Flying Lessons

Flying Lessons and Other Stories
Edited by Ellen Oh
(Cofounder of We Need Diverse Books)

This is a fabulous book of short stories, by a group of very diverse authors. One of the great things about reading short stories is that they can introduce you to a new author, someone who may have other books you'd want to check out; another thing about short story collections is that you don't have to read them all, or even read them in any particular order...and they may be different styles and genres. Some you may like more than others.

I love the variety of the stories in this collection. Basketball, crushes, dreams, new neighborhoods, family craziness, school stuff...a little something for everyone!

Inside Out & Back Again

Inside Out & Back Again
By Thanhha Lai

This is a beautiful story, in verse, of coming to the United States from Vietnam just at the end of the war, in 1975.
Ten-year-old Ha, along with her mom and three brothers, flees Saigon and survives a harrowing boat ride--eventually ending up in Alabama. There, she struggles to be included in school and learn English while suffering the intolerance and racism of many neighbors and schoolmates.
Stepping into Ha's shoes, we can understand how it feels to have to start over from scratch, leave one home behind and build another, and the power of kindness and compassion.

To This Day

To This Day
By Shane Koyczan

To This Day is a spoken word poem by Shane Koyczan, beautifully illustrated in this powerful book by 30 different artists from around the world.
The video of Koyczan's poem about bullying--and being bullied himself--went viral on the internet in 2013. It is moving and inspiring.

Harlem Hellfighters

Harlem Hellfighters 
by J. Patrick Lewis and Gary Kelley

This gorgeous and intense picture book tells the true story--in free-verse poetry--of the 369th Infantry Regiment during World War I.
In 1917 a brave group of 2,000 black Americans enlisted and  became known as the Harlem Hellfighters; some of these young men played instruments in a famous band that brought the music of Harlem, New York, straight into the war raging in France.
Faced with racism in the United States, the Harlem Hellfighters returned victorious when the war was over, helping to make progress towards equal rights for all African Americans--that were still a long time coming.



Below, Lt. James Reese Europe, famous jazz
band leader, back with the 369th Regiment.
More photos and information about the Harlem Hellfighers at: www.archives.gov/education/lessons/369th-infantry

Brown Girl Dreaming

Brown Girl Dreaming
By Jacqueline Woodson

This is a beautiful collection of story-poems about author Jacqueline Woodson's own childhood in both the South and in New York. Her perspective of the Civil Rights Movement is particularly interesting and engaging, since she was a little girl at the time and just beginning to understand what it was all about.
Brown Girl Dreaming won the National Book Award in 2014 for YA literature; click here to see the author speaking about her book when she received this prestigious award!

Eighth Grade is Making me Sick

Eighth Grade is Making Me Sick:
 Ginny Davis's Year in Stuff

By Jennifer L. Holm
Illustrated by Elicia Castaldi

This book is super cool; it's not exactly a standard graphic novel, but it is a story told through pictures of stuff (IMs, emails, doctor's reports, lists, notes, drawings, poems, invitations, report cards)...sort of a collage-diary-doodle-scrapbook--hard to explain, but come check it out!
Ginny Davis, entering 8th grade, has some major ups and downs as she tries out for cheerleading, dissects a worm and fetal pig, falls in love and joins a social network site. She also deals with some serious family drama like her mom having a new baby, stepdad losing his job, annoying little brother and always-in-trouble older brother, and a couple of moves.
Funny and clever!

Caminar

Caminar
By Skila Brown

April is National Poetry Month, a perfect time to read a book written entirely in free-verse poetry!

Caminar is an intense, moving story of a Guatemalan boy, Carlos, who flees into the jungle when his remote village is attacked by the Guatemalan military. From his hiding place, Carlos hears his neighbors and family being massacred.

He survives alone until he meets a small band of guerrillas--a rebel group, striving to overcome the military soldiers--heading toward a mountain camp. Not understanding the reasons for the war happening in his country, Carlos grapples with who he should trust, and what responsibilities he must now have.

