The Secret Library (Kekla Magoon)

There was a lot going on in this book. The family history aspect was interesting....go back in time to learn about your family. She'd run into the same people again and again and it was confusing to keep straight who the person was and how old they were or what year it was. Time travel is not my favorite genre. It felt like maybe there should be a second book because many of the issues between Dally and her mother are not resolved - but Dailly has time traveled to the future and skipped a bunch of years (broke all the time travel rules!) so a resolution won't be possible. I thought the ending was rushed and rather incomplete.

The idea of a secret library is interesting. This is the key in the time travel - pick a book from your shelves and a cloud starts to form. Off you go! Sometimes the writing seemed quite didactic and sometimes it just wasn't conceivable at all that this is how a child would converse with people.

The main character says she's biracial but as the story ends, you discover that her mother, who is presented as a white woman, actually had a black father - something he kept hidden.  Even Dally's mother didn't know. No one knew. Oh the complexities of family history!

There was a lot of commentary on historic events. In chapter 29, she arrives at a Juneteenth celebration where her parents are, but they aren't married yet. I read this on Juneteenth....so that was a weird twist of fate. There is talk of LGBTQ issues and it's interesting to compare how the issues are viewed in the past to today, however, it was weird addition to the story and seemed like it was thrown in to make sure the author hit on all sorts of current issues: family secrets, LGBTQ lessons, weird explanations about scientific realities today, sex education (a baby is born, mother's water breaks...the whole lots of details kids don't need), segregation and racism issues as well. For an audience of 8-12 year olds, this would open a lot of questions unless they were REALLY well versed in history, which is quite unlikely. I would recommend it for readers over 12, for sure. The book banners would have a heyday with this one. Luckily, most kids didn't finish it and for those who said they did (that's questionable), clearly it was over their head.

This book was a lesson in why it's important to read the book before I suggest it for book club. This one was not a great choice. During our book club meeting we learned about resources online to research your genealogy. I logged into my Family Search account and showed them famous people I was related to. They really enjoyed that.

Goodreads says:
Since Grandpa died, Dally’s days are dull and restricted. She’s eleven and a half years old, and her exacting single mother is already grooming her to take over the family business. Starved for adventure and release, Dally rescues a mysterious envelope from her mother’s clutches, an envelope Grandpa had earmarked for her. The map she finds inside leads straight to an ancient vault, a library of secrets where each book is a portal to a precise moment in time.

As Dally “checks out” adventure after adventure—including an exhilarating outing with pirates—she begins to dive deep into her family’s hidden history. Soon she’s visiting every day to escape the demands of the present. But the library has secrets of its own, intentions that would shape her life as surely as her mother’s meticulous plans. What will Dally choose?

Equal parts mystery and adventure—with a biracial child puzzling out her identity alongside the legacy of the past—this masterful middle-grade fantasy rivets with crackling prose, playful plot twists, and timeless themes. A satisfying choice for fans of Kindred and When You Reach Me.

Eyes that Speak to the Stars (Joanna Ho)

 

This author is just my kind of person....totally woke. Her bio says she has a passion for anti-bias, anti-racism and equity work. This is part of a series. The first book, Eyes that Kiss in the Corners is also profound.

This story made me think of the promise of turning the hearts of the children to their fathers. The boy finds power in realizing he has eyes like his father, grandfather and baby sibling. It made me think about the "Hyde eyes" in our family. That might make a beautiful picture book too.

Goodreads says:

A young Asian boy notices that his eyes look different from his peers' after seeing his friend’s drawing of them. After talking to his father, the boy realizes that his eyes rise to the skies and speak to the stars, shine like sunlit rays, and glimpse trails of light from those who came before—in fact, his eyes are like his father’s, his agong’s, and his little brother’s, and they are visionary.

Inspired by the men in his family, he recognizes his own power and strength from within.

Attack From Within (Barbara McQuade)

 

This book was very American based, but many of the suggestions apply to Canada too. The problem definitely isn't unique to the USA. Since I live in Alberta where the current provincial politicians in charge seem to want to align themselves with the direction the current Republican government is moving and that is something I really don't want. Elbows up!

