Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-ins tells this story through the eyes of a fictional eyewitness who wants to eat at the whites-only lunch counter. Here’s a bookmark with a banana split recipe to share with your students.
Category: Uncategorized
ROOTS OF RAP book trailer
The book dropped January 8, 2019. Nonfiction with a hip hop beat.
For the King Holiday: A picture book with a service learning project built-in
MLK would be 90 on January 15. Observe his holiday with my un-biography YOU CAN BE A KING: DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.’S DREAM AND YOU (illustrated by James Ransome). With a service-learning project and reader’s theater built-in, the text lends itself to multiple narrators and a chorus. Add props, music and slides. Or combine the reading with a live paint or quick draw of a King mural. Here’s a planning guide and reader’s theater script. Do share!
So this post of read aloud picks aims my Lena Horne PB bio at age 15+
ILA’s Literacy Daily blog featured a list of read alouds for ages 4 to 15+. The Legendary Miss Lena Horne, illustrated by Elizaabeth Zunon was the pick for ages 15 and up.
Several years ago, a librarian once introduced me prior to a keynote by saying, “Carole Boston Weatherford doesn’t write picture books; she writes illustrated books for adults.” I don’t know if that’s true or not, although I will admit to tackling provocative subjects and themes. In a way, aren’t picture books just lavishly illustrated short stories characterized by an economy of language? Here are some other picture books of mine that might fit the bill for teen read alouds.
Do or have you read aloud to teen? What picture books would you share with teens?
Award Season Wrap Up
Besides making several shortlists, SCHOMBURG and THE LEGENDARY MISS LENA HORNE also won a few awards. I am so proud of both books and grateful to the ancestors for letting their stories flow from me. Ashe’
For THE LEGENDARY MISS LENA HORNE
Arnold Adoff Early Readers Poetry Award
For SCHOMBURG: THE MAN WHO BUILT A LIBRARY
SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction
We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) Walter Award
Carter G. Woodson Honor, National Council for the Social Studies
Jefferson Cup Honor, Virginia Library Association
Children’s Books on the Civil Rights Movement
Teaching for Change compiled this list that includes Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-ins and Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement. Also appropriate for middle grades: Birmingham, 1963, which won multiple awards.
Oprah for President?
In her Golden Globe speech, Oprah told girls, “A new day has come!” This picture book shows how the media mogul got her start–speaking in a rural Mississippi church during the Jim Crow era. She wanted to be paid to talk when she grew up. Could she talk her way into the Oval Office?
2017 Best Books Honors for (drumroll, please)…
Updates to come…
Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library, illustrated by Eric Velasquez (Candlewick)
School Library Journal Best Nonfiction
Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature Best Books
New York Public Library 100 Best Books for Children and Teens
Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Books of 2017 for Budding Social-Justice Warriors
Shelf Awareness Best Picture Books
Fuse 8 Productions 31 Days, 31 Lists: Unique Biographies
2017 Nerdies: Best Nonfiction
In Your Hands, illustrated by Brian Pinkney (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster)
School Library Journal Best Picture Books
Booklist Top 10 Religion & Spirtuality Books for Youth
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2017
The Legendary Miss Lena Horne, illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster)
Booklist Lasting Connections
Society of Illustrators, Original Art Show
Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature Best Books
Evanston Public Library’s 101 Great Books for Kids
Chicago Public Library’s Best Informational Books for Younger Readers
A Mighty Girl’s Books of the Year
Dorothea Lange: How the Phogorapher Found the Faces of the Depression, illustrated by Sarah Greene (Albert Whitman)
A Mighty Girl’s Books of the Year
Listen to the poem “Pearl Harbor” from YOU CAN FLY: THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN
Jeffery Weatherford, illustrator of You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen (2016, Atheneum/Simon & Schuster), reads the poem “Pearl Harbor,” to mark this week’s anniversary of the 1941 Japanese attack that decimated the Pacific Fleet and drew the U.S. into World War II.
WWII Resources: Pearl Harbor & Tuskegee Airmen
Listen to the poem, “Pearl Harbor,” from You Can Fly the Tuskegee Airmen by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Jeffery Boston Weatherford (Published by Atheneum/Simon & Schuster).
Listen here.
December 7 marks the 76th anniversary of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that destroyed the Pacific Fleet, left 2,403 Americans dead and drew the United States into World War II. Watch President Franklin Roosevelt’s address to the nation, declar war.
For saving lives that day, Dorie Miller (below left) was awarded the Navy Cross—the first African American honoree in the conflict.
Credit: Library of Congress
Art by Jeffery Weatherford from You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen
Boxing champion Joe Louis (far right) did his part by appearing on an Army recruitment poster and pressing to get Jackie Robinson and other black men into Officer Candidate School. But rather than seek a commission himself, Louis enlisted.
Art by Jeffery Weatherford from You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen
Art by Jeffery Weatherford from You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen
Though eager to fight, the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American military pilots, were not deployed until 17 months after Pearl Harbor. These pioneering heroes went on to fly 205 bombing missions—200 without losing one bomber—and to destroy one enemy destroyer (with bullets alone!), 262 German planes and 950 vehicles. Their records not only defied racist stereotypes but also led to desegregation of the U.S. military, paving the way for the Civil Rights Movement.
The Book
The verse novel You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen follows the legendary squadrons from training in Alabama to triumph on the battlefield as they fight fascism overseas and racism on the home front. Second person poems put readers in the cockpit.
Author and illustrator launched You Can Fly at Barnaby Manor Elementary School in Prince George’s County, Md. Book a visit or virtual lecture for your school. Contact cbwpoet@gmail.com.
Honors & Praise for You Can Fly
ALA Notable Children’s Books
CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book
Great Lakes Great Books Master List (MI)
NCTE Notable Poetry List
NCTE Notable Verse Novel List
New York Public Library Best Books for Kids
A masterful, inspiring evocation of an era.—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
[A] gripping historical story, reinforced by dramatically shaded scratchboard illustrations…—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Activity
Here’s a Tuskegee Airmen paper airplane reproducible to lift the ceiling off of students’ dreams. On the blank side list character traits of the Tuskegee Airmen plus one of more uplifting quotations. Then, fold the airplane. Students can trade airplanes with friends.
Primary Sources
Browse WWII and Tuskegee Airmen photos from the Library of Congress and National Archives.
View documents from the FDR Presidential Library and Museum.
Read President Harry Truman’s 1948 Executive Order desegregating the U.S. Military.
Watch the U.S. Army recruiting film “Wings for This Man.” It’s narrated by actor named Ronald Reagan, who went on to become the 40th President of the United States.
Original Art from You Can Fly Is Now Touring
The most recent stop for the touring exhibition was Atlanta Public Library’s Auburn Avenue Research Center. Before that, the original art was displayed at Fayetteville State University, Guilford Technical Community College and Cumberland County Public Library. The next stop is Oxon Hill Public Library in Maryland. Contact us to find out how to bring the exhibition to your area.
