The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read

The Oldest Student

By Rita Lorraine Hubbard

Can you imagine living from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement? Can you imagine learning to read at age 116? Mary Walker achieved her lifelong dream to learn to read when she was 116. How about imagining your first airplane flight at age 119? Mary surmised that "flying was a lot like reading: they both made a body feel free as a bird."

Chains

Chains

By Laurie Halse Anderson

When their former owner dies, Isabel and Ruth should be free. Instead they are sold to a cruel Loyalist couple in New York City. There, 13-year old Isabel struggles to protect her younger sister and soon she discovers that the island of New York makes for an ideal prison from which escape is near impossible. With the Revolutionary War beginning and England taking over the city, Isabel is torn between aiding the Colonists or the Loyalists. Both sides fail slaves, continually using them. To find her own way Isabel must use her head and determine who she can trust and how to use what little power she has. Tories, loyalists and spies ... Wonderfully written!

Brown Girl Dreaming

Brown Girl Dreaming

By Jacqueline Woodson

On the surface, Brown Girl Dreaming is the story of a girl’s journey from the South to the North and how her perceptions of race and self changed during that time. Go a bit deeper, and you may discover it to be a kind of touchstone for other children’s books about the African-American experience in North America. Brown Girl Dreaming may be the story of a girl’s journey to find her vocation and her voice but Jacqueline Woodson's novel in verse is more than a story. For it tells us more than most of our children’s nonfiction history books do.

When We Say Black Lives Matter

When We Say Black Lives Matter

By Maxine Beneba Clarke

A poetic picturebook to introduce the complex topic of Black Lives Matter. Aspects highlighted are straightforward and not overwhelming for a small child. The illustrations are bold and simplified, allowing the message to take center stage. This is an important book to read as a family and discuss together. People's faces are left blank, in hopes the reader will effortlessly insert their own family.  

Change Sings: A Children's Anthem

 

Change Sings: A Children's Anthem

By Amanda Gorman

“I can hear change coming
In its loudest, proudest song.
I don't fear change coming,
And so I sing along.”

Amanda Gorman's rhyming verse calls out to children on the first page alongside the image of a girl with brown skin and textured hair, sitting crossed legged with her guitar. It is suppose to represent Amanda as a child; it is suppose to represent every child. The following page is an explosion of colour and an expression of movement, as the girl walks past a dynamic mural of Martin Luther King Jr. The segments come together like a stained glass window, and Loren Long's illustrations become a rhymical beat of its own.

Gathering neighborhood kids to follow her in a musical parade, the children teach themselves that the power to change things in the world - big or small - rests within themsleves.

At 22 years of age, Amanda Gorman, a National Youth Poet Laureate, was the youngest to be invited to speak at a presidential inauguration. Gorman’s charisma while reading her compelling poem, “The Hill We Climb,” was unmistakable, as she brought into this world an iconic quote, “for there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” 

 

Unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Massacre

Unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Massacre

by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper Picture book Illustrator and author Floyd Cooper passed away recently at the age of 65. He received a Coretta Scott King Award for his illustrations in The Blacker the Berry and 2 Coretta Scott King Honors. Starting out as a 3 year old writing on the side of his house, he grew up in low-income housing in Tulsa Oklahoma and went on to receive a scholarship for art. In 1984 he moved to New York City to pursue his career.

Known for his candid, bold, and dramatic illustrations, Cooper always remained positive and stated, “Giving kids a positive alternative to counteract the negative impact of what is conveyed in today’s media is a huge opportunity.” His picturebook collection would make a fine library for any child with subjects ranging from a normal beach trip to a special day for a ring bearer, to a more heart wrenching topic such as the civil rights movement. His hope was for children to learn about the world at large, their place in it, and how they connect with it.

When Unspeakable came out this year there was thought that this could finally be Cooper's year to win a Caldecott, the award issued to an illustrator for the "most distinguished American picture book for children" I wonder, will Floyd Cooper be the first to be awarded a Caldecott Award posthumously?

Richmond Public Library has a selection of Cooper’s work, including his 2021 Unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Massacre in a streaming video read along format. Please make a purchase suggestion if you are interested in works we don’t presently carry. UPDATE: Unspeakable won a 2022 Caldecott Honor.

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Layla's Happiness

By Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie, illustrations by Ashleigh Corrin

What does happiness mean to you? There are many ways to define it. Here is a story about a girl named Layla and all the things that make her happy: dark purple plums, the full moon, and night’s darkness. She has an overflowing love for her family, her friends, her neighbourhood, and nature. You will soak up Layla's healthy sense of self and positive energy she exudes when seeking out the good in life.

Historically children of colour have mostly been portrayed in certain types of books -- books showing the hardships of life for a person of colour. Of course these stories are incredibly important for society to learn from the past, however when a child rarely sees themselves depicted as carefree, confident and comfortable in their own skin, this impacts their self-worth. 

Equally as creative as the poetic text, the bold, textured illustrations beautifully capture Layla's spirit. This story of flourishing within family and community is also shown through the pictures which are bubbly, loud and proud. The warm, energized colours run right off the page as if they could not be contained -- much like Layla’s vivaciousness. 

Layla’s Happiness is the first book for both the author and illustrator, winning the 2020 Ezra Jack Keats Award for illustration and the 2020 Ezra Jack Keats Honor for writing. Ages 4-8.

The Parker Inheritance

The Parker Inheritance

By Varian Johnson

Candice is about as bored as she can be in Lambert, South Carolina for the summer until she discovers old letters in the attic begging her grandmother to find a treasure. After befriending the shy boy next door, the two are off on the hunt, and together they unravel their town's racist secrets and past. A page turner that doesn't sugarcoat racism, but allows children to process some of its history.

Just Like Me

Just Like Me

By Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Marvelously constructed with layered textures, happy colours, and a poem on each page that reflects different girls' personalities and strengths. Uplifting and affirming poems like “The Day I Decided To Become Sunshine” or "I Am Enough" will find their way into young hearts. On the last page, all the girls come together to pull each other up and form a paper chain. A stand-out.