Reviewed by Adam Sanchez Review Source: Zinn Education Project Book Author: Tanya Bolden’s Cause: Reconstruction America, 1863-1877 is one of the few non-fiction texts on Reconstruction aimed at young readers. It is a strong alternative to the textbook treatment of the era. Like many textbooks, Cause focuses mainly on the battles between President Andrew Johnson and Congress, […]
Return to Sender
Reviewed by: Cindy L. Rodriguez Review Source: Latinxs in Kid Lit Book Author: Although Before We Were Free and Return to Sender are set in different countries, they have similarities. In Return to Sender, Mari and her family are migrant workers on a Vermont dairy farm. She encounters a mix of acceptance and scorn from her […]
Enrique’s Journey
Reviewed by: Lila Quintero Weaver Original (adult) version also available – Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother Review Source: Latinxs in Kid Lit Book Author: The best creative non-fiction takes you straight down into the messy, contradictory, gut-wrenching heart of a subject, and awakens your appreciation for its […]
Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling
Reviewed by Angeline B. Adams Review Source: Disability in Kid Lit Book Author: What happened to Chess was so physically and emotionally distressing that she can’t even bring herself to share it with the reader, but it spurred her hospital admission and diagnosis with Crohn’s disease, a chronic illness affecting her digestive system. Her mum, determinedly […]
The Stars Beneath Our Feet
Reviewed by Megan Schliesman Review Source: Reading While White Book Author: Offering hope, acknowledging hardship. Debut author David Barclay Moore writes with open eyes about the challenges of Lolly’s life as a Black boy in a poor neighborhood on the cusp of young adulthood, and with eyes just as wide he shows the many things Lolly […]
Before We Were Free
Reviewed by Cindy L. Rodriguez Review Source: Latinxs in Kid Lit Book Author: Anyone who has read Julia Alvarez’s adult novels will enjoy the connections made in Before We Were Free to How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies. In Before We Were Free, Alvarez explores the Trujillo […]