In beautiful language, the author focuses on the results of the violence on small, rural villages during the horrible Civil War in Guatemala in the 1980's. Although this story is fictionalized, it is in many ways an accurate account of what really happened during that time, and the recovery afterward--that continues in Guatemala to this day.

Hold Fast

Hold Fast
By Blue Balliett

A great mystery to kick off the summer vacation! Set in wintery Chicago, this story poetically chronicles the search for a missing dad by a determined daughter, her 4-year-old brother, and her distressed mother.

While trying to prove her father's innocence, Early Pearl (11 years old) uncovers a bizarre book-and-library-related crime and experiences the hardship of life in a homeless shelter.

This book came in our school's Junior Library Guild subscription box, and was an intriguing read!

I've heard great things about Blue Balliett's Chasing Vermeer and look forward to reading that one soon... 

Locomotion

Locomotion
By Jacqueline Woodson

Lonnie, an eleven-year-old foster child, tells his story through a series of beautiful poems. We learn that he has lost his parents in a terrible fire, he is separated from his little sister who he adores, and that he is struggling everyday to recover and be the best person he can--under difficult circumstances.
This is a sweet and sad story of surviving, adapting, and growing up.

Love That Dog

Love That Dog
By Sharon Creech

Sharon Creech is such a good writer.  Love That Dog is a seemingly simple story told through the journal of a boy named Jack.  We only get to read his entries, but it's easy to figure out he is writing to his teacher and she is replying to his comments, and mostly the theme is that Jack doesn't like the poetry they are reading and writing in class.  Not as simple is the underlying story--that Jack doesn't think boys write poetry, that he doesn't think he has anything to write about, and he has undergone some traumatic incident involving a mysterious speeding car (he keeps mentioning it in his journal).
Eventually Jack starts to realize that some of the poetry they're studying in class is kind of interesting, and he begins to have more confidence writing his own.  He gradually allows his teacher to post his poetry on the classroom wall, first anonymously, then with his name.
The great Walter Dean Myers is one of the poets the class is learning about.  Full of sounds and rhythm, Myers' poetry resonates with Jack, and when Walter Dean Myers is actually invited to the school to speak Jack can hardly wait for the day.  In the end, Jack is inspired to reveal his voice and his own difficult story through poetry.
Sharon Creech gives us a short, sweet-sad story of inspiration, self-confidence, and dealing with loss.  The journal style of the narrative invites the reader to infer a lot about what is actually going on, and gives the book a mysterious air.  A lovely quick read for boys and girls alike.  
(ISBN: 0-439-44242-7)

City of One

City of One;  Young Writers Speak to the World
From Writerscorps
Forward by Isabel Allende

San Francisco Writerscorps teachers are professional writers who teach creative writing to youth.  City of One is a book of poems written by young people between the ages of  8 and 23.  These beautiful, moving poems are about violence--here in the city, and also in far-away war-torn countries.  They convey the many different emotions and reactions people have to violence:  sadness, anger, confusion, and even hope.
(ISBN:  30760000195001)

Zorgamazoo

Zorgamazoo
By Robert Paul Weston

This novel is all in rhyme!  It's a funny, adventurous tale of a very cool orphan girl who runs away from her cruel guardian, and encounters a crazy world of fantastical creatures.  They set out on a quest together to find out why all of the "Zorgles" have disappeared...Like a cross between Roald Dahl and Dr. Seuss! 
(ISBN: 1595142959)

The Dreamer

The Dreamer
By Pam Muñoz Ryan, illustrated by Peter Sis

This is a beautifully told story about the childhood of Pablo Neruda, the Nobel-prize-winning Chilean poet.  Neftalí Reyes--Pablo Neruda's original name--grew up in the rainy south of Chile.  His father worked in the woods cutting trees, and treated young Neftalí harshly because he was so quiet, and different.  Surviving a rough childhood, Neftalí goes on to become one of the world's greatest poets.  The story is similar to Billy Elliot in many ways (see previous blog entry);  these two boys both know they have something inside of them they must not only respect, but share with the world.  Anyone who loves poetry or feels poetry inside of them should read Muñoz Ryan's lovely book.  And the illustrations are wonderful, too.
(ISBN: 978-0-439-26970-4)