We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children's March

Whenever I think about how civil rights was (and still is) such a controversy, it blows my mind.  Reading this book was nothing different.  Levinson covers the basics of the civil rights movement - MLK Jr., Rosa Parks, the KKK - but focuses on the lives of the children and teens who risked so much to make a statement and push for the rights they knew they rightfully deserved.  To explain the history, she highlights the experiences of four particular children: Audrey Faye Hendricks, Washington Booker III, James W. Stewart and Arnetta Streeter.

Levinson relied on personal interviews with her subjects, along with other written records of the events.  I love how she explains how witnesses and participants memories can change over time and how it was necessary to do extra research to make sure the facts aligned (i.e. no shortcuts kids, do your work).  She also mentions that despite living through the civil rights movement and teaching history, she didn't know about the children's march until she was an adult.  I didn't know about it either, which really stresses the importance of incorporating these nonfiction narratives into students' education - unfortunately, textbooks can't cover it all. 

My only complaint is that I think the book could benefit from more pictures to further explain the history and also to break up the endless text and ease the reading experience.  Despite the great narrative flow to the information, children and teen readers can often get bogged down with large amounts of reading, especially nonfiction. 

P.S. My last book in the 2013 Hub Challenge!  Woo!!

Bomb: The Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

I've been trying to work more nonfiction into my reading habits this year.  Namely, I like to kick butt at bar trivia and when watching Jeopardy (even though the trick to that is - the louder you answer, the more right you'll be) so it's good to learn things.  But I also don't want to be lost when a student comes up looking for help with school research, so it's good to stay in the know and/or relearn some history.

Steve Sheinkin is my favorite nonfiction author for children and teens.  He creates wonderful narrative nonfiction with engaging writing, great placement of images and in depth research.  His words are never condescending to young readers, but he still manages to explain difficult concepts accurately in layman's terms.  I love him.

That's why I was excited to see Bomb on the 2013 Hub Reading Challenge.  I had been looking forward to reading it and this finally gave me a reason to abandon my other work (kidding...) and pick it up.

Bomb is about just what the title says: The Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon.  Sheinkin ties together the stories of 3 nations - the US, Germany, and the Soviet Union - focusing on their quests to either build an atomic bomb, prevent the others from building an atomic bomb, or steal the plans for the atomic bomb. He moves between the history smoothly, never leaving the reader confused about the timeline of the events.

In addition to the bomb's meaning in terms of war, Sheinkin also focuses on the physics behind building the bomb, the steps taken by the scientists involved in the Manhattan Project, and the politics involved to keep the project top secret.  He also addresses the heavy emotional components that accompanied the creation of a weapon of mass destruction and how they connect to our lives today.

This book works for middle school and up, possibly even younger.  It's engaging and informative; I couldn't put it down. It works just as well for those looking for an interesting read as it does for those working on a project for school. I even think this could make a solid book club title selection.  Sheinkin also provides an annotated bibliography which is always immensely helpful to those readers who are interested in the topic or searching for more resources for their own work.  I highly recommend this and all of Sheinkin's other works.  Seriously. Go. Now.

Word to the wise.  Sometimes it's a good thing to think about where you are when you're reading particular books.  Because I frequently - well let's face it, almost exclusively - read children's and YA books, I've grown accustomed to ignoring the stares and freaked out expressions of people on public transportation. I don't even think about it anymore. But nothing quite prepares you for the looks you get at an airport and on an airplane when you're reading a book called Bomb.  Whoops.

Titanic: Voices From the Disaster

As part of my quest to read more nonfiction, I picked up this award-winning book about the Titanic.  For some reason, I expected it to read like the James Cameron movie, and I was surprised the majority of the book concerned itself with the crash and the sinking.  But I'm kind of an idiot because the title obviously makes it clear that it's about the disaster angle and not the what happened before fun.

Anywayyyy, the text isn't pedantic, helping to make the information easy to digest, a quality always appreciated amongst the younger set (and older, let's be honest).  It's always interesting to learn about all the safety regulations that went into effect as a result of the tragedy, but you can't help but read this book and wonder how no one had the common sense to think of these things beforehand.  Also, it's obviously heartbreaking at times when you read about the tales of families ripped apart and selfish rich men taking the spots of the designated women and children (oh how times have changed...).

