Working Cotton

Working Cotton

Author/Illustrator: Sherley Anne Williams/Carole Byard
Genre: Historical Fiction
Awards: Caldecott Honor Award
Age Level: 5-10 years old

Summary: From a child's point of view using Black English, the reader is given a look into the African migrant life of days spent o the cotton fields. Her days begin while it is still dark out and she is fast asleep. With a hazy sky and cold temperature, the African family can't wait for the sun to be out to burn out the fog and warm up the sky. Even though she is becoming a big girl, she still can't carry the weight of her own cotton sack so she has to help pile the cotton that her mom picks. The descriptive words for the smell of cotton brings the reader to a place side-by-side of the young girl as she expresses the endless rows of cotton ahead. Her daddy works hard and always has the longest sack. Mama brings lunch for the family to relieve the family and give them so time to rest. The little girl always sees kids on the field and expresses how she rarely sees the same kids twice because they move to different fields so rapidly. Finally, at the end of a tiresome day, the bus picks them up and brings them back for a quick night's rest only to repeat again.

Illustrations: Impressionist paintings are the bold coloring of choice. The illustrations of the cotton seem to be so fluffy as if they could be plucked right off the page. Eyes of the characters stand out, as for they are sad and helpless eyes.

In my classroom,  I would read this book to the students for a history lesson. I would bring in real dried cotton and allow them to feel the texture and respond to how the book made them feel. Appreciation and thankfulness to live in a free world now would be expressed throughout the lesson.

Hot Air

Hot Air

Author/Illustrator: Marjorie Priceman
Genre: Historical Fiction
Awards: Caldecott Honor Award
Age Level: 4-8 years old

Summary: Hot Air is a report of the first hot air balloon take off at the palace of Versailles in France on September 19, 1783. The story begins with describing the even including scientists, schoolchildren, opera singers, and architects. When the demonstration began after months of sleepless nights from the inventors, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier, they could not wait for their invention to take flight. This historical and impactful even from the Montgolfiers constructed many others since the first flight including the Avignon, and Annonay. The story takes a silly turn when the duck, sheep, and rooster are launched into the air. They pop, they quack, they cluck, they even duck while passing through the cloudy skies. As the animals return safely, we applaud them for the efforts. Readers can appreciate the intelligence and perseverance it took to invent the first hot air balloon.

Illustrations: The colorful pages were full of cartoon-like animals and human. Onomatopoeia fills the pages while the animals fly through the light blue/pink skies. The expression painted on each character was dramatic and original.

In my classroom, I would have my students represent their own hot air balloon including its passengers. This would allow room for creativity and at the same time a fun way to learn about the historical event of the first hot air balloon. If any students have ridden in a hot air balloon prior, this would be a great time for them to share their own personal experience to the class.

Ferryboat

Ferryboat

Author/Illustrator: Betsey & Giulio Maestro
Genre: Historial Fiction
Awards: NA
Age Level: 4-8 years old

Summary: The ferry on the crossing the river at Chester is a popular place to be, talking cars and trucks across the river daily. As families cross the river, they park their cars on the top deck and step outside to watch the duck families paddle by. The author describes the feeling of standing on the ferry, vibrating and humming as water lightly sprays on the passengers' faces. When the captain pulls up to the other side of the river, families hurry back to their cars and the ferry glides into the dock. The reader learns toward the end of the book the historical correlation that the ferry has to America.
This story is about a Ferry that began operating in 1969 called the Chester-Hadlyme. The ferry was renamed Warner's Ferry because of the owner. Warner's Ferry connected the King's Highway in Fort Hill, Parish of Chester in Saybrook, to the Norwich Road in Lyme. During the years of the Revolutionary War, the ferry was a used to transport supplies. The Chester-Hadlyme Ferry is the second oldest ferry in service to this day.

Illustrations: Illustrations seem to be colored through the use of water paint. Lively and colorful pictures were drawn for each page. My favorite page was the pink, purple, and green sunset. It encompassed two whole pages and filled the tone of the book with calamity and peace.

