, and a totally believable child's view of the world will make this book an instant hit.--Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY

Publishers Weekly Review: A 1996 Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor book, this comic tale, narrated by a 10-year-old boy, describes an eccentric family's unwitting trip South to visit Grandma--during one of the stormiest times of the Civil Rights movement. PW's boxed, starred review called it "an exceptional first novel." Ages 10-up. (Oct.)



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16. Teaching with Fiction - Get Ready, Get Set, READ! Great Read-aloud Books New Teachers Need to Know

17. Teaching with Fiction - Looking Back at the Twentieth Century: YA Historical Fiction for Students


Author Web Sites:
1. Fan Site for Christopher Paul Curtis : Features author, book, and award information, plus pictures.


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0385321759 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0786264063 : Paperback - Large Print
0807208809 : Cassette - Audio
0807283355 : Paperback - Audio


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
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• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 088175

What is goodbye?: poems on grief
Nikki Grimes

Author: Grimes, Nikki

Alternating poems by a brother and sister convey their feelings about the death of their older brother and the impact it had on their family.


New York: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children, 2004, 64 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Kirkus Reviews The unimaginably painful situation of losing a sibling is the theme of this poetry collection, told in alternating viewpoints by a younger brother and sister in the year after their older brother's sudden death from an unspecified cause. The 52 poems are organized in pairs with the same title, moving in subject from the initial shock of hearing of the death, through the funeral, and then through the stages of grief and on to the gradual adjustment to the new circumstances of their changed family life. Grimes succeeds in creating distinct personalities for each member of the family and distinctly different ways of dealing with their grief as well. Most of the poems by the brother, Jesse, are rhymed and shorter, while those in the voice of his older sister are unrhymed and more sophisticated in structure and introspection. Grimes addresses many areas of the grief process, often in a poignant fashion that is hard to witness; the boy hears his father crying in the night, for instance. Small colored-pencil illustrations thoughtfully capture some of the conflicting emotions and images in the poetry. (author's note) (Poetry. 9-13)
(Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2004)



Other related features:

1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> ALA Notable Children's Books -> 2005 -> Middle Readers Category

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> School Library Journal Best Books -> 2004

3. Awards (Best Fiction) - Easy -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> School Library Journal Best Books -> 2004

4. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best


Other Contributors:
Colon, Raul: illustrator

Other titles associated with this book:
What is goodbye?: poems on grief


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0786807784 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0786826231


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Baker & Taylor
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20040720
• TID: 125535

Yolonda's genius
Carol Fenner

Author: Fenner, Carol

After moving from Chicago to Grand River, Michigan, fifth grader Yolonda, big and strong for her age, determines to prove that her younger brother is not a slow learner but a true musical genius.


New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, c1995, 211 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 4-6. A beautifully drawn portrait of an African American family that escapes the mean streets of Chicago by moving to a small Michigan town. Nearing the end of first grade, Yolonda's younger brother, Andrew, is still unable to read, and Yolonda's widowed mother worries about him and scoffs at Yolonda's dogged insistence that he is a musical genius. Now Yolonda must use all her physical and mental powers to devise a plan to prove to her mother and the world that Andrew is a child prodigy. Dynamic characters and fresh dialogue combine with a compelling story line to draw readers into Yolonda's world. Preteen girls especially will identify with Yolonda's yearning to be noticed by handsome Stoney Buxton and with the awkwardness she experiences at being the new kid in town. Fenner's expertise is most evident in the implausible ending that she somehow makes totally believable. ((Reviewed June 1 & 15, 1995)) -- Lauren Peterson

Publishers Weekly Review: When their widowed mother decides that Chicago is no place to raise 11-year-old Yolonda and six-year-old Andrew, the African American family moves to a Michigan suburb. If Yolonda's adjustment is difficult, her schoolwork is still outstanding; her teachers' reactions prompt her to see if she matches the dictionary definition of a genius. This little exercise yields a startling realization-musically gifted Andrew may be having trouble in school, but he could be a real genius. Yolonda is determined to have her brother's ability acknowledged, and it ultimately is-by legendary blues artist B.B. King. Fenner's (Randall's Wall) pace is sometimes too leisurely, but her heartwarming story merits acclaim for its fresh premise and forceful characterizations. Ages 9-up. (May)



Features about this author or title:

1. Author Biographies for Young Adults - Carol Fenner


Other related features:

1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> ALA Notable Children's Books -> 1996

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Newbery Honor Books -> 1996

3. Book Discussion Guide - The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963

4. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Boys and Girls -> Boys -> Boys by Grade -> First Grade

5. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Boys and Girls -> Girls -> Girls by Grade -> Fifth Grade

6. Teaching with Fiction - African-American Literature: The Best of the Best


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0689800010 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0689813279 : Paperback - Juvenile
0689821727 : Paperback - Juvenile
0553478214 : Cassette - Audio
0613014960 : Glued Binding
0606121226 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0807204617 : Cassette - Audio
0780768655 : Glued Binding
0736690336 : Cassette - Audio


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 089565

Shades of black: crime and mystery stories by African-American authors
edited by Eleanor Taylor Bland

Author: Various Authors

Presents a collection of crime and mystery stories by such authors as Chris Benson, Evelyn Coleman, Walter Mosely, Hugh Holton, and Penny Mickelbury.


New York: Berkley Prime Crime, 2004, 368 p.

Notes:
Crime and mystery stories by African-American authors
Twenty-two short stories that include works by Walter Mosley, Hugh Holton, Gar Anthony Haywood and others, along with a story by editor Eleanor Taylor Bland featuring policewoman Marti MacAlister


Other Contributors:
Bland, Eleanor Taylor: editor

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0425194027 : Hardcover


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Added to NoveList: 20040320
• TID: 122793

Ashley Bryan's ABC of African-American poetry

Author: Various Authors

Each letter of the alphabet is represented by a line from a poem by different African American poets, describing an aspect of the black experience.


Other Contributors: Bryan, Ashley

New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c1997, 32 p.

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0689812094 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Added to NoveList: 20041020
• TID: 128747

When Washington was in vogue: a love story (a lost novel of the Harlem Renaissance)
Edward Christopher Williams ; with commentaries by Adam McKible and Emily Bernard

Author: Williams, Edward Christopher, 1871-1929

Capturing African American high society in Washington, D.C., during the Harlem Renaissance, this long-lost epistolary novel chronicles the romance of protagonist Davy Carr with Caroline, a flapper, as seen through Carr's letters to his friend Bob in Harlem.


New York, NY: Amistad, 2003, 285 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Booklist Review: Set during the Harlem Renaissance, this newly discovered epistolary novel broadens geographic notions about that creative period in the history of African American literature and offers a look at the elite of black Washington, D.C. Davy Carr has just moved to Washington to research the African slave trade and is boarding at the home of the Rhodes family. In a series of letters to his friend Bob Fletcher in Harlem, Davy chronicles the 1920s social life of the black bourgeoisie, comparing it to the allures of Harlem and revealing the deep-seated tensions within the race, the “color lines within the color line.” The central object of Davy’s observations and emotions is flirtatious flapper Caroline Rhodes, the glib, intelligent, and dark-skinned daughter of his landlady and a prickling reminder of Davy’s stuffiness and vulnerabilities. At its core, this novel by Williams, the first professionally trained librarian in the U.S., is a love story with the sensibilities of an all-black-cast Vanity Fair, rendered with the keen eye of a sociologist.
-- Vanessa Bush (BookList, 12-01-2003, p648)

Publishers Weekly Review: This lost epistolary novel of the Harlem Renaissance, originally serialized in The Messenger in 1925–1926, is slight in plot but deep in detail, an invaluable addition to period scholarship. Williams, the country's first professionally trained black librarian, aptly portrays the 1920s African-American high society of which he was a part. After WWI, army officer Davy Carr moves to Washington, D.C., to research a book on the African slave trade. Lodging at the refined home of Margaret Rhodes, he meets her two daughters: older, serious Genevieve, and irrepressible, flirtatious Caroline. Davy immerses himself in their busy society, attending dances, teas, socials and sporting events, and, as in any novel of manners, he makes detailed observations of this new world's mores, writing his findings to a friend. Although he has a fine eye for details in others' lives, Davy realizes he has been blind to his own feelings for the mischievous and darker-skinned Caroline. Williams provides a glimpse into a parallel universe of privilege—in which slight variations in skin tone said everything about status, and stuffiness was de rigueur (Caroline, Davy muses, "makes not the slightest outward show of culture in her ordinary social relations, [but] she has... a perfectly uncanny fluency of speech, as I have found out to my discomfiture"). As a light-skinned man who refused to "pass," Williams had an abiding interest in intraracial tension, and the absence of white characters further dramatizes the issue. Though the story holds little suspense, McKible's discovery is sure to provoke scholarship and discussion, and attract well-deserved attention. (Jan.)
— Staff (Reviewed November 10, 2003) (Publishers Weekly, vol 250, issue 45, p40)

Library Journal Review: Originally published in serial form in the African American tract, the Messenger, from 1925 to 1926, this story was rediscovered by Adam McKible (English, John Jay Coll. of Criminal Justice) and is being published as a novel for the first time. Williams (1871–1929), the first professionally trained African American librarian, writes of the days (and nights) of the Harlem Renaissance in Washington, DC, instead of Harlem. Charming and conventional protagonist Davy Carr, a World War I veteran, goes to the nation's capital to research a book on the slave trade. He finds a room very much to his liking and, through his proprietress, Mrs. Rhodes, meets her prominent, well-to-do, and intellectual friends, as well as her daughter, Caroline. These people give him a different perspective on Washington society and nightlife, which he relates in a series of letters to his friend, Bob. Davy's letters also touch on serious matters, such as how blacks accept the variations in their own skin tones. Slowly, after observing so many other details, Davy reads the signs and clues in front of him—Caroline's strong feelings for him and his own for her. Davy often speaks of the pleasures of sitting before a crackling fire in the hearth, and that would be a good place to enjoy this sincerely delightful book. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.—Lisa Nussbaum, Dauphin Cty. Lib. Syst., Harrisburg, PA (Reviewed December 15, 2003) (Library Journal, vol 128, issue 20, p170)

Kirkus Reviews Long-lost fiction, written in the 1920s by the first professionally trained African-American librarian, about a young man's romantic adventures among the black elite of Washington, DC.

Williams (1871–1929), a minor figure in the Harlem Renaissance, was a mulatto (his mother was Irish) who serialized this story in The Messenger in 1925 and 1926. Published now as a novel, it consists entirely of letters written by WWI veteran Davy Carr describing his first impressions of Washington to his old army buddy Bob Fletcher back in Harlem. Davy is light enough to pass for white, and he moves somewhat self-consciously through the upper echelons of the District's black society (where nuances of "lightness" or "darkness" take on an almost Talmudic importance) as he researches a study of the African slave trade. At his boardinghouse, Davy becomes fascinated to the point of obsession with his landlady's daughter, Caroline Rhodes, a kind of African-American Sally Bowles who smokes cigarettes, flirts shamelessly, and knows all the latest dances. Serious and high-minded—and, frankly, something of a stuffed shirt—Davy disapproves of Caroline and tells her so. But he's drawn to her in spite of himself. The story is basic boy-meets-girl, with the ending a foregone conclusion by the second chapter and no really convincing obstacles in the way, so that the only distinguishing features to speak of are race and class. The fact that Caroline is dark-skinned while Davy is light may throw in a dramatic frisson for historians and Black Studies scholars, but for most of us this will have little engaging power or lift. Meanwhile, Williams's petty snobberies are aggravating enough without the addition of his bad imitation of Jane Austen ("The ladies, except Mrs. Wallace, are all very fair, and would not be likely to be taken for colored, and in manner and dress they all of them showed real class").

Of academic interest only.
(Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2003)



Other Contributors:
Williams, Edward Christopher, 1871-1929

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0060555459 : Hardcover
0060555467 : Paperback


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20040820
• TID: 126430

Not without laughter
With a new introduction by Maya Angelou. Foreword by Arna Bontemps

Author: Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967

Depicts a Black family's attempts to deal with life in a small Kansas town


New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995, copyright 1969, 299 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Library Journal Review: This is another in the new Scribner Paperback Fiction line. Poet Hughes made the jump to fiction with this 1930 first novel of an African American boy's coming of age in a small Kansas town.



Author Web Sites:
1. Langston Hughes : Features Hughes' bibliography.


Other Contributors:
Angelou, Maya; Bontemps, Arna, 1902-1973

Other titles associated with this book:
Without laughter


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0020209851 : Paperback
0848810554 : Hardcover
0606162593 : DEMCO Turtleback
078575783X : Glued Binding
0862417686 : Paperback
0394438736 : Hardcover


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 035332

Return of Simple, The
Edited by Akiba Sullivan Harper. Introduction by Arnold Rampersad

Author: Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967

A new collection of "Simple" stories, more than half of which have never before been gathered into book form, chronicles the life and struggles of Jesse B. Semple and are considered by many to represent Langston Hughes's best work


New York: Hill and Wang, 1994, 218 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Publishers Weekly Review: Hughes (1902-1967), whose work accelerated the recognition of African American literature, is remembered mostly for his poetry. But Hughes also touched the minds of millions through the brief narrations of the fictional Jesse B. Semple, or "Simple," which first appeared in 1943 in his column in the Chicago Defender and, later, in the New York Post. Here, edited by a teacher at Spelman College, is an enlightening collection of these social commentaries. Half of the selections have never appeared in book form; the others are drawn from five previous Simple collections, all out of print. Harper groups her choices into four sections: "Women in Simple's Life"; "Race, Riots, Police, Prices, and Politics"; "Africa and Black Pride"; and "Parting Lines." Topics range from criticism of superficial beauty ("Wigs, Women and Falsies") to animal rights ("Money and Mice") and the equation of the word "black" with "evil" in American slang ("That Word Black"). Throughout, the persistence of some issues from the 1940s through the present is striking and infuriating. In "Population Explosion," for example, written in 1965, Simple criticizes the racist underpinnings of birth-control and sterilization proposals, while in "Liberals Need a Mascot," from 1949, he takes an insightful jab at the hypocritical politically correct. Also discussing Pan Africanism, children's rights, socioeconomic imbalances and African American animosity toward the police, Hughes, through the sometimes hyperbolic but always critical commentary of Jesse B. Semple, challenges the widespread notion of the unsophisticated "common man." Welcome back, Simple. (July)

Library Journal Review: All five books featuring Jesse B. Semple (``Simple''), the character Hughes created for his weekly Chicago Defender column, are out of print. Half the stories here are drawn from those books; the remainder have never before appeared in book form.

