Young Kek is a Sudanese refugee, sent to
a new home in Minnesota after losing his father and brother to civil war and
getting separated from his mother. Arriving in the cold claw of winter, he
wonders if he will ever feel at home. He finds friendship in schoolmate Hannah
and in caring for a neighbor’s old cow, and, as hard as it is, he brings a
sweet humor and perspective to mistakes he makes in language and custom. In Home
of the Brave, a middle grade novel told in spare, lyrical prose, author
Katherine Applegate crafts a memorable portrait of a newcomer to America. Ages
9-14.
Related activities and interviews may be found at: TeachingBooks.net
Born in Scotland, John Muir came to
America with his family in 1849. He was eleven years old and brought with him
his passion for the natural world. In John Muir: America’s First
Environmentalist, author Kathryn Lasky follows the adventurer and
naturalist from Wisconsin to Florida to Alaska and California, immersing
readers in descriptions of the commitment to the wild beauty of our continent
that Muir experienced at the core of his being. Through his writings and his example,
Muir greatly influenced the establishment of Yosemite National Park, and in
1892 he founded the Sierra Club. Lasky quotes extensively from Muir’s writing;
with vivid illustrations by Stan Fellows, this picture book biography is a
fascinating introduction to a remarkable individual. Ages 8 to adult.
Related interviews and activities may be found at: TeachingBooks.net
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery,
Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks quietly refused to give up her seat on the bus
to a white man. “She thought about her mother and her grandmother and knew they
would want her to be strong. She had not sought this moment, but she was ready
for it,” writes author Nikki Giovanni in Rosa,
a moving picture book about Parks. A professor at the local college heard about
the incident and, with a group of like-minded friends, printed up signs that
began the Montgomery Bus Boycott that lasted more than a year and resulted in a
federal ruling that segregated buses were unconstitutional. Illustrator Bryan
Collier received the Coretta Scott King Award and Caldecott Honor for his bold
and beautiful watercolor and collage interpretations of the story. Ages 6-10.
Related activities and interviews may be found at: TeachingBooks.net
