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I've been leading a
Facebook read-to-change book group. We finished Michele Alexander's
THE NEW JIM CROW: MASS INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS and are about to start Bryan Stevenson's
JUST MERCY. It's not to late to join us as we begin this round of reading next week.
As I'm reading, I find myself wondering which children's and young adult novels feature a main character with an incarcerated parent. I put the question out on twitter, and here are the results (please leave other titles in the comments section and I will add):
Picture Books- KENNEDY'S BIG VISIT by Daphne Brooks
- VISITING DAY by Jacqueline Woodson
Early Readers- NINE CANDLES by Maria Testa
- THE SUNNY HOLIDAY SERIES by Coleen Paratore
Middle-Grade Novels- RUBY ON THE OUTSIDE by Nora Raleigh Baskin
- QUEENIE PEAVY by Robert Burch
- ALL RISE FOR THE HONORABLE PERRY T. COOK by Leslie Connor
- AN ANGEL FOR MARIQUA by Zetta Elliott
- THE YEAR THE SWALLOWS CAME EARLY by Kathryn Fitzmaurice
- THE RAILWAY CHILDREN by E. Nesbit (Classic)
- THE SAME STUFF AS STARS by Katherine Paterson
- THE GIRL IN THE WELL IS ME by Karen Rivers
Young Adult Novels- LITTLE DORRITT by Charles Dickens (Classic)
- THE ROW by J. R. Johansson
- MEXICAN WHITE BOY by Matt De la Peña
In light of the racial strife related to criminal justice in our country, I've been leading a
Facebook read-to-change book group. We finished Michele Alexander's
THE NEW JIM CROW: MASS INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS and are about to start Bryan Stevenson's
JUST MERCY. It's not to late to join us as we begin this round of reading next week.
As I'm reading, I find myself wondering which children's and young adult novels feature a main character with an incarcerated parent. I put the question out on twitter, and here are the results (please leave other titles in the comments section and I will add):
Picture Books- KENNEDY'S BIG VISIT by Daphne Brooks
- VISITING DAY by Jacqueline Woodson
Early Readers- NINE CANDLES by Maria Testa
- THE SUNNY HOLIDAY SERIES by Coleen Paratore
Middle-Grade Novels- RUBY ON THE OUTSIDE by Nora Raleigh Baskin
- QUEENIE PEAVY by Robert Burch
- ALL RISE FOR THE HONORABLE PERRY T. COOK by Leslie Connor
- AN ANGEL FOR MARIQUA by Zetta Elliott
- THE YEAR THE SWALLOWS CAME EARLY by Kathryn Fitzmaurice
- PIECES OF WHY by K.L. Going
- JUNEBUG IN TROUBLE by Alice Mead
- THE RAILWAY CHILDREN by E. Nesbit (Classic)
- THE SAME STUFF AS STARS by Katherine Paterson
- THE GIRL IN THE WELL IS ME by Karen Rivers
Young Adult Novels- MEXICAN WHITE BOY by Matt De la Peña
- LITTLE DORRIT by Charles Dickens (Classic)
- KEESHA'S HOUSE by Helen Frost
- THE ROW by J. R. Johansson
- CHASING FORGIVENESS by Neal Shusterman
 |
"Eat it," said Sara,
"And you will not be so hungry. |
My Saint Mary's College of California Jan Term students are beginning to consider the consequences of growing up with food insecurity and poor nutrition in our neighboring City of Oakland. This class is a community engagement course, one of Saint Mary's core curriculum requirements, and a distinctive for the school.
When it comes to hunger, I plan to fill their minds with statistics, research, and facts, and they're using hands and hearts to work with children in the Oakland schools, but I still think there's nothing better than fiction to inform the imagination. I remember hating fictional hunger in the pit of my nine-year-old stomach when reading about the Pepper family in THE FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS, Sara Crewe in A LITTLE PRINCESS, the Hummel family in LITTLE WOMEN, the Brinker family in HANS BRINKER AND THE SILVER SKATES, and the Ingalls family in THE LONG WINTER.
What other children's books inform the imagination when it comes to the experience of hunger? 
Yesterday I spoke on a panel of
all female young adult authors and editors. Our audience was a group of almost all female librarians. After our panel, a representative from
Gender Spectrum shared his understanding of gender and children, and his organization's mission to serve transgendered children.