Kirkus Reviews A welcome reintroduction to the pioneering African-American writer's most memorable fictional character. Already a popular poet, playwright, novelist, and key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes (1902-67) introduced Jesse B. Semple ("Simple") to readers in 1942 in his Chicago Defender column, "From Here to Yonder," as a way to convince black Americans to support the US war effort. From his familiar perch in a fictional Harlem bar, Simple held forth on a variety of subjects in his own inimitable, folksy way, and over the next 23 years his musings were collected in five volumes. The Return of Simple brings together mostly uncollected columns as well as a few favorites from previous collections. Simple's sometimes tall tales of growing up in the South and migrating to Harlem are timeless. Race riots, low wages, interracial marriages, adopting an African name, and birth control are some of the subjects on which he expounds to his erudite, educated fellow barfly, who always acts the straight man. Then there is Simple's favorite subject -- "womens," including bis wild cousin Minnie ("The Lord, I reckon, gave her them bail-bearing hips, but the Devil must of taught her how to use them"); Zarita, who is always "drinking him up"; and his second wife, Joyce ("Eve in the garden could not be no better, because Eve had no stove on which to cook"). Simple speaks with a poetic and easy logic ("It is better to be wore out from living than to be worn out from worry") in a voice that comes straight out of the African-American folk tradition, but Hughes's slices of urban black life belong also to the larger continuum of great American humor, from Mark Twain to Armistead Maupin. Quite simply, an indispensable part of our cultural heritage.
(Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 1994)



Other related features:

1. Annotated Book List - The Roots of Modern African American Fiction


Author Web Sites:
1. Langston Hughes : Features Hughes' bibliography.


Other Contributors:
Harper, Akiba Sullivan: editor

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
080908676X : Hardcover
080901582X : Paperback - Print on Demand


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 003569

Short stories
Edited by Akiba Sullivan Harper. With an introduction by Arnold Rampersad

Author: Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967

Offers a collection of stories written between 1919 and 1963 that follow Hughes' literary development and the growth of his personal and political concerns


New York: Hill and Wang, copyright 1996, 299 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Kirkus Reviews Eight of the forty-seven stories in this welcome volume of Hughes's short fiction have never before been collected, and the rest are from long out-of-print books. The chronological arrangement (the pieces were written between 1919 and 1963) gives us a full appreciation of Hughes's evolution as a man of letters. Three high-school tales not previously collected demonstrate Hughes'syouthful social conscience and his early, solid command of his craft. His early protagonists struggle against poverty, leading lives of quiet sorrow. A series of sea stories reflects his own experience as a sailor, all involving trips to the West Coast of Africa, where, variously, sailors fight over a beautiful native girl, a naive missionary girl commits suicide after a sailor compromises her virtue, and a romantic European is entranced by his African wife. A number of pieces from the '30s concern the black artist's ambivalent relation to his white patrons: In "The Blues I'm Playing," a brilliant pianist defies her condescending sponsor to marry a young doctor; and the bohemians in "Slave on the Rock" degrade their black servants while romanticizing the black race. Throughout the Depression, Hughes documented the struggle of blacks simply to survive. In one story, a homeless man hallucinates about breakinginto a church and finding Christ himself inside. Hughes's Communist sympathies also surface in a few pieces, as in a tale of racism and red-baiting at the WPA, or the superb record of a failed strike by black actors in "Trouble with the Angels." But many of the stories simply chronicle the vibrancy of Harlem life, the passions of ordinary black people, and the indignities of everyday racism. "On Friday Morning" is the heartbreaking tale of an aspiring artist denied her art school scholarship because of her race. Stories that, at their best, provide a remarkable portrait of black America over several crucial decades: an important collection that can only enhance our admiration of a great American writer.
(Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 1996)



Author Web Sites:
1. Langston Hughes : Features Hughes' bibliography.


Other Contributors:
Harper, Akiba Sullivan: editor; Rampersad, Arnold

Other titles associated with this book:
Langston Hughes short stories
Short stories of Langston Hughes


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0809086581 : Hardcover
0809016036 : Paperback
0613025040 : Glued Binding
0809035413 : Hardcover


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 035333

Simple's Uncle Sam

Author: Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967

Jesse B. Simple's observations and experiences reflect the ironies of life in Harlem


Hill and Wang, 1965, 180p.

Reviews for this Title:
Kirkus Reviews The main voice in these interludes, 43 newspaper and magazine pieces best described as story-anecdotes, is Jesse B. Semple, or Simple, whom Hughes has developed over the years as a "reflector" of the moods, spirit, whimsies and hopes of the tenants of the Negro ghetto. The subjects include the civil rights scene, national and local politics, even air raid shelters and marriage as an institution. Simple is the Average Man Militant. His fanciful disquisitions often lead to serious revelations--such as his dream in which Negroes rule the South and "Mammy" Eastland come begging for a handout. Harlem is a place, and one gets the feeling of it through several characters; but Harlem is also an idea and Hughes makes it more comprehensible to anyone befuddled by its complexities. As for Jesse B., he proves by his commentary on the de facto racist institutions which most white people take for granted as unbiased that he is as simple as a Jesuit.
(Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 1965)



Other related features:

1. Annotated Book List - The Roots of Modern African American Fiction


Author Web Sites:
1. Langston Hughes : Features Hughes' bibliography.


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0809086816 : Paperback
0809000873 : Paperback


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 035334

Sweet and sour animal book, The
Langston Hughes ; illustrations by students from the Harlem School of the Arts ; introduction by Ben Vereen ; afterword by George P. Cunningham

Author: Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967

Twenty-six short poems introduce animals for each letter of the alphabet, from Ape to Zebra.


New York: Oxford University Press, c1994, 48 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Kirkus Reviews Published for the first time, this book of poems for children covers animals for all the letters of the alphabet (except for X, which gets a poem but no animal). Some of the poems are educational, some are just fun: "What use/Is a goose/Except to quackle?/If a goose/Can't quackle/She's out of whackle." Many of them offer moral lessons: "A lion in a zoo,/Shut up in a cage,/Lives a life/Of smothered rage." Hughes (1902--67) really speaks to today's children, and who better to illustrate his poems than the children of the Harlem School of the Arts? Their sculptures perfectly complement the whimsical tone of Hughes's poetry. Although it's hard to tell what kind of artists these children will be when they grow up, right now they are marvelous. An autobiographical introduction by entertainer Ben Vereen and a biographical afterword about Hughes by George P. Cunningham (Africana studies/Brooklyn College) round out the volume. Harlem Renaissance poet Hughes and young Harlem artists together create a fun, provocative, and visually exciting abecedary.
(Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 1994)



Author Web Sites:
1. Langston Hughes : Features Hughes' bibliography.


Other Contributors:
Vereen, Ben; Cunningham, George Philbert, 1937-

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
019509185X : Hardcover - Juvenile
0195120302 : Paperback - Juvenile
0613062779 : Prebind
0606291644 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20041020
• TID: 129024

Tambourines to glory

Author: Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967

Day, copyright 1958
Reviews for this Title:
Kirkus Reviews A Harlem folk tale in modern guise- so one might characterize this story of two sides of the coin in an independent, non-denominational religious racket. Two women on relief -- one a lusty realist, took her sex where she could get it, used what funds she had to "buy" her man (preferably young and good looking), and came up with the idea of putting on an act on a street corner using religion in free wheeling style; the other whose chief characteristic was sheer indolence, liked to sit better than to stand, but was at heart, sincere, well-meaning and honest. A tambourine to accompany the singing -- and collect the sheckels; a gift of gab and high sounding phrases in the best Billy Sunday tradition, a soulful voice and a soulful appearance, these were their stock in trade. But when Laura took on a youngman with ideas, she progressed from street corner to a two room Garden of Eden, then to refurbished ex theatre, while the crowds grew and the money flowed. Laura doled it out to her Charlie; Essie put it into good works- and to her preparations for her teen-age daughter to come North. And a few people got religion. That it ends on a note of melodrama bordering on tragedy somehow fails to touch the heartstrings. But the telling in the vernacular has its poetic overtones and its sense of authenticity.
(Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 1958)



Author Web Sites:
1. Langston Hughes : Features Hughes' bibliography.


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0767923278 : Paperback
0809091348 : Hardcover


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 035335

Ways of white folks, The

Author: Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967

Fourteen stories deal with the interaction of Blacks and whites in 1930s America, including the stories of an ailing musician, a moonlighting student, and a clever charlatan


New York: Vintage Books, copyright 1934, 255 p.

Author Web Sites:
1. Langston Hughes : Features Hughes' bibliography.


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0679728171 : Paperback
083359057X : Glued Binding
0394451163 : Hardcover


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 035336

ery tongue got to confess: Negro folktales from the Gulf states
by Zora Neale Hurston ; introd. by John Edgar Wideman ; edited with a pref. by Carla Kaplan

Author: Hurston, Zora Neale, editor

A book of folktales about love, slavery, faith, family, race, and community, collected in the late 1920s, represents a large part of the author's literary legacy and details African American life in the rural South.


New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001, 288 p.

Reviews for this Title:
Publishers Weekly Review: Although Hurston is better known for her novels, particularly Their Eyes Were Watching God, she might have been prouder of her anthropological field work. In 1927, with the support of Franz Boas, the dean of American anthropologists, Hurston traveled the Deep South collecting stories from black laborers, farmers, craftsmen and idlers. These tales featured a cast of characters made famous in Joel Chandler Harris's bowdlerized Uncle Remusversions, including John (related, no doubt, to High John the Conqueror), Brer Fox and various slaves. But for Hurston these stories were more than entertainments; they represented a utopia created to offset the sometimes unbearable pressures of disenfranchisement: "Brer Fox, Brer Deer, Brer 'Gator, Brer Dawg, Brer Rabbit, Ole Massa and his wife were walking the earth like natural men way back in the days when God himself was on the ground and men could talk with him." Hurston's notes, which somehow got lost, were recently rediscovered in someone else's papers at the Smithsonian. Divided into 15 categories ("Woman Tales," "Neatest Trick Tales," etc.), the stories as she jotted them down range from mere jokes of a few paragraphs to three-page episodes. Many are set "in slavery time," with "massa" portrayed as an often-gulled, but always potentially punitive, presence. There are a variety of "how come" and trickster stories, written in dialect. Acting the part of the good anthropologist, Hurston is scrupulously impersonal, and, as a result, the tales bear few traces of her inimitable voice, unlike Tell My Horse, her classic study of Haitian voodoo. Though this may limit the book's appeal among general readers, it is a boon for Hurston scholars and may, as Kaplan says in her introduction, establish Hurston's importance as an African-American folklorist. (Dec.)
— Staff (Reviewed December 17, 2001) (Publishers Weekly, vol 248, issue 51, p65)

Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ This entertaining collection, which was left unpublished in 1929 and only recently unearthed, is a fine companion to Hurston's earlier volumes, Tell My Horse (1937) and Mules and Men (1935).
The late (1891–1960) author of the classic novels Jonah's Gourd Vine and Their Eyes Were Watching God was also a knowledgeable folklorist, as we learn again from John Edgar Wideman's tributory foreword and Editor Kaplan's informative introduction. The latter discusses Hurston's energetic research into indigenous tales and legends, supported by minimal grants, the WPA, and a wealthy white patron. The stories themselves—ranging from single-sentence utterances to fully detailed and developed anecdotes—are arranged in 17 specific categories focusing on such subjects as gender relations ("Women Tales"); racial inequity and enmity ("Massa and White Folks Tales"); creation stories, many akin to Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus stories ("Talking Animal Tales"); and several varieties of folk supernaturalism ("God Tales," "Devil Tales"). Frequent use of racial epithets and dialect reminiscent of minstrel shows will probably offend many contemporary readers, but are indisputable evidence of the authenticity of Hurston's presentations: in almost every case of stories she heard directly from ordinary people, many of them illiterate. There is inevitable repetition, but not as much as one might expect. And there are many pleasures: impudent alternative versions of familiar biblical tales and good-natured mockery of religious truisms ("What in the hell does …[an] angel need with … [Jacob's] ladder when he's got wings"); sly references to racial imperatives (a black man falling off a roof notices he's about to land on a white woman—"so he turnt right roun' and fell back upon dat house"); a ribald explanation of why women don't serve in the army, and several clever one-liners about the physical (and marital) problems encountered by snails.
A rich harvest of native storytelling.
(Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2001)



Author Web Sites:
1. Voices from the Gap: Zora Neale Hurston : Features a biography of the author, a selected bibliography, works about the author, and related links.


Other Contributors:
Kaplan, Carla: editor; Wideman, John Edgar

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0060188936 : Hardcover
0060934549 : Paperback
0694526452 : Cassette - Audio


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 065363

Jonah's gourd vine: a novel
With a new foreword by Rita Dove

Author: Hurston, Zora Neale

John Buddy Pearson, a young Black man who becomes a popular pastor at Zion Hope, is unable to reconcile his good intentions and his natural instincts


New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1990, copyright 1934, 229 p.

Other Contributors:
Dove, Rita

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0060916516 : Paperback
0783802552 : Hardcover - Large Print
0809590174 : Hardcover


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 035506

Moses, man of the mountain
With an introduction by Blyden Jackson

Author: Hurston, Zora Neale

Moses becomes the leader of his people in order to rescue them from bondage.


University of Illinois Press, 1984, copyright 1939, 351p

Notes:
Reprint of the 1939 Lippincott ed
With an introduction by Blyden Jackson


Lexile:
830

Other related features:

1. Book Discussion Guide - Their Eyes Were Watching God


Author Web Sites:
1. Voices from the Gap: Zora Neale Hurston : Features a biography of the author, a selected bibliography, works about the author, and related links.


Other Contributors:
Jackson, Blyden

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0060919949 : Paperback
0809590336 : Hardcover - Religious
0833570005 : Glued Binding
0252011228 : Paperback - University Press


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• World Historical Fiction: An Annotated Guide to Novels for Adults and Young Adults, published by Oryx Press
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 035507

Novels and stories

Author: Hurston, Zora Neale

The first volume of a noted African-American writer's collection includes Their Eyes Were Watching God, Jonah's Gourd Vine, Moses, Man of the Mountain, and Seraph on the Suwanee.


New York: Library of America, copyright 1995, 1041 p.

Notes:
Includes 4 novels, 9 short stories, and chronology


Contents:
PARTIAL CONTENTS: Jonah's gourd vine. -Their eyes were watching God. -Moses, man of the mountain. -Seraph on the Suwanee. -Selected stories.

Author Web Sites:
1. Voices from the Gap: Zora Neale Hurston : Features a biography of the author, a selected bibliography, works about the author, and related links.


Other titles associated with this book:
Stories and novels
Jonah's gourd vine
Their eyes were watching God
Moses, man of the mountain
Seraph on the Suwanee


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0940450836 : Hardcover


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 003590

Skull talks back and other haunting tales, The
collected by Zora Neale Hurston ; adapted by Joyce Carol Thomas ; illustrated by Leonard Jenkins

Author: Hurston, Zora Neale

Inspired by stories from the rural south, a collection of terrifying tales includes a skinless witch, a talking skull, and a man more evil than the devil, as collected by the famous African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston.


[New York]: HarperCollins, c2004, 56 p.

Contents:
Big, bad Sixteen -- Bill, the talking mule -- The skull talks back -- The witch who could slip off her skin -- High Walker -- The haunted house.

