What Happens Next by Susan Hughes ill Carey Sookocheff

What Bully B. Does at School Today: Blocks my way. Asks me questions that aren't really questions. Like, "Why are you so weird?" What Her Friends Do: Laugh What Everyone Else Does: Nothing What I Say When Mom Asks How  My Day at School Was: Fine

​​While all problems with bullies are not quickly and easily solved, Hughes' book can serve as resource for helping children and adults acknowledge the problem of bullying and suggest positive proactive steps to deal with bullies.  Sookocheff's line drawings are punctuated with blue and green blocks of color, echoing emotions.  This use of color is particularly evident in the  blue wash used to identify the narrator.  Near the story's conclusion, small hints of red are introduced. Written for children, this picture book can serve as a resource for parents, caregivers, and professionals who work with young people who face the constant threat of bullying.

Islandborn by Junot Díaz ill Leo Espinosa

Lola por Junot Díaz ilustrado por Leo Espinosa

Lola is faced with a dilemma. Her teacher has assigned each member of the class the task of creating a picture of the country of his/her origin. Lola has no recollection of her native land.  She left the country of her birth when she was a baby. After consultation with the teacher, she devises a plan. She will ask family, friends, and people in her community about her homeland. She hears delightful memories of sights and sounds, learns of special places and contented feelings. Her conversations expose not just the good things about her island home. She also learns of the horrors inflicted on innocent people, which forced her family to flee the island.

Extending the family story experience

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu

Recently I received a box of artisan chocolates. This was not your ordinary drug store variety. Each bonbon was a unique creation with a complex blend of flavors. Think burnt caramel, tarragon grapefruit, Piedmont hazelnut. Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World is the literary equivalent to a box of artisan chocolates. The gorgeous case holds a selection of biography bonbons. Like an assortment of confections, the micro-biographies are presented without regard to chronology, geography or sphere of influence. Entries showcase distinctive details of each woman's life, morsels to be savored.

Pénélope Bagieu has created a fascinating and highly entertaining compendium of female trailblazers. Each vignette consists of an introductory portrait with basic biographical  information. Most pages follow a six or nine panel-per-page format. Black and white line drawings are punctuated with bright spots of color. A chapter's color pallet is unique to the life and reflects the personality of the highlighted woman. Each entry concludes with a gorgeous two-page full color illustration, celebrating the life of this woman and her contributions to her world. Emphasis is placed on the circumstances which compelled each to take a stand. Bagieu's adds her own observations and witty asides to the narrative. Sometimes her tone is slightly sardonic. This is not an exhaustive in-depth historical treatise. The author is here to tell the story of rebels. In keeping of her purpose, she at times merely alludes to and occasionally omits historical details.

Between The Lines by Nikki Grimes

Welcome to Mr. Ward's classroom, where poetry is studied, composed, celebrated, and performed. Between the Lines paints poignant portraits of students who are members of this unique class. With the encouragement of a caring teacher, these high schoolers endeavor to understand and express themselves through verse. Through the eyes of Darrian Lopez, an aspiring journalist of Puerto Rican heritage, readers follow the lives and dreams of this diverse group of teens. Grimes uses newspaper headlines written by Lopez and personal narratives, interspersed with student-created poetry to tell the individual and collective stories of these promising poets.  The volume concludes with a school-wide poetry slam. Many of the stories are painful. While the portrayals are realistic, the finale affirms the value of each individual and offers hope.

We throw words on the wind, poems, stories. We hope they rise like bubbles, then hitch a ride on a cool cloud or cold current and return to earth as nourishing raindrops ​or fragile snowflakes,

Even the invisible occupy a certain space. Me? I can't seem to find a single place it be seen. ​To be heard.

Numb, I sit on the edge of the bed Mami y Papi share. Shared. I feel light as the ghost my mother has become. Her picture on the bedside table looks blurry until ​I wipe my eyes.

Don't tell me  my beautiful Black mind is a terrible thing to waste if you're gonna let the world toss it aside. Please! Say there's a way out, a way up.

"Troubled kid" tells you exactly nothing about the trouble my pops has seen or Moms ​or me.

Every breath I take is dedicated to pressing back the walls, forcing them to move by the sheer strength ​of my stubborness.

It's time for me to tell the mixed-up girl in the mirror that, as a matter of fact, she's more than enough. ​She's plenty.

Girl Running: Bobbi Gibb and the Boston Marathon
​by Annette Bay Pimentel ill by Micha Archer

Meet Bobbi Gibb, a determined young woman. Annette Bay Pimentel chronicles her story in Girl Running: Bobbi Gibb and the Boston Marathon. The narrative begins during a bleak New England winter.  Bobbi, a young student, gazes longingly out the classroom window, turning her back on the students’ domestic activity. Bobbi is a runner and she wants to run. After viewing a Boston Marathon, her goal becomes to participate in this annual event. Wearing a pair of nurses' shoes (running shoes for women have yet to be manufactured) she trains for two years.  When her application to participate in the Boston Marathon is denied "women are not physiologically able to run twenty-six miles and furthermore the rules do not allow it"​, Bobbi decides to participate anyway.

