Published by Dial Books
Summary: “By the time I was fifteen years old, I had been in jail nine times.” So begins Lynda Blackmon Lowery’s memoir of growing up in Selma, Alabama. What heinous crimes had she committed to have spent so much time in jail? Joining the marches to give blacks in Alabama the right to vote. Lynda turned 15 on the Selma to Montgomery march in March, 1965. The youngest member of the group of 300 that made the trip, she wanted to go so that she could show George Wallace the bandages she still had from the beating she received on Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, protesting the murder of activist Jimmie Lee Jackson. “You have a voice, too,” Blackmun concludes her story, “and with determination, you can be a history maker, just like me.”
Pros: With the movie Selma, the events of fifty years ago are in the news again. This is a powerful introduction for kids and teens, told by a girl just like them, who found the courage over and over again to speak out for what she believed in.
Cons: Although there is nothing terribly graphic, some of the stories may be disturbing to younger kids. There should definitely be some discussion and historical context to go along with reading this book.
Summary: A parent and child work together to make a serve a dessert called blackberry fool in four different centuries. In 1710 England, a girl and her mother beat cream with a bundle of twigs to whip it, pick and strain blackberries, and store their concoction in an ice pit set into a hillside. 100 years later, a mother and daughter who are slaves in Charleston, South Carolina do the same thing, using the tools available to them at that time. The process is repeated by a mother/daughter pair in 1910 Boston, and finally, by a father and son in San Diego in 2010. The author’s note at the end suggests topics of discussion, not only noticing the changes in technology and food preparation, but also the inclusion of slaves and the fact that a boy and his father would probably not have been in the kitchen before the late 20th century. Don’t worry, a recipe is included!
Summary: Miles is the new kid at school. He’s hoping to establish himself as the best prankster there, a title he held in his last school. His pranks keep backfiring, though, and he finally learns why: Niles, the apparently goody-two-shoes kiss-up kid is actually a prankster extraordinaire in disguise. The two eventually put aside their differences and team up to become “The Terrible Two”, ultimately bringing their nemesis Principal Barkin to his knees.
A Kids Book A Day 