Reviews for this Title:
School Library Journal Review: Gr 4-6–Thomas retells six supernatural folktales selected from Hurston's Every Tongue Got to Confess (HarperCollins, 2001). The subject matter is sufficiently scary to give young readers a thrill, and Jenkins's spooky black-and-white paintings of skeletons, skulls, arrogant men, eerie cats, and nighttime swirls of fog perfectly set the stage for shivers. Thomas omits most of the dialect and supplies missing motivation. In "The Witch Who Could Slip off Her Skin," the reteller adds silly explanatory paragraphs telling why this witch would "ride" people who had done her wrong. She eliminates the character of "Marster" from "Big Sixteen," here called "Big, Bad Sixteen." "Bill, the Talking Mule," a tale in which a farmer is frightened when his animals suddenly speak to him, retains all of the surprise hilarity of the original. An adapter's note doesn't explain the changes so much as review the content. Although mostly faithful to Hurston's tales, the retellings read like fragments from some larger work that begin in the middle and end abruptly, a fact that may trouble readers who expect more shape to a story. However, this volume introduces a small part of the huge body of literature collected in the rural South in the 1920s and the person who helped put words to paper.–Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA (Reviewed October 1, 2004) (School Library Journal, vol 50, issue 10, p168)



Author Web Sites:
1. Voices from the Gap: Zora Neale Hurston : Features a biography of the author, a selected bibliography, works about the author, and related links.


Other Contributors:
Thomas, Joyce Carol; Jenkins, Leonard: ill

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0060006315 : Hardcover - Juvenile
006000634X


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20041220
• TID: 130738

Bubber goes to heaven
Illustrations by Daniel Minter. Introduction by Jim Haskins. Afterword by Charles L. James

Author: Bontemps, Arna, 1902-1973

Knocked unconscious by a fall from a tree, ten-year-old Bubber dreams that two angels come down and take him up to Heaven, where he has trouble learning to fly with his new wings and has wonderful adventures.


New York: Oxford University Press, copyright 1998, 84 p.

Reviews for this Title:
School Library Journal Review: Gr 3-4-A previously unpublished story, written in the 1930s and set in the Deep South. When Bubber falls from a tree while coon hunting, the boy finds himself in heaven. Yet, the heaven in which Bontemps places Bubber is closer to the reality of the youngster's life on earth than the traditional idealized paradise. He forgets his speech at the Sunday School play, and even though he has wings, he cannot fly. A fall from Sister Esther's heavenly roof brings the boy back to reality. When he recognizes Uncle Demus and learns that he has two broken legs, he thinks that he has had a vision. Bontemps's fantasy is culturally rich and includes a lot of historical references, e.g., the angel who "resembled very closely the large black woman whose picture Bubber had seen on boxes of pancake flour." However, the Southern black dialect lacks consistency; some "th" words are mispronounced while others are not, and some, but not all, vowel sounds are dropped. The dialect and grammar will be difficult for some children and offensive to others, e.g., "I went to say I wants some oranges mighty bad, but I ain't got no money to buy none with." Minter's linoleum-print illustrations add a sense of time and place. The afterword is inappropriate for the audience, but will be of interest to adults. A book best suited to historical collections of children's literature.-Marie Wright, University Library, Indianapolis, IN Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly Review: Written in the early 1930s, this previously unpublished work may be of greater interest to devotees of Louisiana-born poet and folklorist Bontemps (Lonesome Boy; and with Langston Hughes, The Pasteboard Bandit) and other literary figures associated with the Harlem Renaissance than to the average young reader. After 10-year-old Bubber falls out of a high tree while coon hunting in the Deep South, he imagines that angels transport him to heaven. There he is taken in by Sister Esther ("Except for her wings and nightgown she would have resembled very closely the large black woman whose picture Bubber had seen on boxes of pancake flour"). She explains the pain he experiences across his shoulder blades ("Yo' wings is beginning to sprout"), makes him a flannel robe (standard heavenly garb) and gives him a lesson in flying. An illuminating note from Minter interprets Bontemps's deliberate use of black stereotypes and dialect, which ground the book in a specific period setting. Yet some of the elements are surprisingly timely (the multicultural thrust of a heavenly children's performance in which Bubber takes part) or timeless (the boy's stage fright on the same occasion). Tampering with scale and intentionally exaggerating facial features, Minter's stylized linoleum block prints offer a fitting visual interpretation. An afterword by Charles L. James presents a biographical sketch of Bontemps and discusses both the highly personal nature of this story and its application to the wider African-American experience. Ages 6-12. (Dec.)

Kirkus Reviews From Bontemps (with Langston Hughes, The Pasteboard Bandit, 1997, etc.), a previously unpublished story with the sound and sense of a 1930s folktale. Bubber falls out of a tree while hunting with his uncle, and finds himself in heaven. It's similar to what he knows of Earth, except that angels keep everything scrubbed clean, every day is Sunday, there is plentiful food, and Sister Esther helps him when his new-growing wings itch and ache. In the children's pageant in heaven, the angel children get to portray people from all ages and times. Bubber eventually wakes up to discover that it was all a dream. Minter notes that the black Southern dialect, which recalled his own Southern youth, inspired him to create wood-block and linoleum-block prints of black angels, not as individual figures but as stylized characters; these are powerful images that transcend stereotypes. The tale itself is a period piece. The apparatus surrounding the story--an introduction by James Haskins and afterword by Charles I. James--clearly explains Bontemps's life and work, and places this story in the context of his scholarly career as an anthologist, collaborator, teacher, and librarian; the volume may be more meaningful to an adult researcher than to a young reader.
(Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 1998)



Author Web Sites:
1. Arna Bontemps Web Site : Features Bontemps' biography and information on his poetry.


Other Contributors:
Minter, Daniel; Haskins, James, 1941-; James, Charles L.

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0195123654 : Hardcover - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 082691

Pasteboard bandit, The
By Arna Bontemps and Langston Hughes. Illustrations by Peggy Turley. Afterword by Cheryl A. Wall

Author: Bontemps, Arna, 1902-1973

When he and his parents move to the quiet Mexican town of Taxco, Kenny makes friends with Juanito Perez, and the two share many adventures with Juanito's special papiermache toy, Tito.


New York: Oxford University Press, copyright 1997, 93 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, For the Young: Ages 5-8. Like Hughes' The Sweet and Sour Animal Book (1994), this gentle fantasy was first written in the mid-1930s, never found a publisher, was recently "uncovered" among Hughes' papers, and is published now for the first time (as part of the Opie Library). And like the Animal book, this will appeal more to adult collectors than to children. The story is set in a small town in Mexico and tells of the friendship between two boys, a Mexican and an American, and their little pasteboard carnival toy. The style is saccharine and cute (the word little appears several times on nearly every page), and the fantasy framework is contrived. However, the friendship across cultures is drawn without condescension; the Mexican setting is authentic and joyful, from food and scenery to language and pinatas; and Turley's gorgeously colored acrylic illustrations evoke Mexican folk art and murals. Older readers will be fascinated by the biographical and historical notes about Hughes and Bontemps and their friendship. An exhibit with the paintings and the story of the book is touring the country. ((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 1998)) -- Hazel Rochman

School Library Journal Review: Gr 3-6--Tito, a papier-mache doll, stars in this rather dull tale set in Mexico. With Tito always at their sides, young Juanito and his American friend Kenny engage in a series of minor adventures, including being locked in an abandoned mine, mistaking holiday fire crackers for gun shots, and listening to serenaders. Written in 1935 and unpublished until now, the book has dated and mechanical dialogue. On the whole, the writing has not aged well, and an occasional switch from third person is jarring. The narrative does depict rural Mexican life and holiday celebrations adequately, but there's nothing here that can't be found in many higher-quality titles.--Denise E. Agosto, formerly at Midland County Public Library, TX

Publishers Weekly Review: A 1935 collaboration between two Harlem Renaissance poets (who had three years earlier published Popo and Fifina), this deceptively simple story was initially rejected by a publisher and, decades later, donated to Yale by Hughes. The winsome tale of the friendship that flourishes between a Mexican boy and a boy from America has a timely message for today's youngsters. Set in Taxco, Mexico, and alternating between the voices of young Juanito Perez and Tito, the beloved papier-mache figurine he eventually gives to his American friend, the narrative provides a youthful perspective on the country's cultural traditions. The authors focus on such child-pleasing topics as holidays, food and learning to communicate, as the boys teach each other key words in Spanish and English--while gently underscoring the importance of tolerance, self-esteem and sharing. Exploding with vivid colors and fanciful patterns, Turley's (Armadillo Ray) full-bleed stylized paintings have a playful, collage-like quality; her black-and-white spot art breaks up some of the more text-laden pages. It's easy to believe that Bontemps and Hughes would be delighted with this animated volume--and that readers will be, too. Ages 8-12. (Nov.)

Kirkus Reviews Sandwiched between an introduction by Bontemps's son and a biographical and analytical afterword is a never-before-published story, innovative for its time, written in 1935 by two icons in the history of African-American literature. The story, which has not aged well, will find its most appreciative audience in readers familiar with the authors' other works. As Hughes's hand-painted pasteboard bandit, Tito (six inches high, with a "furious little rabbit beard" and raised fist), looks on with interest, Juanito introduces Kenny, the son of vacationing New York artists, to his small Mexican town, the surrounding hills, and Christmas and Easter festivities. The plot is loosely constructed--Juanito takes an entire chapter to nod off after a Christmas Eve posada--and, despite the authors' efforts to depict an international friendship among equals there is still some overt cultural relativism: After several local children fail to break the piΫata, Kenny succeeds, then drowsily remarks on the way home, "A piΫata's almost as good as a Christmas tree." In a dozen full-color, full-page paintings, Turley uses a vibrant palette and stylized figures reminiscent of some Mexican folk art, creating lush scenes of flowers and toys. Consider this a long-lost literary relic, available at last, more for study than pleasure.
(Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 1997)



Author Web Sites:
1. Arna Bontemps Web Site : Features Bontemps' biography and information on his poetry.


Other Contributors:
Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967; Turley, Peggy; Wall, Cheryl A.

Other titles associated with this book:
Paste board bandit


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0195114760 : Hardcover - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 082692

My painted house, my friendly chicken, and me
Photographs by Margaret Courtney-Clarke. Designed by Alexander Isley Design

Author: Angelou, Maya

A South African girl describes her pet chicken, painting special designs on her house, dressing up for school, and her mischievous brother


New York: C. Potter, copyright 1994, unpaged.

Reviews for this Title:
Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ A beguiling collaboration between the renowned poet (All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes, 1986, etc.) and a Namibian-born photojournalist. Thandi, an eight-year-old Ndebele girl from a South African village, is first glimpsed in European school clothes but talks mostly about her traditional culture, in which "people do not call anything beautiful. They will say that the best thing is good." She tells how their intricately patterned houses are painted and describes her mother's beadwork, focusing on the contrast between these arts and the sober modern world of town and school. Thandi's sunny, childlike voice is gracefully honed and has delightful touches of humor, especially about her "best friend," a chicken: "When I tell my friend secrets, she can talk all she wants...but no one can understand her...except another chicken, of course" (ellipses in original). In the expertly composed color photos, Thandi and the other children glow with mischief, laugh out loud, or "just sit back deep inside themselves"; the crafts are also handsomely displayed. The design here (by Alexander Isley Design) is inspired, setting off words and photos to perfection. Vibrant color blocks and pages echo hues in the photos and contrast with white pages. Spacing and different sizes of sans-serif type enhance the cadence and emphasis of the first-person narrative. A fine introduction to these young South Africans.
(Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 1994)



Author Web Sites:
1. The Academy of American Poets: Maya Angelou : A profile of the author, with links to a selection of her poems.


Other Contributors:
Courtney-Clarke, Margaret, 1949-

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0517596679 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0517888157 : Paperback - Juvenile
0375825673 : Paperback - Juvenile
0375925678 : Library binding - Juvenile
0606108858 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0613719115 : Prebind
0606283013 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 082582

Just family

Author: Bolden, Tonya

Ten-year-old Beryl is fairly content with her life in East Harlem in the 1960s until she learns that her older sister is really her half-sister and worries that her family will begin to change.


New York: Cobblehill Books, copyright 1996, 149 p.

Reviews for this Title:
School Library Journal Review: Gr 4-7--Beryl Nelson, 10, and her older sister Randy have always been close friends as well as siblings. Growing up in Harlem in the 1960s, they have had a secure, loving African American home with two devoted parents and their grandmother in an apartment upstairs. So Beryl experiences quite an upheaval when she discovers that Randy has a different father and was born out of wedlock. The fact that Randy already knows this secret troubles Beryl, who resentfully breaks the hinges on her sister's private keepsake box to view the photo of Randy's biological father. Beryl struggles with thoughts of her mother being a "tramp" and her sister a "bastard." The Nelsons are a religious family, and their wholesome values are evinced in the honest, gentle way in which the parents and Grandma spend time with the girls to resolve this crisis. A car trip to South Carolina for a family reunion helps Beryl gain understanding that the love in families is far more important than everything being "simple and neat." This is a story of relationships, with minimal action and a rather sketchy sense of place, but it is propelled by fine descriptive passages and an affirming portrait of a believable family.--Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT

Kirkus Reviews Ten-year-old Beryl lives with her parents and her older sister, Randy, in East Harlem in the 1960s. When she discovers that Randy was born before her parents met, to her then-single mother, her world is rocked. Why hadn't anyone told her? Would Randy go live with her biological father someday? Reacting with injured pride, fear, and anger, Beryl lashes out at her mother and sister. Only a trip to South Carolina for a large family reunion helps her see that love is more important than blood. Although some of the language and imagery offers glimpses of Beryl's life, the overall story never coalesces. In the middle of chapters, Bolden (with Vy Higginson, Mama, I Want to Sing, 1992, etc.) creates unexpected shifts in point of view that cause momentary confusion and weaken interest in Beryl. Also troubling is the sense that the entire story takes place in a sanitized historical vacuum. There is only passing mention of the civil rights movement and no sense of the realities facing a black family traveling in the South. The near-lynching of an uncle is presented as part of a distant past--not a still-present threat. These problems mar a novel that has stirring moments but remains unconvincing.
(Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 1995)



Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Boys and Girls -> Girls -> African-American Girls

2. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Boys and Girls -> Girls -> Girls by Age -> Ten-Year-Old


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0525651926 : Hardcover - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 082689

Imani in the belly
Pictures by Alex Boies

Author: Chocolate, Deborah M. Newton

Imani's faith helps her save herself and her children from the belly of the King of Beasts.


BridgeWater Books, copyright 1994, unpaged.

Other Contributors:
Boies, Alex: ill

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0816734666 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0816734674
0606094598 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0606191127 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0785778551 : Prebind


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 082772

Foot warmer and the crow, The
Illustrated by Daniel Minter

Author: Coleman, Evelyn, 1948-

A patient slave finally wins his freedom through his own cleverness and the advice of a crow.


New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, copyright 1994, unpaged.

