Waiting on Wednesday: On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas. 350 p. HarperCollins Publishers, June 5, 2018. 9780062498564.

Publisher synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least get some streams on her mixtape. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died right before he hit big, Bri’s got massive shoes to fill. But when her mom unexpectedly loses her job, food banks and shut-off notices become as much a part of her life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it—she has to make it.

On the Come Up is Angie Thomas’s homage to hip hop, the art that sparked her passion for storytelling and continues to inspire her to this day. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; of the struggle to become who you are, and not who everyone expects you to be; and of the desperate realities of poor and working class black families.

Brilliant, insightful, full of heart, this novel is another modern classic from one of the most influential literary voices of a generation.

I am very eager to read Angie Thomas' sophomore effort.

Fact Friday: Bad Boy by Walter Dean Myers

Bad Boy by Walter Dean Myers. 214 p. HarperCollins Publisher, May, 2002. 9780756910495. (Own)

Revered children's author and former Ambassador of Children's Literature admits he was a handful as a child. He suffered from a severe speech impediment, had a bad temper and was prone to fighting. His father and stepmother sent him to live with a foster family in Harlem in the the 1940s. Though bright, he did not do well in school and often cut classes. He loved to read and wanted to become a writer. This slim volume vividly describes life in Harlem and is sure to please fans of Myers' many books. It's a great choice for the eighth grade memoir unit.

#tbt: First Part Last by Angela Johnson

First Part Last by Angela Johnson. 144 p. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, June, 2003. 9780689849220. (Own.)

#tbt features First Part Last by Angela Johnson. This is book two of the Heaven trilogy but can stand alone. It was published in 2003 and won both the Printz Medal and Coretta Scott King Author Award. First Part Last is told in the first-person by sixteen-year-old Bobby as he tries to care for his infant daughter. The prose is spare in this brief yet impactful novel. Bobby is a bright, thoughtful teen who loves his girlfriend and his daughter and wishes to right by both.

Teen Tuesday: Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Dear Martin by Nic Stone. 224 p. Random House Children's Books, October, 2017. 9781101939499. (Borrowed from public library.)

Like Starr in that other auspicious debut, Justyce McAllister straddles two worlds, only he boards at his tony prep school and doesn't have the intact family and extensive extended family support that Starr had. He's a top student with his eyes on an Ivy league education; but he begins to question all that when he is arrested as a suspected carjacker when all he was trying to do was help his drunk ex-girlfriend get home safely. Luckily for him, his friends and their parents have his back and charges are soon dropped, but the experience causes him to question everything and everyone. He tries to sort through his feelings by writing letters to the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. Interspersed between his letters and the narration of events are bits of dialogue.

Stone packs a lot into this relatively short book. There will be tears and anger. While some characters receive short shrift (I for one, wanted to know more about his tough-love mother), readers, both reluctant and avid alike, will tear through this and have much to think on. I have a student who discovered Jason Reynolds' book Ghost at the end of his seventh grade year. He came back to eighth grade wanting Patina, then read every one of Reynolds' books before moving on to Kekla Magoon's How It Went Down and Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give. He devoured Dear Martin as well.

I read this one with my ears. While narrator, Dion Graham turned in his usual stellar performance, the lists and sections of dialogue are more difficult to convey. Either way, Dear Martin is a must-read and must purchase for high school and public libraries.

Middle Grade Monday: Saint Louis Armstrong Beach by Brenda Woods

Saint Louis Armstrong Beach by Brenda Woods. 136 p. Nancy Paulson Books/ Penguin Young Readers Group, September, 2011. 9780399255076. (own)

In the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, readers get to know eleven-year-old Saint Louis Armstrong Beach. He's a confident kid who lives with his parents in the Tremé section of New Orleans. He's also an accomplished clarinetist who often busks for cash. He doesn't think this hurricane is going to be a big deal. Just as he's about to evacuate the city, Shadow, the neighborhood dog runs off and Saint decides to go looking for him, becoming trapped as the storm surges.

Saint is an engaging narrator. His heart is in the right place and he loves his city and its denizens. Suspense ratchets up as the levees break and Saint has to think quick if he's to save Shadow and his neighbor. 

Fact Friday: 28 Days: moments in Black History that changed the world by Charles R. Smith

28 Days: moments in Black History that changed the world by Charles R. Smith. Illustrated by Shane Evans. 56 p. Roaring Brook Press, January, 2015. 9781596438200. (Own.)