As he spoke, I found myself getting more and more irritated. At the end, I raised my hand and fired off an aggressive question—I can hardly remember what I asked. Then, as he was answering diplomatically and politely, I cut him off, blurting out something like, “That’s a lot of powerful adults making a decision for a powerless child!”
It got worse. I stormed out of the panel and leaped in my car. It took a few minutes for the a wave of shame to overwhelm me. I’m not usually that rude, am I? Maybe I’m turning into the wicked villain of western fairy tales: a curmudgeonly old woman, I thought. That’s it. I’ve become a crone.
But as I drove to my parents’ house, I realized I was more than cranky and irritated. I was furious. But why?
He was championing marginalized children. I’m all for that.
He was encouraging us to create safe spaces for children in danger of bullying or self-harm. I’m definitely for that.
He was telling us that children should be free to decide their own identities. I can advocate for that.
Then why was I so ANGRY? I've been ruminating over the possible reasons for my rage, and here’s what I've realized.
(1) In his portrayal of gender as three-fold—in biology, expression, and identity—
he didn’t mention the unique capacity of women to become pregnant, sometimes against our will. Being born with a biological uterus brings a potential cost that doesn’t come with
expressing yourself as a woman and
identifying as a woman. Especially in villages where brown and black women suffer through
fistula,
female genital cutting,
child marriage, and
rape. Think about living in places where a girl can be shot in the face for speaking up (I love you,
Malala.)
(2) In his portrayal of gender as fluid,
he didn’t mention the history of oppression that women have and continue to experience—especially brown and black women. Out of her suffering and marginalization, Sojourner Truth won the right to ask, “
Ain’t I a Woman?”
(Take your time to watch the video below of Alfre Woodard re-enacting this landmark speech--it's beautiful.)
To choose to be a woman is significantly different than to choose to be a man given the history and continued existence of pervasive misogyny. Maybe this is why we are seeing an odd
rift between feminists and the trans community. We're all in favor of championing marginalized voices, but we can't nod our heads dumbly without exploring the nuances and tension within each particular situation. “Diversity” is complex, and rightfully so.
(3) In his push to prove that gender is no longer binary (male and female), the Gender Spectrum speaker seemed to contradict himself: apparently, it’s no longer binary unless a child insistently, persistently, and consistently decides to be male or female. Why this particular statement was a punch in the gut didn’t come to me until this morning, when I realized it was an emotion akin to how I feel when I encounter cultural appropriation.
It's a question of power.
Here was a white, adult man telling me it was essentially the same thing for a girl to want to be a boy as for a boy to want to be a girl. It was all about the choice and desire of the child, he was saying. He was drawing squiggly lines here, there, and everywhere to show how anybody could choose to be anything. And this made the little brown girl in me furious, because the rights of powerless biological girls are consistently, persistently, and insistently overcome by the desires and intentions of powerful adults, usually men.
I was born a third daughter in a culture that scorned my mother for producing me. In response, she dressed me as a boy in public. People would laud her for giving her husband such a chubby, healthy son. I knew how unhappy she was, and so I (insistently, persistently, and consistently) wanted to be a boy for years. I wanted to make my mother happy—what child doesn’t?
 |
| Guess which one wanted to be a boy? |
If powerful adults want to change the gender of a powerless child (which means, given the reality of this world, typically a child biologically born as a girl), and we
provide the means and technology for them to do so from infancy on, won’t this further skew cultures away from a 50-50
ratio of biological men and women?
Even if son-desiring parents wait until the child can express her gender and her identity, as this speaker was advocating, couldn’t a desire for adult approval and cultural power lead to this child passionately expressing a desire to become a boy?
My rage came to a head when I arrived at my parents’ house. Sixty years ago my mother was given in marriage to a man she didn’t know. The dowry was good. She was a teenager without voice or choice. (My great-grandmother was nine when she was married off, so I guess it wasn’t so bad for Ma—everything’s relative, right? No pun intended.) Now my mother is tenderly caring for a man she didn’t choose to marry, and she's doing it with grace and joy. If she could have looked ahead to the miscarriages, traumatic childbirths, shame, abuse, onerous maternal duties, and lack of power she experienced ALL THROUGHOUT her life as a woman, would the child version of her have chosen to identify and express herself as a man? Wouldn’t she have changed the biology of her daughters in the womb if science had given her the capacity?
