Review of Across That Bridge, by John Lewis

Current Issues, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Across That Bridge

Life Lessons and a Vision for Change

by John Lewis

Hyperion, 2012. 180 pages.
Review written May 14, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

I checked out this book after my pastor referred to it in a sermon. Racial issues are still front and center – maybe even more so than when the book was written in 2012, and John Lewis talks about dealing with them in a compassionate, nonviolent, and inspirational way.

The chapter titles give you a clue that this book is taking the high road: “Faith,” “Patience,” “Study,” “Truth,” “Peace,” “Love,” “Reconciliation.”

He starts the Introduction by telling who this book is for:

I have written these lessons on freedom and meditations on change for the generations who will take us into the future, for the dreamers young and ever young who should never get lost in a sea of despair, but are faithfully readying themselves for the next push for change. It is for the parents who want to inspire their sons and daughters to build a more just society. And, it’s for the sons and daughters who hear the call of a new age.

This book is for the people. It is for the grassroots leaders who will emerge not for the sake of fame or fortune, but with a burning desire to do good. It is for all those willing to join in the human spirit’s age-old struggle to break free from the bondage of concepts and structures that have lost their use. It is for the masses of people who with each new day have the chance to peel the scales from their eyes and remember it is they alone who are the most powerful agents of change. It is for anyone who wants to reform his or her existence or to fashion a better life for the children. It’s for those who want to improve their community or make their mark in history. This book is a collection of a few of the truths that I have learned as one who dreamed, worked, and struggled in America’s last revolution.

Most of this book is about the work Congressman Lewis did during the Civil Rights Movement. They were committed to nonviolent protest, even though their lives were very much at risk. And because of that commitment, he learned about lofty principles reflected in the chapter titles. Here’s a paragraph from the “Truth” chapter:

Even though we had been rejected by society, we believed that all people had the capacity to be good. We believed not only we, but the perpetrators of violence, were victims as well, who began their lives in innocence but were taught to hate, abuse, and draw distinctions between themselves and others. We held no malice toward them and believed in the power of the truth to penetrate that negative conditioning and remind people of their innocence once again. We focused on the end we hoped to see and kept our eyes on that prize. We could not waste time harboring bitterness or resentment. We knew that our focus had to be on what we hoped to create, not the indignities we were pressing to leave behind. Hating our aggressors was like looking back when we wanted to move forward. We had to use our energy to manifest our dreams, and entertaining animosity would have given more power to the status quo.

Although the issues were different in 2012 – He mentions the Occupy movement frequently – his words apply well to any social change that we want to bring about. Here is his encouragement to any protestor from any time period, in the final paragraph of the final chapter, called “Reconciliation”:

You are a light. You are the light. Never let anyone – any person or any force – dampen, dim, or diminish your light. Study the path of others to make your way easier and more abundant. Lean toward the whispers of your own heart, discover the universal truth, and follow its dictates. Know that the truth always leads to love and the perpetuation of peace. Its products are never bitterness and strife. Clothe yourself in the work of love, in the revolutionary work of nonviolent resistance against evil. Anchor the eternity of love in your own soul and embed this planet with its goodness. Release the need to hate, to harbor division, and the enticement of revenge. Release all bitterness. Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already won. Choose confrontation wisely, but when it is your time don’t be afraid to stand up, speak up, and speak out against injustice. And if you follow your truth down the road to peace and the affirmation of love, if you shine like a beacon for all to see, then the poetry of all the great dreamers and philosophers is yours to manifest in a nation, a world community, and a Beloved Community that is finally at peace with itself.

May those who work for justice and freedom heed these words for years to come.

HyperionBooks.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The In-Between, by Katie Van Heidrich

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

The In-Between

A Memoir in Verse

by Katie Van Heidrich

Aladdin, 2023. 295 pages.
Review written September 12, 2023, from a book sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review

The In-Between tells the story of Katie’s family when her mother was in between jobs and they were in between homes.

It starts in an awful way (awful for Katie, but well-written for us). Katie is thirteen, and she and her mother and two younger siblings come home from their Grandpa’s funeral after an eight-hour drive to learn that their landlord didn’t feed the pets as he’d promised. Their dog is whimpering in her crate and the fish are belly-up in their tank.

Their mother takes everything in, then grabs the fish tank and takes it out their front door.

Mom? I ask nervously.
She doesn’t answer or
bother looking my way.
Instead, she holds the fish tank
high above her head,
careful not to drip
any of the rancid water
over herself and
without announcement or explanation,
sends the entire tank crashing
down
down
down
below,
exploding right onto
our landlord’s doorstep downstairs.

They pack up, as they’ve done many times, and leave that apartment. They end up staying in an Extended Stay Hotel for weeks, while Katie’s mother looks for a job. They spend weekends at their father’s place in the suburbs, but the rest of the time when they’re not at school, they’re all together in one room.

