Febuary is Black History Month

In honor of Black History Month this week's reviews are top picks in the category of African American Interest.

Fiction

Miracle's Boys by Jacqueline Woodson

Charlie and Layfayette are orphan brothers growing up on the mean streets of New York with the help of their oldest brother Ty’ree. The streets are making Charlie even meaner. Ever since he returned from a detention facility for boys, he has been bent on exacting his revenge on the whole world. Now he is alienating himself from his family and running with a gang. The more trouble Charlie causes the more likely the family will be torn apart.

Nonfiction

Bad Boy: A Memoir by Walter Dean Myers

Walter Dean Myers is one of the most popular African American Interest authors writing today. This memoir is gripping, heartbreaking, and at times funny. Myers takes the readers along the streets of Harlem in the 1940s and 50s. As a boy he spent a lot of his time getting into trouble and when he wasn't in detention he as playing basketball. To protect his bad boy image Myers only read in secret at night, but he devoured books and knew at a young age he wanted to be a writer. These are his own words retelling the pain of a child struggling toward success.

Picks for Adult Readers

The adult pick for this week is actually a book I would recommend for a high level YA reader. Copies are available in our school media center.

The Color of Water by James McBride

McBride wrote this memoir in honor of his mother and the struggle she faced raising her children through the hardship of poverty and racism. McBride tells of the childhood he and his siblings shared, of his family, and of the issues or prejudice that ultimately colored his life. Race was an issue his mother avoided discussing with her children. When young James asked her what color or race God is she replies with the poignant title of the book. A truly inspiring read for anyone. I can't recommend it enough.

Mrs. A where are all the good books?

As a librarian the times I hear this whining request are innumerable. Teens and tweens come in and make a b-line straight to me with dewy eyes and already creased frowns. This assumption that there are not any "good books" left in the library is what has spurred me to start this blog and share some of the books I am reading with you.

I will be dividing my posts into three sections fiction, nonfiction, and picks for adult readers. The books found in the fiction and nonfiction sections will be geared mainly to middle school and YA (young adult) readers.


Fiction

Afrika by Colleen Craig Kim, age fourteen, is on an adventure with her mother to Africa. Africa is her mother's homeland. Her mother is a South African journalist. During the turmoil of apartheid her mother fled. While living in the newly unified South Africa, Kim learns startling secrets from her mother’s past and how to accept that she is never more than a heartbeat away from the land where her mother was born.


Nonfiction


Farewell to Manzanar By Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston

Jeanne Wakatsuki is a bright high school student who works in her parent’s shop. She and her family have been evicted and they have to move. They were not evicted because they had no money; they were thrown out as enemies of the United States because they are Japanese. The year is 1944 and Jeanne is being moved to an interment came in the desert of Arizona to protect America from a second Japanese attack. This memoir follows Jeanne as she comes of age set apart from the world she has known.



Picks for Adult Readers


The Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger

This collection of novels is the delightfully witty creation of Gail Carriger. Set in an alternate London where Queen Victoria councilors are Vampires and she is guarded by Werewolves, Ms. Carriger's characters shine brilliantly against the gaslight steam-punk background. The novels are at their heart a love story: werewolf meets girl, girl plays hard to get, werewolf wins girl, and they live happily ever after.....almost.