• Create laws that require social media platforms to disallow false claims.
• Fund local news coverage.
• Extend the equal time rule to all news outlets...all candidates get equal time. Prevent broadcast media from showing one campaign over another.
• The Fairness Doctrine has been removed from American media. Restore this law.
• To reclaim audiences lost to social media, networks should focus on analysis rather than reporting.
• Voluntary code of ethics for social media - remove false claims, remove bots, etc. This could be done with good algorithms!
• Reduce disinformation from the demand side....this could be a big part of public education. Train students to recognize fake news and online conspiracy. Media literacy is becoming more and more important. Verify news stories from multiple news providers. Teach them to fact check School children and adults need this.
• Public service campaigns to persuade people to use diligence when amplifying messages. This reminded me of The Dignity Index that has been created.
• Increase face to face discussions in real public squares. Seclusion makes matters worse.
• Vote and be an informed voter.
  
• Install rank choice voting....this prevents two popular candidates from splitting the vote and having a less popular candidate come up through the middle.
• Prosecute people who threaten and harass public servants.
• Hate crime laws must be enforced vigorously. 
• Speak up when people post threats.
• Combat corruption. No one is above the law. 

Goodreads (as well as the Amazon website since it was clear Goodreads was missing some of the summary) says:

An urgent, comprehensive explanation of the ways disinformation is impacting democracy, and practical solutions that can be pursued to strengthen the public, media, and truth-based politics. The book includes:

• The authoritarian playbook: a brief history of disinformation from Mussolini and Hitler to Bolsonaro and Trump, chronicles the ways in which authoritarians have used disinformation to seize and retain power.
• Disinformation tactics—like demonizing the other, seducing with nostalgia, silencing critics, muzzling the media, condemning the courts; stoking violence—and reasons why they work.
• An explanation of why America is particularly vulnerable to disinformation and how it exploits our First Amendment Freedoms, sparks threats and violence, and destabilizes social structures.
• Real, accessible solutions for countering disinformation and maintaining the rule of law such as making domestic terrorism a federal crime, increasing media literacy in schools, criminalizing doxxing, and much more.

American society is more polarized than ever before. We are strategically being pushed apart by disinformation—the deliberate spreading of lies disguised as truth—and it comes at us from all opportunists on the far right, Russian misinformed social media influencers, among others. It's endangering our democracy and causing havoc in our electoral system, schools, hospitals, workplaces, and in our Capitol. Advances in technology including rapid developments in artificial intelligence threaten to make the problems even worse by amplifying false claims and manufacturing credibility.

In Attack from Within, legal scholar and analyst Barbara McQuade, shows us how to identify the ways disinformation is seeping into all facets of our society and how we can fight against it. 


Disinformation is designed to evoke a strong emotional response to push us toward more extreme views, unable to find common ground with others. The false claims that led to the breathtaking attack on our Capitol in 2020 may have been only a dress rehearsal. Attack from Within shows us how to prevent it from happening again, thus preserving our country’s hard-won democracy.

Holes (Louis Sacher)

 

This is a book that I always wondered why I hadn't read it. It's a well known book and teachers think it's great....well, those who have read it. I realized though that it was only written in 1998. No wonder I didn't read it when I was in school. It wasn't around! I did finally read it for my Grade 3 book club though.

Teaching potential:
I thought it was a great book with lots of potential for talking about literacy devices. The example, dramatic irony (when the reader knows something the characters in the story do not know) or foreshadowing (why is there an entire early chapter about a killer yellow spotted lizard?) The main character, Stanley, changes over time and is able to save his family from an inter-generational curse...which is bildungsroman (a genre that focuses on intellectual/moral growth of a character from youth to adulthood)....there's a moral development or the two main characters. Stanley and Hector start addressing each other by their real names (adults?) rather than their nicknames (Caveman and Zero).

Adult themes that could  be discussed:
Poverty and class - how some people are dealt different trials in life
Race Relations
What just and reform actually entails and how it is carried out.

Book Club ideas:
Bring shovels to put at door with a sign....Welcome to Camp Green Lake
Who said it game with quotes from the book
Watch parts of the movie and discuss it - venn diagram with holes book and holes movie
Make name tags for ourselves (first name and last name with first name spelled backwards)
TPT Coloring page

Food: 

Red candies for lizard eyes
Gummy words for rattle snakes
Onion dip/chips
Sploosh - cooked peaches (in a crock pot?) or peach fruit snacks in containers

Symbols in a bag
Sign: Which "hold" will you dig into? Will you find a yellow-spotted lizard, treasure or be cursed along with the Yelnats family?"
- onion (Sam's onions)
- Kate Barlow peaches
-Yellow spotted lizard toy
-Stanley's canteen of water
-Kissin' Kate Barlow's lipstick tube
-treasure box
-letter from Stanley to his mom
-fish fossil

Signposts
There is a lot of potential for Notice and Note signposts. I kept notes of some....I'm sure there's more! 

