Review of The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion and the Fall of Imperial Russia by Dana G. Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fleming, Candace. The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion and the Fall of Imperial Russia. New York: Schwartz, 2014. ISBN 9780375867828

2.  SUMMARY
An engaging social history about the last tsar of Russia — Nicholas II and his family. Author Candace Fleming covers everything from his childhood to the deterioration of his rule, and ultimately his family's cruel execution at the hands of the new Russian government in the early twentieth century. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Often when reading about the history of other cultures, readers get caught up in the "otherness." The different foreign norms, languages, and social expectations which allow readers to separate from the material they are consuming. In The Family Romanov, Candace Fleming weaves the history of Russia's last royal family like a Grimm fairy tale beginning chronologically with Tsar Nicholas' childhood until his death in 1918.

The Family Romanov reads a bit like a well-thought out dramatic soap opera — except it is very, very real. The wealthy 1% of the Russian people live completely oblivious to the hardships of the farm peasants and workers who are the backbone of the Russian economy at the turn of the century. The upperclass' reality is filled with fancy parties, multiple homes, and education. They gossip and turn on each other and the Russian Orthodox Church, which might be the leading force for creating societal norms among them, perpetuates beliefs in many mystical totems that put logic and reason outside of the family's grasp, particularly for Alexandra, Nicholas' wife.

According to the family tree in the front of the text, the Romanov family ruled Russia for over 100 years, but what Fleming makes clear is that there were no heroes during the last 20 years of the family's rule. No one in this story is "good" but they all believe themselves to be well-intentioned and working toward a better Russia. The influence of many controversial figures, like Gregory Rasputin and Vladimir Lenin, lead to many missteps and severe consequences for the Romanovs, and ultimately, for Russia, but Fleming has done her job as researcher. Her writing makes a long and complex history, full of ugly betrayal and ignorance, approachable to teen audiences.

Fleming lists a long bibliography and several pages of notes accounting for every fact in her story. The book provides two "photo breaks" for readers to peer into the eyes and daily lives of the Russian people. What she presents to readers is a history of failed leadership in a country where the people were crying out for democracy and change. Teen readers might associate the marches and protests in Russia with the current political climate regarding the growing socio economic divide in the United States.

What I like most about this book is that Fleming uses facts to separate the cruelty and cluelessness of those in power from the stark reality of those they rule and the undeniable fortitude of the Russian people. It's almost as if she is giving readers mirrors to peek around the corner in order to anticipate decisions and their consequences for the royal family and Russia.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S) and AWARDS
Robert F. Sibert Award — Honor
Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Nonfiction
YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist
ALSC Notable Children's Books, Older Readers, 2015
Booklist Editor's Choice 2014
Booklist Editors Top of the List for Youth Nonfiction, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book 2014
NYPL Best Book for Teens 2014
School Library Journal Best Book 2014
Winner of The Los Angeles Times Book Prize 

From The Horn Book
"Fleming has outdone herself with this riveting work of narrative nonfiction that appeals to the imagination as much as the intellect." 

From Kirkus Reviews
"It's an astounding and complex story, and Fleming lays it neatly out for readers unfamiliar with the context...It is full of rich details about the Romanovs, insights into figures such as Vladimir Lenin, and firsthand accounts from ordinary Russians affected by tumultuous events." 

5. CONNECTIONS
Other informational books by Candace Fleming:

• Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart. ISBN 9780375841989
• The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum. ISBN 9780375841972
• The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary. ISBN 9780375836183

Other informational books about Russian history and culture for older children and teens:

• Anderson, M.T.. Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad. ISBN 9780763691004
• Dando, William A. Russia. ISBN 9780791092484
• Shields, Charles J. and Brenda Lange. Vladimir Putin. ISBN 9780791092156
• Turner, Daniel. Simple History: The Cold War. ISBN 9781537036199

Russia is a hot topic in the news right now due to connections that are being drawn between people working for the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government and Russian influences on our last presidential election, but very few teens might know much about Russia or its history. Reading informational books and creating visual displays about different eras in Russian history would help older children begin to grasp the complexities of our country's relationship with Russia since 1900  and gain a basic understanding about Russia.

Students could present murals, collages or "Did you know?" boards about the areas of Russian history and culture that they studied. The suggested books above may be helpful. More tech savvy programs may want students to create their own book trailers. Fleming even offers a trailer for The Family Romanov on her website.

