The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater. 320 p. Farrar Straus & Giroux, October, 2017. 9780374303235. (Review from purchased copy.)
Happy Friday TMS Readers! As week seven comes to a close, the first day of school is on the horizon. Or should we not even think about that yet?
Our Fact Friday is a tough read. Its written for a YA audience and tackles some tough social justice issues. The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater examines a hate crime that was committed in Oakland, California in 2013 on the 57 bus. Seventeen-year-old Sasha attended a private high school and fourteen-year-old Richard attended public high school. They didn't know each other but they both took the 57 bus to get to and from school. Sasha caught Richard's eye on the 57 bus because Sasha had fallen asleep and was wearing a skirt. Sasha appeared to be a boy to Richard so Richard thought it would be a funny prank to set Sasha's skirt on fire with a lighter. The skirt was made of a gauzy material and ignited suddenly, engulifing Sasha's legs in flames. Richard never intended such a catastrophic injury. Sasha spent months in the hospital and many more recovering from his burns. Richard was charged with a hate crime and was also charged as an adult, which meant he would spend many years behind bars once convicted. Slater skillfully delves into the many facets of this headlining-grabbing story. The reader learns about both boys' life, their interests, their challenges. The reader also learns many, many statistics, like how the criminal justice system in California; how the law disproportionately punishes black offenders and how lgbtq people, especially youth, are disproportionately victimized. There's a lot to digest, think about and discuss here for older teens and adults. The 57 Bus won a Stonewall Award and was an Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adult finalist.
First Flight around the World: the adventures of the American fliers who won the race by Tim Grove. 88 p. Abrams, April, 2015. 9781419714825.
File under the many other facts I never knew: In 1924, in an effort to be the first to circumnavigate the globe in an airplane, the U.S. Army sent eight young men out in teams of two in four biplanes to do so. Not to be outdone, Great Britain, France, Portugal, Italy and Argentina sent teams as well. This book documents the race with all the perils faced by brave young men in the infancy of aviation.
We in the twenty-first century complain when our air travel is delayed for a few hours. We sit in pressurized cabins and are served meals. While air travel is admittedly growing more insulting by the day, we have it easy compared to 1924. Pilots today navigate with computers and other instrumentation, not by sight and manual calculations in cockpits that are open to the elements. Pilots in this race dealt with extremes of temperature from the heat and sunburned legs to freezing temperatures. Their fur-lined clothing did not keep out the cold and when it rained it felt "like lead shot being thrown into our faces and against our hands." (p.24) They traveled with a mechanic and extra engine parts.
The design of this well-told tale is colorful, appealing and busy. There are plenty of archival photos, maps and text boxes to pore over. Backmatter includes information about the fate of the other countries' teams; a glossary; pilots' itinerary; endnotes; bibliography and photo and art credits.
Hand this oversize beauty to your history or aviation buffs. It's a great addition to any middle/ high school collection. By the way, it was a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist. I can always count on children's informational literature to add to my knowledge.