Katie doesn’t want her friends to know what’s going on. And she needs to make sure the school doesn’t know, since the hotel is not in the same school district. And she wonders why their dad won’t take them all the time and how to navigate her mother’s moods.

There are photos at the back, and I especially like the smiling author photo on the back flap – so we know that Katie got through this and emerged resilient.

I’ve found
that the in-between doesn’t have to be
the very end of the world and
that sometimes,
we just have to keep going
and face what scares us,
including ourselves,
especially ourselves,
because
sometimes,
that’s all you can do.

This is a promising debut book. I hope we’ll hear more from this author!

simonandschuster.com/kids

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Review of Class Act, by Jerry Craft

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel 0

Class Act

by Jerry Craft

Quill Tree Books (HarperCollins), 2020. 250 pages.
Review written March 20, 2021, from a library book

Class Act calls itself a “Companion to the Newbery Medal Winner New Kid,” so I won’t call it a sequel, but it does tell about Jordan Banks’ second year at a private school outside his neighborhood, where he’s one of a few African American kids. The publisher is right, though, that you won’t feel lost if you didn’t read the first graphic novel, or if it’s been a while. The author is good at catching the reader up.

And this time, besides following Jordan’s story, we also follow two of his friends – Drew, whose skin is darker than Jordan’s and faces more discrimination, and Liam, who is white and rich, but whose parents are never around.

This year Jordan’s bothered that he doesn’t seem to be growing and developing like his friends are doing, and he doesn’t want to stay a little kid forever. He also is afraid that drawing his comics is babyish and wonders if he should go to art school next year.

For all of them, there’s still discrimination to navigate, and friendships, and girls, and what kids in the neighborhood think of them going to a private school. I liked the part where a mean kid accidentally got his skin dyed green with unwashable dye for Halloween – and thus became a person of color temporarily. The teachers are trying to figure out how to be sensitive to diversity – with mixed results.

The chapter break pages refer to other published books. It starts out with mostly children’s graphic novel references but includes some adult novels as well. I didn’t quite understand the point of doing this, though it was fun for me to recognize the books.

The story is good, and it’s great to have another graphic novel with Black kids as the protagonists. There’s no doubt in my mind that kids will happily scoop this up and be glad they did.

jerrycraft.com
harperalley.com

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Review of The Weaver and the Witch Queen, by Genevieve Gornachec

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

The Weaver and the Witch Queen

by Genevieve Gornachec
read by Nina Yndis

Books on Tape, 2023. 16 hours, 26 minutes.
Review written March 9, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

The Weaver and the Witch Queen is a story set in 10th century Norway. The word “Viking” isn’t used, but most of the men make their livelihood going on raids. This story focuses on Gunnhild, an actual historical figure who became one of the most powerful women in Norway. An Author’s Note at the end tells about what the author knew from historical documents (often conflicting) and what she imagined.

The book begins when Gunnhild is a child, the youngest in her family and subject to constant abuse from her mother. But she has two dear friends who are sisters, Oddny and Signy. They swear an oath to always be there for one another. But when a seeress comes through and declares that their fates are tied together in a bad way, Gunnhild sneaks away to be an apprentice of the seeress — with the goal of becoming a powerful woman like she is.

However, twelve years later, Gunnhild is traveling in the “way witches do” in the form of a swallow, and she witnesses a raiding party attacking and destroying the home and family of Oddny and Signy. Oddny escapes, with the help of the swallow that is Gunnhild, but Signy is carried off to be enslaved.

The rest of the book is mostly about Oddny and Gunnhild in their determination to rescue Signy. The first big obstacle is that it’s winter. So they both spend time in the camp of the king’s son and heir Aeric in order to leave as soon as the weather allows them to travel again. Gunnhild hopes to travel to the underworld and learn where Signy has been taken. Oddny hopes to get silver from a man captured from those who raided her family and be able to afford to go after her.

But much happens that winter. Gunnhild is presented with another option for gaining power. Aeric is set to inherit the throne of Norway, but he has gotten that position through violence, murdering his brother at the request of his father because his brother was influenced by witchcraft. But his remaining brother is seeking to destroy Aeric through witchcraft — and the witches in his employ are seeking to destroy Gunnhild and were behind the destruction of Oddny’s home.

Sound complicated? The plot moves along at a gentle pace and it all makes sense, but there’s plenty of drama underneath it all to keep you interested. The method of witchcraft seemed completely plausible, though the author invented it. And Gunnhild’s insecurities about her apprenticeship being interrupted and all the other emotional undercurrents seemed authentic. The narrator Nina Yndis does a wonderful job with the Norwegian names. I also appreciated that there was what we would call a transgender Viking, and his existence and motivations were all handled well. The word “transgender” was never used, but we learn that his father gave him a girl’s name at birth.