In my classroom, I would like to share this book before a break such as spring break or summer when the students tend to be traveling the most. Hopefully, after reading this book, they will become even more excited about their trip and get rid of and fears or hesitations about riding on a boat.

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

Author/Illustrator: Carole Boston Weatherford/Kadir Nelson
Genre: Historical Fiction
Awards: Caldecott Honor Award
Age Level: 5+ years old

Summary: Harriet is strong in her faith and uses God to be her comfort and peace of the night. She devises a plan to escape with an ax to chop wood and consistently asks God to keep her eyes steady on him. She then begins to chant a song in hopes that her loved ones here her so they can leave and begin on their way to freedom. Harriet traces through swamps  and woods with her heart pounding land asking God if she was doing the right thing. She falls into a deep sleep in the underbrush with Gods hand resting upon her and protecting her. Once she finds her way out, she prays to God asking him to lead her to protection, and to the house that she can trust to be safe. She passes men on wagons and boatman's rowing praying to be led to freedom. She is tired and weary from the journey. As she continues to find a stopping place, she finds the holy ground along the Underground Railroad for slaves to travel to freedom. Harriet finds the safe haven and returns to the South to retrieve and rescue her family. This is when God calls her to be the Moses of her people. Being a woman of God, she leads her family to safety. This fictional story depicts the spiritual journey of Harriet Tubman.

Illustrations captivate the entire page and the background colors seem like they were "powdered" on. The colors are mostly warm colors and the texts strays from page to page. Texts even wrap around images to encompass the focused illustration.

This book could be a great read-aloud option in my classroom before the social studies unit involving the Underground Railroad and slavery.  Students could use the Author's Note in the back for researching the subject further.

Freedom School, Yes!

Freedom School, Yes!

Author/Illustrator: Amy Littlesugar/Floyd Cooper
Genre: Historical Fiction
Awards: NA
Age Level: 4-8 years old

Summary: Chicken Creek was home to the Freedom school. On the night that a new teacher came to town there was a brick thrown through the window of Jolie's house. Jolie was frightened and called for mama to come see what happened. There was a note wrapped inside the brick saying "FREEDOM SCHOOL TEACHER- GO HOME OR ELSE." This was not the end of the scary and hatred things placed upon the Freedom School teacher. The nineteen-year-old school teacher that was hired was named Annie. Once things started to calm down, a fire overcame the church. Flames climbed high, and the men and women of Chicken Creek were terrified. Reverand Wilkins surprised everyone as he sang praise in the midst of all the fire and suffering. Finally, the church was redone and Annie was as "Brave as a lion." Annie and Jolie beat the hostility from the danger of the local whites. Freedom School, Yes takes place during the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project. During this time period, civil rights of black people have been denied. This story represents a time when black families faced hostility to local white families.

Illustrations in Freedom School, Yes consumed the entire page. The characters looked very real and had intricate details on their hair  and facial features. The illustrations as a whole looked as if they are dusty and faded.

In my classroom, this book would be read to the students during black heritage month. Freedom School, Yes would encourage questions about ancestry and culture.

Ox-Cart Man

Ox-Cart Man

Author/Illustrator: Donald Hall/Barbara Cooney
Genre: Historical Fiction
Awards: Caldecott Honor Award
Age Level: 4-8 years old

Summary: In 1979, Ox-Cart Man began its journey through the monthly seasonal changes. The oxcart man packs all of his goods made by himself, his wife, and his daughter to the Portsmouth Market. Through valley and streams, nothing slowed him down. This rhythmical story encompasses this family's life in the old western days. The oxcart man sells his goods one by one, the yolk, the ox, and woven linen and mittens. He pockets the coins and brings them back home and the cycle begins again.

Illustrations were soft and the shading of colors was exquisite. The characters had real-life features (both human and animal).

I would use Ox-Cart Man in my classroom during rodeo season as a way to introduce the western culture to the students. Students will be able to attend the real rodeo (if parents permit) and share with the class exactly what parts of the story they found at the livestock show in Houston.

