Our Eleanor: A Scrapbook Look at Eleanor Roosevelt's Remarkable Life by Candance Fleming

1. Bibliography 

Fleming, Candace. Our Eleanor: A Scrapbook Look at Eleanor Roosevelt's Remarkable Life. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2005.

2. Plot Summary 

In this amazing intimate biography, Candace Fleming tells the life story of amazing woman and First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. Readers learn about her childhood and the events that shaped this historically significant woman. Not only will they read, but readers will see incredible pieces of her life like a report card, hand written notes to friends and family, and photographs of Eleanor’s life.  

3. Critical Analysis

This large, glossy, hardcover book is sometimes hard to follow since this book is organized by topic such as “Sad Little Nell”, “A Devoted Wife and Mother”, and “First Lady of the World” instead of time order and sometimes assumes readers' background knowledge of specific historical contexts. This book is best suited for an older student audience or those already somewhat familiar with Eleanor Roosevelt. However, because the information and features are so interesting and personal, younger students may enjoy exploring this book and gaining trivial knowledge of an amazing first lady. Readers will find photographs of Eleanor with a young Franklin in their courting days as well as photo copies of Eleanor’s childhood report cards, a page dedicated to the newspaper clippings of Eleanor’s many car accidents, and Eleanor visiting wounded soldiers. Our Eleanor is interesting, sometimes funny, and always inspiring. 

4. Award(s) and Review Excerpt(s)

• From School Library Journal: “Fleming is honest, respectful, and astute throughout, addressing both successes and controversies with balance…”
  
• From Booklist: “Through anecdotes and archival photos drawn from an assortment of sources, Fleming invites readers into a camaraderie with the timid, neglected little girl who grew up to become the woman many nicknamed "copresident," and whose flouting of accepted gender roles earned her admiration and ridicule in equal measure. The details of Roosevelt's life are certainly riveting...”

5. Connections

Gather other texts by Candace Fleming:

• The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia. ISBN 9780375867828
  
• Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart. ISBN 0375841989
  
• The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh. ISBN 052564654X
  

Allow students to look through and study the text features during a lesson on purpose for print and graphic features.

Bomb: the Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

1. Bibliography 

Sheinkin, Steve. Bomb: the Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon. New York, NY: Square Fish, 2018.

2. Plot Summary 

From Steve Sheinkin comes the amazing true story about the atomic bomb race. Filled with amazing characters, science, and even plots to kidnap, this book will easily engage young readers in history. Starting with the discovery of splitting atoms in 1938 and ending with 1980s efforts to reduce the number of arms, readers will learn about this exciting and important time in history.  

3. Critical Analysis

Steve Sheinkin writes this informational book in such a way that it reads more like a spy thriller than a nonfiction account of these historic events. It is separated into four parts and separate chapters and is the size of most standard chapter books. The story is mostly in chronological order, but jumps to different key players be it the scientist, the spies, or the government at different times during the story. Before each new section, black and white photographs of new people and groups being introduced cover the two page spreads like a scrapbook. Readers can be assured that the information is factual as they can flip to the back of the book and see citations of the source and quotation notes. This book is great for middle grade, high school, or adult readers. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. 

4. Award(s) and Review Excerpt(s)

• 2013 Sibert Medal
  
• 2013 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction
  
• 2013 Newbery Medal Honor Book
  
• From Bulletin of the Center of Children’s Books: ““This is edge-of-the seat material that will resonate with YAs who clamor for true spy stories, and it will undoubtedly engross a cross-market audience of adults who dozed through the World War II unit in high school.”
  
• From School Library Journal: “Sheinkin has again brought his superior talent for storytelling to bear in what is truly a gripping account of discovery, espionage, and revolutionary changes in both physics and the modern world.”

5. Connections

Gather other titles by Steve Sheinkin: The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery. ISBN 1250024609

• The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights. ISBN 1250073499
  
• Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War. ISBN 125018083X
  
• Which Way to the Wild West?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About Westward Expansion. ISBN 1250075769
  
• King George: What Was His Problem?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution. ISBN 1250075777
  

Use as a read aloud in a chemistry class. Have students note scientific theories and processes mentioned when reading. 

One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes

 

1. Bibliography 

Grimes, Nikki, and Cozbi A. Cabrera. One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance. New York, NY: Bloomsbury USA Childrens, 2017.