Reviews for this Title:
School Library Journal Review: Gr 2-5-Hezekiah is a slave with a cruel master. He dreams of escaping his bondage and, with the help of an unlikely friend, a crow, finds a way to fulfill his dream. Agreeing to be the master's foot warmer, Hezekiah learns the man's secret fear, outwits him, and gains his freedom. With a gripping, terse narrative that is reminiscent of the stories found in the last section of Virginia Hamilton's The People Could Fly (Knopf, 1985), this is a powerful statement to the suffering of a people and their will to survive. Enhancing the text are bold, almost surreal painted wood carvings in crayon-bright colors that capture the emotions of both master and slave. The crow is a character in its own right, and the illustrations reverberate with its strong personality. A moving picture book that will leave a lasting impression in the hearts and minds of readers.-Pamela K. Bomboy, Chesterfield County Public Schools, VA

Publishers Weekly Review: Hezekiah, identified not as a slave but an "enslaved man," dreams of being "free like a bird." After his escape attempt is thwarted by a band of snapping dogs, Hezekiah takes a tip from a wise crow and resolves to discover the slave master's weaknesses and through them find a way to freedom. So he offers his services as a foot warmer, spending the cold winter nights under the "smelly covers" of Master Thompson's bed, listening carefully as the white man spills secrets in his sleep. When spring comes, Hezekiah knows his master's deepest fear and leaps from this knowledge to freedom. Coleman's elegantly told tale emphasizes the importance of self-respect while decrying the injustice of slavery. Debut illustrator Minter's bold art has the air of suspended animation, of deep emotion frozen and distilled until it verges on the extreme. Facial expressions are often grotesque, an odd combination of hilarity and fear, capturing the book's sadness as well as its fundamental optimism. Ages 6-up. (Sept.)



Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Periods in History -> Slavery in the US

2. Teaching with Fiction - 'It's Not Fair!' Picture Books About Equality, Justice and Fairness


Author Web Sites:
1. Evelyn Coleman's Web Site : Coleman provides information about herself and her books.


Other Contributors:
Minter, Daniel

Other titles associated with this book:
Crow and the foot warmer., The


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0027228169 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 082805

White socks only
Evelyn Coleman ; illustrations by Tyrone Geter

Author: Coleman, Evelyn, 1948-

A confrontation occurs when an African-American girl drinks at a segregated drinking fountain.


Morton Grove, MS: A. Whitman, 1996, unpaged.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, For the Young: Ages 5-8. This begins with a grandmother telling a tale of her childhood in the segregated South: "You know, when I was a little girl, like yourself, I sneaked into town once. Yep, all by myself." All dressed up and hiding eggs in her pockets, the little girl walks down the road past the feared and revered Chicken Man, who supposedly has powers, including the ability to turn his enemies into chickens. In town, the girl breaks an egg on the sidewalk to see if it will really fry. Seeing a drinking fountain with a sign that says "Whites Only" and a step stool for children, she takes off her black shoes and steps up in her clean white socks. After a white man throws her to the ground, other black people step up to the fountain and drink. Then the Chicken Man joins them, he drinks from the fountain, points at the white man (a chicken later turns up at the fountain), and tells the child to go home. Impressionistic oil paintings sensitively illustrate the place, the time, the heat, and the child's emotions. Although the last part of the story is somewhat confusing, the book works as an effective portrayal of a child's innocence and her awakening to racism. ((Reviewed Feb. 15, 1996)) -- Carolyn Phelan

School Library Journal Review: Gr 2-4--In this story, a grandmother relates an incident from her childhood to her granddaughter. On a scorching hot Mississippi day, a little girl walks into town by herself to learn whether it really is possible to fry an egg on the sidewalk. Mission accomplished, she is on her way home when she stops for a drink of water. Interpreting the "whites only" sign on the water fountain to refer to socks, the African American child takes off her patent-leather shoes and has just begun to drink when an angry white man grabs her and pushes her to the ground. He threatens to "whup" her, but the black townspeople come to the girl's aid by taking off their shoes and drinking from the same fountain. The angry bigot then receives punishment at the hands of a local conjure man. Atmospheric paintings, smudged and moody, will draw readers into this gripping tale. However, the story has some unsettling elements. The protagonist is old enough to go into town alone, yet she is oblivious to the meaning of the "whites only" sign. Her certainty that the sign refers to white socks is also curious; knowing that is what it means implies some prior knowledge, but she clearly does not have the facts straight.--Anna DeWind, Milwaukee Public Library

Publishers Weekly Review: Subtle and stirring, this tale-within-a-tale begins with an affectionate exchange between an African American girl and her grandmother, then telescopes to encompass an electrifying moment fraught with personal and political significance. Grandma tells of sneaking off to town one sizzling summer day when she was a child, "planning on doing no good." Approaching a water fountain, the thirsty girl mistakes its "Whites Only" sign to mean that she should take off her shoes so that only her white socks will touch the step stool. A "big white man" grabs her and removes his belt to whip her-prompting African American bystanders to remove their shoes, too, and defiantly drink from the fountain. At home, the narrator's mother proclaims she can now go to town by herself, " 'cause you're old enough to do some good"; in town, "the `Whites Only' sign was gone from that water fountain forever." Though Coleman (The Footwarmer and the Black Crow) complicates the story with some unnecessary subplots, the impact is strong. Geter's (Dawn and the Round-to-it) full- and double-page paintings can be hazy, but they conduct the story's considerable emotional charge. Ages 5-9. (Mar.)



Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Boys and Girls -> Girls -> African-American Girls

2. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Life and Living -> Problems and Questions -> Racism

3. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Periods in History -> 20th Century -> The 20th Century

4. Teaching with Fiction - R-E-S-P-E-C-T... It's What All Children Need to See

5. Teaching with Fiction - Teaching Writing Through Picture Books: Narrative Genre


Author Web Sites:
1. Evelyn Coleman's Web Site : Coleman provides information about herself and her books.


Other titles associated with this book:
Whites only


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0807589551 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
080758956X : Paperback - Juvenile
0613229606 : Prebind


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 082806

Jaguarundi
Illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Author: Hamilton, Virginia, 1936-2002

Although the other animals also feel threatened by the encroachment of humans, only Rundi and Coati journey north in search of a safer place to live.


New York: Blue Sky Press, copyright 1995, unpaged.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 2-5, younger for reading aloud. This compelling picture book is an animal fantasy rooted in physical reality. A jaguarundi (wildcat) tries to persuade the endangered animals of the rain forest to run north across the river to freedom, but one by one the other animals give their reasons for staying where they are. "Adapt," says the bat. "I'll never flee nor change my ways," gloats a powerful predator. Only the raccoonlike coati joins the jaguarundi on the perilous journey north. This isn't a formula story: the two emigrants find no paradise. The Promised Land has also been fenced and stripped by settlers. But the travelers adapt, and they survive in their new place. Hamilton says in a note that "the story parallels humans who escape their homelands in search of better, safer lives." The facts about the real animals are as powerful as the metaphor, and Cooper's glowing paintings capture the elusive beauty of each wild creature in its habitat. We feel the strength and the fragility as we try to know more. The book ends with small paintings and brief factual paragraphs about each of the 17 species mentioned in the story: where they live, how they behave, how endangered they are. ((Reviewed December 15, 1994)) -- Hazel Rochman

School Library Journal Review: K-Gr 4-An original fantasy that "introduces young readers to a variety of real rain forest animals." As the ecosystem is gradually being tamed by humans who clear the land to build homes, ranches, and farms, Rundi Jaguarundi decides to move north where the great Rio Bravo flows and the forest canopy is still said to exist. He invites Coatimundia and other animals to accompany him. Big Brown Bat decides to stay, advising the others to learn to adapt, because there will always be danger, always be change. Jaguar announces he will not give up his hunting ground-it's him or them. Only Coatimundi decides to go with his friend. When they reach the Rio Bravo, it, too, has been claimed by man, so they continue on separately. Eventually Rundi settles down to raise a family. A picture glossary lists and defines the common animals found in Central and South America. Cooper's paintings convey the misty heat of the tropical habitat. The animals are realistically depicted, but the story and pictures do take liberties with the animal groupings-prey and predator stand together. The strength of this book is in its smooth presentation of cogent reasons for preserving the rain forest and its dwellers. A valuable curriculum item, which will fill many needs.-Karen K. Radtke, Milwaukee Public Library

Publishers Weekly Review: When Rundi Jaguarundi and Coati Coatimundi, creatures of a threatened rain forest, decide to journey north in search of a more congenial habitat, some animals caution them to stay-"Adapt is what we must do," warns the Big Brown Bat. But no matter how far Rundi and Coati travel, they find more hunters, houses and fences, and Rundi wonders if "north must be farther on." In a preface Hamilton (The People Could Fly) suggests that "the story parallels humans who escape their homelands in search of better, safer lives" and that it includes "a classic symbolism of fleeing North." Despite the weighty themes and despite Cooper's (Brown Honey and Broomwheat Tea) sometimes strikingly handsome artwork and arresting cover, this book is not up to Hamilton's usual standards. The 17 animals included are described in terms of encyclopedia-style tidbits, and their stilted conversations can sound like tracts (Coati and Rundi "go off to a shady spot among the spiny bromeliads"; says Rundi: "The forest canopy is going. I'm afraid we wild animals will go with it."). An endnote profiles each of the cited animals, with special attention given to the plights of the endangered. Ages 5-12. (Oct.)

Kirkus Reviews Rundi Jaguarundi's neighborhood (the rain forest) is getting overpopulated, so he teams up with Coati Coatimundi and calls a general meeting of the local fauna. All agree that there is a clear and present danger, but most opt for adaptation rather than flight. Only the lone twosome -- Rundi and Coati -- head for a new frontier. They travel north to the Rio Bravo, to where the forest canopy is crowned, to the promised land. But the classic theme of pursuing happiness and rejecting compromise founders when the two inexplicably set their stakes, after a long, tough haul, near humans. They decide that they will now fit into that habitat and live (that strange emphasis is in the original). Hamilton's (Plain City, 1993, etc.) story leaves readers dumbfounded and not a little bit disappointed; Cooper's atmospheric animal illustrations convey a moodiness but offer little else. Strangely, despite its Greener-than-thou tone, this book is complacent: Animals can adapt, but not as easily or quickly as implied here.
(Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 1994)



Features about this author or title:

1. Author Biographies for Young Adults - Virginia Hamilton


Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Animal Stories -> Rare and Endangered Animals

2. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Places -> Places in Nature -> Rain Forests


Author Web Sites:
1. Virginia Hamilton's Web Site : Features author and book information plus fun stuff.


Other Contributors:
Cooper, Floyd, 1959-

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0590473662 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0590473670 : Paperback - Mass Market
0606115153 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0613033469 : Prebind
0606312110 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile


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• TID: 083136

Plain City

Author: Hamilton, Virginia, 1936-2002

Twelve-year-old Buhlaire, a "mixed" child who feels out of place in her community, struggles to unearth her past and her family history as she gradually discovers more and more about her long-missing father.


New York: Blue Sky Press, c1993, 194 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: /*STARRED REVIEW*/ Gr. 5-7. Hamilton's style gets plainer, but her words lose none of their music or their depth. She makes one girl's search for identity both a realistic story and a universal myth of awakening. At 12, Buhlaire Sims is a proud, smart outsider. None of the kids in her small midwestern town will have much to do with her: maybe it's prejudice about her mixed skin color, maybe it's her home. Her loving mother works as a nightclub singer and dancer, and Buhlaire is cared for by her extended family. She has always been told her father is dead, but then he turns up in town, and her whole view of herself and her world is transformed. He's a stranger, homeless, mentally unstable, and needy, and his skin is pale, almost white. Raging at her family, which has kept the truth from her, she gives him money and is tempted to run away with him. One of those who stop her is a boy in her class who has seemed to be her sneering enemy but turns out to be her friend. Much of the story takes place outdoors, and the changes in the winter landscape--from frozen stillness to transforming flood--mirror Buhlaire's inner experience. Everything is smoky colored, light and shadow, not only in physical appearances but also in our feelings, the mistakes we all make, our frailty, and our love. In a transcendent scene, Buhlaire sings in harmony with her mother the popular song about the light that shines on all of us "when the night is cloudy." ((Reviewed Sept. 15, 1993)) -- Hazel Rochman

School Library Journal Review: Gr 6-8-Discovering that her mother and relatives lied about her father dying in Vietnam, angry Buhlaire-Marie Sims, 12, is determined to find and communicate with her dad. When he rescues her during a January blizzard, he leads his daughter to a highway underpass, his space among the homeless of Plain City. Buhlaire learns that her father is a troubled man, estranged from his family because of his mental instability and racially mixed parentage. Although he treats her kindly, she begins to perceive the confusion and unpredictability of his life. Buhlaire has experienced her own ostracization because of her mother's nightclub career, her home among the stilted river bottom "water houses," and her light skin. Although she is loved and cared for, her adolescent sensibilities are aroused when she realizes that her family has shielded her from her own identity. Through candid thoughts, realistic dialogue, and a symbolic blend of setting and self-discovery, Hamilton has created a testimonial on the powerful bonds of blood and "back time," or heritage. Buhlaire emerges from her emotional turmoil and quest with an appreciation for the attentions and personal struggles of a classmate; with renewed affection for her family; and, with a compassionate understanding of hard choices that are part of life.-Gerry Larson, Chewning Junior High School, Durham, NC

Publishers Weekly Review: The revelation that her father is close to home and not "missing in Nam" hits Buhlaire-Marie Sims like a bomb. All at once, her life is turned upside down. The people she trusted--Mama, Aunt Digna and Uncle Sam--seem to be liars; meanwhile, Buhlaire's worst enemy, Grady Terrell, is starting to act friendly. For the first time ever, Buhlaire becomes self-conscious about her "carrot-honey" skin, her "Rasta" hair and her mother, the famous Bluezy Sims, singer and exotic dancer. With exceptional grace and honesty, Hamilton ( M. C. Higgins, the Great ; Many Thousand Gone ) sketches a vibrant portrait of a gifted 12-year-old of mixed race in search of her identity. Accented with rivertown dialect, the lyrical narrative will draw readers into the small community of Plain City, down to the bank of stilt houses where Buhlaire resides, to the dimly lit night club where she makes her singing debut, and all the way to the homeless shelter where bittersweet truths come to light. Richly textured with a cast of unforgettable characters, this extraordinary novel offers a rare glimpse of unconditional love, family loyalty and compassion. Ages 8-12. (Oct.)

Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ At 12, Bulaire has reason to ponder her identity; a bright, prickly loner, she wonders if her looks--changeable blue-green eyes, "golden Rasta twists," pale skin that summer tans "to near-chocolate lightly washed in burnt orange"--are why she's at odds with her darker friends and relatives. Now, in winter, she's angry--with Grady, who teases in class but seems friendly when he follows her on long walks; and--after she hears that her father isn't dead, as she's been told, but in town--with her mother Bluezy, often away singing gigs, and with the aunts and uncle who care for her. On a bitter cold day, Bulaire, dazzled by snow, is rescued by her dad and taken to his cave under the Interstate, Grady following. Though "Junior" is evidently unbalanced, he does seem to care about her; and though he begs for a "stake," he also returns some of her "back time"--family photos and mementoes that had mysteriously vanished. Bulaire almost decides to go with him, as he unrealistically suggests, and does give him money, as (they now tell her) his half-sisters and ex-wife have often done. In some ways, Plain City is the obverse of Cousins: this father, homeless and a con man, is probably unreclaimable, though he, too, helps his daughter at a critical moment. The other adults are believably flawed, but bracingly strong and reliable. In the end (as a January thaw--"not heat, just not freezing"--melts the ice), the truth sets Bulaire free to see her elders as they are and begin to make peace--with them and with herself and her mixed heritage. Subtle, wise, complex-- superb. (Fiction. 9-13)
(Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 1993)



Features about this author or title:

1. Author Biographies for Young Adults - Virginia Hamilton


Other related features:

1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> ALA Notable Children's Books -> 1994

2. Book Discussion Guide - White Lilacs

3. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Boys and Girls -> Girls -> African-American Girls

4. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Life and Living -> Problems and Questions -> Racism


Author Web Sites:
1. Virginia Hamilton's Web Site : Features author and book information plus fun stuff.