I’m grateful for a sisterhood of suffering brown women around the globe, and the chance to speak up on their behalf. Here’s what I want to say to the folks at Gender Spectrum before they make their next presentation: Step outside of North American borders, please, and exit modern time for a moment. Set your discussion about gender in the context of history as well as while acknowledging the present-day oppression of women. The biology of being born a girl, and especially a brown girl, launches you on a different hero’s journey. If you're not convinced, come over, have a cup of tea with my mother, and listen to her stories.
In the meantime, I’m casting my vote for Malala as woman of the decade.
This summer, as kids set up lemonade stands, car washes, and dog walking services, consider inspiring them to give a portion of their entrepreneurial proceeds to the children of Nepal.
Before the earthquakes, Nepalese were working fiercely to increase the literacy rate by building libraries across the country. Apart from our sorrow over the loss of life during and after the disaster, we also grieve a devastating setback in the country's efforts to progress in education.
We can help rebuild education and literacy in Nepal. Why not read a book featuring that beautiful Himalayan country with your children, Girl Scout/Boy Scout troop, summer reading program, Sunday School or Vacation Bible School class? Then encourage them to raise money for an organization working to rebuild libraries and literacy in response to the earthquakes. Check out a few choices below (reviews courtesy of School Library Journal), and please add more options for good books to read and organizations to support in the comments.
Books Set in Nepal
Chandra's Magic Light: A Story in Nepal by Theresa Heine (Author), Judith Gueyfier (Illustrator), published by Barefoot Books, May 2014.
K-Gr 3—While shopping in the marketplace, Chandra and her sister, Deena, watch a man selling solar lights. Because few have electricity, at home, Nepali families use tukis, or kerosene lamps, that are very smoky and produce unhealthy fumes. Although the solar lamp is expensive, the girls are certain that it would help quiet their baby brother's smoke-induced cough. They excitedly share the information about the "magic light" with their father. However, it isn't until he sees one working at a neighbor's house that he becomes interested. The new lamps cost more than the family has available, so the girls brainstorm ways they can earn the money. They decide to sell bunches of colorful rhododendrons that grow in the hills. Arriving early to market, Deena has time to tell Chandra a story of the sun god, Surya, and the moon god, Chandra. The young girl is proud to be named for such a powerful god. The girls' stall does well, and they are able to purchase the last solar light available. That night, their little brother sleeps and breathes peacefully. The full-color, mixed-media illustrations dominate the pages with vitality and detail. Thorough endnotes provide much information about Nepal, its people and solar power as well as instructions for making a solar oven. This tale of sibling compassion and ingenuity provides enough story for enjoyment alone but would also work well as an introduction to another culture and religion. — Sara-Jo Lupo Sites, George F. Johnson Memorial Library, Endicott, NY,
School Library JournalNamaste! by Diana Cohn (Author), Amy Cordova (Illustrator), published by Steiner Press, February 2013.
K-Gr 2 — Nima lives in the mountain country of Nepal. Every year her father has to leave to work as a mountain guide for climbers from around the world. The child and her mother part from him with prayers and rice offerings, and by placing a khata, the traditional shawl, around his neck for good luck. Then Nima walks to school. Along the way, she greets yaks, tourists, porters, traders, and Tibetan monks with a "Namaste" by bringing the palms of her hands together and bowing slightly. This greeting translates into "the light in me meets the light in you," and readers soon learn that Nima brings light to everyone around her. The vibrant folk-art illustrations showing the details of Nima's life in her village support the simple story perfectly. This beautiful book will appeal to primary readers and make an ideal addition to multicultural collections. An extensive glossary explains Nepalese terms, and an afterword gives background on Nepalese culture. — Monika Schroeder, American Embassy School, New Delhi, India,
School Library JournalI, Doko: The Tale of a Basket, written and illustrated by Ed Young, published by Philomel, November 2004.