2. Plot Summary 

Nikki Grimes created a beautiful, powerful, and thought-provoking collection of poems celebrating poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Sitting next to each poem from famous Harlem Renaissance poets are Grimes’ original poems that teach and inspire in the way that poems of the past have before hers. Each original poem is a “Golden Shovel” poem, where lines and sometimes whole poems from the poets are the starting off point for all new poems by Grimes. Readers will enjoy learning about poets from the past, the works of contemporary artists, and fresh poems by Grimes. 

3. Critical Analysis

This unique poetry collection features famous poets from the Harlem Renaissance such as Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Bennett. Nikki Grimes then uses the words of their poems as the last word in new poems about life, self worth, hope, and more. These Golden Shovel poems use whole poems, such Mother to Son by Langston Hughes as the starting off point for her poem Lessons, and other times only a part such as her poem Jabari Unmasked which takes a stanza from We Wear The Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Her free verse poems have an easy rhythm, but powerful words meant to inspire like the simile “The truth is, every day we rise is like thunder-a clap of surprise,” from her poem Truth. Metaphors like “uncut ginger appears an ordinary, worthless root, till opened jars of it infuse the air with a tang so strong, you are bound to blink..” which is compared to a calm demeanor in In Search of a Superpower expresses life advice to her readers that mirrors lessons from the Harlem Renaissance poets. 

Included in this poetry collection, is an introduction to the Harlem Renaissance as well as a section in the back with biographies of the poets featured in the book, providing readers an opportunity to learn more. Poems are paired with original artwork from the artists that are described in the conclusion of the book, including an original piece by Grimes. Readers can flip through and enjoy individual poems and biographies, or read it from cover to cover, enjoying the thematic sections and the educational aspects of this book. Middle grade and young adult readers will love this poetry collection. 

4. Award(s) and Review Excerpt(s)

• 2018 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award
  
• From Kirkus Review: “This striking, passionate anthology reminds young readers and adult fans of poetry alike that while black life remains "no crystal stair," there remains reason to hope and a reserve of courage from which to draw.” 
  
• From School Library Journal: “This unique and extraordinary volume is a first purchase for all middle school poetry collections.” 

5. Connections

Gather other works by Nikki Grimes: 

• Words with Wings. ISBN 9781590789858
  
• Planet Middle School. ISBN 1619630125
  
• Ordinary Hazards. ISBN 1629798819
  

Gather other Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Winners

• Pinkey, Andrea Davis. Martin Rising: Requiem for a King. ISBN 0545702534
• Argueta, Jorge. Somos como las nubes/ We Are Like the Clouds. ISBN 1554988497
• Engle, Margarita. Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir. ISBN 148143523X
• Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover. ISBN 0544935209 
  

Have students write their own Golden Shovel poems.

Use as an introduction to a study of the Harlem Renaissance.

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

1. Bibliography 

Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.

2. Plot Summary 

The Crossover is the emotional, poetic tale of a Black American family made up of an assistant principal mother, former professional European basketball player father, and two high school twin boys as they journey through life’s changes and trials on and off the basketball court. Readers experience a crossover from adolescence into adulthood, a crossover from basketball player into father, and the celebration of basketball culture and family in this bouncy novel in verse. 

3. Critical Analysis

In his novel in verse, Kwame Alexander structurally separates his poem sections by basketball quarters; however, the poems follow the speaker's, Josh Bell's, growth both on and off the court. His poems have a smooth, cool feel, and Kwame Alexander shows the style and personality of Josh with lines like, “Each time you play/ it’s ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL net”. Some poems have graphic features such as in the poem The Show where Alexander manipulates font size and line shape to create movement that mimics the movement of Josh on the court. Alexander also often uses italics to show speakers other than Josh, helping readers get a sense of their personalities and the changes occurring in his brother, his parents, and the relationship he has with each. 

Alexander addresses the theme early on in the novel, giving readers a sense of what is most important: family. In the poem Basketball Rule #1, he uses a metaphor to say “In the game of life/ your family is the court/ and the ball is your heart./ No matter how good you are,/ no matter how good you get,/ always leave/ your heart/ on the court.” Throughout his poems, readers continue to see how important family is in this coming of age sports poetry novel. 

4. Award(s) and Review Excerpt(s)

• 2015 Newbery Medal Winner
  
• 2015 Coretta Scott King Honor Award Winner
  
• 2015 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award
• From School Library Journal: “Alexander has crafted a story that vibrates with energy and heart and begs to be read aloud. A slam dunk.”
  
• From Kirkus Review: “Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch.”
  