Goodreads says:

Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys’ detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes.

It doesn’t take long for Stanley to realize there’s more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment—and redemption.

The Probability of Everything (Sarah Everett)

 

This could be the best book I've  read all year. In the first 200 pages it was okay and then there was a twist that changed everything. I had 100 pages to go until book club tonight and I thought I'd get up early and finish the rest of the book. I didn't quite finish before school started so I had to steal time here and there. I finished it during DEAR time while everyone was reading and when DEAR was over I said to my class, "Can we just sit still and be sad for a moment?" Of course they wanted to know why....and it wasn't something I could even explain. I think the fact that there is so much math involved in the storyline caused me to suspend any idea that it was nothing but realistic fiction....only to realize I had been totally fooled! 

I just loved this book. It is one I'd read again. It would be interesting to read it a second time to see what subtle hints were given that I totally missed. It isn't one I'd read aloud to my students though. There are some tough topics. However, it would be great for middle and high school, for sure.

Everyone in book club loved it too. 

It made me wonder what I would put in a time capsule to represent myself. This is going to take some thought! 

The author is from Edmonton too! Pam H sent the author a message saying, "This would make an AMAZING one act play! Let's collaborate!"

Favorite quotes:

p. 254 As you grow up, you're going to hear a lot of opinions about the right way to be Black. A lot of people will tell you to turn the other cheek or stay in our lane or just be quiet, stay in the neighborhood where everyone looks like you. But you deserve a world where the way you're treated is based on your character and not your  skin color. And you're allowed to fight for that world; you're allowed to make waves.

...if I'm being honest with you, Grit, I'm tired. I'm tired of the way we've been treated in Pineview. I'm tired of the odd looks and the suspicion and the disrespect. I'm even more tired of turning on the news and seeing the way Black people are treated everywhere. I'm tired of making a political statement just by existing, just by being black. And I think that's okay. Tired is okay. I don't have to Make A Statement every minute of every day. I can love myself and love my family and be a human and that's enough. 

p. 293 I nod, because I will do anything for him. Becaause he is my favorite person in the universe. Because if fathers  can be friends, he is mine, and even if they can't, he is mind.

p. 294 on losing someone through death:

....I'll always be one of you, but I can't be here the way I want to be. Remember what I s aid that day when we looked at the stars? People get closer or farther away, so you have to be strong and wonderful and wise and silly and everything you are without me. You have to be that Statgirl. That's what will make me happiest of all.

I wiped my nose on the sleeve of my dress.

p. 305 Now, Mom says something I don't expect. "I'm more than just sad. I'm determined. I'm resilient. I'm angry too. Angry as heck that someone would hurt your afther for such a stupid reason or for absolutely no reason at all. Because he never thought we belonged there, so of course we were in his house. I'm angry that whatever happens to the man who did this will not be nearly as bad as what has happened to us. I'm not going to tell yo uthat it will get any less painful or any less hard, but we will get through it.

p. 307....she whispers, "You don't have to be strong, baby. We'll do it weak. We'll limp and hurt and take everything one day at a time....

Setting
Neighborhood called Pineview - the "nice" part of Elderton (p. 7)

Characters

Mom (Bim)

Dad (Jar p. 131)

Lo (little sister)

Baby Z (baby due in  months)

Jeremiah Woods (Dad's BFF)

Mrs. Sorensen (neighbor who always just walks right in p. 14)

Kemi (cousin)

Dia (Chinese American friend)

Grandma (speaks Yoruba....Nigerian language)

Aunt Miriam - a feelings doctor (psychologist?)

Ty - Kemi's twin who died (p. 55)

Lois! (waitress at Patricia's diner) p. 90

Uncle Jere - surgeon

Uncle Steve

Jen - oldest cousin

Goodreads says:

A heart-wrenching middle grade debut about Kemi, an aspiring scientist who loves statistics and facts, as she navigates grief and loss at a moment when life as she knows it changes forever.

Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter loves scientific facts, specifically probability. It's how she understands the world and her place in it. Kemi knows her odds of being born were 1 in 5 .5 trillion, and that the odds of her having the best family ever were even lower. Yet somehow, Kemi lucked out.

But everything Kemi thought she knew changes when she sees an asteroid hover in the sky, casting a purple haze over her world. Amplus-68 has an 84. 7% chance of colliding with earth in four days, and with that collision, Kemi’s life as she knows it will end.

But over the course of the four days, even facts don’t feel true to Kemi anymore. The new town she moved to that was supposed to be “better for her family” isn’t very welcoming. And Amplus-68 is taking over her life, but others are still going to school and eating at their favorite diner like nothing has changed. Is Kemi the only one who feels like the world is ending?

With the days numbered, Kemi decides to put together a time capsule that will capture her family’s truth: how creative her mother is, how inquisitive her little sister can be, and how much Kemi's whole world revolves around her father. But no time capsule can change the truth behind all of it, that Kemi must face the most inevitable and hardest part of life: saying goodbye.

The Tree of Life (Elisa Boxer)

 

My students are fascinated with war and how terrible things happen. This is a great way to talk about that topic with a beautiful aspect. People are amazing.

Goodreads says:

Hope triumphs over fear in this poignant and impactful true story of the Holocaust—a delicate introduction to World War Two history for older picture book readers.

During World War Two, in the concentration camp Terezin, a group of Jewish children and their devoted teacher planted and nurtured a smuggled-in sapling. Over time fewer and fewer children were left to care for the little tree, but those who remained kept lovingly sharing their water with it. When the war finally ended and the prisoners were freed, the sapling had grown into a strong five-foot-tall maple.

Nearly eighty years later the tree’s 600 descendants around the world are thriving . . . including one that was planted at New York City’s Museum of Jewish Heritage in 2021. Students will continue to care for it for generations to come, and the world will remember the brave teacher and children who never gave up nurturing a brighter future.

The Freedom Song (Sally M Walker)

 

These stories are uncomfortable to me to read, especially when we have black children in our class. However, they're important stories. The children gasped when the box he was in fell. It's quite a story! 

Goodreads says:

An award-winning author and illustrator join forces in a stirring and emotional rich telling of Henry “Box” Brown’s famed escape from slavery—a feat he achieved by mailing himself to freedom.  This nonfiction picture book is an excellent choice to share during homeschooling, in particular for children ages 6 to 8. It’s a fun way to learn to read and as a supplement for activity books for children. Honoring Henry’s determination and courage, Sibert Medal–winning author Sally M. Walker weaves a lyrical, moving story of the human spirit. And in nuanced illustrations, Sean Qualls captures the moments of strength, despair, and gratitude that highlight the remarkable story of a man determined to be free.

Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Jamie Ford)

 

Although I felt like this book certainly wasn't a great work of literature, I really loved the story. I'm shocked at the things we have done in our past to people because of racism. People in Japanese internment camps were amazingly generous with their response to these camps during World War II. 

This was a book club book and we had a great discussion on it.

In this story a Chinese boy named Henry falls in love with a Japanese girl. 

Favorite quotes:
All Henry could do was sigh and nod. He knew that the concept all too well. Painfully well. Obedience as a sign of loyalty as an expression of honor, even as an act of love, was a well-worn theme in his household. Especially between him and his father. but that wasn't the case now, was it? Did I cause my father's stroke? Was it brought on by my disobedience? As much as Henry reasoned otherwise, he ahd a hard time convincing himself the answer was no. His guilt remained.

p. 233 "How long will you wait ofr me, Henry?"
"As long as it takes, I don't care what my father says."
"What if I'm an old woman?" Keiko said, laughing. "What if I'm in here until I'm old and my ahir is gray - "
"Then I'll bring you a cane."
"You'd wait for me?"
Henry smiled, nodded, and took Keiko's hand. He didn't even look, their two hands just seemed to fall together. They spend the better part of the day beneath that cloudy sky. Henry looked up expecting rain, but the wind, which kept them a little chilly, blew the clouds south of the camp.  There would be no more rain.

...spoiler alert....he did! 

