YA 2018 BOOKLIST: THE REVOLUTION WILL BE ANTHOLOGIZED
Books focused on giving tools to aspiring activists and would-be protest leaders (especially directed at girls) or turning a spotlight on double standards, discrimination, or inequality are flooding the bookshelves. We’ve assembled a partial list:
Among them:
We Are Displaced by Malala Yousafzai (Little, Brown, Sept.). Nobel Peace Prize-winner Yousafzai tells her story of dislocation as an Internally Displaced Person to show what it means to lose your home, your community, and the only world you’ve ever known.
Girl Rising: Changing the World One Girl at a Time by Tanya Lee Stone (Candlewick, 2017). This companion volume to the film of the same name chronicles the story of nine girls in the developing world who seek an education to rise out of poverty.
We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices: Words and Images of Hope Ed. by Cheryl Willis Hudson and Wade Hudson (Crown, Sept.). Fifty influential children’s book creators—including Jason Reynolds, Jacqueline Woodson, and Kwame Alexander—offer their own responses to the following prompt: “In this divisive world, what shall we tell our children?”
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD MUSEUM OPENS IN THE FALLS
Stories about the community’s connection to the Underground Railroad are brought to life with images from award-winning illustrator and artist E.B. Lewis, with voiceovers from Emmy Award winning actor Keith David.
The Heritage Center’s permanent exhibition, One More River to Cross, features stories about the Underground Railroad in Niagara falls, including the crucial role played by its location and geography and actions of the city’s residents, particularly its African American residents.
EDWIDGE DANTICAT READS “WITHOUT INSPECTION”
Edwidge Danticat reads her story “Without Inspection,” from the May 14, 2018, issue of the magazine. Danticat is the author of more than a dozen books, including the novels “The Dew Breaker” and “Claire of the Sea Light.”
ON THE SCENE: AUTHOR EXPLAINS THE ‘GREEN BOOK’ TO STUDENTS
In the late 1990s, Calvin Alexander Ramsey, then trying to launch a second career as a writer, learned about the “Green Book” while attending a funeral in Atlanta. He was so fascinated by the story of its author, and how and why it came into being, that he decided to use it as the topic for a play and an illustrated children’s book, “Ruth and the Green Book.”
BEST OF THE BOOK NOOK: A CONVERSATION WITH VIRGINIA HAMILTON AND ARNOLD ARDOFF
In 1996 at the time this interview was recorded Virginia Hamilton was probably the best known author then living in Ohio. I had the opportunity to interview Virginia along with her husband, the poet Arnold Adoff, in conversation together with me.
WAW CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
“Took” by Mary Downing Hahn was selected by voters in Grades 6 through 8.
Author Hunt said she tends to write about things she would like to know, that she longs to understand but doesn’t. She also says there is “always a wish underneath it all.”
JACQUELINE WOODSON PREVIEWS HER GORGEOUS NEW BOOK: HARBOR ME
Woodson is the National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming, and a four-time Newbery Honor winner. Her new books, Harbor Me and The Day You Begin are set to be released on August 28, four years after her award-winning memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming.
Harbor Me explores the minority experience in the United States by introducing a group of classmates who form a bond as they discuss timely topics — everything from their fears of deportation or being racially profiled to being judged by their accents, skin color, or parental heritage.
ARE LABELS PREVENTING STUDENTS FROM SUCCEEDING?
Jacqueline Woodson brings up a good point when she says we should stop labeling students as struggling readers.
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER GERALDINE BROOKS TO LAUNCH BOOK ON ISRAEL’S 50-YEAR OCCUPATION
A series of eminent Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian and international authors – including Colum McCann, Jacqueline Woodson, Colm Toibin, Geraldine Brooks and Mario Vargas Llosa – all contributed chapters.