Review of Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring by Dana G. Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Greenberg, Jan and Sandra Jordan. Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring. New York: Roaring Book Press, 2010. ISBN 9781596433380

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Authors Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan use their informational picture book prowess to capture the creative processes of Martha Graham as she created and produced her ballet Appalachian Spring with collaborators composer Aaron Copland and set designer Isamu Noguchi. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan specialize in writing informational children's books about art and artists. They are multiple award winners, as is the illustrator for Ballet for Martha, Brian Floca. Before reading Ballet for Martha, I had never read one of Greenberg or Jordan's collaborative efforts. With their expert backgrounds as non-fiction writers for children, it's not a surprise that Ballet for Martha is exceptionally thorough in its research and story telling. What impressed me the most was how much I loved their breakdown of Martha Graham's creative process. Their commitment to detail was impressive, especially when I decided to view a performance of Appalachian Spring on YouTube.

Floca's illustrations captured so much of the dancers' movements in still watercolors. And the writers defined every part of the process down to each of the instruments used in the orchestra to create the music. Greenberg and Jordan use very simple, descriptive imagery throughout the book and are honest about the frustrating parts of Graham's process. On page 17, they write, "She has a tantrum. She screams. She yells. She throws a shoe. The dancers wait. Martha always figures it out." The illustration on that page is of two dancers wearing frustrated looks on their faces with a solitary shoe in the middle of the dance floor. Graham's fit reads like a dancer's poetic memory.

Similarly, outside of the extensive research needed to tell how Graham worked with composer Aaron Copland and set designer Isamu Noguchi, the authors have to write and describe Graham's exotic dance movement. "Slowly the Bride glides in, then runs to the Groom. The preacher's four Followers file in. The music turns lively and playful as the young girls dance in pairs, then form circles, fluttering, skittering, reaching up to the sky" (28-29). As a reader, you can close your eyes and picture the dance accurately from their writing.

Greenberg and Jordan cite 17 sources in the back of their book. They source every piece of dialogue or action they use in the picture book. They also give short bios on all three artists who were born at the turn of the twentieth century. Graham, a woman who went to New York and started her own dance company; Copland, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, who studied music in France and won the Presidential Medal for Freedom and a Pulitzer Prize for "Appalachian Spring" in 1944; and Noguchi, who was born in the United States, but lived in Japan as a child, and later lived in a Japanese internment camp in the United States during World War II (44-45). Capturing the historical work of one artist is hard enough, but Ballet for Martha does a wonderful job of telling the story of all three artists and their individual influences on this particular dance performance.

Greenberg and Jordan also thank every interviewee, archivist, and librarian who helped them on their journey to author this book. I almost wish they could write an autobiographical picture book with Floca about their own creative processes as three artists collaborating on children's informational literature.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S) and AWARDS
Robert F. Sibert Award — Honor
ALA Notable Children's Book
Winner of the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding NYPL Book for Reading and Sharing
CCBC Choice (University of Wisconsin)
Ibby Honor Books
School Library Journal Best Books 2010
Washington Post Best Books 2010
Kirkus Best Books 2010
Booklist Editor's Choice 2010

From School Library Journal
"If Martha Graham's choreography for 'Appalachian Spring' was a 'valentine' to the world, as critics wrote in 1944, then this book is a love letter in return." 

From Booklist
"Matching the mood of Graham's moves, the writing is pared down but full of possibilities. Floca's ink-and-watercolor artwork nimbly shifts from the prosaic to the visionary to the several-spread finale of the ballet itself. The book as a whole beautifully captures the process of artistic creation." 

5. CONNECTIONS
Other informational books by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan:

• Action Jackson. ISBN 9780312367510
• Chuck Close: Up Close. ISBN 9780789424860
• The Mad Potter: George E. Ohr, Eccentric Genius. ISBN 9781596438101

Other informational stories about dance for elementary school-aged readers:

• Copeland, Misty. Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina. ISBN 9781481479790
• Reich, Susanna. José: Born to Dance. ISBN 9780689865763
• Stringer, Lauren. When Stravinsky Met Ninjinsky: Two Artists, Their Ballet, and One Extraordinary Riot. ISBN 9780547907253

By elementary school, children have often been taught or have picked up on gender bias in American social constructs. A child may categorize activities as being "for a girl" or "for a boy." Often times, art like dance, falls squarely in the "for a girl" category. By creating an informational library that represents dancers of different genders and from different cultures, teachers and librarians can help show children how art constantly challenges what people might consider the cultural norm when it comes to dance.

In addition to learning about the histories of dance, dancers and choreographers, books like Ballet for Martha, can teach children three valuable c's (communication, collaboration, and creativity) without feeling like they've been shoved down their throats. A study in music, dance and theater is more than just an in-class assignment, it is an introduction to self-expression and the power of art, as well as a way to allow movement and music into an elementary classroom outside of the typical scheduled P.E. or music time.