Goodreads says:

In 1986, Henry Lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II. As the owner displays and unfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese American girl from his childhood in the 1940s—Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept. Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel's basement for the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, for country.

The Proudest Color (Sheila Modir and Jeff Kashou)

 

Love this one. Great for Black History Month.

Goodreads says:

For me, brown is more than feeling proud. 
It’s the color I see when I see me.

Zahra sees the world in vivid color. When she’s happy, she feels a razzle-dazzle pink in her hands. When she’s sad, she feels a deep blue behind her eyes. But she isn’t quite sure how to feel about the color of her skin. Kids at school tell her she is different, but her mother tells her to be proud! From a diverse team and based on extensive research, The Proudest Color is a timely, sensitive introduction to race, racism, and racial pride.

Mazy Chan's Last Chance (Lisa Yee)

 

This book is amazing. It is well written and touches on a multitude of hot topics. It is powerful because the main character is a middle-school aged girl just trying to figure out life by observing adults. Through grandfather telling Maizy family history stories we learn about racism towards Chinese people over the last hundred years in North America. Maizy sees her family brought together to a greater understanding of each other and that not everything is as it seems.

Goodreads says:

Welcome to The Golden Palace!

Maizy has never been to Last Chance, Minnesota. . . until now. Her Mom’s plan is just to stay for a couple weeks, until her grandfather gets better. But plans change, and as Maizy spends more time in Last Chance (where she and her family are the only Asian-Americans) and at The Golden Palace—the restaurant that’s been in her family for generations—she makes some discoveries. For instance:
• You can tell a LOT about someone by the way they order food.
• And people can surprise you. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes in disappointing ways.
• And the Golden Palace has Secrets.

But the more Maizy discovers, the more questions she has. Like, why are her mom and her grandmother always fighting? Who are the people in the photographs on the office wall? And when she discovers that a beloved family treasure has gone missing—and someone has left a racist note—Maizy decides it’s time find the answers.

How Do You Spell Unfair? (Carole Boston Weatherford)

 

This story will be a great one to accompany our study of the story of Jackie Robinson. It's always shocking to read about the racism of the past. May it always stay in the past!

Goodreads says:

Family Picture Book Read-Aloud Afternoon: A Nine-Book Pile!

An interesting tidbit from history of the first Black American to make it to the final round of the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in 1936 despite segregation and blatant racism.

I'm grateful for the introduction to MacNolia Cox, but the prose is a bit too flat for a picture book, reading more like a book report than a story. I also found it odd that everyone in the book got full names except for MacNolia's mother and teacher: Alberta Key and Cornelia Greve, respectively. And I would have liked to know more about the other Black girl, Elizabeth Kenney, who was in the contest with MacNolia and fared quite well also.

Circles Around Us (Brad Montague)

 

This book is really a great metaphor on connections we need to make life beautiful. It was published in 2021, right in the middle of the pandemic and I have to wonder if that was one of the precursors for the author to write the book. If not, it sure is a great commentary on how it is important that we have good connections. I think it could also lead to a great discussion on racism and acceptance. It could be a great end of year story too about how we have had all these people in our circle and now this year is ending and a beginning naturally comes up with a new circle.

Goodreads says:

The debut picture book from the creator of the viral sensation Kid President is a moving take on how we can create bigger and bigger circles of community and connections as we grow—now a New York Times bestseller!

In the circles all around us, everywhere that we all go, there's a difference we can make and a love we can all show.

This is the story of a circle. When we're first born, our circle is very small, but as we grow and build relationships, our circle keeps getting bigger and bigger to include family, friends, neighbors, community, and beyond. Brad Montague originally created Circles as an Instagram video adorably narrated by his kids, and now this picture book adaptation is the perfect way to start a conversation about how to expand our worlds with kindness and inclusivity—even if it seems scary or uncomfortable. This book makes an ideal new-baby, first-day-of-school, or graduation gift, or any milestone that celebrates someone's world getting bigger. 

I Color Myself Different (Colin Kaepernick)

 

I do a pretty good job of staying away from controversial topics in books and don't usually read them in my classroom. I put off reading this one because I thought it would be controversial. It isn't though. It was nice to learn a little more about Colin Kaepernick.

Goodreads says:

An inspiring story of identity and self-esteem from celebrated athlete and activist Colin Kaepernick.