K-Gr 3 – This fable begins at the marketplace, when a young father chooses a new basket for his family. Told from the point of view of the basket, the story proceeds as the baby boy grows up, the man's wife dies, and the son marries and has a family of his own. Through the years, the basket carries infants, crops, and even the woman's body to her grave; it becomes part of the family in a very fundamental way. At last, the father is a disabled old man and his son proposes to leave him at the temple so the priests will have to take care of him. The basket is consigned to carry him there, until the grandson intervenes with a haunting question that offers the moral of this traditional tale from Nepal. A quote from Kung Fu Tze in the sixth century B.C. opens the book: "What one wishes not upon oneself, one burdens not upon another." The simple text offers a splendid backdrop for the beautiful illustrations. Done in gouache, pastel, and collage, the pictures have graceful lines, subtle textures, and magnificent colors. With gold endpapers and gold edgings around each page, there's a timeless quality suited to the story. Lovely. – Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL,
School Library JournalSold by Patricia Mcormack, published by Hyperion Books for Children, 2008.
Gr 9-Up – As this heartbreaking story opens, 13-year-old Lakshmi lives an ordinary life in Nepal, going to school and thinking of the boy she is to marry. Then her gambling-addicted stepfather sells her into prostitution in India. Refusing to be with men, she is beaten and starved until she gives in. Written in free verse, the girls first-person narration is horrifying and difficult to read. In between, men come./They crush my bones with their weight./They split me open./Then they disappear. I hurt./I am torn and bleeding where the men have been. The spare, unadorned text matches the barrenness of Lakshmis new life. She is told that if she works off her familys debt, she can leave, but she soon discovers that this is virtually impossible. When a boy who runs errands for the girls and their clients begins to teach her to read, she feels a bit more alive, remembering what it feels like to be the number one girl in class again. When an American comes to the brothel to rescue girls, Lakshmi finally gets a sense of hope. An authors note confirms what readers fear: thousands of girls, like Lakshmi in this story, are sold into prostitution each year. Part of McCormicks research for this novel involved interviewing women in Nepal and India, and her depth of detail makes the characters believable and their misery palpable. This important book was written in their honor. – Alexa Sandmann, Kent State University, OH,
School Library JournalA film based on McCormick's award-winning novel,
Sold: The Movie, produced by Emma Thompson, is available for screening. Here's the trailer.
Organizations working to (re)build literacy in Nepal
READ NepalREAD has its roots in Nepal, where their first office opened in 1991 after a rural villager told the organization's founder that all he wanted for his village was a library. Since then they have opened READ Centers across the country, offering training programs in livelihood skills, literacy, health, and technology. With partner communities, READ has seeded sustaining enterprises that address community needs: from fish farming and turmeric farming to a community radio station. Almost 4,000 women participate in savings cooperatives at READ Centers in Nepal.
Room to Read NepalIn 1998, Room to Read's Founder, John Wood, delivered his first few hundred books to a school high in the Himalayas, and the organization—then known as Books for Nepal—was born. Since then, Room to Read's local team has expanded operations in the country to include school libraries, reading and writing instruction, school construction, book publishing and girls’ education. They now work in both the Himalayan region and the lowlying Tarai flatlands to improve educational opportunities for Nepal's children.
Magic Yeti Children's LibrariesThe Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation maintains seven rural libraries in Nepal, and is seeking to build more. Once books arrive in Nepal, volunteers sort through them and divide them between the libraries. Books are either flown or taken by truck to the trail head and then loaded onto yaks, dzopkyos, donkeys, horses or people who carry them to their remote destinations.
For an overview of Nepalese Children's Literature, check out
History of Children’s Literature In Nepal by Biswambhar Ghimire (Chanchal), courtesy of the International Board of Books for Young People.
JANE ADDAMS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS ANNOUNCED
Recipients of the 2015 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards were announced today by the Jane Addams Peace Association. Since 1953, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award annually acknowledges books published in the U.S. during the previous year. Books commended by the Award address themes or topics that engage children in thinking about peace, justice, world community and/or equality of the sexes and all races. The books also must meet conventional standards of literacy and artistic excellence.Winner in the Books for Younger Readers Category
Separate is Never Equal, written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers. When Sylvia Mendez and her siblings enrolled in a new school system, they were told they must attend an inferior “school for Mexicans” because they were dirty, uneducated, and didn’t speak English –despite that all of these things were demonstrably untrue. Sylvia’s family worked tirelessly to unite the Latino community and bring an end to the segregation. Separate is Never Equal brings the story to life with illustrations done in a style meant to echo Mayan codex figures.
Winner in the Books for Older Readers Category
The Girl From the Tar Paper School by Teri Kanefield, also published by Abrams Books for Young Readers. Sixteen year old Barbara Rose Johns, a high school student, led a student walk out to protest racial inequality in the school system. It was the first public protest of its kind, and one of the cases that helped end segregation as part of Brown vs. the Board of Education.