Images from Girl Running

Women Who Dared

Charlie Takes His Shot:
​How Charlie Sifford Broke the Color Barrier in Golf
 by Nancy Churnin ill by John Joven

The color barrier in USA professional sports has a long and painful history. Probably the most well-known athlete who pioneered entrance into major league sports is Jackie Robinson, who first played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Over time, gradual advances in overcoming bigotry within the major leagues have been put into place.  Removing discriminatory practices has been a long time coming. Take professional golf. Because it is an individual competition as opposed to a team sport, overturning discrimination has been a slow and lonely process. Nancy Churnin's Charlie Takes His Shot chronicles the story of Charles Luther Sifford, the first black man to gain admittance into the Professional Golfers' Association of America. ​

Back matter includes a time line and an author's note with supplemental historical background. John Joven's Illustrations bring vitality and a sense of determination to each page. Action is evident, particularly on the golf course. Golfers taking shots give the story extra pizzazz. Joven also does a nice job of showing the passage of time as Charlie progresses from an aspiring youngster in knickers to a seasoned athlete mopping his brow.

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi

As she did in The Secret Sky, Atia Abawi creates a compelling portrait of a young Arab living in the complex world of Western Asia.  A Land of Permanent Goodbyes paints in vivid detail the story of Tareq. When a bomb strikes his Syrian city, he is forced to flee with his surviving father and four-year-old sister. They travel through Syria to Turkey, then across the treacherous Aegean Sea to Greece. Members of this shattered family are separated only to be reunited several times, suffer deprivation, and struggle with unrelenting fear.  Destiny is an omniscient narrator, sometimes recalling the past or foretelling events in the future.  This voice occasionally breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the audience, usually to comment or editorialize. The introductory pages of the story include interesting time shifts, featuring Tareq's jarring flashbacks as he recalls gruesome details from his young life.

Details Details 

​The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don’t write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid’s burnt socks lying on the road. You pick the smallest manageable part of the big thing, and you work off the resonance.  Richard Price

Reading about Tragic Events

Companion Books

Refugee by Alan Gratz

Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees by Mary Beth Leatherdale

Escape from Aleppo by N. H. Senzai

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

"Actually, the problem is that I can't lose my mind," I said. "It's inescapable."

The book sat on my desk for a few weeks. There were several other titles that I was somewhere in the middle of reading and it seemed like the wrong time to start the latest John Green YA novel. But eventually the hoopla surrounding the book’s release began to simmer. ​One evening I located some very fine grapes and a few rather inexpensive chocolates. The time was ripe to dive into Turtles All the Way Down. This is a journey into the mind of Mr. Green. When I arrived at the final word, the final period, I gently closed the cover. ​Immediately I opened the volume and started rereading. This time I found myself hurdling over masses of sticky notes. My comments littered the page after page. It was apparent that this book had a lot to tell me and that in return, I had many emotional  responses to the text.

Mayla Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines
​by Jeanne Walker Harvey ill Dow Phumiruk

Maya Lin was a student at student at Yale University when she entered and won a national contest to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This edifice honors the sacrifices of all who served in this war and includes the names of almost 58,000 soldiers who died fighting or were declared missing. Jeanne Walker Harvey tells the story of a thoughtful and talented artist. Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines opens with images from Maya's childhood and highlights her love of nature including a love of light and open space. The influence of her talented parents and her Chinese heritage are mentioned. The text emphasizes her extraordinary vision, dedication, and care for this project. Concluding pages include some of her other projects. The author's note provides additional background material.

Maya Lin standing in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Rolling Thunder
​by Kate Messner ill by Greg Ruth

Greg' Ruth’s full page spread illustrations are so realistic that you can hear and feel the power of the engines rumbling across the landscape. His art embodies a glowing tribute to the concept of “spacious skies" and the majesty of America, as the two travel across the country. Warm and glowing light floods the pages. With tender goodbye kisses, a military salute, and a star-spangled silhouette, emotion is packed into every page.

Companion Books

The Wall

The Story of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial

Elephants Walk Together by Cheryl Lawton Malone ill by Bistra Masseva

Elephants Walk Together tells the story of Asian elephants Precious and Baba, young calves who grew up as playmates in the forest. While still very young, they were captured by hunters and impressed into becoming circus performers. Both remained with the same touring group, entertaining audiences across the country. They learned to balance on small balls, ride bicycles, and parade single file. They endured all of this under the blinding light and constant commotion of the circus tent. Malone descriptions of the less-than-humane treatment of these pachyderms are not overly graphic.

Bistra Masseva renders the illustrations in a soft color pallette. The stately elephants are unquestionably the dominant feature on each page. While the style is realistic, it also conveys the warm and depth of emotional attachment between these two friends. It is clear that they are more than massively impressive mammals. The elephants display genuine affection for one another. ​

Gypsy and Wanda

Online Resources