When Colin Kaepernick was five years old, he was given a simple school assignment: draw a picture of yourself and your family. What young Colin does next with his brown crayon changes his whole world and worldview, providing a valuable lesson on embracing and celebrating his Black identity through the power of radical self-love and knowing your inherent worth.



I Color Myself Different is a joyful ode to Black and Brown lives based on real events in young Colin's life that is perfect for every reader's bookshelf. It's a story of self-discovery, staying true to one's self, and advocating for change... even when you're very little!

Just Like Jessie Owens (Gordon James)

 

My students really loved this story. They're quite interested in World War II stories and racism is something that shocks them. This is a great story.

Goodreads says:

Civil rights icon, Ambassador Andrew Young and his daughter, Paula Young Shelton, deliver a powerful oral history about a special day in Andrew’s childhood that changed him forever. This story of race relations in the 1930s South is illustrated by bestselling Caldecott Honor winner Gordon C. James.

As a boy, Andrew Young learned a vital lesson from his parents when a local chapter of the Nazi party instigated racial unrest in their hometown of New Orleans in the 1930s. While Hitler's teachings promoted White supremacy, Andrew's father, told him that when dealing with the sickness of racism, "Don't get mad, get smart." To drive home this idea, Andrew Young Senior took his family to the local movie house to see a newsreel of track star Jesse Owens racing toward Olympic gold, showing the world that the best way to promote equality is to focus on the finish line. The teaching of his parents, and Jesse Owens' example, would be the guiding principles that shaped Andrew's beliefs in nonviolence and built his foundation as a civil rights leader and advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The story is vividly recalled by Paula Young Shelton, Andrew's daughter.

Beatrice and Croc Harry (Lawrence Hill)

 

There were things I loved about this book and things I did not like at all. He works with some difficult themes (racism, friendship, etc.) in a magical and brilliant way.

I thought it could have been way shorter. It's too long for kids. Maybe it should be a series?? I don't know. I also thought the use of fancy words was at times, pretentious and too much.

p. 34: The writing, in perfect purple calligraphy, indicated exactly what to do. It even instructed her to find, hanging from a nail in the pantry, a giant spoon with a three-foot-long handle. Beatrice lowered her rope ladder, carried the glue fixings and the spoon to the pit near the river, set a fire, hung a pot over the burning embers and followed the instructions. Easy as pie. She did not know why people said easy as pie, because good pie was surely hard ot make. Making glue would be easier.

p. 118  "It must be awfu to not know what you did, but to still feel bad about it," she said.
"It feels like I am trapped," Croc Harry said.

A flight flicked on in Beatrice's brain. Now she understood that crocodiles also had deep, unexpressed feelings.

p. 123 Beatrice read the message aloud. "Cue number 3. Crocodiles are social reptiles, so why does Croc Harry fail to fraterize? Why does he never swim, hunt or eat with other crocodiles? Is Croc Harry who he says he is? Is he worthy of your friendship? Find clue number 5 on Croc Harry's belly.

Later she finds out his belly is soft and lovely....quite the opposite of his scutes you normally see.

p. 217 Friends are like books. You carry them with you forever, regardless of mundane impediments like geography.

p. 241 Horace to Beatrice: Sometimes you anno me, but even then I don't stop liking you.


Goodreads says:

One of Canada's most celebrated author's debut novel for young readers

Beatrice, a young girl of uncertain age, wakes up all alone in a tree house in the forest. How did she arrive in this cozy dwelling, stocked carefully with bookshelves and oatmeal accoutrements? And who has been leaving a trail of clues, composed in delicate purple handwriting?

So begins the adventure of a brave and resilient Black girl's search for identity and healing in bestselling author Lawrence Hill's middle-grade debut. Though Beatrice cannot recall how or why she arrived in the magical forest of Argilia--where every conceivable fish, bird, mammal and reptile coexist, and any creature with a beating heart can communicate with any other--something within tells her that beyond this forest is a family that is waiting anxiously for her return.

Just outside her tree-house door lives Beatrice's most unlikely ally, the enormous and mercurial King Crocodile Croc Harry, who just may have a secret of his own. As they form an unusual truce and work toward their common goal, Beatrice and Croc Harry will learn more about their forest home than they ever could have imagined. And what they learn about themselves may destroy Beatrice's chances of returning home forever.

