Stacey's Extraordinary Words (Stacey Abram)

 

First read-aloud story of the year! I wanted to have a story that is about a love of reading and words and this was the perfect fit.

Goodreads says:

The debut picture book from iconic voting rights advocate and #1 New York Times bestselling author Stacey Abrams is an inspiring tale of determination, based on her own childhood.

Stacey is a little girl who loves words more than anything. She loves reading them, sounding them out, and finding comfort in them when things are hard.

But when her teacher chooses her to compete in the local spelling bee, she isn't as excited as she thought she'd be. What if she messes up? Or worse, if she can't bring herself to speak up, like sometimes happens when facing bullies at school?

Stacey will learn that win or lose . . . her words are powerful, and sometimes perseverance is the most important word of all.

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.