by John Hendrix ; illustrated by John Hendrix ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 7, 2014
Timed with the centenary of World War I but a lesson for always, Hendrix’s tale pulls young readers close and shows the...
A fictionalized account—based on letters from and interviews with actual soldiers—of the holiday cease-fire during World War I.
In epistolary design, Charlie, a young British soldier, writes home from his trench to tell his mother of an extraordinary event that happened that day. After months of fighting, Christmas Eve did not seem like an occasion for joy. But shockingly, German soldiers, only a few paces away in their own muddy trenches, lit tiny Christmas trees and sang “Silent Night” as loud as they could. The next morning, all soldiers came together on the battlefield to celebrate. Some also shared a deep connection while burying their fallen comrades. The truce didn’t last, but its power has resonated for decades. As Hendrix states simply in his author’s note: “The story of the Christmas Truce is not about politics, but people.” Told from Charlie’s perspective, occasionally in handwritten lettering, the story’s immensity and emotion is palpable. Cold, blue-tinted acrylic washes warm to golden oranges and yellows as the soldiers unite. One soldier’s weary reflection, surely echoing that of many others, stretches out across the page: “Why can’t we just go home—and have peace?”
Timed with the centenary of World War I but a lesson for always, Hendrix’s tale pulls young readers close and shows the human side of war. (introduction, glossary, bibliography, index) (Picture book. 7-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1175-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
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by Augusta Scattergood ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2012
Though occasionally heavy-handed, this debut offers a vivid glimpse of the 1960s South through the eyes of a spirited girl...
The closing of her favorite swimming pool opens 11-year-old Gloriana Hemphill’s eyes to the ugliness of racism in a small Mississippi town in 1964.
Glory can’t believe it… the Hanging Moss Community Pool is closing right before her July Fourth birthday. Not only that, she finds out the closure’s not for the claimed repairs needed, but so Negroes can’t swim there. Tensions have been building since “Freedom Workers” from the North started shaking up status quo, and Glory finds herself embroiled in it when her new, white friend from Ohio boldly drinks from the “Colored Only” fountain. The Hemphills’ African-American maid, Emma, a mother figure to Glory and her sister Jesslyn, tells her, “Don’t be worrying about what you can’t fix, Glory honey.” But Glory does, becoming an activist herself when she writes an indignant letter to the newspaper likening “hateful prejudice” to “dog doo” that makes her preacher papa proud. When she’s not saving the world, reading Nancy Drew or eating Dreamsicles, Glory shares the heartache of being the kid sister of a preoccupied teenager, friendship gone awry and the terrible cost of blabbing people’s secrets… mostly in a humorously sassy first-person voice.
Though occasionally heavy-handed, this debut offers a vivid glimpse of the 1960s South through the eyes of a spirited girl who takes a stand. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-33180-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
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by Supriya Kelkar ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2017
This 2015 New Visions Award winner offers a complex narrative and inspires readers to check their privilege to address...
Although Kelkar’s debut novel takes place in colonial India in the 1940s, when Indian citizens were fighting for independence from British rule, it is uncannily timely: 10-year old Anjali grapples with issues of social justice in many of the same ways young people are today.
When Anjali’s mother quits her job to become a freedom fighter, Anjali is reluctant to join the struggle, as it means she will have to eschew her decorated skirts and wear home-spun khadi (hand-woven cotton) instead, inviting the mockery of her school nemeses. But as her relationship with her mother evolves, her experience of and commitment to activism change as well. When her mother is imprisoned and commences a hunger strike, Anjali continues her work and begins to unlearn her prejudices. According to an author’s note, Kelkar was inspired by the biography of her great-grandmother Anasuyabai Kale, and the tale is enriched by the author’s proximity to the subject matter and access to primary sources. Kelkar also complicates Western impressions of Mohandas K. “Mahatma” Gandhi—Anjali realizes that Gandhi is flawed—and introduces readers to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, a figure rarely mentioned in texts for young people in the United States but who is best known for campaigning against social discrimination of Dalits, or members of India’s lower castes.
This 2015 New Visions Award winner offers a complex narrative and inspires readers to check their privilege to address ongoing injustices. (Historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62014-356-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Tu Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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