Honor Books in the Younger Reader Category
Whispering Town, written by Jennifer Elvgren, illustrated by Fabio Santomauro, and published by Kar-Ben Publishing, tells the story of a young child in a small town in Nazi-occupied Denmark that united to smuggle Jews out of the country. Perfectly balancing the dread of the situation with the heroism of the townspeople, this book is an excellent introduction to the subject matter for young children.
Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914, by John Hendrix, published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, tells the story of the Christmas Truce in the trenches of WWI. The powerful story conveys the futility of war and the powerlessness of individual soldiers who are nonetheless united in eking out a moment of shared humanity amid chaos.
Honor Books in the Books for Older Children category
Revolution, by Deborah Wiles, published by Scholastic Press, uses a unique format that incorporates primary source documents and song lyrics from the 1960’s with more conventional novel narration to tell the story of Freedom Summer through the eyes of young people whose worlds are turning upside down. Primarily told through the voice of Sunny, a young white girl, depth and perspective are added to the narrative through Raymond, a black boy, and a third-person narrator.
Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal, by Margarita Engle, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is a complex book that uses free verse poetry to give a voice to the many lives touched by the creation of the Panama Canal including the workers from the Caribbean, indigenous people, employees from the U.S., and even the jungle itself, conveying a story of profound injustice and inequality – and a fight for basic human rights.
A national committee chooses winners and honor books for younger and older children. Members of the 2015 Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Committee are Marianne Baker (VA), Kathryn Bruce (TN), Ann Carpenter (chair, MA), Julie Olsen Edwards (CA), Susan Freiss (WI), Lani Gerson (MA), Jacqui Kolar (IL), Lauren Mayer (WA), Beth McGowan (IL), Mary Napoli (PA), Heather Palmer (MN), Ilza Garcia (TX), Sonja Cherry-Paul (NY). Regional reading and discussion groups of all ages participated with many of the committee members throughout the jury’s evaluation and selection process.
The 2015 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards will be presented on Friday, October 16, 2015 in New York City. Details about the award event and about securing winner and honor book seals are available from the Jane Addams Peace Association (JAPA). Contact JAPA Executive Director Linda B. Belle, 777 United Nations Plaza, 6th Floor, NY, NY 10017-3521; by phone 212.682.8830; and by email [email protected].
For additional information about the Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards and a complete list of books honored since 1953, see www.janeaddamspeace.org. 
In honor of Mother’s Day, the last day of Children’s Book Week 2015, the Children’s Book Council (CBC) partnered with The unPrison Project — a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to empowering and mentoring women in prison, while raising awareness of their families’ needs — to create libraries of books for incarcerated mothers to read with their babies at prison nurseries in 10 states: California, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, New York, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
17 of the CBC’s member publishers donated copies of 45 hand-picked titles for children ages 0-18 months for each library. I'm excited, because four of the publishers are mine!
The books will be paired with simple interactive reading guides— fostering mother-child dialogue and bonding — and will be hand-delivered and organized in the nurseries by Deborah Jiang-Stein, founder of The unPrison Project and author of Prison Baby. Jiang-Stein was born in prison to a heroin-addicted mother, and has made it her mission to empower and mentor women and girls in prison. 15 additional titles have also been donated by these publishers to stock visiting room libraries for inmates and their older children.
CBC members participating in the effort are:
- ABRAMS Books for Young Readers
- Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.
- Disney Publishing Worldwide
- Five Star Publications, Inc.
- HarperCollins Children’s Books
- Kane Miller, a division of EDC Publishing
- Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
- Nobrow (Flying Eye Books)
- Penguin Young Readers Group (Nancy Paulsen Books)
- Random House Children’s Books
“Of the 200,000 women in prison in the United States, 80% have children. Reading together can be one of the most powerful ways for mothers and their children to stay connected during a prison sentence, but visiting rooms in prisons are vastly underserved and books are hard to come by,” says Deborah Jiang-Stein, founder of The unPrison Project. “These prison-nursery libraries will fill that void for mothers and their babies.”
