February
Book Reviews
Enjoy
the great scholarship of literature available for Black History
Month.
By
Selene S. Vasquez
BIOGRAPHY:
AGES 8 THRU 12A
straightforward and moving style of biographical narration. All
the pivotal events in the life of this great leader of the twentieth
century are related with breathtaking collage illustrations that
inspire a greater depth of feeling for the civil rights movement,
the magnificent march on Washington, and King’s incomprehensible
assassination.
POETRY
AND SONG: AGES 10 - 12A
vigorous poetic tribute to the Black Church: “Cradle, too, was
she for creative fire: where Aretha, Leontye, Sam, Dinah, Della
first found voice...” Lively words set in bold type with the directness
of caricature artwork. The resilience of the African American
community is made clear with each rolling verse.
FICTION:
AGES 8 THRU 12With
“four little tufts” of corn–rowed hair resembling more of a bird’s
nest, Bintou longs for the braids of the older women of her West
African village. Rhythmic sentences and dramatic folk style art
accompanies this exploration of ethnically defined ideals of personal
beauty.
NON-FICTION:
AGES 6 THRU 8A
child without schooling, Victorian era Mary Kingsley cared ceaselessly
for her invalid mother. With books as her only childhood companions,
the persevering Kingsley eventually journeys to the unexplored
territories of Africa and finds that giant of all continents to
be her suitable home forever.
Selene
S. Vasquez is a media specialist at Orange Brook Elementary School
in Hollywood, Florida. She is formerly a children’s librarian
for the New York Public Library.
Education Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001. Tel:
(212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919. Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of
the publisher. © 2001.
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