Fact Friday: Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes

Image: Bloomsbury

Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes. Illustrated by many. Bloomsbury Children's Books, January, 2021. 9781681199443. (Review of finished copy borrowed from public library.)

Happy Friday! We made it! Spring break is upon us! I am so ready for this break. I have no plans except to read, work in my garden and be active every day.

Fact Friday features Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes. Ms. Grimes pays homage to the under-appreciated female poets of the Harlem Renaissance through the"Golden Shovel" poetic method. This means she took a line or two from original poems by groundbreaking Black women, largely ignored, to create her own poems. Each spread features the original poem with the line(s) chosen bolded, followed by Ms. Grimes' new poem along with a brilliant illustration created by a Black female artist.

Ms. Grimes teaches readers a bit about the Harlem Renaissance and the "Golden Shovel" method as a preface to her collection. Back matter consists of poet biographies as well as artist biographies, sources, permissions and an index making this a terrific resource for aspiring poets and students of cultural history.

This is first-purchase! No poetry collection would be complete without this book. I plan on purchasing it for my own library as well as my school's. It's a book I know I will revisit often. 

#tbt: Merlin: the Lost Years by T. A. Barron

Image: Penguin Random House

Happy Thursday! #tbt features Merlin: the Lost Years by T. A. Barron. This is the first book of five in the Lost Years of Merlin series. The author eventually wrote a total of twelve in what became the Merlin Saga. Merlin: the Lost Years was originally published in 1996 with the title, The Lost Years of Merlin. Mr. Barron envisioned what the youth of Merlin, the wizard from Arthurian legend, might have been. He had also originally planned a trilogy about Merlin, but said in an author visit, "Merlin wouldn't let me go after the third book. There was more to his story."

Merlin: the Lost Years is fast-paced and filled with mystery and adventure and used to be my go-to book to give to students who claimed to hate to read.

Waiting on Wednesday: Fat Angie: Homecoming by e. E. Charlton-Trujillo

Fat Angie: Homecoming by e. E. Charlton-Trujillo. 416 p. Candlewick Press, November 2, 2021. 9781536208399.

Happy Wednesday! Waiting on Wednesday features Fat Angie: Homecoming by e. E. Charlton-Trujillo. Teen readers first met Angie in Fat Angie, which was published in 2013 and won a Stonewall Award. Fat Angie: Rebel Girl Revolution published in 2019 and Angie's story will come to an end in Fat Angie: Homecoming, which will publish November 2, 2021. 

Here's part of the publisher synopsis: "With unexpected internet fame, two people vying for her heart, an all-girl band, and coming to terms with her parents’ failures, Angie comes home to herself in a rewarding finale."

Angie found her voice in Rebel Girl Revolution and decides to enter a singing competition in Homecoming. Angie is a character who has found a place in my heart. I cannot wait to visit with her again.

Teen Tuesday: Everything Sad is Untrue: a Novel by Daniel Nayeri

Image: Levine Querido

Everything Sad is Untrue: a Novel by Daniel Nayeri. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~8 hours. Read by the author. Listening Library, 2020. 9780593168417.

Teen Tuesday features Everything Sad is Untrue: a Novel by Daniel Nayeri. Ten-year-old Khosrou stands in front of his fifth grade class in Edmond, Oklahoma. He is a target. He is the only Iranian in the mostly white town. His classmates and teachers can't pronounce his name and so, he is now Daniel and he's a storyteller, just as Scheherazade was - telling stories to save his life. How did the son of a physician and a dentist who lived in luxury in Iran end up fleeing with his mother and sister? His classmates learn Daniel's story slowly, as does the reader because, while often humorous, it's very painful. They also learn about Persian kings and princesses and kindly doctors. The story zigs and zags and, while it requires a bit of patience, like any long story, it is satisfying.

This compelling and complex autobiographical novel won the 2021 Printz Award. 

The audiobook was narrated by the author and was outstanding. Mr. Nayari's storytelling skills shine here.

