Book
Summary:
This is a
historical fiction story about the famous Sit-In that took place at the
Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina in the early 1960s. Four
college students who were inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King’s words decided
that they have the right to be served at the lunch counter just like the “whites”.
After they ignored the white only signs they were still not served. They sat
there the whole day until Woolworth closed. They came back every day for
several days and more of their friends would join them. As they sat there
quietly waiting to be served they peacefully read and studied. News of their
Sit-In spread and it encouraged many other sit-ins across the country. The story then goes on into the beginning of the
end of segregation. Throughout the story the author includes fun recipe like
references like “a double dose of peace, with nonviolence on top. Hold the hate.
Leave off the injustice” and ends the story with the right recipe for
integration and the steps needed. The author also includes a very useful Civil
Rights Timeline in the back of the book.
Critical
Analysis:
The
illustrator uses simple drawings to represent the emotion felt be the people in
the story. There are faces in the illustrations that show worry on some and the
seriousness on others. There is even a page with a police officer that
illustrates the hate felt by the whites against the blacks. The author also
uses the text size to emphasize the point she is making on the page. The
illustrator was able to show the importance of “we must meet violence with
nonviolence” by showing the ones sitting at the counter trying to be served close
up while the violence was small and happening behind them. To me this showed
how it wasn’t important what they were doing to them, it was important to show
that the people fighting for change were not being violent they were just
sitting there peacefully.
Editorial
Reviews:
From School
Library Journal
Starred
Review. Grade 3–6—Through effectively chosen words, Andrea Pinkney brings
understanding and meaning to what four black college students accomplished on
February 1, 1960, by sitting down at a Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro,
NC. Her repeated phrase, "Their order was simple. A doughnut and coffee
with cream on the side," along with other food metaphors, effectively
emphasizes the men's determination to undo the injustices of segregation in a
peaceful protest, which eventually led up to the 1966 Supreme Court ruling
against racial discrimination. With swirling swabs of color that masterfully
intertwine with sometimes thin, sometimes thick lines, Brian Pinkney cleverly
centers the action and brings immediacy to the pages. Both the words and the
art offer many opportunities for discussion. The book concludes with a civil
rights time line and an update on the aftermath of the lunch-counter struggle.—Barbara
Elleman, Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA
(c)
Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media
Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
From
Booklist
*Starred
Review* This compelling picture book is based on the historic sit-in 50 years
ago by four college students who tried to integrate a Woolworth’s lunch counter
in Greensboro, North Carolina. Food-related wordplay adds layers to the free
verse, as in the lines about the protesters’ recipe for integration: “Combine
black with white / to make sweet justice.” The double-page spreads in
watercolor and thick ink lines show both the scene in Woolworth’s and across
America as blacks and whites organize sit-ins and watch coverage of protests on
TV. Finally, the young people at the counter get what they order, “served to
them exactly the way they wanted it––well done.” The recipe metaphors are
repetitive, but at the core of the exciting narrative are scenes that show the
difficulty of facing hatred: “tougher than any school test.” Closing pages
discuss the role of adults, including Ella Baker and then presidents Kennedy
and Johnson, and include a detailed civil rights time line, “a final helping”
about the historic struggle, and a bibliography. Even young children will grasp
the powerful, elemental, and historic story of those who stood up to oppressive
authority and changed the world. Grades 2-4. --Hazel Rochman
Connection/Activities:
There are a
lot other books you could partner with this story. One book that would be good
is “Freedom on the Menu” by Carole Weatherford. You could also have the student
research more about different Sit-Ins. You could also read the story of Rosa
Parks and compare and contrast the two stories.
Brown Girl Dreaming
Book Summary:
“Brown Girl Dreaming” is written by Jacqueline Woodson about
her childhood in the ‘60s and ‘70’s. Woodson was born in Ohio and has
relatives who were slaves. She had family in the south and would make
trips to South Carolina to visit her Grandma Georgiana and Grandpa
Gunnar. Her parents fight often about their trips to the south.
Eventually her parents’ divorce and she moves to South Carolina to live with
her grandparents, her mom and her two siblings, Hope and Odella. Jackie
is aware of the racism but still loves her new home and its beauty.