About the Children’s Book Council (CBC)The Children’s Book Council is the nonprofit trade association for children’s book publishers in North America. The CBC offers children’s publishers the opportunity to work together on issues of importance to the industry at large, including educational programming, literacy advocacy, and collaborations with other national organizations. Our members span the spectrum from large international houses to smaller independent presses. The CBC is proud to partner with other national organizations on co-sponsored reading lists, educational programming, and literacy initiatives. Please visit www.cbcbooks.org for more information.
About The unPrison ProjectThe mission of The unPrison Project (UP) is to empower, inspire, and cultivate critical thinking, life skills, self-reflection, and peer mentoring for women and girls in prison as tools to plan, set goals, and prepare for a successful life after their release, and at the same time bring public awareness about the needs of incarcerated women and their children. The unPrison Project is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit. Learn more at www.unprisonproject.org.
Next week (April 10-14, 2014), I'm delighted to be participating in the
Festival of Faith and Writing, "the biennial writing festival at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, celebrating matters of faith."
I'll be presenting a solo talk called "It's Just Fiction: Reading and Writing about Race, Culture, and Power," and am participating in a panel discussion on YA fiction with
Swathi Avasti and
Pam Muñoz Ryan. I'm also sitting on a panel focusing on writing and social justice with
Uwem Akpan, a writer of fiction and Jesuit priest serving in Nigeria, and playwright
Ashley Lucas. The framing question will be something like this: "To what extent can—or should—art serve to shine a light on injustice?"
Other Kid/YA book folks will be presenting at the Festival, including Gene Luen Yang (keynoting), Ron Koertge, Michele Wood, and Deborah Heiligman. Literary luminaries who write for adults, including Anne Lamott, James McBride, Miroslav Wolf, will also be there. Follow the Festival on twitter with this hashtag:
#ffwgr, and here's the
schedule of events and full list of
speakers.
If your kids are complaining about school, don't lecture them about the gift of an education. Instead, read them
Razia's Ray of Hope: One Girl's Dream of an Education by Elizabeth Suneby, illustrated by Suana Verelst (Kids Can Press, 9/13).
This inspiring story is about a brave girl in Afghanistan who must convince the men in her family to allow her to attend school. The author,
Elizabeth Suneby, was inspired by Razia Jan, one of
CNN’s 2012 Top 10 Heroes of the Year. Jan founded the
Zabuli Education Center outside Kabul, near villages where there had never been a school for girls.
Instead of telling us information about the school from an insider's perspective, Suneby introduces us to another Razia, a girl who gazes longingly at the school from the outside. Details about life in Afghanistan are seamlessly woven into the story. As they cheer for Razia on her brave quest, American children might begin to understand the value of an education and why so many of their counterparts in other countries desperately desire it.
JANE ADDAMS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS ANNOUNCED
APRIL 27, 2013…
Recipients of the 2013 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards were announced today
by the Jane Addams Peace Association. Since 1953, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award annually acknowledges books published in the U.S. during the previous year. Books commended by the Award address themes or topics that engage children in thinking about peace, justice, world community and/or equality of the sexes and all races. The books also must meet conventional standards of literacy and artistic excellence.
Each Kindness, written by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E.B.
Lewis and published by Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin, is the
winner in the Books for Younger Children Category. We’ve Got a Job: The 1963
Birmingham Children’s March, written by Cynthia Levinson and published
by Peachtree Publishers, is the winner in the Books for Older Children
category.
Each Kindness Small actions, or the lack of them, can be haunting
as is the case for Maya and for Chloe in their rural elementary school. This
open-ended, profound tale created in free verse and sober watercolors glimpses
interactions between Chloe and Maya, the new girl arriving midyear in broken
sandals, before the teacher invites students to ponder their kindnesses.
We’ve Got a Job In 1963, four thousand young African American
students, from elementary through high school, voluntarily went to jail in one
of the most racially violent cities in America. Focusing on four of these
students, this photo essay recounts the riveting events throughout the
Children’s March.
Two books were named Honor
Books in the Books for Younger Children category.
Dolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant
Workers, written by
Sarah Warren and illustrated by Robert Casilla, published by Marshall Cavendish
Children, has been named an Honor Book for Younger Children. In California in
the 1950s, teacher Dolores Huerta was concerned for her students. Learning the
conditions of the migrant families, Dolores became a determined activist who
fought for labor rights through her words and actions.
