It looks like your ticket was purchased the day you were born. Your destination was unknown and the journey takes a lifetime, but a seat was reserved for you that no one can take away. And yet, you could change courses any time you wished, for greener pastures or safer homes. In the new book “From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge” by Brian Martin, your fellow travelers are good with that. Even in the earliest days, there were slaves. In 1501, says Martin, a Portuguese explorer came to the easternmost shores of what’s now Canada with at least one slave.…
Author: Terri Schlichenmeyer
Raise your hand. If something’s going to get done around here, you’re volunteering because things need to be different and you’re ready and willing to make it happen. This starts with you because, well, who else? As in the new book “Half American” by Matthew F. Delmont, there’ll be no more doing things halfway. In the time before America entered World War II, Black Americans kept their eyes on what was happening overseas, particularly in Spain. The rise of fascism during the Spanish Civil War was of particular interest to them because “fascism was Jim Crow with a foreign accent.”…
Sometimes, you burn with a white-hot anger. So many roadblocks in front of you, so many injustices, damage, and danger. One day, this old world will be yours to run, and you wonder what kind of shape it’ll be in then. Will changes be made by adults or will kids like you have to make them happen? In answer: read “We Were the Fire: Birmingham 1963” by Shelia P. Moses, and put your work clothes on. For eleven-year-old Rufus Jackson Jones Jr., life on Bull Hill in Birmingham was a struggle, but his family got by. His mother worked hard…
About a size seven. That’s how big your mouth must be, because you just stuck your size-seven foot into it – which is great, because now things are awkward and you never meant harm. You want to have the right conversation about race, you strive to be respectful, and “Courageous Discomfort” by Shanterra McBride and Rosalind Wiseman can help. So your foot is back on the ground now and that didn’t feel good, did it? Probably not, but McBride and Wiseman say that discomfort is necessary for (eventually) doing good in order to make change. Recognizing that everyone has a…
You can’t not look for the whoop. When that sound registers in your brain, let’s face it: you’re gonna rubberneck. You wonder if someone you know is inside that whooping vehicle, in an accident, or worse. You might even thank a higher power that it’s not you in there. And once you’ve read “American Sirens” by Kevin Hazzard, you’ll think of the heroes in the back of that ambulance. When John Moon saw what was happening to the old homeless man on the street, he carefully stepped in, assuring the police that he could help. He knew the old man;…
You know this truth: The curl’s the thing. Short and close to your head, wound around your finger, standing tall in a pineapple, you love how your hair curls around your face, over your shoulders, and down your back. The curl’s the thing – it might even be something you’re known for – but in “Lotus Bloom and the Afro Revolution” by Sherri Winston, it’s a thing to get someone in trouble. Everything was fine before the paper airplane. Well, maybe it was more like fine-ish. On her first day at a new magnet school near Miami Beach, Lotus Bloom…
Almost every problem has a solution. Sometimes, a fix is right in front of your face, and you can make it without anybody’s help. Other times, well, another set of eyes or hands can help you find the right path, or a crisis can lead you to an “AHA!” Just remember: almost every problem has a solution, and as you’ll see in “Kid Trailblazers” by Robin Stevenson, illustrated by Allison Steinfeld, you don’t have to be an adult to figure it out. Sometimes, being a kid is frustrating. You might feel powerless, like you can’t do anything. So how does…
You’re almost out. Out of energy, ideas, motivation, totally depleted from all you’ve been doing lately. Seeing racism, acting against inequality, speaking out against it, fighting for your friends and family, it all takes a toll and when you’re just plain tired, you need something to help you focus. You need “Do the Work!” by W. Kamau Bell & Kate Schatz to energize you. So you’ve been fighting racism and, at this point, you’re simply “exhausted” over it all. This process isn’t easy and eliminating racism won’t happen overnight, but take a breath. This book is meant to help you…
Psychologists Who Changed the World’ Of course, you remember it, the weight of it in your hands, the way it fit your fingers, the envy of your peers, the pretending fun of it, and the security of knowing it would be waiting for you after school. Toys are essential in childhood, important in some adulthoods, and in the new book “What the Children Told Us” by Tim Spofford, they’re key in understanding racism and inequality. Kenneth and Mamie Clark had both grown up with the benefits that Black middle-class life bestowed on its members in the 1930s and ‘40s. Still,…
School will start soon, and you’re going to meet a lot of new kids. You’ll meet kids from other towns and maybe from other countries; some will have lighter hair and some will have darker skin. Maybe they will look like you, and maybe they won’t, so why not find out what’s different and interesting about those new kids by reading one (or all!) of these great books…. Do you know where your new classmates will live? In “My Town Mi Pueblo” by Nicholas Solis, illustrated by Luisi Uribe (Nancy Paulsen Books, $17.99) two cousins live very near one another,…