Reading Review with Christal

Title: The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) Author/Illustrator: Barbara Kerley/ Edwin Fotheringham Genre: NonFiction Awards: CYBILS Nonfiction Picture Book Award (2010); Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee and many other awards and nominations Age: 7-11 This book is about how Susy, Mark Twain's daughter, wrote a biography of her dad's life as she was growing up. Throughout this book there are little excerpts from Susy's journal that she kept on her father and how he carried himself and how he acted. In one of her journal excerpt she talked about his life when he was younger and how he would skip school, and that eventually went into the newspaper business and hopped around to many different things after that, and then ended up being a lecturer based on his friends recommendation. She mentioned his writing habits and that he would start just after breakfast and not be finished until just before supper, and he almost always skipped lunch. If he had a moment of in...

Title: Rosa Author/Illustrator: Nikki Giovanni/Bryan Collier Genre: Biography Major Awards: Caldecott Honor Book (2006) Age: 4-8 This book is about the life of Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks worked as a seamstress and one day her supervisor let her go home early since she was just about done with the piece she was working on, and they knew that if she didn't she would be there all night trying to get it finished on time. When she got on the bus, she had her fare ready and remembered she had to enter through the "Colored" doors. She saw that the section for blacks was full, and she noticed an open seat in the neutral section next to a man she knew., so she sat next to him. As the bus made several stops, people got on and off, there wasn't any room in the white section, so the bus driver told her she had to give up her seat. The man she was sitting next to got up because he didn't want any trouble, and a few onlookers from the black section said she shouldn't have...

Title: Ballerina Dreams: a true story Author/Photographer: Lauren Thompson/ James Estrin Genre: Biography Award: Bank Street Flora Stieglitz Award (2008) Age: 4-8 This book is about five little girls' journey to become ballerinas, and it wasn't an easy journey for them because they had cerebral palsy or other muscle disorders. These girls had worked hard all year long and were finally getting to perform in their own recital. They did everything a normal child could, with the help of their helpers as needed. Leading up to the recital these girl worked harder, and practiced until they couldn't anymore. When it was time for the show their helpers helped them get ready for their first performance which was the Nutcracker, then after that they performed Swan Lake, and their finale was Wish upon a Star. During the finale each girl had a star and boldly said their name and they swayed and turn and the music ended with them being the stars of the night. Their teacher Joann wa...

Title: I've Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Author/Illustrator: Walter Dean Myers/Leonard Jenkins Genre: Non-fiction Age: 5-8 This book is about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This book talks about how Dr. King got involved in Civil Rights Movements and how he believed the American people should be treated, all while holding a non-violent view. It talked about how he got involved with the bus boycotts after Rosa Parks denied giving up her seat, and was then arrested because of it. The people felt that they shouldn't have to pay money to ride the bus if they were going to have to give up their seats, just because they weren't white. At the time Dr. King was a pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, and people were impressed with him and asked him to lead the boycott. There were many groups that did everything to stop black people from being treated equal. Dr. King was even arrested so they could harass him, and ...

Title: Through My Eyes Author/Compiler & Editor: Ruby Bridges/ Margo Lundell Genre: Non-fiction; Autobiography Major Awards: Jane Addams Children's Book Awards; Carter C. Woodson Book Award Age: 8-12 This book is about Ruby Bridges life and how she changed a world's view and was the first child to be integrated into an all-white school system. In the beginning pages of this book w get a background of her early life and all the things she's experienced so far, and how when they were considering children to be integrated they had to take this test and how it was made to be super hard, because they figured if none of the black children passed the test they wouldn't have to integrate that school year, but Ruby and a few others passed that test and were set to be integrated. At first her father was unsure because he fought in the Korean War and knows how segregation can affect them, but ultimately it was her mother who convinced him that they should do it. As she l...