Other titles associated with this book:
City plain


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0590473646 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0590473654 : Paperback - Mass Market
0606080201 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
059005371X : Paperback - Mass Market
078576593X : Glued Binding
0613070712 : Glued Binding
0780746783 : Glued Binding
9995404338 : Paperback - Mass Market


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• TID: 083137

Second cousins

Author: Hamilton, Virginia, 1936-2002

The friendship of twelve-year-old cousins Cammy and Elodie is threatened when the family reunion includes two other cousins near their age and Elodie is tempted to drop Cammy for a new companion.


New York: Blue Sky Press, copyright 1998, 168 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 5-8. In this sequel to Hamilton's astonishing novel Cousins (1990), it's a year later, and 12-year-old Cammy and her family are still in anguish over the drowning of her cousin Patty Ann. The story is not as focused this time, partly because there is such a huge cast of characters to keep straight as the extended family gathers for a summertime reunion in Cammy's small Ohio town. At the center of the story is a family secret that has been kept from Cammy all her life: just who exactly is the girl Fractal from Queens, New York, who teaches Cammy how to use a computer and travel through cyberspace? Why is Fractal in Cammy's father's house? Cammy discovers that her loving parents did wrong, are wrong, and are far from the perfect image she has always had of them. At the same time, she sees that the river that drowned her cousin is also a source of renewal and union and connection. The metaphors are sometimes overworked, but the secret will hold readers--the drama between the mean and the nice in everyone. ((Reviewed August 1998)) -- Hazel Rochman

Kirkus Reviews Affirming the value of existing family ties as she perceptively explores the formation of new ones, Hamilton elaborates on themes from Cousins (1990) with a populous sequel. As the Wright clan gathers for a rare family reunion, 12-year-old Cammy meets Jahnina, an oddly mercurial relative from New York City dubbed "Fractal" because she's seldom without her laptop computer. Unable to keep relationships straight, Cammy decides to think of all the young new arrivals as second cousins--until Jahnina calls Cammy's own father "Daddy" and turns the world upside down. Hamilton masterfully choreographs the dance of acquaintanceship, from tentative first exchanges, through tests and boundary-making, to discoveries of common ground; Cammy ultimately gets more help recovering from her shock from Jahnina than from either of her parents. In a grand, climactic reunion ceremony, presided over by Gram Tut Wright, all finally gather at the river where a cousin had drowned a year ago to lay flowers in the water, and to formally tell their names and places in the family line. Along with the strong story line, readers will be absorbed both by the author's language (alternately slangy and poetic), and by the complex emotional and conversational textures.
(Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 1998)



Features about this author or title:

1. Author Biographies for Young Adults - Virginia Hamilton


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1. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Family -> Family Adjustments


Author Web Sites:
1. Virginia Hamilton's Web Site : Features author and book information plus fun stuff.


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0590473689 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0590473697 : Paperback - Mass Market
0613290542 : Glued Binding
0606186026 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0780798899 : Glued Binding


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• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 083139

I thought my soul would rise and fly: the diary of Patsy, a freed girl

Author: Hansen, Joyce, 1942-

Twelve-year-old Patsy keps a diary of the ripe but confusing time following the end of the Civil War and the granting of freedom to former slaves,


New York: Scholastic, copyright 1997, 202 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 4-8. The diary-form novel can be an effective, soul-illuminating portrait of the life and times of its protagonist. Less successful efforts can be static or monotonous. This Dear America series title is mostly successful, mainly because of the wrenching story of a young women of the 1800s, a freed slave.

Newly freed, Patsy is still living on the plantation, not knowing what to do with her life, though she does know that she wants to go to school. As a joke, the young mistress and master taught Patsy to read, awakening in her an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

If there is one complaint, it is that the portrait of slave life has been toned down somewhat so that at times it seems more inconvenient than inhumane. The book does a fairly good job of portraying a determined young woman trying to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The historical notes and photographs are immensely interesting and further enhance this historical novel. ((Reviewed December 15, 1997)) -- Denia Hester



Features about this author or title:

1. Author Biographies for Young Adults - Joyce Hansen


Other related features:

1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Honor Books -> Authors category -> 1998

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Young Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Coretta Scott King Honor Books -> Authors category -> 1998


Other titles associated with this book:
Diary of Patsy. a freed girl


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0590849131 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0439555051 : Library binding - Juvenile


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• TID: 083149

Ola shakes it up
Illustrated by Warren Chang

Author: Hyppolite, Joanne, 1969-

Nine-year-old Ola and her family are the first black people to move into Walcott Corners, a stuffy, suburban Massachusetts community that Ola wishes were a little bit more like the lively old Roxbury neighborhood she sorely misses.


New York: Delacorte Press, 1998, 166 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 4-8. None of Ola's plans to stop her family from moving work. The ingenious, lively, stubborn nine-year-old has no desire to leave Roxbury in Boston for the small town of Walcott, where her family will be the only African American one in the community. When Ola rebels against the many rules of the new "cookie-cutter neighborhood," she gradually learns that she's not the only rebel around. Ola and her family are well-realized characters, and the book's breezy tone makes the reading fun while still allowing the author to touch on serious issues. As the length of the story suggests a middle-grade audience, and Ola seems older than nine, it's fortunate that the jacket illustration is not babyish. Children interested in books with this theme may also want to read Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Being Danny's Dog (1995). ((Reviewed February 15, 1998)) -- Susan Dove Lempke

School Library Journal Review: Gr 4-6--The sign on the front door of her new house reads, "Welcome to Your Cooperative Home"; however, Ola is determined to be as uncooperative as possible. Her family has moved to an all-white suburban neighborhood because of her father's job, and she and her brother and sister must adjust to being the only black students in their school. Despite the fact that her old house was crowded and in a crime-ridden neighborhood haunted by homeless people, it was familiar and she loved it. After several weeks in her new community, it finally dawns on the girl that her family is not going to move back to the city. That's when she devises "Operation Shake `Em Up," a plan that literally transforms her new neighborhood into a place she can call home. Ola's colorful character is sure to draw both sympathy and laughter through the clarity of her feelings and the hilarity of her shenanigans. Readers also get occasional glimpses of the family members' personal battles as they face racism and prejudice. A story that speaks directly to a contemporary audience.--Tammy J. Marley, Charles County Public Library, La Plata, MD

Publishers Weekly Review: Hyppolite (Seth and Samona) offers reassuring yet markedly simplistic solutions to racism and forced assimilation with this upbeat story about an African American girl's adjustment to an all-white community. Ola's parents think their children will have better opportunities if the family moves from Roxbury to a "cooperative community" in the historic, more affluent town of Walcott, but the nine-year-old has serious reservations. Her new home, which is almost identical to every other house on the block, is too large and quiet, and there are endless neighborhood rules about curfews, lawn care and even laundry (clotheslines are banned). At school, Ola, her older sister and her older brother are met with preconceptions and prejudice. After Ola's attempts to fit in fail, she decides that instead of changing herself, she must change what she does not like about Walcott. With the help of the mayor's daughter, she prevents a second "cookie-cutter" development like her own from being built in the town, and simultaneously wages a campaign to curb restrictions in her own neighborhood. Meanwhile, her sister and brother win a few of their own individual battles. At one gigantic block party, all the thorny conflicts in Ola's life are neatly pruned: she reunites with old friends, finds several new ones, helps her neighbors and makes her parents proud. Unfortunately, what promises to be a novel that grapples with complex issues wraps up too easily. Ages 9-up. (Feb.)

Kirkus Reviews Hyppolite (Seth and Samona, 1995, not reviewed) gives an old story--moving to a new town--an unusual twist and a very appealing protagonist. Ola doesn't like the idea of moving from their old house in Roxbury to a planned community in Massachusetts: There are rules (no clotheslines, no bikes left outside), but more important, hers is the first black family in town. At first, Ola's older siblings Aeisha and Khatib fall in with her plans to sabotage the move, but the facts persuade them otherwise: They live in a large, lovely new house, Aeisha is delighted both by the new school's honors program and the boy across the street, and Khatib covertly discovers the joys of dance. Ola has to "shake it up" on her own, and her irrepressible energy eventually enchants a neighbor or two, as well as a few classmates who initially reacted to her Roxbury roots with fear. Ola's family--with its emphasis on collective decisions, its taking in of a Haitian refugee, and its warm, sensible parents--is a joy to observe. Ola is very funny, and if she occasionally employs a vocabulary beyond the average nine-year-old's, her stubbornness and wildly elaborate plans ring true. A warmhearted look at a potentially explosive emotional situation, handled with grace and humor.
(Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 1997)



Other Contributors:
Chang, Warren: ill

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0385322356 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0440412048 : Paperback - Mass Market
0375895094 : Paperback - Print on Demand
0613161696 : Glued Binding
060616443X : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile


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• TID: 083254

Maniac monkeys on Magnolia Street
Illustrated by John Ward

Author: Johnson, Angela, 1961-

Ten-year-old Charlie adjusts to her move to a new neighborhood when she befriends Billy, with whom she hunts maniac monkeys, braves Mr. Pinkbelly's attack cat, and digs for fossils and treasure.


New York: Knopf, copyright 1999, 97 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 3-5 . When Charlene (aka Charlie) first moves to Magnolia Street, she is apprehensive. There seem to be no kids around, and her brother claims they have all been stolen by the maniac monkeys that inhabit the willow trees on the street. But Charlie, full of spunk, immediately finds a kindred spirit on the block named Billy. Together they discover the secrets and treasures of the neighborhood. Over the course of the summer, they meet Miss Marcia, the artist who works in plaster and always has baked goodies to share, and Mr. Pinkton, who longs for the sea and keeps a house full of aquariums. They share a special garden at the art museum, and on a pretend archaeology dig, they uncover a box of treasures left by children who once lived on the street, with instructions telling them to share the contents. In a series of connected stories, Johnson brings Magnolia Street to life through the ever-curious Charlie, who is always open to the small wonders around her. Newly independent readers will enjoy Charlie's escapades as she makes herself at home on her new street. ((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 1999)) -- Helen Rosenberg

School Library Journal Review: Gr 2-4--Charlie narrates seven stories that take place during her family's first summer on Magnolia Street. Charlie is mischievous and creative and she finds her match in Billy, who quickly becomes her best friend. They are two of a kind and thus spend quite a bit of time grounded on their separate porches. But they do manage a few adventures. In the title story, they play a practical joke on Charlie's older brother. This introduction to the main characters and the people in the neighborhood is the best of the bunch with a strong plot and a great platform for the two friends to bond and show off their cleverness. The stories that follow have less action but Charlie's antics will keep readers' interest. The realistic dialogue will make this comfortable reading for kids, though the few grammatical informalities ("Me and Billy") are unnecessary. Black-and-white sketches appear throughout this entertaining, if not gripping, beginning chapter book.--Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library System, FL

Publishers Weekly Review: Johnson (Toning the Sweep) once again evokes a strong sense of place with this breezy, slice-of-life chapter book. Loosely structuring the volume as a series of vignettes, the author recounts a child's exploration of her new neighborhood. Any homesickness Charlie (Charlene) feels for Monroe Street and her old friends there quickly disappears when Billy, a boy on roller skates, stops by her house to share a plate of cookies. ("[He] would be my best friend in the whole world. But I don't know that yet, though.") Charlie and Billy, soon an inseparable duo, hunt down "maniac monkeys" (seen only by Charlie's 12-year-old brother), view Mr. Pinkton's remarkable collection of fish, marvel at the lifelike sculptures sitting in Miss Marcia's yard and discover buried treasure in a vacant lot. Youngsters will find Magnolia Street to be a comforting refuge where summer afternoons are savored at a leisurely pace and neighbors always have time for a friendly chat. Demonstrating how the imagination can transform day-to-day observations into something magical, this satisfying novel may spur readers to take a closer look at their own familiar surroundings. Illustrations not seen by PW. Ages 8-10. (Dec.)

Kirkus Reviews This chapter book finds Charlene, or Charlie, getting accustomed to a move to Magnolia Street. She misses her friends and her old neighborhood, but despite the dire warnings of her brother Sid, who alludes to "maniac monkeys" that live in trees and have carried off all the kids, Charlie soon hooks up with Billy. The two have a string of low-key, childlike adventures. They camp out in the mysterious trees, attempting to capture the monkeys; instead, they frighten their parents with their absence and wake up covered with glued-on fake fur, courtesy of Sid. Writing for a younger audience than that for any of her previous novels, Johnson (The Other Side, p. 1460, etc.) works in a more prosaic style; it lacks her usual lyricism, but is breezy and light, affectionately conveying Charlie's penchant for landing in trouble. Her sunny outlook and the recurring emphasis on friendship may win fans.
(Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 1998)



Author Web Sites:
1. About Angela Johnson : A short biography of the author and description of her books.


Other Contributors:
Ward, John, 1963-

Other titles associated with this book:
Magnolia Street's maniac monkeys


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
067989053X : Hardcover - Juvenile
0375802088 : Paperback - Juvenile
0679990534 : Library binding - Juvenile
0606198296 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0613328140 : Prebind
0756905125 : Glued Binding


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• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 083283

Songs of faith

Author: Johnson, Angela, 1961-

Living in a small town in Ohio in 1975 and desperately missing her divorced father, thirteen-year-old Doreen comes to terms with disturbing changes in her family life.


