What we have here today, for your perusing pleasure, is history at its smelliest—a fascinating story that leads me to think more about the stench that emanates from San Francisco's storm drains every summer. But I digress. Let's head to London. From its water-borne disease vector endpapers to its funny and macabre illustrations, The Great … Continue reading The Great Stink – Perfect Picture Book Friday
A few months ago I reviewed a picture book about Edwin Hubble, The Boy Whose Head Was Filled with Stars. In that book, the author mentioned Vera Rubin, the woman who was interested in studying questions in astronomy that others (yes, mostly men) didn't bother with. And voilá, now we have her biography! Vera Rubin … Continue reading The Stuff Between the Stars – Perfect Picture Book Friday
When I think of the hundreds of years of colonial oppression of indigenous cultures around the world, I wonder how some cultures still survive. And then I read a story like Child of the Flower-Song People, and I realize that those cultures, or the knowledge contained within those cultures, still exist because of individuals who … Continue reading Child of the Flower-Song People – Perfect Picture Book Friday
There are picture books that tell you about someone's life, and you recall events. Then there are picture books that tell you about someone's life, and you recall how they made you feel. This is the latter. Note how we zoom in on Edwin at home as if we're finding him through the eye of … Continue reading The Boy Whose Head Was Filled With Stars – Perfect Picture Book Friday
I didn't know much about Zora Neale Hurston, except for the fact that I'd loved one of her most famous books, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Now that I've read this picture book, I want to know more. Text ©️Alicia D. Williams Illustration ©️Jacqueline Alcántara Just look at that girl, clutching her book, running barefoot … Continue reading Jump At the Sun – Perfect Picture Book Friday
For National Poetry Month, who better to feature than the marvelous, lyrical picture book author, Carole Boston Weatherford, writing about a woman whose songs are a perfect mix of poetry and heart, Aretha Franklin. Each couplet in this book is a poem that moves the story forward. B-L-E-S-S-E-DCradled by the church, rocked by an ebony … Continue reading R-E-S-P-E-C-T — Perfect Picture Book Friday
Connect. Moved. Dreamed. Speak. Loved. Graduated. Organize. Improve. Honor. Listen. Campaigned. Represent. Traveled. Voted. Oversee. Create. Earned. Helped. Challenge. Announced. Convince. Do. Protested. Gained. Planted. Ascend. Inspired. Pave. Awarded. What do all these words have in common? They're all verbs used to tell Shirley Chisholm's story. And in doing so, they bring her energy to … Continue reading Shirley Chisholm Is a Verb! – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Victor Hugo Green was tired of hearing no.Victor loved the freedom of driving on the open road,but too often the road was closed to him. It was like thisfor most Black people in the United States.When he and his wife, Alma, traveled from New York to Virginia to visit family, they riskedgetting turned away, yelled … Continue reading Opening the Road – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Can you name the blind Black man whose music was recorded on a Golden Record called "The Sounds of Earth," placed in a time capsule in 1977, and sent out of our solar system on Voyager I? No? Here's a book that gives the man, Willie Johnson, his due: Instead of starting off with the … Continue reading Dark Was the Night – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Was it the great Shakes who said: A nose by any other name would smell as accurately? Yes, I think he was the one. And I think he was talking about the young James Kelly in search of a career, of something that would make him special. His future was out there. He could almost … Continue reading “Smelly” Kelly and His Super Senses – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Jilanne Hoffmann 