I estimate I’ve taught over a thousand students to read—and recommended books to all those readers. So, you can believe me when I say I know a good book. I wrote my first book, Canned and Crushed, because my student couldn't find a book about boys from Mexico who play soccer. Learning about historical events also inspires me to write. As a kid I hated history, but now I imagine the people who lived during different time periods. Historical fiction has become my favorite genre. I hope the books I write and the books I recommend help make history come alive for readers.
This book is an oldie but a goodie. Set in 1963 and told through the point of view of nine-year-old Kenny, it tells the story of a black family from Flint, Michigan who travel to Birmingham because Kenny’s brother needs his Southern grandma to straighten him out. I grew up in the sixties and my father’s family lived in Flint, Michigan, so I immediately connected to the book. During their time in Birmingham, Kenny witnesses the aftermath of a bombing at a nearby church. The actual bombing death of the four girls at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Alabama during the Civil Rights protests is an indelible memory in my life. I wish there had been a book for me to read in my childhood to reassure me that a family’s love has the power and strength to withstand tragedy.
Celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Newbery and Coretta Scott King Honoree about an unforgettable family on a road-trip during one of the most important times in the civil rights movement.
When the Watson family-ten-year-old Kenny, Momma, Dad, little sister Joetta, and brother Byron-sets out on a trip south to visit Grandma in Birmingham, Alabama, they don't realize that they're heading toward one of the darkest moments in America's history. The Watsons' journey reminds us that even in the hardest times, laughter and family can help us get through anything.
Some of my favorite adult books are historical fiction set during WWII, so it’s a no-brainer I picked this middle-grade book to recommend. My grandma’s name was Ada, so from the start my heart broke for the main character who was treated horribly by her own mother. Despite that situation, I still worried when Ada and her brother Jamie were torn from the only home they knew to escape the bombing in London. I can’t imagine how they felt, forced to live with a stranger, especially since Ada didn’t believe anyone could truly care about her. And yet, Ada and Jamie triumph against all the odds stacked against them. I think it’s the resilience of the human spirit in this book, that brings so much hope to me.
*Newbery Honor book *Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award
This #1 New York Times bestseller is an exceptionally moving story of triumph against all odds set during World War II, from the acclaimed author of Fighting Words, and for fans of Fish in a Tree and Sarah, Plain and Tall.
Ten-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him.
All of Linda Sue Park’s books are fantastic. She’s a master of imagery and character development and her writing is poetic. I’ve heard her speak at writing conferences and the amount of time she spends editing her books to make them perfect is amazing. In Prairie Lotus, Hanna and her father flee the racism and violence against Asians in California in 1800. But nowhere is safe for Hanna, even the Dakota Territories. It’s important to always remind ourselves of the harassment and murder of people of color that happened in our country so we can keep fighting to end it.
Prairie Lotus is a powerful, touching, multilayered novel about a girl determined to fit in and realize her dreams: getting an education, becoming a dressmaker in her father’s shop, and making at least one friend.
Acclaimed, award-winning author Linda Sue Park has placed a young half-Asian girl, Hanna, in a small town in America’s heartland, in 1880. Hanna’s adjustment to her new surroundings, which primarily means negotiating the townspeople’s almost unanimous prejudice against Asians, is at the heart of the story.
Narrated by Hanna, the novel has poignant moments yet sparkles with humor, introducing a captivating heroine whose wry, observant…
What would it be like if I knew nothing about my past? And what would I do to try to find out about my birth parents? I love the internal emotional struggles the main character, Crow, faces in this book. She’s unable to connect emotionally with outsiders yet worries her adoptive parent will be angry she’s researching the clues she thinks lead to her birth story. I was fascinated that two islands off the coast of Massachusetts could be so different—Cuttyhunk, a local tourist destination—and Pekinese, a leper colony. Since I live in the Midwest, reading about life surrounded by water teaches me an unfamiliar perspective.
'Harper Lee has a worthy successor. Wolk is a big new talent' - The Times
Crow has lived her whole life on a tiny, starkly beautiful island. Her only companions are Osh, the man who rescued her from a washed-up skiff as a baby and raised her, and Miss Maggie, their neighbour across the sandbar. But it is only when a mysterious fire appears across the water that an unspoken question of her own history forms in Crow's heart, and an unstoppable chain of events is triggered. Crow sets out to find her lost identity - and, ultimately, to learn…
When I first moved to Chicago from the suburbs a few years ago, I felt the same way the boy, Langston, in the story felt—scared, bombarded with noise, and missing the open spaces and country roads. My home is close to where his apartment was, and even though he lived in 1946, we each found respite in the Chicago Public Library. We both love poetry—especially the poetry of Langston Hughes. The best news about this book is that if you love it, and you will, there are two more in the trilogy. Lisa Cline-Ransome is a prolific author with other great books—biographies and historical fiction, many of which I have in my library.
A Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
When eleven-year-old Langston's father moves them from their home in Alabama to Chicago's Bronzeville district, it feels like he's giving up everything he loves.
It's 1946. Langston's mother has just died, and now they're leaving the rest of his family and friends. He misses everything--Grandma's Sunday suppers, the red dirt roads, and the magnolia trees his mother loved.
In the city, they live in a small apartment surrounded by noise and chaos. It doesn't feel like a new start, or a better life. At…
“People think if everybody stays on their side of the line, we’ll get along fine. But sometimes, to do what’s right, you gotta cross that line.” Crossing the Line is an award-winning middle-grade novel inspired by the true events of the 1919 Chicago Race Riots.
“Readers of all ages will be pulled into this strong, warm, and important coming-of-age story, seen through the eyes of an innocent boy trying to make sense of a racially violent world around him. Blending honesty and humor with history isn't easy, but Bibi Belford has hit all her marks with courage and conviction.” ―Randall Platt, author of Incommunicado