I felt like I had already been exposed to the majority of the information via past textbooks.  Also, the "Unsinkable" Molly Brown is only mentioned TWICE in passing.  That is shameful, in my opinion.

However, the book is definitely worth picking up for the sake of the amazing photos and images. For the teens and children who didn't experience the 1997 film that my generation was inundated with, I think Voices from the Disaster will prove to be a great nonfiction quick pick or school resource.

The Pregnancy Project

Gaby Rodriguez faked a teen pregnancy as a school project. That is awesome and amazing. She went 6 months with this ruse, aiming to keep track of the stereotypes people shoehorned her into, demonstrate that teens can accomplish things even when they're in difficult situations and, most importantly, show that it's a situation teens should take active steps to enjoy.  Her memoir documents the trials she and her family have faced that led her to make this decision to give up half of her senior year to a fake baby.  It also accounts what others said and did to her and her family during this fake pregnancy and the crazy response of the entire nation (and apparently the crazy stalker staff of Good Morning America) when she revealed that she was wearing a fake belly.  I'm on board with all of this.

I've wanted to read this memoir for a long time.  I just finished it and wanted to throw it against the wall like I did with Twilight.  Basically, it wasn't what I was expecting.

To be fair, Gaby makes some good points.  There ARE many successful teen parents and children of teen parents (Hello President Obama!?), and yes, the media and society tend to revere pregnant teens as they are glamorized in MTV shows.  There needs to be more support for teens who go through pregnancies that does not involve magazine covers and free rides for acting like a fool on national television.

However, her tone in this book (and this could be the fault of the ghostwriter) is so condescending and full of superiority that I almost couldn't stand to finish reading her story. She raises points throughout the book about how it's difficult to live as a pregnant teen, yet completely dismisses these realizations of hardships when discussing her family's history of teen pregnancy, holding her family up to ridiculous standards. I get that she's trying to make the point that they shouldn't give up and should take responsibility for their lives and their children, but she comes off as petty and childish herself.

Then she acts superior in a Planned Parenthood where she's on the prowl for a project mentor.  Suddenly she's scared everyone there thinks she's there for an abortion and she makes a point to insist that she is way above that, being pro-life and all.  Okay, you're allowed to be.  But what makes her better than the others in the room who may or may not be about to go through with that procedure?   One of the points of the book is to highlight how people stereotype pregnant teens, and here she is making assumptions about their situations. For a book concerning the hardships teen pregnancies, I would assume that abortions should be discussed as a viable option for some people, regardless of your personal beliefs about the procedure.

Overall, the project was definitely interesting and teens may find the subject matter intriguing.  The writing, however, is just too haughty for my taste. 

Friday Five: Gun Control

In libraries, it's important to showcase books that start conversations.  As a result of the current gun control debate that is consuming the nation, here are some titles that focus on guns and school shootings.  Obviously, it's also important to not show bias (hardest part of my day), so I tried to include some titles that express pro-gun idealogies, but I don't have knowledge of many.  I threw in Lyga's Hero Type as an example of a book that, while focusing primarily on freedom of speech, discusses American rights in general. 

1. Give a Boy a Gun, by Todd Strasser

2. The Rifle, by Gary Paulsen

3. We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver

4. Hero Type, by Bary Laga

5. Columbine, by Dave Cullen

Any other suggestions, fiction or non-fiction?

Top Ten Tuesday: Children and YA Books to Read During Election Season

Woooo! Election season! Emotions running high, everyone hating everyone on Facebook, etc. etc.  It's a stressful, exciting time.  I can say this because it's actually Wednesday and I am happy with the results.  Yesterday, I was a nervous wreck.  But enough about that.

Here are some politically themed children and YA books (fiction and nonfiction) that are informative, entertaining and/or thought-provoking. 

10 Children and YA Books to Read During Election Season:

1. Hero Type, by Barry Lyga

2. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

3. The President's Daughter, by Ellen Emerson White

4. Nothing But the Truth, by Avi

5. Freedom Walkers, by Russell Freedman

6. Two Miserable Presidents: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the Civil War, by Steve Sheinkin

7. Election, by Tom Perrotta

8. The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis

9. Max for President, by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

10. Vote for Larry, by Janet Tashjian

Obviously, there are many many more options out there and I definitely limited myself to American politics.  Why, I even forgot to mention Katherine DeBrecht's  Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!

