Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Title:  Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry  (Mildred Taylor)
         
Rating:  ***  (3 out of 3 stars possible, "A")
             Highly Recommended      

Title:  The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963  (Christopher Paul Curtis)

Rating:  **  (2 out of 3 stars possible, "B")
              Recommended

Audience:  5th Grade and Up

I volunteered in my 5th grader's public school library this past school year and was introduced to these 2 civil rights/race relations gems.  The librarian mentioned one teacher in particular who insisted on reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry to his class every year.  I observed that the 4-5 class-time books my own daughter's reading/social studies teacher offered this past year seemed to focus mainly on adventure reading meant to hook the boys with limited attention spans.  After hearing just a chapter of each of these books read aloud I knew I needed to offer my daughter something more convicting and important than just another Rick Riordan escapist escapade.

I keep a lot of book lists around and many of these race relations/historical fiction titles were also listed in another anthology:  The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.  As a Christian, not to mention a suburban white Christian, I need to better understand the persecution and lack of justice our country historically offered to minority races.  I'm responsible to instill a better understanding in my children.  Recently, my (outspoken) 7 year old met a young, black friend and announced "Twenty years ago your people were slaves to my people!"  Obviously, I have some work to do.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is the shining star of it's genre.  Told from the point of view of 9 year old African-American Cassie Logan, this Newbery Medal winner contains the right mixture of humor and drama.

Dragons in Our Midst

Titles:  Raising Dragons; The Candlestone; Circles of Seven; Tears of a Dragon

Author:  Bryan Davis

Rating:  *  (1 star out of 3 possible, "C")
             Recommended with Reservations

Audience:  Middle-schoolers

If I could give two grades, this series by Bryan Davis would get a "C" for kids who read it (many of them seem to love it) and a "D/F" for parents who try to read it.  I slogged through the first 2 books, and while I found nothing spiritually troubling in it, I found nothing endearing or entertaining, either.

Keeping in mind that this was his first published fantasy effort, and he works with a second tier publishing house (AMG Publishers/Living Ink Books), I felt major drawbacks included clunky prose, convoluted plots, weak science, and finally, artificial Christianity.  As you can see, it barely passed.

The basic gist of the series is that from King Arthur days, a few dragons have gone undetected by morphing into long-lived human beings.  After inter-marrying with true humans, a small race of part-dragon/part-human teenagers exist in our present age.  Some descendants of knights also exist who wish to slay the dragons and half-breeds, not willing to believe that these current dragon children (Billy Bannister and Bonnie Silver) are "good."

One of the greatest challenges an author faces is to "show" rather than "tell" the reader their story.  Authors that tell stories predictably with unnecessary details insult the intelligence of the reader.  This might be fine for immature audiences, but it won't hold weight with critical thinkers.

Picture Book Biography Series

Titles:  30 + including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Helen Keller, Anne Frank, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Author:  David A. Adler

Rating:  *** (3 stars out of 3 possible, "A")
             Highly Recommended

Audience:  Ages 7-10

David Adler has done a great favor to children and families in producing these thorough and well-written short biographies.  The number of subjects he covers combined with the chosen illustrators offers a comprehensive and engaging history curriculum for young people.

Adler deftly balances concise facts with interesting details to hold even a young reader's attention.  He provides a useful timeline at the end of each book.  Also, he doesn't pull any punches, so be aware that a biography about Anne Frank, for example, will be realistic and almost graphic.

I find biographies to be especially convicting examples of character building.  I encourage families to expose kids as early as possible to these real stories of children growing up in another time, often overcoming difficult circumstances yet always displaying unique giftedness, courage and perseverance.

David Adler also has biographies in the 200+ page range for 5th grade and up, and is the author of the Cam Jansen mysteries, a girl's counterpart to Encylopedia Brown.