Geo Librarian

LOVE IS LOUD How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement written by Sandra Neil Wallace, illustrated by Bryan Collier Paula Wiseman book/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2023 ISBN: 9781534451032 Source: publisher for review (Thanks!) Ages 6-10 All opinions expressed are solely my own. Book cover and interior illustration provided by the publisher. REVIEW As a picture book biography, Love is Loud focuses on the lifelong work of Diane Nash as an activist. Raised to believe in herself and her value, Diane Nash learned to stand up against the rampant racism and segregation around her.  Interestingly, the author writes as if the reader is Diane, putting the reader front and center into the experiences and feelings that drove Diane to spend her life working for change. From the visit to an amusement park and seeing separate but not equal bathrooms to her involvement in the lunch counter sit-ins, the book highlights some of the key events in Diane's life, the key moments th...

THE FAITH OF ELIJAH CUMMINGS: The North Star of Equal Justice written by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Laura Freeman Random House Studio, 2021 ISBN: 978-0-593-30650-5 Source: Blue Slip Media Ages 6-10 All opinions expressed are solely my own. Cover image copyrighted by illustrator/publisher, obtained through Goodreads. ABOUT THE BOOK Congressman and civil rights advocate Elijah Cummings dedicated his life to public service. This comprehensive and visually stunning biography details his humble beginnings and unwavering faith as he waged an endless battle for truth, justice, and equality. We can do better. When Elijah Cummings was a little boy, he struggled in school. His teachers thought he talked too much and asked too many questions. They said he'd never be able to read or write well. Despite his difficulties, Elijah never gave up. He persevered, having faith that with hard work, he'd be able to achieve his goals. Best known as a voice for people of color and an ad...

MARCH, BOOK 1 by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, & Nate Powell Top Shelf Productions, 2013 ISBN: 978-160309-300-2 Graphic Nonfiction  Ages 12 and up Source: Myrick Marketing All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon, one of the key figures of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper’s farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African-American president. Now, to share his remarkable story with new generations, Lewis presents March, a graphic novel trilogy, in collaboration with co-writer Andrew Aydin and New York Times best-selling artist Nate Powell (winner of the Eisner Award and LA Times Book Prize finalist for Swallow Me Whole). March is a vivid first-hand account of John L...

THE YOUNGEST MARCHER The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a young Civil Rights Activist by Cynthia Levinson, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley Newton Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2017 ISBN: 978-1-4814-0070-1 Ages 4-8 Source: F&G from publisher All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Meet the youngest known child to be arrested for a civil rights protest in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963, in this moving picture book that proves you’re never too little to make a difference. Nine-year-old Audrey Faye Hendricks intended to go places and do things like anybody else. So when she heard grown-ups talk about wiping out Birmingham’s segregation laws, she spoke up. As she listened to the preacher’s words, smooth as glass, she sat up tall. And when she heard the plan—picket those white stores! March to protest those unfair laws! Fill the jails!—she stepped right up and said, I’ll do it! She was going to j-a-a-il! Audrey Faye Hendricks was confident and bo...

SUPERMAN VERSUS THE KU KLUX KLAN: The True Story of How the Iconic Superhero Battled the Men of Hate by Rick Bowers National Geographic Children's Books, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-4263-0915-1 MG/YA Nonfiction Grades 7 and up Source: purchased All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK This book tells a group of intertwining stories that culminate in the historic 1947 collision of the Superman Radio Show and the Ku Klux Klan. It is the story of the two Cleveland teenagers who invented Superman as a defender of the little guy and the New York wheeler-dealers who made him a major media force. It is the story Ku Klux Klan's development from a club to a huge money-making machine powered by the powers of fear and hate and of the folklorist who--along with many other activists-- took on the Klan by wielding the power of words. Above all, it tells the story of Superman himself--a modern mythical hero and an embodiment of the cultural reality of his times--from...

Today, I have three civil rights related books to share.  I thought it would be appropriate to share them now because the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Summer murders was just two days ago. I hope that none of us ever forget the sacrifices that have been made to achieve civil rights. MARCH Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, & Nate Powell Top Shelf Productions, 2013 Graphic Nonfiction Grades 5 and up Source: Library copy All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon, one of the key figures of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper’s farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African-American president. Now, to share his remarkable story with new generations, Lewis presents Mar...