Viola Desmond Will Not Be Budged (Jody Nyasha Warner, Richard Rudnicki)

 

I love this story. She is the lady on the $10 bill that is vertical. We are reading the story of Jackie Robinson and knowing similar things were happening in Canada is always a good reality check. 

My husband works with someone whose mother used to get her hair done by Viola Desmond. This is recent history!

Goodreads says:

In 1946, Viola Desmond bought a movie ticket at the Roseland Theatre in Nova Scotia. After settling into a main floor seat, an usher came by and told her to move, because her ticket was only good for the balcony. She offered to pay the difference in price but was refused: “You people have to sit in the upstairs section.” Viola refused to move. She was hauled off to jail, but her actions gave strength and inspiration to Canada’s black community. Vibrant illustrations and oral-style prose tell Viola’s story with sympathy and historical accuracy. 

Shapes, Lines, and Light (Katie Yamasaki)

 

This is an amazing story! My students had no idea about the racism towards Japanese people during World War II in the USA. The author's grandfather was a famous architect. The story mentions 9/11 and says how sad he would have felt....ironic considering the racism he faced. However, destroying a building he designed because of racism would have hurt his heart. He wasn't alive during 9/11, however. 
The story does a good job of showing parts of his life he loved and the warmth and light despite the hurdles he faced.

Goodreads says:

Minoru Yamasaki described the feeling he sought to create in his buildings as “serenity, surprise, and delight.” Here, Katie Yamasaki charts his life and work: his childhood in Seattle’s Japanese immigrant community, paying his way through college working in Alaska’s notorious salmon canneries, his success in architectural school, and the transformative structures he imagined and built. A Japanese American man who faced brutal anti-Asian racism in post–World War II America and an outsider to the architectural establishment, he nonetheless left his mark on the world, from the American Midwest to New York City, Asia, and the Middle East.


This striking picture book renders one artist’s work through the eyes of another, and tells a story of a man whose vision, hard work, and humanity led him to the pinnacle of his field. 

I Lost My Words (Rita Joe)

 

There is a reverence that happens when we read First Nation's stories. The students seem to really empathize with the stories. 

Goodreads says:

I lost my talk
The talk you took away
When I was a little girl
At Shubenacadie school.

One of Rita Joe’s most influential poems, “I Lost My Talk” tells the revered Mi’kmaw Elder’s childhood story of losing her language while a resident of the residential school in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. An often quoted piece in this era of truth and reconciliation, Joe’s powerful words explore and celebrate the survival of Mi’kmaw culture and language despite its attempted eradication.

A companion book to the simultaneously published I’m Finding My Talk by Rebecca Thomas, I Lost My Talk is a necessary reminder of a dark chapter in Canada’s history, a powerful reading experience, and an effective teaching tool for young readers of all cultures and backgrounds. Includes a biography of Rita Joe and striking colour illustrations by Mi’kmaw artist Pauline Young. 

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (Kim Michele Richardson)

 

The more I read this book, the more I loved it. It's amazing that it's all true...the pack horse librarians, the racism, the blue people. It's all really happened. The author's note really gave a sense of the importance of this story. She says it's the most important story she's ever told. It was a book I didn't want to rush through. I read it slowly and carefully, soaking up the story.

I love the idea of the librarians who packed books to the rural areas and up mountains so that people could have books to read. This book seems to reflect well the relationships that would grow out of experiences with books together. The story told is really similar to experiences I have had sharing books with my students. Also, the racism faced by the "blue people" (they were people who had a blood disorder and made their skin look blue) is an interesting experience compared to the racism we see today. Also, Cussy Mary is a woman who suffers not just because of racism, but also because of society's view on women. She is a strong character and she will stay in my heart for a long time.

Goodreads says:

In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry.

The lonely young Appalachian woman joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding across slippery creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule to deliver books and other reading material to the impoverished hill people of Eastern Kentucky.

Along her dangerous route, Cussy, known to the mountain folk as Bluet, confronts those suspicious of her damselfly-blue skin and the government's new book program. She befriends hardscrabble and complex fellow Kentuckians, and is fiercely determined to bring comfort and joy, instill literacy, and give to those who have nothing, a bookly respite, a fleeting retreat to faraway lands.