New York: Orchard Books, copyright 1998, 103 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: /*Starred Review*/ Gr. 5-8. It is 1975 in Harvey, Ohio, a town that Doreen's mother says is becoming full of newly divorced women and their kids. Mama Dot claims that kids don't get divorced, but Doreen knows better: "She's just talking when she says that. . . . We're as divorced as she is." With a tart tongue and heart-wrenching lyricism, Doreen narrates this story, watching as her adored younger brother expresses, in a variety of ways, how distraught he is by their father's move to Chicago. As in Toning the Sweep (1993), Johnson shows the misunderstandings and powerful love in families and offers a fascinating group of characters to illustrate her theme: the permanence of love in a world that is always changing. The time frame is solidly realized, with a number of cultural references. Johnson also includes several characters who have been profoundly affected by the Vietnam War: Jeff, a former soldier, who travels around the country looking up old friends and lending them a hand when he can, and Jolette, whose father, a veteran, left after a series of senseless rages. Johnson skillfully shows her characters in different phases of separation. Jolette's family slowly heals; Doreen's is still struggling to figure things out. Another tender, eloquent book from a gifted writer. ((Reviewed February 15, 1998)) -- Susan Dove Lempke

School Library Journal Review: Gr 4-8--A deftly detailed novel set in 1976. Johnson uses the particulars of the months after Doreen and Robert's father moves to Chicago and Doreen's best friend moves away to illuminate the universal experience of coping with loss. At the same time, a new girl, Jolette, moves into the neighborhood with her stepmother and too-quiet younger brothers. The sad setting, a neighborhood just outside the projects in a decaying Ohio town where the mills are closed and the trash-filled river smells, mirrors the depression of the characters: troubled children, recently divorced women, and men emotionally scarred from their service in Vietnam. The children fight their losses. Doreen, 13, decorates celebratory Bicentennial signs with yellow smiling faces and fuchsia full moons; Robert and Jolette make deals with themselves--he stops talking, she attempts to jump rope one million times. Their mothers cope. Mama Dot has gone back to Ohio State University; Miss Mary joins the church and finds a job in the church restaurant. Through explicit weather imagery, the author makes her message clear; difficult and disturbing as the time is, it is a storm that will pass. Once again Johnson has set attractive and realistic African-American characters in situations in which race is not the focus. This short, sensitive book will appeal most to reflective readers.--Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC

Publishers Weekly Review: In Johnson's (Humming Whispers) absorbing character study, the country prepares the bicentennial celebration of Independence Day while 13-year-old Doreen and her younger brother Robert start a new chapter in their lives without their father. The finalization of their parents' divorce sharpens Doreen's sense that nearly everyone else is moving forward while she "stays put" in Harvey, Ohio, a place "far out of everything and everybody." With the closing of the steel mill, the town's population is shifting ("Mama Dot says Harvey's becoming a place full of just-divorced women and their kids"). Through Doreen's narrative, which is infused with remarkable insight and exceptional tenderness, Johnson crystallizes the pain of being left behind. Although her sparse narrative gives only a sketchy depiction of the heroine's father, readers will feel the impact of his absence on his children and wife. The relationships between the protagonist and the other characters here generally are not as fully fleshed out as in Johnson's previous novels. However, Doreen's straightforward opinions ("We're as divorced as she [her mother] is") and poignant observations ("I will look at Robert and know I'll never figure out people's hearts") ring true. A quiet, heart-wrenching read. Ages 9-13. (Apr.)

Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ A young African-American gift struggles to reconcile her parents' divorce and the subsequent fragmentation of her family in this eloquent and life-affirming novel from Johnson (Humming Whispers, 1995, etc.). The town of Harvey, Ohio, in the summer of 1975 isn't much of a playground for the narrator, 13-year-old Doreen, her younger brother, Robert, and their mother, Mama Dot: Plant closings and a stagnant economy have left it a desperate, depressed version of its former, thriving self. Yet Mama Dot attends Ohio University as a full-time student with plans to become a museum curator, and the kids have plenty of friends to play with, although the memory of their father, who recently moved to Chicago, is a source of constant sadness. The America that Johnson recreates is far removed from the Bicentennial euphoria the characters anticipate, one that reels from the Vietnam War as a destroyer of fathers and husbands, offering no comfort nor the reward of a decent job upon their return. Johnson is honest enough to offer no easy answers: While Doreen's father returns to the family, it is only for a visit; when he offers to take Robert, who has stopped talking, Doreen realizes that she must make yet another sacrifice. But the message is uplifting--even though her family cannot be together, and she is still in pain, Doreen is left at the conclusion still full of love and, more importantly, hope.
(Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 1997)



Other related features:

1. Teaching with Fiction - Fiction from the 50 States: Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky


Author Web Sites:
1. About Angela Johnson : A short biography of the author and description of her books.


Other titles associated with this book:
Faith songs


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0531300234 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0679894888 : Paperback - Juvenile
0531330230 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0440229448 : Paperback - Mass Market
0613224051 : Prebind
0606173749 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0756910900 : Glued Binding


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• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 083284

Seminole diary: remembrances of a slave

Author: Johnson, Dolores, 1949-

Story about fugitive slaves and their relations with Seminole Indians.


New York: Macmillan, copyright 1994, unpaged.

Uncle Remus: the complete tales, with a new introduction
As told by Julius Lester. Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

Author: Lester, Julius

"Tales from Uncle Remus" "More Tales from Uncle Remus", "Further Tales from Uncle Remus" and "Last Tales from Uncle Remus" have been brought together for this colorfully illustrated compilation for readers of all ages.


P. Fogelman, copyright 1999, 686 p.

Other Contributors:
Pinkney, Jerry: ill

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0803724519 : Hardcover - Juvenile


Credits:
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• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 083423

Running girl: the diary of Ebonee Rose

Author: Mathis, Sharon Bell

In her diary Ebonee Rose records her passion for running, her desire to be like the great African American women athletes who have come before her, and her preparations for the All-City Meet.


San Diego, CA: Browndeer Press/Harcourt Brace, copyright 1997, 60 p.

Notes:
Illustrated with photos of African-American women track and field athletes, most in color


Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 3-5. It's just 20 days until the All-City Track Meet, and 11-year-old Ebonee Rose, captain of the Main Track Gazelles, is on pins and needles. To her diary she confides her mounting excitement, her hurt when Coach Teena yells at her, her dismay when she twists an ankle with less than two weeks to go, and her encounters with her favorite quarterback, Jay Jay ("He is soooo cute!"), and prickly but fast new teammate Queenie. When her feelings are too strong or complex to express in prose, she breaks into terse, exuberant poetry. Ebonee Rose has two passions: running and the black women who have run to glory in the Olympics. She's a walking encyclopedia, reeling off their accomplishments, and when the day finally comes, she feels as if all those women were running with her. Although she doesn't win every event she's in, her team takes the relay, takes first place overall, and later that night throws a surprise party at her house. The book's unusual, oblong shape allows large margins, many of which are filled with photos of and inspirational quotes from Ebonee Rose's heroes. Readers will respond strongly to her fresh, lively voice and may find her enthusiasm for track and field equally infectious. ((Reviewed Sept. 1, 1997)) -- John Peters

School Library Journal Review: Gr 3-6--The heart of Running Girl is diary-format fiction, fiction as clear as poetry; but its soul is straight fact. The narrator is 11-year-old Ebonee Rose. In her kente-cloth-covered diary ("Cool, cool!"), she records her preparations for the All-City Track Meet and her respect for female runners who have broken color barriers, gender-based stereotypes, and speed records. The text bounds along light and free, in the manner of runners themselves. E. R.'s authentic voice is conversational and smart. Themes of competition, determination, and friendship from the girl's life weave in and out of the historical facts, documentary photos, poetry, and quotations she notes for inspiration. Whether it's a quote from Gail Devers ("When the walls are closing in, when someone doesn't know where to turn, tell people I was there, I kept going.") or an Olympic fact (Louise Stokes was replaced in the 1936 Games by a white runner she'd previously beaten), it's interesting to readers because it's important to E. R. The same is true for the action photographs shot by sports photojournalists. Mathis suggests a sports/arts connection by introducing lines from Gwendolyn Brooks ("What good is sun/If I can't run?"), the revelation that Florence Griffith Joyner writes poetry (and so does E. R.), and other comparisons. An author's note lists contact organizations (including Special Olympics International) for readers considering track club involvement.--Liza Bliss, Worcester Public Library, MA



Features about this author or title:

1. Author Biographies for Young Adults - Sharon Bell Mathis


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1. Annotated Book List - Let the Games Begin: Stories about the Olympics


Other titles associated with this book:
Diary of Ebonee Rose., The
Ebonee Rose's diary
Ebony Rose's diary
Girl running


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0152006745 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


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Tailypo: a newfangled tall tale
Illustrated by Sterling Brown

Author: Medearis, Angela Shelf, 1956-, adapter

On a farm in the Texas Hill Country, a young boy confronts a strange critter that tries to steal his family's last meal.


New York: Holiday House, copyright 1996, unpaged.

Notes:
On a farm in the Texas Hill Country, a litle boy confronts a strange critter that tries to steal his family's next meal


Author Web Sites:
1. Angela Shelf Medearis' Web Site : Medearis provides information about herself and her books.


Other Contributors:
Brown, Sterling, 1963-: ill

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0823412490 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


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• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 083572

Journal of Joshua Loper, The: a Black cowboy

Author: Myers, Walter Dean, 1937-

In 1871 Joshua Loper, a sixteen-year-old black cowboy, records in his journal his experiences while making his first cattle drive under an unsympathetic trail boss.


New York: Scholastic, copyright 1999, 158 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 4-6. For this entry in My Name Is America, a companion series to the popular Dear America books, Myers sends a young African American cowboy north on the Chisholm Trail in 1871. It's a dream come true for Joshua when he's hired to help drive 2,200 "beeves" from a Texas ranch to Abilene, Kansas; by the time the journey's over, he not only has faced up to rustlers, stampedes, and Indians but also has met buffalo soldiers and Wild Bill Hickock, all while earning the grudging respect of his hard-bitten, prejudiced trail boss. Although written in dated daily episodes, Joshua's narrative is too smooth for a credible diary; he does have a voice of his own, though, and imparts a clear, reasonably specific picture of a cowboy's work and how hard, dirty, and exhausting it was: "May 25. I sat down to write two days in a row, and just fell asleep." Two historical notes (one fictional) and a generous suite of contemporary pictures add verisimilitude--or, along with the absence of Myers' name on the cover, misdirection for unwary readers--to this informative, expert peek behind the cowboy mythos. ((Reviewed February 15, 1999)) -- John Peters

School Library Journal Review: Gr 5-8-With characteristic research, sensitivity, and insight, Myers offers a lively, youthful portrait of the life and times of this black cowboy. Sixteen-year-old Joshua recounts his adventures on a cattle drive headed up the Chisholm Trail from southern Texas to Abilene, KS, in 1871. One of only 11 cowboys driving a herd of 2200 cattle, the teen quickly learns that every man must pull his own weight and accept the direction and criticism of the hard-nosed trail boss. Age, race, and background are insignificant. The hazards of the journey-exhaustion, rustlers, drought, Indians, river crossings, and stampedes-test the courage, strength, stamina, and skill of everyone involved. The young man finds comfort in his friendship with fellow drover Timmy, in his three horses, in his singing, and in his skill as a sharpshooter. At trail's end, he discovers that gambling and drinking can consume one's earnings and fighting can end in jail or the cemetery. With appealing clarity and simplicity, the story reveals Joshua's transition from boy to man. In the epilogue, the author fleshes out the remaining years of Loper's life as a husband, father, and businessman, and comments on the later years of his trail acquaintances. An informative note and black-and-white photographs summarize the dramatic rise and fall of the era and emphasize the unique opportunity for equality and fame enjoyed by the African-American cowboy.-Gerry Larson, Durham Magnet Center, Durham, NC

Kirkus Reviews The teenage son of a former slave joins a cattle drive from Texas to Abilene, Kansas, in an entry in the My Name is America series. Joshua is a competent, level-headed boy who works hard, loves his mother, and keeps God in his heart. Despite the bigotry of the trail boss, the Captain, Joshua is determined to prove himself on his first drive. Through encounters with rustlers and others, stampedes, crew frictions, and the multitude of difficulties and challenges inherent in the job, Joshua holds his own, proves his worth, and earns some respect from the Captain. Myers tells a compelling story in which the source of the drama is the drive itself, and all the hardship of life on the trail. Scene after scene is vividly told, including a downright gory, fatal trampling of one of the cowpunchers during a stampede. Readers gain a real feeling for the period and setting, and a strong sense of what a cattle drive entailed. The hallmarks of Myers's work—thorough research and solid writing—are evident here. (b&w photos, maps) (Fiction. 8-14)
(Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 1999)



Features about this author or title:

1. Annotated Book List - A Place Within Myself: Walter Dean Myers and the Fiction of Harlem Youth


Author Web Sites:
1. About Walter Dean Myers : Features author-supplied biographical information and an interview.


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0590026917 : Hardcover - Juvenile


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• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 083652

Smiffy Blue: ace crime detective: the case of the missing ruby and other stories
Illustrated by David J. A. Sims

Author: Myers, Walter Dean, 1937-

Famous crime fighter Smiffy Blue blunders his way to solving the mystery of a missing formula and three other cases.


New York: Scholastic, copyright 1996, 74 p.

Features about this author or title:

1. Annotated Book List - A Place Within Myself: Walter Dean Myers and the Fiction of Harlem Youth


Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Periods in History -> 20th Century -> The 20th Century


Author Web Sites:
1. About Walter Dean Myers : Features author-supplied biographical information and an interview.


Other Contributors:
Sims, David J. A.

Other titles associated with this book:
Smithy Blue, ace crime detective: the case of the missing ruby and other stories
Case of the missing ruby and other stories., The
Missing ruby case and other stories., The
Ace crime detective Smiffy Blue: the case of the missing ruby and other stories
Blue Smiffy: ace crime detective: the case of the missing ruby and other stories


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0590676652 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


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• Added to NoveList: 2001

Adventures of Midnight Son, The

Author: Patrick, Denise Lewis

After his parents help him escape from slavery on a cotton plantation, fourteen-year-old Midnight finds freedom in Mexico and becomes a cowhand on a cattle drive to Kansas.


New York: H. Holt, copyright 1997, 152 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 5-8. Born into slavery, Midnight witnesses his sister being sold and his mother's grief after Midnight's baby brother's cruel death. The Civil War provides the distraction Midnight's parents have been looking for: they steal a horse for him and send him to freedom. Although he is frightened of the bounty hunters and sad over leaving his family, Midnight still relishes his freedom, especially once he gets to Mexico, where he meets ranch foreman Juan Diego and learns to become a cowboy. Midnight is a compelling character as he wrestles with his feelings of anger and loss, and the story is rich in sensory details and historical facts on the challenging and eventful life of a young wrangler on a cattle drive. ((Reviewed December 15, 1997)) -- Susan Dove Lempke

School Library Journal Review: Gr 4-8--Despite a few flaws, notably a climactic scene featuring both a stampede and a tornado, this title is an example of convincing and compelling historical fiction. Midnight is the 13-year-old son of Texas slaves, suddenly free when his father engineers his escape during the confusion surrounding Texas's entry into the Civil War. The boy makes it to Mexico, where slavery is illegal, and where he is welcomed at a remote hacienda. There he learns the basics of the cowboy trade. When Slim, an older black man, leaves to join a cattle drive from Texas to Kansas, Midnight joins him. On the journey, he proves himself as a wrangler and trustworthy employee and also learns that not all men judge one another by their skin color. Patrick creates an interesting and unusual novel, told in a mostly winning colloquial voice. In addition to being a first-rate story, the book features well-rounded characters--black, white, and brown--and should also be useful for studies of African-American history, the Civil War, and Texas and frontier history. Leaner and a bit easier to read than the fine historical novels by G. Clifton Wisler and John Loveday's Goodbye, Buffalo Sky (McElderry, 1997), Midnight Son is also an excellent choice for the reluctantly literary.--Coop Renner, Coldwell Elementary-Intermediate School, El Paso, TX

Kirkus Reviews Patrick (The Car Washing Street, 1993, etc.) delivers an unusual cowboy adventure tale, told through the eyes of a runaway slave, Midnight Son, 13. Leaving Texas behind on a stolen horse, Midnight makes for the Mexican border by the light of the moon. In an early, outstanding scene, Midnight is caught and crated up by the plantation owner's son, with only the surreptitious, timely nods of a fellow slave to aid in his daring re-escape. Midnight begins his first hours of freedom just over the border, where he experiences friendships with Mexican vaqueros and a startling handshake with a white man. Juan Diego's attempt to dissuade him from the harsh life of a cowboy meets the response, "I'm looking for the chance to tell my own feet where to go." When he joins Slim on a cattle drive to Kansas, Midnight risks the threat of bounty hunters and faces his own swelling anger and bad memories as he goes head to head with a menacing cougar. In a voice strong and true, Patrick's narrator easily carries the story, winning readers' hearts in an unusual combination of rip-roaring action scenes interspersed with internal monologues of self-discovery. This is a serious character study, work of historical fiction, and action-adventure rolled into one.
(Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 1997)



Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Periods in History -> Slavery in the US


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
080504714X : Hardcover - Juvenile


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• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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• TID: 083717

Bonjour, Lonnie

Author: Ringgold, Faith

An African-American Jewish boy traces his ancestory with the help of the Love Bird of Paris.