Brown Girl Dreaming Review by Dana G. Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Woodson, Jacqueline. Brown Girl Dreaming. Nancy Paulsen Books: New York, 2014. ISBN 9780399252518

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Author Jacqueline Woodson traces her childhood history moving from Ohio to South Carolina to New York City through a plethora of free verse poems that illustrate a beautiful narrative of personal experiences that molded her into a writer at a very young age. Young Woodson introduces us to the the south she celebrates, the influence of family on her growth and how she survived frequent separation from parents, siblings, extended family and friends. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In Brown Girl Dreaming Jacqueline Woodson's autobiography, written in free verse, illustrates common themes in the writer's life: transition, loss, and exploration. Woodson's writing flows from page to page like a perfectly profound diary of a young girl's experience growing up while her basic needs were often in flux and death and worry were frequently knocking at her door. Her poem, "One Place" expresses Jacqueline's worry that her young brother might never come home to live with them after suffering from lead poisoning. Woodson's verse elevates the reader's anxiety and fear for the young boy:

"For a long time, our little brother/ goes back and forth to the hospital, his body/ weak from the lead, his brain/ not doing what a brain is supposed to do./ We don't understand why he's so small, has tubes/ coming from his arms, sleeps and sleeps.../ when we visit him." The imagery paints a sad and upsetting picture of the very real frailties of her baby brother. As a reader, I feared for him, for her and what the loss of that child would do to her world.

In essence, Woodson spends her biography being pulled away from people she loves: her father in Ohio, her mother when she leaves the children with grandparents in South Carolina to look for work in New York, her grandparents, her Uncle Robert, her Aunt Kay, etc.

The only reassurance Woodson is able to give herself in these situations is that she is loved by each and every one of those people, but somehow life isn't easy for them. Her family's religion as Jehovah's Witnesses focuses on having faith through hard work and prayer. In the end, Woodson's experience lead her write the poem "What I Believe," which expresses how her experiences have allowed her to have faith in more than just religion and in the many people who have influenced her life. "I believe in God and evolution./ I believe in the Bible and the Qur'an./ I believe in Christmas and the New World./ I believe that there is good in each of us/ no matter who we are or what we believe in." The poem and the sound of the words brought me to a place of self-acceptance and inspiration to seek out a life that fits me rather than seeing myself as someone who needs a place to fit into.

The most affectionate portrayals Woodson saves for her life in South Carolina. Her descriptions of weather, smells, the neighbors and her life there, bring the reader back to an earlier time. It was for me, nostalgic for my own childhood spent in a slower-paced city, when children were allowed to roam free and explore the world unattended.

Jacqueline's portrayal of her interest and determination to be a writer and her complete success at the profession as an adult are inspiring. The author's note in the back of Brown Girl Dreaming focuses on the research and family who helped her to write the book, as well as her appreciation for the long history of storytelling within her family that helped her make connections between the past and the present as a woman and as a writer.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Newbery Honor 
National Book Award for Young People's Literature
Coretta Scott King Award
NAACP Image Award

From Booklist
"What is this book about? In an appended author's note, Woodson says it best: "my past, my people, my memories, my story." The resulting memoir in verse is a marvel, as it turns deeply felt remembrances of Woodson's preadolescent life into art, through memories of her homes in Ohio, South Carolina, and, finally, New York City, and of her friends and family." 

From Horn Book
"A memoir-in-verse so immediate that readers will feel they are experiencing the author's childhood right along with her... Most notably of all, perhaps, we trace her development as a nascent writer, from her early, overarching love of stories through her struggles to learn to read through the thrill of her first blank composition book to her realization that 'words are [her] brilliance.' The poetry here sings: specific, lyrical, and full of imagery. An extraordinary -- indeed brilliant -- portrait of a writer as a young girl."  

5. CONNECTIONS
Other books by Jacqueline Woodson for children:

• Feathers. ISBN 9780142415504
• The Other Side. ISBN 9780399231162
• This is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration. ISBN 9780399239861

Other biographies told with poetry:

• Alexander, Kwame. Out of Wonder: Poems about Celebrating Poets. ISBN 9780763680947
• Katz, Susan. The President's Stuck in the Bathtub: Poems About Presidents. ISBN 9780547182216
• Shane, Ntozake. Ellington Was Not a Street. ISBN 9780689828843

It's true that many poems tell emotional stories, but some of them also share history in a vibrant method of storytelling. Introducing children to biographies through poetry is a novel way to bridge the gap between fiction and non-fiction and to illustrate writing style and methods.

Creating a poetry-based free writing activity where children can focus on the lives of their heroes (living or dead) lets them be in the driver's seat to showcase what they know about poetry. Reading these biography books allows them to see and hear different ways writers tell historical stories about their lives or the lives of others and the people who influenced them.