We March, written and illustrated by Shane W. Evans, and
published by Roaring Brook Press, a Neal Porter imprint of Macmillan, has been
named an Honor Book for Younger Children. Simple and powerful illustrations
capture the excitement and hope for even the youngest reader of the 1963 March
on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The colorful crowd of 250,000 demonstrates
their strength and unity in marching to Martin Luther King’s historical speech
for racial equality.
Two
books were named Honor Books in the Books for Older Children category.
Marching to the Mountaintop: How
Poverty, Labor Fights and Civil Rights Set the Stage for Martin Luther King
Jr’s Final Hours, written by Ann
Bausum and published by National Geographic, is named an Honor Book for Older
Children. A long sanitation worker strike began in 1968 following the deaths of
two sanitation workers on the job sanitation workers in Tennessee. The strike
became part of the larger civil rights movement and brought Martin Luther King,
Jr. to Nashville to support the workers in their fight for for integration,
safety, better pay and union protection.
Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved
Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World by Sy
Montgomery, published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, is named an Honor
Book for Older Children. This biography
with much first person input from Ms. Grandin herself explains how her autistic
mind works, how her peers and family perceive her, and her relentless efforts
as an activist.
A national committee chooses winners and honor books
for younger and older children. Members of the 2012 Jane Addams Children’s Book
Award Committee are Marianne Baker (Chair, Barboursville, VA), Ann Carpenter (Harwich,
MA), Julie Olsen Edwards (Soquel, CA), Lauren Mayer (Seattle, WA), Beth McGowan
(DeKalb, IL), Sonja Cherry-Paul (Yonkers, NY), Tracy Randolph (Sewanee, TN),
Lani Gerson (Watertown, MA), Susan Freiss (Madison, WI), and Jacqui Kolar
(Chicago, IL). Regional reading and discussion groups of all ages participated
with many of the committee members throughout the jury’s evaluation and
selection process.
The authors and illustrators of the
2013 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards will be honored on Friday, October 18, 2013 in New York City. Details about the award event and
about securing winner and honor book seals are available from the Jane Addams
Peace Association (JAPA.) Contact JAPA Executive Director Linda B. Belle,
777 United Nations Plaza, 6th Floor, NY, NY 10017-3521; by phone
212.682.8830; and by email [email protected].
For
additional information about the Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards and a
complete list of books honored since 1953, see www.janeaddamspeace.org.
I was delighted to be part of Primary Source's honorary committee at their annual Gala for Global Education, which took place at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts last Friday evening. For those who don't know about this organization and their exciting work with teachers, here's their "about us" statement:
Primary Source promotes history and humanities education by connecting
educators to people and cultures throughout the world. In partnership
with teachers, scholars, and the broader community, Primary Source
provides learning opportunities and curriculum resources for K-12
educators. By introducing global content, Primary Source shapes the way
teachers and students learn, so that their knowledge is deeper and their
thinking is flexible and open to inquiry.
At the Gala, Director
Julia de la Torre gave an inspiring talk about the value of exposing educators to the world through travel and books. During a recent Primary Source trip to rural China, she was struck by the fact that teachers never travel alone, but "always bring their students along with them."
Librarian
Jennifer Hanson has pulled together an incredible collection of
resources and curriculum guides, coordinates
global reads of children's and YA literature, and spearheaded the
Asian American Author video series.
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| Long-time Brookline teacher Marcy Prager and her husband Robert are firm believers in global education. |
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| Power librarian couple Ryan (Assistant Director of the Newton Free Library) and Jennifer (Primary Source's Librarian) Hanson enjoyed the wonderful evening. |
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| My husband is always proud of me, and the feeling is mutual. |
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Malala Yousafzai
student, writer, freedom fighter |
When I got up I was very happy knowing that I will go to school today. At school some girls were wearing uniform whereas others were in casual clothes. During assembly girls looked extremely happy and were hugging each other.
After assembly the headmistress advised us to cover ourselves properly and wear the burqa because it is a condition put by the Taleban.
This entry is from the BBC
Diary of Pakistani Schoolgirl, written by Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year old living in Swat, Pakistan.
According to the BBC:
Private schools in Pakistan's troubled north-western Swat district have been ordered to close in a Taleban edict banning girls' education. Militants seeking to impose their austere interpretation of Sharia law have destroyed about 150 schools in the past year. Five more were blown up despite a government pledge to safeguard education, it was reported on Monday. A seventh grade schoolgirl from Swat chronicles how the ban has affected her and her classmates.