Jackie’s mother then decides to move to New York City and leaves the three
children with her parents. Her mother comes back for them but it has been a
while because she has a new baby with her. Jackie then moves with her
mother to New York City and makes friends in her new home and it is there that
she realizes she was meant to be a writer. Writing is the one thing that
she loves to do and knows she is good at it. Jackie returns to visit her
grandparents each summer. After the death of her grandfather, her
grandmother moves to New York City to join the rest of the family. Jackie
finally has a teacher, Ms. Vivo, tell her that she is indeed a writer and
encourages her to pursue her love of writing and telling stories. She
feels confident in her future.
Critical Analysis:
This is a very touching tale of an African American girl growing
up in the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
Jacqueline Woodson writes in a style that allows the reader to really
feel the emotion with her as she experiences different things in her upbringing.
As I was reading I found myself using a different dialect that I assume is what
I think she would sound like as a young girl. This story also discusses the family’s
history with slavery and how close her grandfather came to being owned. The author
uses great word choice to describe the places and experience she goes through
and adjective to describe skin color and physical appearance like on page 181 “dark
brown like mine or lighter like Dell’s? Did he have Hope and Dell’s loose curls
or my tighter, kinkier hair? One example that I found very moving was on page
228 when she says “I’d never have believed that someone who looked like me
could be in the pages of a book, that someone who looked like me had a story”.
Editorial Reviews:
* “The writer’s passion for stories and storytelling permeates
the memoir, explicitly addressed in her early attempts to write books and
implicitly conveyed through her sharp images and poignant observations seen
through the eyes of a child. Woodson’s ability to listen and glean meaning from
what she hears lead to an astute understanding of her surroundings, friends,
and family.” — Publishers Weekly,
STARRED REVIEW
* “Mesmerizing journey through [Woodson’s] early years. . . . Her perspective on the volatile era in which she grew up is thoughtfully expressed in powerfully effective verse. . . . With exquisite metaphorical verse Woodson weaves a patchwork of her life experience . . . that covers readers with a warmth and sensitivity no child should miss. This should be on every library shelf.” — School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
* “Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned. For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.” — Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
* “[Woodson’s] memoir in verse is a marvel, as it turns deeply felt remembrances of Woodson’s preadolescent life into art. . . . Her mother cautions her not to write about her family but, happily, many years later, she has and the result is both elegant and eloquent, a haunting book about memory that is itself altogether memorable. — Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
* “A memoir-in-verse so immediate that readers will feel they are experiencing the author’s childhood right along with her. . . . Most notably of all, perhaps, we trace her development as a nascent writer, from her early, overarching love of stories through her struggles to learn to read through the thrill of her first blank composition book to her realization that ‘words are [her] brilliance.’ The poetry here sings: specific, lyrical, and full of imagery. An extraordinary—indeed brilliant—portrait of a writer as a young girl.” — The Horn Book, STARRED REVIEW
* “The effect of this confiding and rhythmic memoir is cumulative, as casual references blossom into motifs and characters evolve from quick references to main players. . . . Revealing slices of life, redolent in sight, sound, and emotion. . . . Woodson subtly layers her focus, with history and geography the background, family the middle distance, and her younger self the foreground. . . . Eager readers and budding writers will particularly see themselves in the young protagonist and recognize her reveling in the luxury of the library and unfettered delight in words. . . . A story of the ongoing weaving of a family tapestry, the following of an individual thread through a gorgeous larger fabric, with the tacit implication that we’re all traversing such rich landscapes. It will make young readers consider where their own threads are taking them.” — The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, STARRED REVIEW
* “Woodson uses clear, evocative language. . . . A beautifully crafted work.” — Library Media Connection, STARRED REVIEW
* “Mesmerizing journey through [Woodson’s] early years. . . . Her perspective on the volatile era in which she grew up is thoughtfully expressed in powerfully effective verse. . . . With exquisite metaphorical verse Woodson weaves a patchwork of her life experience . . . that covers readers with a warmth and sensitivity no child should miss. This should be on every library shelf.” — School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
* “Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned. For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.” — Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
* “[Woodson’s] memoir in verse is a marvel, as it turns deeply felt remembrances of Woodson’s preadolescent life into art. . . . Her mother cautions her not to write about her family but, happily, many years later, she has and the result is both elegant and eloquent, a haunting book about memory that is itself altogether memorable. — Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