Bonus Adult Books that are also applicable:

The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling

America: The Book, by Jon Stewart

More at the Broke and the Bookish!

Did you know...?

Do you know why Abe Lincoln had a beard?  It was not, as my mother guessed, to cover up acne.  It was to make him appear more presidential.  It also came at the suggestion of an 11 year girl. In a letter, she told Lincoln that not only would he look better with a beard, but that she was certain she could convince her older brothers to vote for him in the upcoming election if he had facial hair.  Lincoln took her advice.

Spoiler alert: he won the election.

Thanks to my nonfiction/information sources for children class, I've become really interested in finding nonfiction texts that aren't boring.  Steve Sheinkin's Two Miserable Presidents is one such book. 

Look at that beard. So presidential.

Without patronizing the reader, he describes the American Civil War from the perspective of both sides, focusing on the difficulties Lincoln and Jefferson Davis faced throughout the ordeal.  He presents standard information regarding war plans, army tactics, and advantages and disadvantages to both sides, but he also includes stories of lesser known soldiers and quotes that highlight the soldiers' experiences during the war.  A lot of information is presented humorously, like the history factoid detailed above, which enhances the information typically found in textbooks.  Amusing illustrations also add to the non-textbook feel.  This presentation is more accessible to children who often find that history textbooks are boring and difficult to read. 

Did you know...?

One of the courses I'm taking this semester involves selecting non-fiction works for children.  Now I know exactly what thought crossed the minds of about 98.2% of you after reading that last sentence: "ew, boring."  I thought so too at one point in my life.  Who wants to read about real people when you could read about Hogwarts?  Seems like an easy choice.

Enter the informational picture storybook.

Kids books are where it's at.  The non-fiction section of a children's room is like a Cliffsnotes of Wikipedia.  Peruse a book on any topic and you'll pick up the major points outlined in an easy to follow format and with some pretty nifty illustrations.  You'll probably learn something new, like I did:

In the early 1800s, the town of Cheshire, MA made a wheel of cheddar cheese that weighed over 1200 pounds to give to Thomas Jefferson.  The cheese was delivered to the White House on a sleigh.  A SLEIGH.  First of all, do you realize how many grilled cheese sandwiches could come from a 1200 lb wheel of cheese?  Now imagine all of those sandwiches on a sleigh like Santa Clause.  Yeah, YOU'RE EXCITED.  I don't even like cheese and I want this to happen.  And happen it did.  In 1802.  They were so cool back then.  

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen and CHEDDAR

Julie and Julia

Just like when I finished watching the movie (Meryl Streep...swoon!), all I want to do now that I've finished reading this book is cook like a fiend.  But I don't really cook.  Sometimes I like to pretend that I do can, but really, cupcakes inside of ice cream cones is about as domestic I can get in the kitchen, or anywhere really.

So to remedy this desire to cook, I'm currently preheating the oven to make some of my Trader Joe's frozen Orange Chicken.  Frozen foods are a godsend.   

But yeah, the book.  I love it.  I mean, I love memoirs so it's probably no surprise that I couldn't put this down.  I'd heard the complaints from a bunch of people that this book was graphic when it came to dissecting meats, Julie Powell loves to overswear (as she SHOULD because swearing like a sailor is healthy, or at least I've come to believe this), and she's a whiny brat about 85% of the time.  All are true. 

But the book is still so much fun to read because you get to witness how cooking French food makes her spiral down into a crazy psychotic mess, which you wouldn't think possible when you read how psychotic she was before she started her "project" (basically, she cooked every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and blogged about it in the days when blogs were a relatively new construction).  

Who will love this book:

1) Democrats --> Despite being from Texas, she hates Republicans and isn't shy about vocalizing her disdain for all they stand for.  She also worked for a government agency that dealt with the aftermath of 9/11, during the dark age of Republican leadership, so she's got a lot of good stuff to comment snidely on.  Yayness!

2) Food lovers -->  Duh.

3) People who love to cook --> You'll love making fun of her stupidity when it comes to cooking pretty much everything in the book.  

