Published by Seven Stories Press 

Summary:  Paneb is the head of a family of embalmers; his young son Ipy is being trained to follow in his footsteps.  When Yuya, father of Queen Tiye, dies, Paneb and Ipy oversee a lengthy process of embalming and burial.  Each step is important in preserving the body for the afterlife, and there are many rituals that go with each part of the process.  The Egyptian religion is described, with beliefs about what happened to people after they died.  There’s also a section on the embalming process, with pictures of the tools and the people performing their jobs drawn in ancient Egyptian style.  A lengthy endnote describes the discovery of Yuya’s tomb in the early 20^th century; there are also a few photos and drawings of items found in the tomb.  40 pages; grades 3-8.

Pros:  Written and illustrated by an expert on ancient Egypt, this book is clearly a labor of love designed to impart a great deal of information about many aspects of Egyptian culture, both through the text and the illustrations.  The end note, three pages of small type, is a bit daunting, but very interesting and informative.

Cons:  The section on the embalming process (e.g., brain removal through the nose) may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Published by Carolrhoda Books

Summary:  Each page has 3-6 photographs of 21^st-century immigrants. The brief text explains how people have come to the United States from many countries.  They may not speak English, they may make embarrassing mistakes, but they work hard and often do the jobs that no one else wants.  They push their children to also work hard and to never give up, with the hope that those children will have opportunities they never knew.  The final page asks, “What will we do with their great gift?”  Back matter includes photos of the author’s and illustrator’s ancestors and their stories of how those families came to America, as well as a description of how they came to work together on this book.  32 pages; grades 1-5.

Pros:  Although the text is brief, almost like a poem, the photographs are captivating and will make readers want to spend a lot of time with this book, imagining what life is like for the subjects of those photos.  This would be a perfect introduction to a unit on immigration, demonstrating that seeking a new life in the United States has been, and continues to be, an ongoing theme in American history.

Cons:  I wanted to know more about every single photograph.

Published by Bloomsbury 

Summary: In 1847, at the age of four, Sarah Roberts started at the Otis School in Boston, just a few blocks from her home. Soon, though, she was told by the police that she had to leave. The Otis was for white children, and Sarah was African American.  The school she could attend was further from her house, had no place to play, and owned a single book.  Sarah’s parents decided to fight the decision.  They took their case to the Massachusetts Supreme Court, where it became the first case in the nation in which a white lawyer and an African American lawyer worked together, and the first in which an African American lawyer argued a case in a supreme court.  They lost the case, but Sarah’s father didn’t give up.  He traveled around the state to gain support, and in 1855, Massachusetts became the first state to outlaw school segregation.  Goodman writes that the fight for justice is often like that, a few steps backward, then a few more forward. She concludes with the story of Linda Brown and how her experience with segregated schools, similar to Sarah Roberts’, led to the 1954 Supreme Court decision banning all segregated schools in the U.S.  Back matter includes a timeline, a follow-up on some of the people in the story, resources, and how a nonfiction book is researched and written.  40 pages; grades 1-4.

Pros:  This little-known story is an important and inspirational part of American history.  It’s told well, with beautiful illustrations.  The last two pages do a fabulous job of outlining the work and research that go into the creation of a nonfiction book.

Cons:  The coloring in the illustrations sometimes make it difficult to differentiate skin tones.  Maybe that was intentional, but I found it a little confusing.