by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson & illustrated by Leonard Jenkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 4, 1993
The eight kids at Mayfield Crossing are a tightknit group who enjoy playing baseball together; but now, in 1960, their little school is closed and they're bused to larger Parkview Elementary, where they don't get much of a welcome—they're not even chosen for the lunch-time ballgame. For bright Meg Turner, the only African-American in her fourth grade, it's a first experience with racism. But at least she (unlike her brother Billie) has a nice teacher, Mr. Stanley: When Clayton, who has been heckling her since the first day, accuses Meg of cheating, Mr. Stanley helps her disprove the charge—but after Clayton retaliates and Billie comes to Meg's defense, all three land in the principal's office. Justice again prevails, and the Mayfield kids finally win acceptance by their fair play and by challenging Parkview to a baseball game, with one of Meg's new classmates volunteering to be the ninth on their team. Drawing on her own small-town Pennsylvania childhood, the author offers a creditable first novel recalling how patience and nonconfrontational assertiveness were used to defuse prejudice in the 60's. Characters aren't well individualized, but the Turner family dynamics are wholesome, and the playground interaction and the ultimate resolution believable. (Fiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: Jan. 4, 1993
ISBN: 0-399-22331-2
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1992
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by Julia Alvarez ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.
Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán.
When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words; she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios, but the true lesson is "mutual understanding." Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the "language" lessons as the characters. This story seamlessly weaves two culturaswhile letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they're being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of la lengua nativa—the mother tongue.
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-80215-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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by Julia Alvarez ; illustrated by Raúl Colón
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by Megan McDonald & illustrated by Peter Reynolds ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2002
McDonald’s irrepressible third-grader (Judy Moody Gets Famous, 2001, etc.) takes a few false steps before hitting full stride. This time, not only has her genius little brother Stink submitted a competing entry in the Crazy Strips Band-Aid design contest, but in the wake of her science teacher’s heads-up about rainforest destruction and endangered animals, she sees every member of her family using rainforest products. It’s all more than enough to put her in a Mood, which gets her in trouble at home for letting Stink’s pet toad, Toady, go free, and at school for surreptitiously collecting all the pencils (made from rainforest cedar) in class. And to top it off, Stink’s Crazy Strips entry wins a prize, while she gets . . . a certificate. Chronicled amusingly in Reynolds’s frequent ink-and-tea drawings, Judy goes from pillar to post—but she justifies the pencil caper convincingly enough to spark a bottle drive that nets her and her classmates not only a hundred seedling trees for Costa Rica, but the coveted school Giraffe Award (given to those who stick their necks out), along with T-shirts and ice cream coupons. Judy’s growing corps of fans will crow “Rare!” right along with her. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7636-1446-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2002
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by Megan McDonald ; illustrated by Katherine Tillotson
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by Megan McDonald ; illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
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