4) People who hate to (or just can't) cook --> You're not alone.  Plus, this woman made a pretty awesome profit on her ability to burn crepes.  She got a bunch of magazine and television interviews, a book deal, and Amy Adams to play her in a movie.  Not too shabby.  Next time someone makes fun of your apple pie with the plastic wrapper still stuck to the pre-bought dough you can tell them to shove it because one day millions of people could potentially see a movie based on your life and this moment will be a great scene to have in the movie trailer.  

Who will hate this book:

1) Vegetarians --> At least I'm assuming they would.  Among other things, she has to debone a duck and scoop marrow out of a cow bone, and does not shy away from discussing them.  Not one bit. 

2) Julia Child --> Granted, she's no longer able to read the book, but apparently she hated Julie.  Julia thought she was capitalizing on her success or didn't think Julie was taking cooking seriously, either way, she was not a fan.  

3) Republicans --> See above.

Aaaand my oven is done preheating so it's time to have a dance party to Gaga and pretend I know how to cook. 

Roald Dahl

A few weeks ago I finished reading Roald Dahl's first autobiography, Boy.  After realizing that 6 of the books on The List are from Dahl's mind, I figured it would be wise to learn about his background to see what evidence of his life can be found in his stories.  The answer: practically everything!

5 Things You Didn't Know About Roald Dahl:

1.  His nose was cut almost clear off of his face.  When his 21 year old sister learned to drive and got her first car, she took the family out for a drive.  However, she didn't know how to slow down to take a sharp turn and consequently crashed into a hedge. Yes, this is why girls are stereotyped as bad drivers, but I digress.  Everyone went flying through the windshield and Roald's nose sliced almost completely off.  It only stayed on by just a small bit of skin and because his mother held it in place as his sister figured out how to drive out of the mess and straight to the doctor.  They almost didn't make it because a man delivering 1000 fresh laid eggs wouldn't get out of their way: "If I don't get 'em to the market by noon today...they won't be fresh-laid anymore, will they?"  To be fair, he was right.

2.  Not exactly the model child for good behavior, Dahl decided to put a dead mouse into a jar of Gobstoppers in a candy store.  His friends found this dead mouse and Dahl came up with "The Great Mouse Plot" in order to seek revenge on the mean sweet-shop's owner, Mrs. Pratchett.  Not exactly as smooth as some of Matilda's pranks, but this act made him a hero in his group of friends.  That is, until she got her own revenge and had his headmaster cane them all.  

3.  Dahl had a sort of Snape-Harry relationship with one of his professors.  Granted, there's no backstory of Dahl's father saving/endangering the professor's life, but the hatred sentiment between student and professor can't be denied in this situation.  Captain Hardcastle (the people in his life have awesome names) caught him asking another boy for a new pen and accused him of being a liar and a cheater.  As a result, Dahl was caned by the Headmaster.  Even worse, Hardcastle opened the door to the Common Room so everyone could hear as Dahl was being caned.  I had a teacher that used to make you stand up behind your desk and cover your mouth if he caught you talking in class.  If you tried to defend yourself, he'd just tell you "he who hesitates is lost" and keep on with the lesson.  

4.  In one of his private schools, Dahl had to deal with the weird hierarchy of power that comes from the prefect system.  The prefect-like older students were called Boazers and their servants (essentially) were Fags.  They had to do whatever the Boazer wanted them to, usually scrub the studies clean, and had to drop whatever they were doing in order to keep the Boazer happy.  Dahl's main duty was to be a toilet seat warmer.  Seriously.  The bathrooms at his school were all outhouses and in the winter, it got pretty icy.  He became his boazer's "favorite bog-seat warmer" and as a consequence, walked around with a paperback book at all times so he wouldn't get bored while performing his seat warming duties. 

5.  Dahl didn't dream of becoming a children's author.  The only thing he wanted was a job that would let him travel, especially to Africa or China.  He ended up working for the Shell Company and after two years was given the chance to work in Egypt.  But Dahl wanted to explore a world of jungles, not a desert, and got out of this assignment by claiming that Egypt was "too dusty."  His supervisor agreed to let Dahl wait for the next assignment, but swore that he would have to take it regardless of how "dusty" the place was.  The next assignment ended up being East Africa, where he got malaria, but had a blast.