* “A memoir-in-verse so immediate that readers will feel they are experiencing the author’s childhood right along with her. . . . Most notably of all, perhaps, we trace her development as a nascent writer, from her early, overarching love of stories through her struggles to learn to read through the thrill of her first blank composition book to her realization that ‘words are [her] brilliance.’ The poetry here sings: specific, lyrical, and full of imagery. An extraordinary—indeed brilliant—portrait of a writer as a young girl.” — The Horn Book, STARRED REVIEW
* “The effect of this confiding and rhythmic memoir is cumulative, as casual references blossom into motifs and characters evolve from quick references to main players. . . . Revealing slices of life, redolent in sight, sound, and emotion. . . . Woodson subtly layers her focus, with history and geography the background, family the middle distance, and her younger self the foreground. . . . Eager readers and budding writers will particularly see themselves in the young protagonist and recognize her reveling in the luxury of the library and unfettered delight in words. . . . A story of the ongoing weaving of a family tapestry, the following of an individual thread through a gorgeous larger fabric, with the tacit implication that we’re all traversing such rich landscapes. It will make young readers consider where their own threads are taking them.” — The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, STARRED REVIEW
* “Woodson uses clear, evocative language. . . . A beautifully crafted work.” — Library Media Connection, STARRED REVIEW
Connection/Activities:
I think that this would be a
great read aloud to partner with a nonfiction unit on the Civil Rights Movement
and then compare and contrast fiction vs nonfiction. The books “One Crazy
Summer” and “P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia would also be great reads
for students who enjoyed this wonderful story.
Poems in the Attic
Book Summary:
This is a very sweet story about
a little girl who finds a box of her mother’s poems in the attic while she is
staying at her grandmother’s house. The poems were written by her mother when
she was young and tell the story of how she grew up and was able to travel the
world because her father was in the Air Force. The poems represent the memories she had of
each place she lived. When the daughter read her mother’s poems she felt closer
to her and it built a connection between them even though they were not
together at the moment. In the end the daughter had written her own poems and
then put them together with her mother’s poems in a book to give to her mom as
a gift when she got back. She then added her poems to the box for someone else
to find in the future.
Critical Analysis:
The illustrator of the book has
created a beautiful African American girl character that is easily relatable to
any reader. The book also shows the love of three generations with the
grandmother taking care of her granddaughter while her daughter is away. The
illustrator has helped the author tell the story of these two experiences, the
daughter and the mother, by putting the daughter’s poem on one side of the page
with a plain background and on the other side of the page it is fully
illustrated with the details described in the mother’s poems. This story also demonstrates
how an African American family traveled the world without prejudice. Not only
does this book tell the story of a mom and daughter through poems but it also exposes
the reader to other places and cultures around the world through the mother’s
poems.
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Gr 1–4—During a visit to
Grandma's, a seven-year-old girl discovers a stash of poems in the attic
written by her mother as a child. Each subsequent set of pages pairs a poem
written by the girl with one by her mama. An air force brat, Mama wrote a
different entry in each new place her family was stationed, showcasing the
experiences of her "childhood on wings," from painting luminarias in
New Mexico to kayaking in Virginia to catching cherry blossoms like snowflakes
in Japan. Her writing also touches upon painful situations, such as leaving her
friends behind when she moved and missing her father when he was away. The
daughter's poems compare her and her grown-up mother's lives with the
experiences detailed by Mama as a girl ("It's funny to think of
Mama/making a mess with arts and crafts"). Sweet and accessible but never
simplistic, this collection captures the experience of a military childhood
with graceful sophistication. Grimes uses different styles of poem for each
voice (free verse for the daughter and tanka poems for the mother), a choice
that she discusses in an explanatory note on poetry forms that will serve
budding poets and teachers alike. Rendered in acrylic, oil, and collage,
Zunon's warm, vibrant illustrations complement the text perfectly. Readers with
an especially keen interest in the locations highlighted can look to a complete
list of Air Force Bases appended. VERDICT A gem of a book.—Jill Heritage Maza,
Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ
Connections/Activities:
This would be a great book to
add to any poetry unit. I would partner it with another book that shows
different points of view similar to this one (side-by-side story). I think it
would be a great time to get parents involved and ask them to write a poem
about when they were young and then have the student write a poem in response
to their parent’s poem. I am also excited to use this book as part of the Texas
Bluebonnet book list for this year!
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