This beautifully illustrated collective biography highlights 29 notable African-Americans. Most are fairly well-known, though there are a few lesser known figures. Some figures receive a double-page spread, others single-pages and one pair of astronauts share a page. There are eulogies and poems and even quotations from Supreme Court decisions to convey the importance of people and events chosen.

The illustrations are the stars here. Evans' brilliantly colored art bursts with energy and emotion. Backmatter consists of a bibliography of books for young readers who may be interested in further exploring Black History Month.

#tbt: Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper

Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper. 320 p. Simon & Schuster, May, 2001. 9780756916299. (Own)

#tbt features Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper. This retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliette is set in the present day Cincinnati, Ohio and was published in 2001. New student Julio catches Romi's eye after he moves to Cincinnati from Texas. The two start a romance even though Romi is African American and Julio is hispanic and there is racial tension between the two groups. Readers familiar with the Shakespeare play will get a kick out of the many parallels. 

Waiting on Wednesday (arc review): Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes. 224 p. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, April 17, 2018. 9780316262286.

The cover on the right is the cover on my arc. The cover on the left looks to be the finished cover. I think both covers are powerful but the red one does pack a wallop.

I'll put this out there right now - no library collection is complete if it is missing any of Ms. Rhodes' books. She is a masterful middle grade writer whose superpower is making tough subjects accessible to tender young readers. 

Twelve-year-old Jerome is the narrator of this timely yet heartbreaking tale. We meet him as he realizes he is dead and views his own dead body bleeding onto the playground dirt. A white police officer has mistaken his toy gun for a real gun and fatally shot him. 

Jerome isn't even allowed to play with guns but his new friend, Carlos gave it to him to play with. He witnesses his family's grief and his father's anger and wants to comfort them. He realizes, with a start that his grandmother is aware of his presence but unable to see him. No one can see him until he crosses paths with the daughter of his shooter. Why is it she can see him when no one he cares about can? Jerome isn't alone in this limbo, he is soon joined by another victim of a racial killing - Emmett Till.

As Jerome tries to navigate this new reality, he confronts hard truths and feels myriad emotions from sadness to anger. Through Jerome, thoughtful readers might come to reflect on their own biases as well as society's and work toward overcoming them.

Fact Friday/ Review: Heroes of Black History by the Editors of Time for Kids

Heroes of Black History: biographies of four great Americans by the Editors of Time for Kids. America Handbooks, a TIME for Kids series. 192 p. Liberty Street/ Time Inc. Books, December, 2017. 9781683300120. (Review from finished copy courtesy of publicist.)

There's no denying that Harriet Tubman, Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks and Barack Obama are Civil Rights champions. This collective biography highlights the life and work of each well-known figure. This attractively designed volume features an introduction by Civil Rights activist Charlayne Hunter-Gault and a helpful time-line of black history in America before introducing each subject chronologically. 

The large font size, abundance of white space and plentiful photos and illustrations are pleasing. The photos are well-captioned. Text boxes add context and points of interest. The information is presented in an engaging manner, making it a solid resource for report writers. Each section ends with a timeline of the subject's life. Thumbnail biographies of additional Civil Rights figures begin the backmatter with a glossary and index that follow. Point your teachers to these links for additional information: curriculum guide and fast facts sheets. 

This volume belongs in most collections, especially if older biographies of the subjects are in tatters. That said, I am hoping that future collective biographies of Civil Rights heroes feature some lesser known but equally courageous individuals whose work should also be acknowledged. 

#tbt: Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

The Daily Booktalks for the month of February will highlight books written by African American writers. We will kick off the month with one of my favorite writers of all time - Walter Dean Myers.

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers. 336 p. Scholastic Inc., 1988. (Own.)

Fallen Angels is the first-person narration of Richie Perry, a young, black soldier recently drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. It may be hard to fathom that college was beyond reach for many teenagers in the early sixties and just not an option for Richie Perry, a bright African American boy in Harlem. This novel chronicles Richie's time "in country" from the boredom and tedium of certain duties to the abject terror of combat. Originally published in 1988, Fallen Angels ranks sixteenth on the American Library Association's list of most frequently challenged or banned books between 1990 - 2000 and eleventh for the years 2000 - 2010.