New York: Hyperion Books for Children, copyright 1996, unpaged.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, For the Young: Ages 6-9. Lonnie, introduced in Ringgold's Dinner at Aunt Connie's House (1993), asks the mysterious Love Bird to help him find his parents. Love Bird takes Lonnie to Paris, where he meets his deceased black grandfather and white grandmother. They tell him all about their youth (and Ringgold works in a substantial amount of postslavery African American history), and then they are joined by Lonnie's parents. They continue the story from World War II on--his father was killed in battle, and his Jewish mother gave him to someone for safekeeping before the Nazis found her. At the end, Love Bird delivers Lonnie to his new home with Aunt Connie. Ringgold concludes with a bibliography on the Harlem Renaissance and African American migration to Paris. This highly unconventional story, with many French phrases, deals with some harsh realities but is imbued with a loving feeling and embellished by Ringgold's dramatically primitive-style paintings. ((Reviewed Oct. 1, 1996)) -- Susan Dove Lempke

School Library Journal Review: Gr 2-4--This unusual story involves Lonnie, the red-haired, green-eyed boy introduced in Ringgold's Dinner at Aunt Connie's House (Hyperion, 1993). He pursues an elusive "Love Bird" around Paris until it leads him to a dreamlike place where he learns his family's history and how he came to be orphaned. Lonnie meets his African-American grandfather, who expatriated to Paris in the 1920s; his French grandmother; his soldier father, who was killed in World War II; and his Jewish mother, who died in the Holocaust. Lonnie is told that he was smuggled to the U.S. by an African-American student. Though he wants to stay with his family, they convince him to return to the "real world," and the magical Love Bird transports him to his adoptive parents. The Love Bird is a somewhat awkward device but it helps bridge the fantasy and realism in the story. The artwork, similar in style to that of Ringgold's earlier books, also incorporates elements of fantasy and realism. The artist shows strong positive images of whites and blacks together and makes children aware that both Jews and African Americans have endured prejudice. However, because many issues and historical references are touched upon but not fully explained, youngsters may be left with many unanswered questions. While not totally successful as a story, this unique book focuses on aspects of history that are not commonly covered for this audience.--Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ

Publishers Weekly Review: In this fantastical, sweeping picture book, Ringgold reintroduces a character from Dinner at Aunt Connie's in order to chronicle some pivotal moments in African American history. Shown here in an earlier phase, Lonnie is living in a Paris orphanage. He is visited one night by a magical Love Bird who inspires him to "look everywhere" for his loved ones. On his surreal search, Lonnie combs the streets and sights of Paris, even speaking to the Mona Lisa inside the Louvre. The journey changes course when Lonnie encounters the spirits of his deceased grandparents and parents. They explain both Lonnie's mixed racial heritage and, more broadly, black Americans' contributions to the arts (e.g., the Harlem Renaissance) and to the Allies' victories in the two World Wars. With an emphasis on acceptance and love, Ringgold's text illustrates that families can come in all kinds of configurations. In her dense acrylic paintings, Ringgold refrains from literalism, effectively depicting such difficult subject matter as violence and even death with slightly abstract perspectives. This meaty volume invites repeated examination and will hold special appeal for African Americans and children in adoptive and/or mixed-race families. As a bonus, French phrases and their English translations are sprinkled throughout, and a short glossary of historical figures and movements appears at the end. Ages 5-9. (Sept.)

Kirkus Reviews Lush, deeply imagined paintings can't quite carry the didactic storyline in this tale from the creator of My Dream of Martin Luther King (1995). Lonnie, an orphaned African-American boy with the red hair and green eyes of his mixed heritage, is transported back to Paris during the first world war by l'Oiseau d'Amour--the Love Bird. This magical creature shows him how his grandfather of the 369th infantry, the "Harlem Hell Fighters," met his red-haired French grandmother; and how their son, Lonnie's father, died in WW II. Claudine, his green-eyed, Jewish mother, was lost to the Nazis and Lonnie was smuggled away. The spirits of his ancestors--with connections to the Harlem Renaissance, the black Parisian community, and the French Resistance, among others--fade away, leaving Lonnie no longer orphaned but with loving stepparents (first met in Ringgold's Dinner at Aunt Connie's House, 1993). Ringgold's acrylic paintings will tug at anyone who has seen--or wants to see--Paris; their intense colors, stylized figures, and beautiful use of pattern draw viewers in again and again. The complicated, though well-intentioned, story, with its layers of history and magical realism, may elude younger readers and leave older ones confused.
(Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 1996)



Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Places -> Europe -> Paris, France


Author Web Sites:
1. Faith Ringgold's Web Site : Ringgold shares information about herself, her books, and works in progress..


Other titles associated with this book:
Lonnie, Bonjour


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0786820624 : Library binding - Juvenile
0786800763 : Hardcover - Juvenile


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• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 083804

Forty acres and maybe a mule

Author: Robinet, Harriette Gillem

Born with a withered leg and hand, Pascal, who is about twelve years old, joins other former slaves in a search for a farm and the freedom which it promises.


New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, copyright 1998, 132 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 4-7. Two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Pascal's older brother Gideon returns to the plantation where the slaves still work, not realizing they have been freed. Pascal, Gideon, and another child, Nelly, set out to claim the 40 acres Gideon hears have been promised to freed slaves. Throughout the story the tension between the joy of freedom and the dangers of the enraged white southerners tugs at the characters as they farm their new land, attend school, and hear terrible stories. Robinet skillfully balances her in-depth historical knowledge with the feelings of her characters, creating a story that moves along rapidly and comes to a bittersweet conclusion. A fine historical novel that explores the immediate postwar period for African Americans and their white friends and neighbors. ((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 1999)) -- Susan Dove Lempke

School Library Journal Review: Gr 4-6-Once again, Robinet has humanized a little-known piece of American history. In the spring of 1865, the Freedmen's Bureau approved a plan to give 40 acres of abandoned land to former slave families. Forty thousand freed people took advantage of that offer, only to lose their farms when it was withdrawn in September. The author focuses on Pascal, 12, a slave on a plantation in South Carolina. His older brother Gideon, who ran away during the war, returns to collect him and they head for Georgia, determined to become landowners. Teaming up with Pascal's friend Nelly and the elderly Mr. Freedman and his granddaughter, they form a family, claim land, and begin to farm. The Bibbs, white neighbors from Tennessee, are helpful in protecting them from the night riders who are determined to destroy black-owned farms. Despite their hard work, Pascal and the others are evicted at the end of the summer. Luckily, Gideon had found a treasure buried under a tree, and they set out to buy land on the Georgia Sea Islands. Pascal is a likable boy whose withered hand and leg limit his body but not his mind and whose dreadful jokes entertain everyone. The dialect may deter some readers at first, but sympathy for the characters will keep children going until they reach the satisfying ending.-Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC

Publishers Weekly Review: In this novel set in April through September of 1865, Robinet's (The Twins, the Pirates, and the Battle of New Orleans) resilient characters lend immediacy to the early events of Reconstruction. Orphaned 12-year-old Pascal is a slave at the Big House on a South Carolina plantation when his runaway brother Gideon, a Union soldier, returns, proclaiming that Lincoln has freed the slaves and General Sherman has promised 40 acres and maybe a mule for both blacks and whites. Pascal, his friend Nelly and Gideon set off in search of a Freedmen's Bureau (where land is deeded) and finally find one in Georgia. Along the way they encounter other former slaves, two of whom they "adopt" as family; poor white farmers (among them the Bibbs family who become neighbors, and with whom they begin a moving friendship); night riders and Republican operatives eager to recruit new voters. Robinet compellingly demonstrates how the courage and determination of Pascal and Gideon's small band transform their 40 acres into a model farm. But there's no sugarcoating here: just as their perfect cotton crop matures, President Johnson reverses his land acts to declare that only white families can own the 40-acre plots of free land. Even this devastating development doesn't attenuate Pascal's sense of accomplishment ("Maybe nobody gave freedom, and nobody could take it away like they could take away a family farm. Maybe freedom was something you claimed yourself"). A stirring story of self-determination. Ages 8-12. (Nov.)



Other related features:

1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Children's -> Best Fiction -> Historical Fiction -> Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award

2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Young Adult -> Best Fiction -> Historical Fiction -> Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award

3. Book Discussion Guide - The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963


Author Web Sites:
1. Harriette Gillem Robinet's Web Site : Robinet provides information about herself and her books.


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
068982078X : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


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• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 083811

Twins, the pirates, and the battle of New Orleans, The

Author: Robinet, Harriette Gillem

Twin fugitive slaves become involved with Jean Laffite, Andrew Jackson, and the Battle of New Orleans.


New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, copyright 1997, 138 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 4-6. After their rescue from slavery by their father, Jacques, twins Andrew and Pierre are left alone in a swamp southeast of New Orleans while Jacques tries to liberate his wife and daughter. When he fails to return, the boys must fend for themselves, coping with alligators, pirates, limestone caves, bounty hunters, and myriad assorted soldiers on hand for the Battle of New Orleans. The twins manage to survive and, with the help of their father's pirate treasure, purchase the release of their mother and sister. This is an ambitious novel--full of high adventure, natural detail, and historical particulars that will surprise many young readers (for instance, General Andrew Jackson enlisted the help of Jean Lafitte and his Pirate Brotherhood at the Battle of New Orleans). Filled with believable characters spun from thorough research, Robinet's portrayal of Louisiana in 1814, as seen through the eyes of African American children, makes this a welcome addition to the historical fiction shelves. Her Washington City Is Burning (1996) offers another perspective on this time period. ((Reviewed November 15, 1997)) -- Kay Weisman



Author Web Sites:
1. Harriette Gillem Robinet's Web Site : Robinet provides information about herself and her books.


Other titles associated with this book:
Pirates, the twins, and the Battle of New Orleans., The


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0689812086 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 083812

'Twas the night b'fore Christmas: an African-American version
Retold and illustrated by Melodye Rosales

Author: Rosales, Melodye, adapter

Presents a turn-of-the-century rural Afro-American family's encounter with St. Nick as he delivers his presents before flying off into the night.


New York: Scholastic, Inc.; Cartwheel Books, 1996, unpaged.

Notes:
Based on the original poem A visit from St. Nicholas by Clement C. Moore
On page opposite title page: "The Weatherby's Christmas Eve, 1904."


Other Contributors:
Moore, Clement Clarke, 1779-1863

Other titles associated with this book:
Night before Christmas
It was the night b'fore Christmas
'Twas the night before Christmas
Weatherby's Christmas Eve, 1904., The
Christmas Eve of the Weatherbys, 1904


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0590739441 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 083836

Moriah's pond

Author: Smothers, Ethel Footman

While she and her older sisters are staying with their great-grandmother, Annie Rye learns about prejudice first hand when a local White girl causes Annie's sister to be unjustly punished.


New York: A. A. Knopf, copyright 1995, 111 p.

Reviews for this Title:
School Library Journal Review: Gr 4-6--A story that features the same characters as Smothers's Down in the Piney Woods (Knopf, 1992). The period and setting are the same--pre-civil rights rural Georgia. Annie Rye, 10, and two of her older sisters are spending the summer with their great-grandmother Moriah until their parents need them for field work. Annie Rye takes some major steps toward growing up as she begins to grasp the nature of racial relationships when one of her sisters is forced to take the blame for a white girl's actions. She develops a long-standing grudge against the girl, but her wise Uncle Curry helps her to understand the concept of forgiveness. Annie Rye also learns that holding to a promise is an honorable thing to do--unless it endangers that person's well-being. In this case, her sisters disobey her grandmother and swim in a contaminated pond, which causes temporary blindness and permanent scarring in one of the girls. It is only after Annie Rye finally confesses that the doctor knows how to treat the mysterious illness. A sensitive, alternately suspenseful and gently humorous read-aloud for those adults willing to tackle the dialect.--Ellen Fader, Oregon State Library, Salem

Publishers Weekly Review: Continuing the chronicle of Annie Rye, Maybaby and Brat begun in Down in the Piney Woods, Smothers's ebullient new novel centers on the adventures the girls share when they spend a summer in rural 1950s Georgia with their great-grandmother Moriah. Told in Annie Rye's distinctive, sassy voice, the narrative is chatty, unaffected and altogether convincing in its use of Southern black dialect ("Miss Maylene just about old as Moriah, so she liable to go into some kind of calniption if she knowed what shape she in"). Annie Rye supplies animated accounts of the routine at Moriah's house: swimming in the pond on a steamy afternoon, listening to her older relatives "talk `bout them olden days" and participating in an old-fashioned wash day. The novel's drama, meanwhile, derives from interconnected plot lines involving Annie Rye's troubled relations with lonely Betty Jean (granddaughter of Moriah's white employer and landlord) and Brat's struggles with a dangerous infection. An author's note explains that much of the book is autobiographical; readers who enjoy matching fact with fiction will appreciate the photos of the three real-life heroines that appear on the back of the jacket. Ages 8-13. (Jan.)

Kirkus Reviews The author of Down in the Piny Woods (1992) returns to the pre--civil--rights era of her youth and a rural family based on her own, marvelously capturing the rhythms and cadence of spoken language in the narrative of ten-year-old Annie Rye. As in the previous work, the theme is racial hostility. Great-grandmother Moriah works for Ralph Daniels, a white landowner; his lonely daughter Betty Jean often makes friendly overtures toward Annie Rye and her older sisters, Brat and Maybaby. Annie Rye views Betty Jean with suspicion, and her antipathy intensifies after Daniels order Moriah to whip Brat -- for drinking from his daughter's soda bottle. In the end, advice from older, wiser heads prompts an awkward but sincere reconciliation. The plot may wander, the supporting cast is not well visualized, but Annie Rye's vivid, captivating voice will draw readers as a griot draws listeners.
(Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 1995)



Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Boys and Girls -> Girls -> African-American Girls

2. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Family -> Brothers and Sisters -> Sisters

3. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Life and Living -> Problems and Questions -> Racism

4. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Life and Living -> Ways of Life -> Country Life

5. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Places -> North America -> United States -> Southern States


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0679845046 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0679945040
0802852491 : Paperback - Juvenile
060629516X : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
061367247X : Prebind


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 083983

Creativity
Illustrations by E.B. Lewis

Author: Steptoe, John, 1950-1989

Charles helps Hector, a student who has just moved from Puerto Rico, adjust to his new life.