In all, this book gives a richly detailed, obviously well-researched world and a wonderful story of a woman claiming power in that world.

genevievegornichec.com

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Review of Chance, by Uri Shulevitz

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

Chance

Escape from the Holocaust

by Uri Shulevitz

Farrar Straus Giroux, 2020. 330 pages.
Review written March 22, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

When Uri Shulevitz was four years old, bombs fell on Warsaw, where he lived with his parents. But Uri’s father was in Bialystok, where he had found work. A chance encounter led to him not returning to Nazi-occupied Poland, but instead writing to his wife to come with Uri to Bialystok. They were Jewish, and all their family who stayed in Warsaw were killed during the war.

This book tells about Uri’s life as a very young refugee. A series of apparently chance encounters led them deeper into the Soviet Union. A clerk would not grant them Soviet citizenship because of Uri’s name. Uri was actually named after the father of Bezalel, the first artist of the Bible. But the clerk thought he was named after a Zionist poet and they were anti-Soviet reactionaries.

Not having Soviet citizenship meant they had to move farther from the border. Since Uri is an artist, the book is full of illustrations and has large print, and we’re given a clear view of what it’s like to be a refugee when you’re too young to really comprehend what’s going on. They spent much of the war in Settlement Yura in the far north, and much of the war in Turkestan, far east of the border, and much of the war, wherever they were, hungry.

Although the book is long, with the large print and the abundant illustrations, it makes for quick reading. Since he was a child when the events took place, he has no trouble speaking on a child’s level and talking about things children are interested in.

He was eleven by the time the war was over and they got out of the Soviet Union. So this is also the story of growing up and the seeds that were planted that led to him becoming an artist.

urishulevitz.com
mackids.com

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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books!

Review of What Happened to You? by James Catchpole, illustrated by Karen George

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

What Happened to You?

by James Catchpole
illustrated by Karen George

Little, Brown and Company, 2023. 36 pages.
Review written January 30, 2024, from a library book
Starred Review
2024 Schneider Family Award Honor Book, Young Children

This sweet and simple picture book shows a kid named Joe with one leg happily playing pirates on a playground.

When a bunch of kids he doesn’t know come over, they ask Joe what happened to him. He’s tired of answering that question, so he asks, “What do you think?”

The kids offer several responses, always wrong, and some far-fetched. I like the page where a kid asks, “But where’s your leg?” and Joe says, “Here,” pointing to his leg.

“But where’s your other leg?”
“What other leg?”

After some time and particularly ridiculous questions, even the kids and definitely the reader can sense Joe’s frustration. But then the first kid breaks the tension by joining in Joe’s pirate game, spotting a crocodile.

All the kids play happily together, and by the end, the kids no longer need to know what happened.

There are notes to the adult at the back with tips for explaining disability to your kids. This book is a fantastic start! Lots of room for discussion about how it would feel to be asked the same question all the time and what’s important in friendship.

Yes, this is a book with a message, but it’s a truly delightful story at the same time. And features a sweet kid you can’t help but like.

thecatchpoles.net
karengeorge.net
LBYR.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Wisdom of Trees, by Lita Judge

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

The Wisdom of Trees

How Trees Work Together to Form a Natural Kingdom

by Lita Judge

Roaring Brook Press, 2021. 48 pages.
Review written March 23, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

The Wisdom of Trees brings to a child’s level information about how trees communicate and help one another, which I learned in the book for adults, The Hidden Life of Trees, by Peter Wohlleben. It’s listed as a resource in the back.

On each spread this book has a poem in the voice of trees, a painting from an actual forest, and a sidebar explaining the concept expressed in the poem. An Author’s Note at the back explains the location for each painting.

These poems cover concepts like trees telling each other about insects or predators and responding with chemicals to drive them away, trees communicating via fungi, trees resting in the winter, and trees nurturing young saplings.

This recent discovery that trees communicate and nurture one another is one that will delight children, as it did me when I learned about it.

Here’s an example poem about the way the roots of elder trees live on.

We Are the Ghosts

My limbs and needles are gone,
and the warm body of a newborn deer
comes to rest within the ghost of my great trunk
that once touched the sky.
But underneath the soft litter
of fallen needles and dark soil, I still live,
surrounded by my kingdom
with their willingness to give.

A lovely book that will reward repeated rereadings.

litajudge.net
mackids.com

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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books!

Review of Changing the Equation, by Tonya Bolden

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review 0

Changing the Equation

50+ US Black Women in STEM

by Tonya Bolden

Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2020. 202 pages.
Review written September 14, 2020, from a library book

I was a math major in college, and got a Master’s degree in Pure Mathematics shortly after getting my Bachelor’s degree. There were very few other women in my program (5 of us out of 120 new grad students at UCLA), and I don’t remember any African Americans, let alone African American women.