• From Horn Book Magazine: “Since poet Alexander has the swagger and cool confidence of a star player and the finesse of a perfectly in-control ball-handler, wordplay and alliteration roll out like hip-hop lyrics, and the use of the concrete forms and playful font changes keep things dynamic."

5. Connections

Gather other other Kwame Alexander texts such as:

• Booked. ISBN 1328596303
  
• Rebound. ISBN 0544868137
  
• The Crossover (Graphic Novel). ISBN 1328575497
  

Gather other novels in verse for middle grades such as:

• Woodson, Jacqueline. Brown Girl Dreaming. ISBN 9780147515827
  
• Lai, Thanhha. Inside Out and Back Again. ISBN 0061962791
  
• Warga, Jasmine. Other Worlds for Home. ISBN 006274780

Have students compare and contrast Josh and his twin brother.

Have students compare to other sports novels to compare style.

Use as a read aloud during a poetry unit especially in the middle grades. 

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

1. Bibliography 

Woodson, Jacqueline. Brown Girl Dreaming. New York, NY: Puffin Books, 2014.

2. Plot Summary

 

This beautiful, powerful, memoir in verse by Jacqueline Woodson takes readers on a journey through Woodson’s childhood during the 1960s and 1970s. Readers feel the childlike wonder and growing awareness through Woodson’s accessible, rich poetry as Woodson paints a picture of what it was like to grow up African American during the civil rights movement. Woodson also describes her family and her growing love of writing and storytelling. 

3. Critical Analysis

Jacqueline Woodson’s poems in Brown Girl Dreaming, written in free verse, are a mix of slow, flowing poems like changes and punchy, playful poems like our names and poems that follow the unique rhythm of what they’re about like brooklyn rain. She employs a heavy use of alliteration, yet it creates a light, breezy feel in her poetry like the line "our swing set is silent...snow covering it...stay inside on Sunday” from the poem god’s promise. Woodson also plays with metaphor like “painful stone inside my mother’s heart” and “this place is a greyhound bus” as she describes her childhood memories expressing both the joy and sadness in the events that made up her youth. Her poems are written with simple words making them easily accessible to middle grade readers. Her poems have a curious, childlike voice. She uses italics to denote other speakers helping readers get a sense of what family members, teachers, and other people in her life were like, or at least how she perceived them when she was a child. She references historical moments with wonder as she explains what she saw growing up in the 60s and 70s “as the south explodes” not long after Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and other civil rights activists were fighting for equality; Woodson writes in south carolina at war, “we are sitting at his feet and the story tonight is why people are marching all over the South…” Woodson’s writing is beautiful, powerful, inspirational, and comforting. Middle grade readers as well as adults will be moved by her memoir in verse. 

The cover of Brown Girl Dreaming shows a dream-like horizon of water colored blues and yellows, a shadowed young girl standing with a book in hand as butterflies seem to leap out of the book, fly into the sun, and bloom into flowers at the top of the cover. The pages of the book are textured creating a soft, worn feel in the readers hands. It’s as if the reader is holding the journal from Woodson’s childhood, filled with her memories and stories. 

4. Award(s) and Review Excerpt(s)

• 2015 Newbery Medal 
  
• 2015 Coretta Scott King Book Award
  
• 2015 NAACP Image Award
  
• 2014 National Book Award
  
• From Kirkus Review: “Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.”
  
• From School Library Journal:” With exquisite metaphorical verse Woodson weaves a patchwork of her life experience, from her supportive, loving maternal grandparents, her mother's insistence on good grammar, to the lifetime friend she meets in New York, that covers readers with a warmth and sensitivity no child should miss. This should be on every library shelf.”

5. Connections

Gather other books by Jacqueline Woodson such as:

• Before the Ever After. ISBN 0399545433
  
• Behind You. ISBN 0142415545
  
• If You Come Softly. ISBN 0142415227
  

Gather other novels in verse for middle grades such as:

• Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover. ISBN 0544935209
  
• Lai, Thanhhá. Inside Out and Back Again. ISBN 0061962791
  
• Warga, Jasmine. Other Worlds for Home. ISBN 0062747800
  

Pair other texts about the civil rights movement and key people such as:

• Bridges, Ruby. Through My Eyes. ISBN 9780590546300
  
• Giovanni, Nikki. Rosa. ISBN 0805071067
  
• Evans, Shane. We March. ISBN 1250073251
  

Have students write their own “I am from” poems after reading.

Guide students in creating a map of the places Jacqueline Woodson spent her childhood as well as the historical events she mentioned in her poems.

Have students research one of the people from the civil rights movement that Jacqueline mentions in her books and present.