Circle Unbroken

Circle Unbroken

Author/Illustrator: Margot Theis Raven/E. B. Lewis
Genre: Historical Fiction
Awards: Children's Africana Book Awards (2005)
Age Level: 4-8 years old

Summary: For this family, the tradition of sweetgrass basket weaving is an art that has been passed down through the generations. The young girl is listening to her grandmother tell the story of her grandfather while sitting on her lap. Her grandfather was taught how to weave the baskets as a young boy so taut that it could hold the rainfall. After being captured in the slave trade, he stills holds his memory of weaving baskets and is able to teach others the tradition from his African culture. History is told in Circle Unbroken and meaningful texts are shared about the ship bound slaves and how they worked to preserve their family craft. At then end of the story, the granddaughter ends up in a picture back on her grandmothers' lap. Illustrations in this powerful book are painted as the texts are spiraled through time.The characters faces are detailed with emotion and the colors are painted with soft warm strokes. Circle Unbroken traces the emotional connections of the Africans held captive of the past, back to craftsmen in America today.

Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom

Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom

Author/Illustrator: Shane W. Evans
Genre: Historical Fiction
Awards: Coretta Scott King Award 2012
Age Level: 6-8 years old

Summary: In the story, Underground, the author puts simplistic text to such a hard and devastating time in salves lives. This powerful children's story depicts the fear in their lives as they quietly hid from their "owners" while trying to escape "underground," or out of sight. The readers sees nuclear families holding tight together as well as others all joining in to help each other break to sunlight and to freedom. Underground gives the honest truth of slaves being captured and how tired they are of running and hiding. Illustrations were dark and covered the entire page with only a shadow of light shining until the end where they find freedom. I thought the final page was beautiful showing the family standing together as one, facing the light blue and yellow sunlight, as free as can be.

Rosa

Rosa

Author/Illustrator: Nikki Giovanni/Bryan Collier
Genre: Historial Fiction
Awards: Caldecott Honor Award (2006), NAACP Image Award (2000), Congressional Gold Medal (1999), Presidential Medal of Freedom (1996)
Age Level: 9-12

Summary: This powerful book, Rosa, is a powerful tribute to the strong and courageous Rosa Parks. After 50 years, the story is still being retold about a coloured women that refused to be sent to the back of the bus. Rosa was a woman tired of coloured drinking fountains, balconies, and entrances. She decided to be the one who stood up for her human rights. "The Integrity, the dignity, the quiet strength of Rosa Parks turned her no into a YES for change" (Giovanni 10).
The illustrations in this look like cut-outs pasted on top of each other. Some of the unique pictures are modified to open at the center of the page to have a fuller layout. This intensifies the illustrations and creates larger concrete images.

A Strom Called Katrina

A Strom Called Katrina

Author/Illustrator: Myron Uhlberg/Colin Bootmans
Genre: Historical Fiction
Awards: Booklist Editor's Choice: Books for Youth (2012)
Age Level: 7-11 years old

Summary: This is a  story of a 10-year-old boy who experiences the dark and scary time of his life witnessing Hurricane Katrina. As we see through the eyes of this young boy, Louis Daniel, life is precious and sometimes calls for immediate decisions. When the storm hit, Louis had to leave behind a puppy he sees floating on a couple boards as they passed him. His loving heart wanted to save his possessions including the lost puppy. The family leave their home using paddles and debris as they tried to float to safety. They headed to the Superdome in hopes for safety and dryness. When they arrived, they were physically safe, but they were stuck in the middle of babies crying and people talking in this tragic situation. Louis realises that he has lost his cornet and asks his Daddy to help him find it. Louis' cornet serves as a "safety blanket" for him and now that it's lost, he is devastated. Louis goes missing to retrieve it and his family is worried sick. Once he has found his cornet, he plays a loud note and his Mama and Daddy hear the noise and come running to him. Finally, the storm had passed and when the buses come to take them home and the same puppy shows up by his feet, Daddy agrees to keep the little puppy. They head to their home safe and sound. The experiences in this story are true and relevant to the devastation of the families from the hurricane. Illustrations seemed to be painted on with high contrast colours.