In preparing for the library’s Black History Month celebration on Feb. 22, I chose to read Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve’s young readers edition of “NEVER CAUGHT: THE STORY OF ONA JUDGE.” Ona Maria Judge was born into slavery around 1773 or 1774 at George Washington’s Mount Vernon to Betty, an enslaved woman, […]
The end of the year is always a scramble to chip away at my TBR (to be read) list in order to meet an arbitrary goal I set for myself when I was feeling much more ambitious — sometime around the first of January. I never include picture books when I track my reading; considering […]
Twelve-year-old Guero (a lifelong nickname referring to his pale skin and red hair) has spent his entire life crossing back and forth over the U.S.-Mexico border. Born and raised in the southernmost part of Texas, the title character of “THEY CALL ME GUERO” often makes trips into Mexico to visit family and stock up on […]
Youth activist Marley Dias was inspired to begin her #1000BlackGirlBooks after being assigned yet another book about “a white boy and his dog.” To be fair, many of those books are excellent. Rather, her frustration was centered around her inability to find (or be assigned) books with characters who looked like her. Rudine Sims Bishop […]
The summer reading program is in full swing inside the library’s children’s department. Sillies are being shaken out during weekly story times, books are flying off of the shelves and we are all learning about outer space. Because this year’s summer reading theme is “A Universe of Stories,” I want to highlight a few of […]
As I mentioned in my most recent review, I challenged myself to read the Coretta Scott King Award honorees this past February as an attempt to diversify my reading and celebrate Black History Month the best way I know how to celebrate anything: by reading. The second honoree I read was VARIAN JOHNSON’s middle-grade mystery […]
This February, I challenged myself to read all of the Coretta Scott King Author Award winners and honorees in the Joplin Public Library’s Children’s Department. I ended up reading two out of three, but they were both excellent. If you are unfamiliar with this award, let me quickly explain: The Coretta Scott King Award is […]
The Rosemary Titus Reynolds Children’s Library in Joplin Public Library is proud to announce a new program for Children in 1st through 5th grade. The Maker Cart program is funded by the MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES and is offered on the first and third Saturdays of the month. Come use recycled materials to explore […]
Written in sparse prose, this offering from Shari Green is touching without being full of angst. Macy McMillan is a typical sixth grader with one exception – she’s deaf. In a refreshing twist, this story doesn’t use Macy’s hearing as a main focal point. Instead we are introduced to a pre-teen who is anxious about […]
I started this week’s review with another novel in mind, but a recent comment from a storytime attendee directed my attention elsewhere. On their way out the door, a small child stopped to look at a display book; as they did so, they told their caregiver, “Look, its me!” The child holding the book and […]
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