To my horror, I heard this morning that the
Taleban tried to execute this brave writer. Would you join me in praying for Malala? Don't miss this short video to catch a glimpse of her courage:
For ideas about how to support writers like Malala, fighting for freedom with the power of words, visit
Freedom to Write at PEN America.
The Jane Addams Peace Association and
the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
invite you to the
Jane Addams
Children's Book Award
59th
Annual Award Ceremony
Friday, October 19th at 2:30 PM
New York City
777 United Nations Plaza (2nd Floor)
on the corner
of 44th St. and 1st Ave.
Join us for a memorable afternoon of award
presentation and responses by authors and illustrators. Come meet and talk with the honored guests,
including Award winners Winifred Conkling, Susan L. Roth, and Cindy Trumbore
and honorees Anna Grossnickle Hines, Calvin Alexander Ramsey, John Holyfield,
Bettye Stroud, Kadir Nelson, and Thannha Lai. Enjoy a reception, hosted by The
Hastings Peace and Justice Fund, and an opportunity for book signing after
formal presentation of the awards. All the award books will be available for
purchase.
This event is free and open to
all.
Reservations are not
needed. Please come and enjoy!
The Award Winners
Sylvia and Aki by Winifred Conkling, Tricycle Press, an imprint of Random House
is the winner in the Books for Older Children category. The
Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families written by Susan
L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore with collages by Susan L. Roth, published
by Lee & Low is the winner in the Books for
Younger Children category.
The Honor Books
Heart and Soul:
The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson,
published by Baltzer &
Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins, and Inside Out and Back Again
by Thanhha Lai, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins are
honor books for Older Children. Belle, the Last Mule at Gee’s Bend by
Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Bettye Stroud and illustrated by John Holyfield,
published by Candlewick Press and Peaceful
Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace by Anna Grossnickle Hines, published
by Macmillan, an imprint of Henry Holt, are honor
books for Younger Children
For additional information about the Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards
and a complete list of books honored since 1953, see www.janeaddamspeace.org For more information about the
Award event, contact JAPA Executive Director Linda B. Belle, 777 United Nations
Plaza, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017-3521; 212-682-8830; [email protected].
Since 1953, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award honors books published in the U.S. during the previous year that engage children in thinking about peace, justice, world community, and/or equality of the sexes and all races. The books also must meet
conventional standards of literary and artistic excellence.
Congratulations to the 59th Jane Addams Children's Book Awardees: Susan Roth, Cindy Trumbore, Winifred Conkling, Anna Grossnickle Hines, Calvin Alexander Ramsey, Bettye Stroud, John Holyfield, Kadir Nelson, and Thanhha Lai.
Winner of Books for Younger Children
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The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families
by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore, Illustrated by Susan L. Roth
Lee and Low
Dr. Gordon Sato, a survivor of the Japanese internment camp Manzanar, is a biologist committed to ending hunger throughout the world. In the village of Hargigo in Eritria, local women provide the labor to plant mangrove trees which supply them with much needed income. The trees turn carbon dioxide to oxygen, attract fish, and feed goats, sheep, and children.
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Winner of Books for Older Children
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Sylvia and Aki
by Winifred Conkling
Tricycle Press | Random House Books for Children
Young Sylvia Mendez moved into Aki Munemitsu’s home when Aki’s family was relocated to a Japanese internment camp. Sylvia and her siblings weren't allowed to register at the same school Aki attended, but were sent to a “Mexican” school. Sylvia’s father challenged the separation of races in California’s schools by filing the suit that ultimately led to the desegregation of California schools and helped build the case that would end school segregation nationally.
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Honors for Books for Younger Children
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Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts about Peace
by Anna Grossnickle Hines
Macmillan | Henry Holt
In her collection of poems illustrated with her handmade quilts, Anna Grossnickle Hines explores peace in familiar and unfamiliar forms, leading young readers to find their own way to peace, and then act upon it.
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I've been leading a Facebook read-to-change book group. We finished Michele Alexander's THE NEW JIM CROW: MASS INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS and are about to start Bryan Stevenson's JUST MERCY. It's not to late to join us as we begin this round of reading next week.
What a brave and beautiful girl. Thanks for sharing her story!
I don't know why more people aren't talking about this. So glad you blogged about it.