When you’re a kid, there are so many things to learn. Someone has to teach you your A-B-Cs, and to count to a hundred. You have to learn to tie a knot and set the table and stay safe. And this month, you should learn more about Black History, and that can be fun with these great books… For the littlest reader ages 3 to 5, “The ABCs of Black History” by Rio Cortez, illustrated by Lauren Semmer is a great way to start the lesson. This most fundamental book includes holidays, cities, people, and music that forms the base…
Author: Terri Schlichenmeyer
You can never go home. Imagine it: the people you love, your room, your pets, you couldn’t see them again. No more hanging with your friends, no more grabbing a soda at your favorite store. How would you feel if you were told that you have to stay away now, all because – as in the new book “Finding a Way Home” by Larry Dane Brimner – you fell in love with someone whose skin didn’t match yours? Richard Loving never set out to find a wife but, growing up in Central Point, Virginia, he knew a lot of girls,…
One step at a time. That’s how you get anywhere: methodical, with purpose, one foot in front of the other until you get where you’re going. You never waver. You never take shortcuts, side roads, or easy-outs, and as in “Kamala’s Way” by Dan Morain, you keep your eyes on the goal every minute of the journey. At this point in time, Kamala Harris almost needs no introduction. Much of what you need to know is summed up in this: says Morain, she “misses little and forgets even less.” Still, a lot of things about her life were left out…
You don’t have time to do a rhyme. Or maybe you do, although you know that poetry doesn’t necessarily have to rhyme. Sometimes, a poem is a story made of words your heart sings. You can say a poem, you can rap one, or you can read one so why not read a few in these great poetry books… A little of this, a little of that, and stories that aren’t poems are found in “Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose” by Nikki Giovanni. Readers who are fans of Giovanni’s are in for a treat here: As you’d expect from…
Uh-oh! Everybody’s watching. They’re all looking at you and now what? Your voice won’t work when all eyes are pointed your way. You can’t sing like that, can’t say your lines, so how can you play your part? You can barely even move when everybody’s watching, so try this: sleep on it. In the new book “Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Boogie Starring Indigo Blume” by Kwame Alexander, pictures by Tim Bowers, that might work. As she helped clean up the park near her house, Indigo Blume was a happy girl. The Garden City Community Festival would be held soon and she…
You’ve got mail. No, real mail, delivered by a carrier in a mailbox outside your door. It doesn’t happen very often and it’s rarer if there’s a letter in those envelopes because everybody you know texts or emails and a hand-written, lick-the-envelope, put-a-stamp-on-it letter is so old-school. Who even writes letters anymore? Author Michael Eric Dyson, that’s who, and in “Long Time Coming,” you’ll want to read them. “Dear Elijah McClain…” he begins. When the grief of history is a part of a burden, the pain of now becomes keener and the action more urgent. “Black death” has been in…
You had every intention to stand still that night. Nice try. Your shoulders were shimmying ten seconds after you stepped to a beat, left foot, right foot, through a wall of thump that came from speakers taller than you. You stopped, and it was as if your behind had its own mind. In those days, you couldn’t stop dancing, and in “My Life In the Purple Kingdom” by BrownMark with Cynthia M. Uhrich, one man couldn’t stop guitaring. Before he was even old enough for school, Mark Brown decided that he wanted to be a guitar player some day. Growing…
It’s almost time for lights out. Just before that, though, you have a ritual: you wash your face, brush your teeth, put on your jammies, crawl into bed, and get a bedtime story. Then it’s lights out until morning but before your good-night kiss tonight, ask for one last thing. Ask for “Dark Was the Night” by Gary Golio, illustrated by E. B. Lewis. In a tiny Texas town in 1897, little Willie Johnson was born on a bright, sunny January day. Willie’s family didn’t have much money, and so when he was a small boy and his parents noticed…
Your birthday card had a Black History postage stamp on it. As always, it was from Grandma and though it’s kind of corny, you look forward to it ever year: a blue or red envelope outside, a sentimental saying with a few bucks tucked inside. Other than bills, ballots, and ads, she’s the only person you know who snail-mails anything, but in “Dear Justyce” by Nic Stone, help can be delivered, too. The first time Vernell LaQuan Banks ran away, he was nine years old. His mother’s new man had been beating her again and though Quan hated leaving his…
To relax, or not to relax? Why not? Whatever. Your hair has gone through several stages of change: you’ve braided, straightened, curled, permed, and loc’d, put it beneath a turban, a durag, scarves, wigs, and kangols. It’s been shaved, picked, plucked, pulled back, and done up. Therewere times when you fought your own hair, and you don’t want your children to go through that. So look for “Glory” by Kahran and Regis Bethencourt, and call the kids. As photographers, Kahran and Regis Bethencourts say that they consider themselves “cultural storytellers” who believe that Black culture has been “under-celebrated.” For far too…