Brick by Brick (Charles Smith Jr)

I picked this book to read because it is about a great structure my students are often interested in. It brought about a whole different conversation though! We had just read a book from a series called Girls in Science and my students asked why they always write about girls in science and math. I told them that girls used to never go into jobs for people good at math and science. We started talking about lots of other things girls also used to not be able to do. They asked why it was this way and I said, "I don't know, but one day someone asked the same question. They said why is it this way? This is dumb." Because of this, people started changing what they thought girls and women could do. Then I told them, "If you think girls had it bad, you should read this story!" We had a very interesting discussion about racism, slavery and the history of it all. At the end of the book, it says that the British burned down the first White House. I told them that this was before Canada was a country and so it was the people who lived in Canada before it was formed that burnt down the White House. That brought about another interesting discussion on politics and working well together and more. What a great discussion. One student said, "This is why I love reading so much! This is so interesting."

I agree my dear student. I agree!


Goodreads says:

The president of a new country
needs a new home,
so many hands work
together as one.

Black hands,
white hands,
free hands,
slave hands.

In this powerful story of the building of the White House, Coretta Scott King Award winners Charles R. Smith Jr. and Floyd Cooper capture the emotion and toil that created this incredible structure, the home of our president. The White House was created by many hands, several of the slaves', who will be remembered throughout history for their extraordinary feat. Many slaves were able to purchase their freedom after earning money from learning a trade through this work, which speaks to their unbelievable strength. The title reflects how this towering symbol of America was created by hand, human hands, working toward their freedom, brick by brick.