Young people dream about what they can imagine themselves doing. So I love that this book exists, kick starting dreams of young black girls by showing pictures and telling stories about black women engaged in careers and doing important work in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These women have won significant awards and achievements.

Each of these women gets a short biography, photos, and an explanation of why their work is significant. Though the book does cover pioneers – beginning with Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler, the first US black woman to earn a medical degree in 1864 – the majority of the women profiled are still working today.

There’s also a wide range of fields of work, so a young person may well find an example that inspires them, from doctors and nurses through yes, mathematicians, but also videogame designers, mechanics, pharmacists, chemical engineers, aerospace engineers, computer scientists, and so much more.

At the back of the book, we do learn that black women still only earn 1 percent of engineering degrees in America. But I love this response:

Dr. Crumpler, not one to despair, would no doubt respond to such stats by rallying twenty-first-century US black girls to get busy changing the equations.

tonyaboldenbooks.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books!

Review of Those Who Saw the Sun, by Jaha Nailah Avery

History, Teen Nonfiction 0

Those Who Saw the Sun

African American Oral Histories from the Jim Crow South

By Jaha Nailah Avery

Levine Querido, 2023. 277 pages.
Review written October 30, 2023, from a copy sent to me by the publisher.

Those Who Saw the Sun is a collection of interviews with African American elders, most of whom were born during the 1940s and 1950s, and all of whom were kids in the Jim Crow era.

The book feels important – hearing the voices of people who lived through those times. It harnesses their wisdom and we get insights on the things they saw during their long lives.

I was very interested that none of the interviewees were big fans of integration. Although segregation had been harmful and unjust, they had also been part of vibrant Black communities. Outstanding Black teachers taught in their schools, even though many also mentioned they always used school books passed on after white schools had used them. Once integration happened, some Black businesses failed, and some Black teachers lost their jobs.

But it’s also true that most of the elders heard about lynchings when they were kids and other racist acts of violence. So their stories were filled with progress and hope as they witnessed great changes.

Although I think this is an important book, I wish some more helpful content was added to make it more accessible to teens and, well, to me. I would have liked a timeline for each person interviewed. Each interview started by asking where they were born, but I would have also liked to know when they were born. In an oral history, folks skip around in time, so I would have liked a scaffold to fit their remarks onto.

Some of the subjects also rambled a bit and repeated themselves. Though that does communicate their personalities, a little more editing might have increased readability. After finishing the book, I don’t really remember which person said which thing, so some commentary explaining why the order was chosen or something about the subjects in the present day – with present day pictures – might have helped it all stick in my head. It was certainly fascinating while I was reading it, though!

All the interviewees were asked, “Do you believe Dr. King’s dream is possible in this country?” Eleanor Boswell-Raine’s answer catches the spirit of what most of them said:

I think anything is possible. I like his method better than the let’s-shoot-and-kill-everybody mentality. I am definitely a nonviolent person. I really thought, though, given my age and everything, that we would almost be there by now. And so I’m deeply disappointed in terms of . . . of where we are in this country. So I want to say yes, I believe it’s possible. But I would also have to say that I doubt seriously that it will be in my lifetime.

levinequerido.com

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Review of Flight for Freedom, by Kristen Fulton, illustrated by Torben Kuhlmann

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

Flight for Freedom

The Wetzel Family’s Daring Escape from East Germany

by Kristen Fulton
illustrated by Torben Kuhlmann

Chronicle Books, 2020. 52 pages.
Review written September 11, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

This picture book tells the true story of two families who escaped from East Germany in a homemade balloon.

They tell the story from the point of view of six-year-old Peter Wetzel, whose parents planned the escape with another family. They welded together a basket, purchased nylon fabric a little bit at a time and sewed it together, and little by little purchased fuel for an engine to heat the air. They designed the balloon based on a picture in a newspaper that a friend had sent to them.

They were discovered soon after lift-off, and the balloon didn’t go as high as they had hoped, but soon ripped in spots and they ran out of fuel. The balloon crashed in a field, and it turned out they had made it – landing in West Germany.

The back matter gives more details and the text explains the situation in a simple way that kids can understand. It turns out that these two families made three escape attempts, and it was the final one that worked. I wish the author had told the story of all three, because it added some urgency that they needed to escape with the third balloon or they would have been caught by the Stasi. But she chose to tell a simple version that still included the danger of capture.

When I lived in Germany, I worked in the library with a lady whose family had gotten a tip when she was 13 years old and escaped into West Germany shortly before the wall went up. It’s hard to imagine leaving everything you know. It’s also hard to imagine constructing a balloon large enough to hold eight people in secret and without schematics. This inherently dramatic story pulls the reader in and makes you interested in all the details in the back matter. The family who escaped still lives in Germany, and the author got to interview them to write this book.

chroniclekids.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books!