Middle Grade Monday: Never After: The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz

Image: Macmillan

Never After: The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz. The Chronicles of Never After series #1. Roaring Brook Press/ Macmillan, December, 2020. 9781250311214. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publicist.)

Middle Grade Monday features Never After: The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz. Filomena Jefferson-Cho just can't cut a break! Smothered by over-protective adoptive parents and bullied mercilessly at her private school, she takes refuge in reading - specifically The Thirteenth Fairy series. She can't wait for the final installment and is thrilled when her parents allow her to walk to the bookstore by herself to buy it. Only, it turns out there is no book and no explanation as to why. Heartbroken, Filomena trudges home and soon realizes that she's being followed. 

Who are these strange boys? Turns out they are Jack Stalker and his sidekick, Alistair. They've come through a portal from Never After. Their kingdom is in peril. Can Filomena help?

This fairy tale mash-up was huge fun. Fans of Chris Colfer's Land of Stories series will just love this! (I think it's even better.) Filomena is a winning main character. The story is humorous and fast-paced, as well as just familiar enough with dashes of surprise. 

Highly recommended! The second installment, The Stolen Slipper, is due out December 7, 2021. Sign me up!

Fact Friday: Unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford

Image: Lerner Publishing Group

Unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. 32 p. Lerner Publishing Group, February, 2021. 9781541581203. (Review of finished copy borrowed from public library.)

Fact Friday features Unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. This year (May 31 - June 1) marks the hundredth anniversary of a sad, significant and shameful event in American history that, before last summer, many were probably unaware. Ms. Weatherford begins her blank verse with the words, "Once upon a time" and she uses the repetition effectively to instruct readers about the thriving Black community neighborhood in segregated Tulsa, Oklahoma one hundred years ago. Greenwood, also known as the "Black Wall Street" was home to two movie theaters, several Black newspapers and many Black professionals such as doctors and lawyers. 

While this community enjoyed their prosperity, many in the white community resented it. When a white female elevator operator accused a young Black man of assault, it did not take long for racial tension to erupt in violence. A white mob headed to the jail with the intention of lynching the suspect, but was confronted by Black men intending to protect him. The confrontation resulted in the deaths of two Black men and ten whites. The next day, mobs of white men invaded Greenwood intent on burning the neighborhood to the ground. Three hundred Black residents were killed and more than eight thousand were left homeless as police stood by and did nothing to protect them. The incident was labeled a "race riot" and no investigation was done until seventy-five years later.

Floyd Cooper's erasure illustrations celebrate the thriving community, then somberly stun. Readers learn in the illustrator's note in the back matter that Mr. Cooper has a personal connection to Tulsa - his grandfather escaped the massacre. Ms. Weatherford provides more information in her author's note. Back matter includes black and white photos from the time. 

Unspeakable is a must-read, must-discuss book for anyone, adult or young adult wishing to deeply understand American history warts and all. It's a book that will prompt uncomfortable questions and necessary, but uncomfortable conversations in classrooms and around dinner tables. Lerner has provided a helpful twelve-page teaching guide on their website.

ETA: I had the opportunity to tune into a webinar hosted by Frugal Book Store featuring an interview of and reading by the author. 

#tbt: Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass

Image: LBYR

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass. 304 p. Little Brown Young Readers/ Hachette, 2006. (Own)

Happy Thursday TMS Readers! I can't believe it's April already! 

#TBT features Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass. Jeremy Fink lives in NYC, has a best friend named Lizzy whose impulsiveness often gets the two in trouble and he's turning thirteen in a month. When a package arrives addressed to his mother, Lizzie convinces him to open it, revealing a beautiful locked box and a note from his dad addressed to Jeremy saying the box contained answers to the meaning of life. The problem? There are no keys in the package to open the box and his dad died five years earlier in a car crash.

This story of friendship and existential angst features a vivid NYC setting and endearing, quirky characters. It was published in 2006 and adapted for film in 2011. Wendy Mass is a popular author with my students and this book is well-loved.