The Reckoning (Mary Trump)

 

This is a book that makes you sit back and think. While Donald Trump is a big player in the story, it isn't really about him. It's about American racism. It looks at the big picture, rather than the close day by stories we see on the news. It's well re-searched (100 books/articles are listed in the references section in case you are looking for a bit more reading on the topic) and well-written.

She says that Donald is someone with a gaping wound where his soul should be (p. 87). Because of that, the whole world has been affected.

The first chapter of this book is a brutal look at the history of racism in the US. It surmises that racism is the basis of the problem. It starts off with a terrible story about a community that lynched a man who had killed his owner. They didn't just hang this man though. They hunted him and his wife down for hours, finally capturing him, and then tore his body apart, first his fingers, then his ears, then his legs and arms and threw the bits to the crowd as souvenirs. I think her purpose starting off with this terrible story is to shock the reader. It works. Later in the chapter, she quotes a man named Ezra Klein in 2017: "I actually think the great evil of American slavery wasn't involuntary servitude and forced labor. The true evil of American slavery was the narrative we created to justify it. They made up this ideology of white supremacy that cannot be reconciled with our Constitution, that cannot be reconciled with a commitment to fair and just treatment of all people. They made it up so they could feel comfortable."

In the chapter on covid, I never did get an answer to my question though about why he was so afraid to admit the dangers of the pandemic, of wearing masks and especially the importance of getting vaccinated, especially since he was. She talks about the terrorist attacks of September 11 and how it created a great moment of unity around the world. Covid killed more people each and every day than the September 11 attacks and yet it has become one of the most divisive tragedies in American history. It's bizarre and I don't understand why he'd be so reticent to show integrity on this issue.

So what's the answer? The racism must be addressed. It can't be swept under the carpet. It can no longer be ignored. Dismissing the pain of this racism only postpones the freedom from it. She further hypothesizes that we are in the midst of a mental health crises and we still treat it as an after thought or a moral failing. "The impact of COVID on our nation's psychological and emotional well-being underscores how dangerous it is to keep making that mistake." (p. 165) The other important issue is connection with each other.

The epilogue begins by discussing the Derek Chauvin verdict. Great quote: What this say to me is that in order to get a nominal degree of justice in this country, that a Black man has to be murdered, on air, viewed by the entire world. There would have to be a year's worth of protests, and a phalanx of other white police officers to tell one white officer he was wrong, in order to get on scintilla of justice." (Jason Johnson, a political scientist and commentator)

"In this country, American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate." - Toni Morrison

Until that changes, sadly, the problem will persist.

Goodreads says:

The instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller

America is suffering from PTSD—The Reckoning diagnoses its core causes and helps us begin the healing process.

For four years, Donald J. Trump inflicted an onslaught of overlapping and interconnected traumas upon the American people, targeting anyone he perceived as being an “other” or an enemy. Women were discounted and derided, the sick were dismissed as weak and unworthy of help, immigrants and minorities were demonized and discriminated against, and money was elevated above all else. In short, he transformed our country into a macro version of his malignantly dysfunctional family.

How can we make sense of the degree to which our institutions and leaders have let us down? How can we negotiate a world in which all sense of safety and justice seems to have been destroyed? How can we—as individuals and as a nation—confront, process, and overcome this loss of trust and the ways we have been forever altered by chaos, division, and cruelty? And when the dust finally settles, how can we begin to heal, in the midst of ongoing health and economic crises and the greatest political divide since the Civil War?

Mary L. Trump is uniquely positioned to answer these difficult questions. She holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology specializing in trauma, has herself been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and happens to be Donald J. Trump’s only niece. In The Reckoning, she applies her unique expertise to the task of helping us confront an all-encompassing trauma, one that has taken an immense toll on our nation’s health and well-being.

A new leader alone cannot fix us. Donald J. Trump is only the latest symptom of a disease that has existed within the body politic since America’s inception—from the original sin of slavery through our unceasing, organized commitment to inequality. Our failure to acknowledge this, let alone root it out, has allowed it to metastasize. Now, we are confronted with the limits of our own agency on a daily basis. Whether it manifests itself in rising levels of rage and hatred, or hopelessness and apathy, the unspeakable stress of living in a country we no longer recognize has affected all of us for a long time, in ways we may not fully understand. An enormous amount of healing must be done to rebuild our lives, our faith in leadership, and our hope for this nation. It starts with The Reckoning.