Reviewed by Anndee Hochman Review Source: Broad Street Review Book Author: The summer I was 12, I spent weekday mornings on the tennis courts at Friends Central School in Wynnewood, swinging a clumsy backhand and counting the minutes until lunch. Each afternoon, I parked myself under a maple tree and devoured Gone with the Wind while sipping a […]
Master George’s People: George Washington, His Slaves, and His Revolutionary Transformation
Reviewed by Clarence Lusane Review Source: Zinn Education Project Book Author: By now, we know that the history featured in textbooks and children’s literature is often riddled with myths, distortions, and outright fabrications. Many children’s history books reinforce rather than debunk incorrect information and stereotyping ideologies. Master George’s People: George Washington, His Slaves, and His Revolutionary […]
Before She Was Harriet
Reviewed by CCBC Review Source: Cooperative Children’s Book Center Book Author: The skillful narrative’s imaginative and effective structure, in which Tubman’s life unspools from old woman back to childhood, allows the child audience to build on prior knowledge and emphasizes Harriet’s agency throughout her life. The many facets of Tubman’s life and the many roles she […]
Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence
Teaching Stories Reviewed by Allyson Criner Brown Review Source: Zinn Education Project Book Author: Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence gives young readers a slavery-to-freedom narrative that is clever, honest, and age appropriate. Gretchen Woelfle’s recounting of Elizabeth Freeman’s true story of resistance and liberation is smartly written and beautifully illustrated. Readers are introduced to Mumbet, a Black […]
Chains
Reviewed by Kirkus Reviews Review Source: Kirkus Reviews Book Author: “‘Freedom and liberty’ has many meanings,” but enslaved Isabel knows that while Loyalists and Patriots battle for their own versions of freedom, she is “chained between two nations” that uphold slavery. She wonders, “If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl?” […]
Unbound: A Novel in Verse
Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: When Grace, the enslaved protagonist of this beautiful novel-length poem, turns 9, she is sent to live and work in the big house, forcing a heart-wrenching separation from her family. Then Grace hears that her mother and younger brothers will be placed on the auction […]