New York: Clarion Books, copyright 1997, 32 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, For the Young: Ages 4-8. With realistic, light-filled watercolor illustrations of school and neighborhood, Lewis gives a contemporary urban setting to an unpublished story by the late author-illustrator Steptoe. Like Steptoe's great picture book Stevie (1969), this story is about getting to know and like an outsider. The story is more didactic here, but Lewis' relaxed, thoughtful pictures of individual people will draw children into a scenario they will want to talk about. Charles is surprised that Hector, the new boy in class from Puerto Rico, speaks Spanish. How can that be when Hector is as dark-skinned as Charles, and Charles speaks English? His teacher and his parents explain to him about the history of Puerto Rico, and he comes to see how he and Hector are connected and how everyone in the classroom "is the result of different people mixing up together." What's more, languages change and mix, and people can be "creative" when they speak and do things their own way. There is a slight story (Charles helps Hector when the boys at school tease Hector about his clothes), but what kids will want to talk about are the language and connection issues, which are as hot today as when Steptoe wrote this. ((Reviewed February 15, 1997)) -- Hazel Rochman

Kirkus Reviews A posthumously published story by Steptoe (Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, 1987, etc.) demonstrates his usual themes of positive self-image and acceptance of cultural heritage, this time presenting young African-American Charles's reaction when "this new dude walks in" to Mr. Cohen's classroom. "Hector's whole name was one of them long numbers," and he speaks to the teacher in Spanish. Hector is from Puerto Rico, but he is the same color as Charles and his hair is also black (though straight). Charles doesn't get it, but he's happy to help Hector and his sisters learn the ropes in their new school. Mr. Cohen fills Charles in--how Hector's ancestry was enriched by that of other groups in Puerto Rico. Charles has already decided that Hector is a "nice dude," and he tells his parents that he could teach Hector English. Daddy says that Charles's riffing on the English language is creativity. It pleases Charles to learn that doing things his own way has a good name, and he puts the concept to good use when Hector needs some help with his clothes. Lewis's full-spread watercolors under a readable text happily complement this warm story of friendship.
(Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 1997)



Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Boys and Girls -> Boys -> African-American Boys


Other Contributors:
Lewis, Earl B.

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0395687063 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0618316779 : Paperback - Juvenile
0613610121 : Prebind
0606276521 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 084019

Don't split the pole: tales of down-home folk wisdom
Illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu

Author: Tate, Eleanora E.

Seven stories inspired by and illustrating the folk wisdom of such sayings as: You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks, A Hard Head Makes a Soft Behind, and Big Things Come in Small Packages. ackages. -


New York: Delacorte Press, copyright 1997, 138 p.

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 4-6. Each of the seven tales in this collection, put together by an African American storyteller, is based on a saying, for example, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." Tate uses an informal, easygoing style to tell the stories, with humans and animals as her folksy characters. In the title story, "Don't Split the Pole," two skateboarding brothers encounter ghosts and danger when they separate to go around a pole. A young turtle learns a life lesson from Gran Snappy in "Slow and Steady Wins the Race." The anthropomorphic animals will grate on some readers, but the human characters are lively and realistic. Children will enjoy the light, funny tales. ((Reviewed November 1, 1997)) -- Susan Dove Lempke

Publishers Weekly Review: Inspired by proverbs, seven "unconventional and exuberant" contemporary stories "leap off the page and lodge straight in the funny bone," according to PW's starred review. Ages 12-up. (Feb.)



Author Web Sites:
1. Eleanora E. Tate : Features biographical information on Tate.


Other Contributors:
VanWright, Cornelius; Hu, Ying-Hwa

Other titles associated with this book:
Tales of down-home folk wisdom
Down-home folk wisdom


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0385323026 : Hardcover - Juvenile
0440413222 : Paperback - Mass Market
0606158154 : DEMCO Turtleback - Juvenile
0613123166 : Glued Binding


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 084043

Running for our lives
Glennette Tilley Turner ; drawings by Samuel Byrd

Author: Turner, Glennette Tilley

A family of fugitive slaves becomes separated while traveling to freedom aboard the Underground Railroad.


New York: Holiday House, copyright 1994, 198 p

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 5-7. This historical novel follows a young boy, Luther, and his family, who escape from slavery in Missouri in the 1850s and travel on the Underground Railroad to Canada. The dialogue is flat, and the characterization is minimal; everyone sounds the same; everyone is strong, dignified, and very nice. The drama lies in the historical facts. Turner has been meticulous in researching the conditions of the dangerous journey: how and why they ran, what they left behind, and what they found when they finally reached safety. They meet famous figures of the abolitionist movement, including Frederick Douglass and John Brown, but the focus is on the experience of ordinary people. The tone is upbeat; although Luther and his sister get separated from their parents, there's never any real doubt they'll find each other by the end of the survival adventure. Yet the ending is heartbreaking: Turner makes us know that underlying the joyful reunion is the anguish of countless families torn apart by slavery, the suffering of those who were never free to work for themselves and build their lives. ((Reviewed June 1994)) -- Hazel Rochman

School Library Journal Review: Gr 5-7-Fleeing slavery, Luther, 13; his parents; his little sister, Carrie; and a baby whose mother had been sold to another owner leave Missouri. Following the Underground Railroad north to Canada, they encounter numerous obstacles. To avoid slave catchers, the family separates, and Luther and Carrie are forced to go on alone. Along the way, they meet their aunt and her husband. The four of them settle on a farm in Canada, but the children never give up hope of finding their parents. Ultimately, there is a big reunion, and everyone lives happily in freedom. Clearly, this is a book written to teach children about the evils of slavery and the perils of the Underground Railroad. It is loaded with historical information, including cameo appearances by important figures such as Alan Pinkerton and Frederick Douglass. Unfortunately, the account never fully comes to life, and the facts are not skillfully integrated into the fictional account. Characters are two dimensional and dialogue is wooden. However, the book is easy enough for reluctant readers and could be useful in the context of a history curriculum; a substantial author''s note explains the background for the novel. Jennifer Armstrong''s Steal Away (Orchard, 1992) is more successful, but it is also more complex and for an older audience.-Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC

Publishers Weekly Review: At the Freeman family reunion in Canada, 101-year-old Luther tells his grandchildren about 1855, the year he and his enslaved family escaped from a Missouri plantation and began an arduous journey to freedom. After hiking through chilly, desolate woods and crossing the freezing Mississippi River at night, Luther and his younger sister are separated from their parents at the advice of well-meaning abolitionists, but the danger multiplies when "notorious slave kidnapper Mose Twist" starts searching for them. Frederick Douglass, John Brown and Alan Pinkerton feature in the story, which Turner, in an author's note, describes as "a glimpse of the turbulent times that preceded the Civil War." Although the book contains numerous facts in a dramatic setting, it never quite overcomes a didactic tone and the developments seem more strung together than organic. For an exceptionally strong treatment of the same themes, see Mary Stolz's Cezanne Pinto (Children's Forecasts, Jan. 10). Ages 8-12. (Apr.)



Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Periods in History -> Slavery in the US


Other Contributors:
Byrd, Samuel: ill

ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0823411214 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0938990063 : Paperback - Juvenile


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 084073

Finding the green stone
Paintings by Catherine Deeter

Author: Walker, Alice, 1944-

After saying unkind things to family and friends, Johnny loses both his green stone and his interest in life, and he recovers them only when he discovers love in his heart.


San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, ccopyright 1991, unpaged.

Reviews for this Title:
School Library Journal Review: Gr 2-4-- Like everyone in their largely African-American community, Johnny and Katie each have a green stone that glows when they are particularly loving or caring. Johnny loses his and immediately begins acting badly. (It's unclear whether he lost it because he acted badly; at any rate, "because of his hurtful behavior, he deserved to lose it.") His actions make everyone, himself included, sad (no one gets angry in this book). Johnny's father trucks wood (but feels bad about tree-cutting); his mother is a fast-moving community doctor, rushing around with her stone in her mouth (no danger of choking?). When she reacts impatiently to Johnny's loss, her stone turns a sickly color; her amended response is to put her arm around her son and tell him it's his own fault. Only Johnny himself can find it again, but the whole community drops everything to be with him while he looks. When he puzzles over their support, he feels "as if all the warmth inside himself was trying to rush out"--but instead of a fatal chill, he gets his stone back. Allegorical consistency is not the book's strong suit: although the stone seems to be an external conscience, trees and dogs have them too; and the possession of a stone doesn't keep some characters from acting badly. Preachy psychology and muddled fantasy make for a heavy-handed blend. Deeter's warm, bright acrylics are cheery and attractive, but can't save this tract from sinking under its own well-intentioned weight. --Patricia Dooley, University of Washington, Seattle

Publishers Weekly Review: "In a small community on the Earth," every person and animal possesses a shiny green stone. If a stone's owner shows warmth, love and respect to others, his stone glows, but negative actions and feelings cause the stone to become dull and gray until restitution can be made. When Johnny loses his green stone, he must discover the strength and wisdom within himself that will bring the magic glow back to his life. Walker presents a rather forced message in this strange story. The tone is ethereal and removed--odd qualities in such a personal plot--while the writing style, especially the dialogue, is stiff and didactic. Young readers will have difficulty understanding the confusing concept that a person's inner goodness should be reflected in an iridescent rock. Deeter's warm acrylic paintings are full of life, depicting the multiethnic inhabitants of this unusual town, which itself seems enveloped by an eerie green light. The book's intent is noble but in the end simply too hard to swallow. All ages. (Oct.)

Kirkus Reviews The Pulizer Prize-winning novelist tells an allegorical tale with a contemporary setting: Like everyone in their friendly rural neighborhood, Katie and her brother Johnny each possess an iridescent green stone, carried in a pocket or used for games. When Johnny loses his, he accuses Katie of stealing it; later, he tries to steal hers, but to no avail--the stone promptly loses its luster. Though others generously join his search, Johnny eventually realizes that the quest is his alone; and by the time he regains his stone, it's evident that it embodies his unique talents and integrity, and that any stone may lose its power as a result of its owner's failings, from name-calling to more serious transgressions. The focus is on several messages (including that the children's mother is a doctor, and their father is sorry that he's forced to make a living by driving a pulpwood truck), but, still, this holds attention--especially with Deeter's colorful, large-size paintings, glowing with wholesome good health; one especially appealing spread reveals that this is a multiracial but mostly black community. Heavy-handed, but enjoyable.
(Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 1991)



Author Web Sites:
1. About Alice Walker : Features Walker's biography and a selected bibliography.


Other Contributors:
Deeter, Catherine

Other titles associated with this book:
Green stone., The
Find the green stone


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
015227538X : Reinforced binding - Juvenile
0152015027 : Paperback


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 084105

Freedom's gifts: a Juneteenth story
by Valerie Wesley ; illustrated by Sharon Wilson

Author: Wesley, Valerie Wilson

When a girl from New York visits her cousin in Texas, she learns the origin of Juneteenth, a holiday marking the day Texan slaves realized they were free.


New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, c1997, 1 v. (unpaged)

Reviews for this Title:

Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 3-6. On June_ 19, 1943, June's family is celebrating the annual Juneteenth holiday, commemorating the day in 1865 when the slaves in Texas were first told they were free. June's sullen cousin Lillie, visiting from New York City, is bored with "the dumb old slave holiday," but when their Great-great-aunt Marshall tells them about what it was like for her to be born a slave and to be set free, even Lillie is profoundly moved. The cousins become friends, and Juneteenth is their holiday, too. Yet, it is 1943, there are "Whites Only" signs in the town, and Lillie shows June that there is still freedom to be fought for. The layered narrative is sometimes confusing, set in the past and talking about the past, but if middle-graders read the historical note at the back, they will be ready for the family story. Wilson's handsome full-page pastels--like her illustrations for Sisulu's The Day Gogo Went to Vote (1996)--capture the family scenes, with realistic portraits of old and young celebrating their hard-won freedom. ((Reviewed May 1, 1997)) -- Hazel Rochman

School Library Journal Review: K-Gr 3--Wesley explores a unique holiday in Texas that has recently begun to be celebrated by African Americans in other parts of the U.S. as well. While Lincoln declared the slaves free in January 1863, the slaves in Texas were not freed until June 19, 1865. Set in 1943, this story tells of June, a young African-American Texan, and her cousin who is visiting from New York City. Juneteenth is June's favorite holiday, but Lillie belittles it until the girls go to the big celebratory picnic and their great-great-aunt Marshall, once a slave, helps her understand the importance of "freedom's gifts." Besides providing good basic information on the holiday, the author sketches nicely the loving relationship between Aunt Marshall and June, and the wary, hostile atmosphere between the cousins, which gradually changes. By setting the story in 1943, Wesley underlines Aunt Marshall's contention that even though their people still must use segregated facilities, "freedom's gifts" are precious and will grow with time. The impressionistic pastel illustrations are lovely, rendered in warm colors that convey the heat of the summer and the joyousness of the town's celebration. A beautiful effort, of special interest to Texans, but sure to enrich any library collection because of its subject matter and its quality.--Judith Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA

Publishers Weekly Review: A small Texan town's Juneteenth celebration in 1943 is the setting for Wesley's (Where Do I Go from Here) resonant picture book, which offers a penetrating perspective on the degree of liberation the holiday commemorated in the pre--civil rights South. African American cousins June and Lillie listen intently to their elderly great-great-aunt Marshall's articulate first-hand account of the evil days of slavery ("We were born grown back then--at least we felt it") and of her memories of June 19, 1865, the day that she and all the other slaves in Texas learned, a full two and a half years after Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, that they were free. "Are we free now?" asks June, who has just tried to explain to a disgruntled Lillie, visiting from the North, why a nearby drinking fountain displays a "Whites Only" sign. Aunt Marshall's wise, poignantly ironic words concede that she is "as free as I'll be before I'll die. But not as free as you'll be someday." Intentionally hazy, Wilson's (The Day Gogo Went to Vote) textured pastel art is composed of an unusually diverse configuration of fine and broad strokes. These create some intriguing background patterns, including a recurrent concentric design resembling the whorls of a fingerprint. The result is sophisticated and distinctive--a statement that is also true of Wesley's forthright treatment of a sensitive and important subject. Ages 8-up. (Apr.)



Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Family -> Extended Families -> Cousins

2. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Periods in History -> Slavery in the US

3. Explore Fiction - Children's -> Explore Fiction -> Places -> North America -> United States -> Southwest


Author Web Sites:
1. Valerie Wilson Wesley's Web Site : Features author, appearance, and contact information, plus a message board and excerpts of Tamara Hayle mysteries.


Other Contributors:
Wilson, Sharon, 1954-: ill

Other titles associated with this book:
Juneteenth story


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0689802692 : Reinforced binding - Juvenile


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 084145