Booked Review by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alexander, Kwame. Booked. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016. ISBN: 978-0-544-57098-6. 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Nick Hall loves soccer and is a little sweet on April Farrow in his dance class, but he feels trapped by unfair expectations established by his teacher, his parents (particularly his father), and his social group. All he wants to do is be himself, but bullies, relationships, and his parents' rocky marriage keep getting in his way. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Nick Hall plays on an Under 15 soccer team. When he's on the field he feels more like himself. He has a mission. He understands where to put his feet, how to move the ball, and he values his relationships with his coach and his teammates. Playing soccer is more natural to Nick than breathing, which is good, because he feels like a fish out of water in his every day life, where he tunes out his teacher, Ms. Hardwick, and is forced to read the dictionary his father, the linguistics professor, wrote. Nick relies on his best friend, Cody, his close relationship with his mother, and soccer to get him through. 

Nick feels emotions intensely, and author Kwame Alexander creates a lot of emotional situations in this book for the reader to transcend with Nick. First of all, his parents are having marital problems. His mother, who he has a great relationship with, takes a job in a far away state, and leaves him with his father, which isn't an ideal situation. "When you subtract/ a mother/ from the equation/ what remains is negative" (59). 

Alexander writes the whole book in free verse poetry, which allows readers to tear through it at a lightning pace, without missing any of the emotional highs and lows. Reluctant readers may love how quickly they can finish the book, but they'll also love that Alexander's main character also hates reading, which is unfortunate, because he definitely inherited his father's love of words. But if he had a choice, Nick would rather make the choice to learn words on his own than be forced to read the dictionary every day. 

Alexander's writing about the contemporary, early teenage experience is very authentic. Unlike his prior work in The Crossover, he is less explicit about the race of the protagonist in this book. Sure, Nick listens to rap music, but that isn't a definite signifier of any definite cultural background. The silhouetted image on the cover allows for readers to insert their own concept of who that child may be and what they look like into the story. As a teen, Nick deals with almost universal young adult issues like bullies, discomfort around girls, racism, and inattention in the classroom. Alexander also writes Nick as a warm person, who loves the school librarian, Mac, and his quirky t-shirts and mysterious dragonfly box. The most realistic aspect of Alexander's story is how Nick frames his own version of reality versus the plane of reality his parents live on in the adult world. 

Nick identifies this generational disconnect in a fiery rage when he is bullied in the street and gets his bike stolen and his father's reply is "why'd you let them take it?" (140) His father was so disconnected to the reality of Nick's life that he was unable to identify his son was in need of support and assistance -- even after Nick arrived home late with a bleeding lip, and missing a bike. To Nick, his father's inability to empathize and understand was just as hurtful and controlling as the physical and emotional violence he endured on the street. It is also representative of a lot of struggles in connecting that teens and parents have during a developmental time when teenagers are trying to work their way out of the nest at home. 

As a whole, Booked defies the idea that misguided and wrong idea that books written by authors of different cultures and races are not for all people. Booked is easily accessible, well composed, and never strays from its commitment to portraying an authentic teen voice. 

4. AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPTS

National Book Award Long List
Kirkus Best of 2016
2017 - ILA-CBC-Children's Choice List

From Horn Book Magazine 
"Alexander understands reluctant readers deeply, and here hands them a protagonist who is himself a smart, reading-averse kid who just wants to enjoy the words that interest him on his own terms."

From Publishers Weekly
"Emotionally resonant and with a pace like a player on a breakaway." 

5. CONNECTIONS
Booked is a the second free verse book regarding boys and sports that Kwame Alexander has written. His first, The Crossover, won numerous awards, including a Newbery Honor.  You can read my review of The Crossover in this blog from earlier in the year. Although the two boys are different characters and play different sports, classes could read the books in tandem and compare and contrast the adolescent/coming of age stories of Nick from Booked and Josh from The Crossover. 

Both books read like a journal or a diary. Have students give writing free verse a try. How fast can they write, not in terms of actual speed in writing, but can they make their word choices flow as freely as Alexander's? Soccer and basketball may not be their areas of interest, but positive influences can come from many areas in a person's life. Let students choose their passion and try to write about their experiences each day for 2-4 weeks. Then have the class work on creating their own books, with a silhouetted picture that illustrates their identified passion, so it mimics the art on the front of Alexander's books. 

Koala Lou Review by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fox, Mem. Koala Lou. San Diego: Voyager Books, 1988. ISBN: 0-15-200502-1. 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Young Koala Lou is the oldest daughter of a large koala family. She loves her family and adores her mother for always making her feel loved. But as the family expands, Koala Lou gets less time and attention with her mother, so she decides to train for the Bush Olympics and to win the gum tree climbing event, so her mother will notice her and tell her how much she is loved.  

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In Koala Lou, Australian author Mem Fox and illustrator Pamela Lofts portray a sweet koala's life surrounded by other native creatures in the outback. Koala coexists not just with other koalas, but also with emu, platypus, the kookaburra, and more. Although all of the species aren't identified by the text, Lofts does a lovely job portraying the diversity in a koala's natural environment. 

Koala Lou is her mother's first born, and for a long time, she has her mother's complete attention. Her mother is constantly telling her, "Koala Lou, I DO love you!" But as the koala family grows, Koala Lou hears those words less and less. Rather than directly asking her mother for them, Koala Lou believes she needs to earn them by winning the gum climbing competition in the Bush Olympics. She feels that surely a big show of effort and hard work would earn her mother's love and attention, and she'll be able to hear her favorite expression of motherly love again. Koala Lou trains hard. Will her effort earn her those words? Readers have to go along with Koala Lou on her adventure to find out what happens. 

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
From School Library Journal (March 2004)
"This charming story of a young koala bear who dreams of entering her own Bush Olympics. Despite all her hard work and dedicated training, Koala Lou comes up short and takes second prize. But that doesn't mean her mother cares for her any less..."

5. CONNECTIONS
Children's connections to parents and caring adults are the primary ways they interact with the world. In the story, Koala Lou worries that her busy mother doesn't hold the same affection for her. Many children who are older brothers and sisters might be able to relate with Koala Lou's feelings. 

Creating a unit based on emotions, what the facial expressions look like, how to describe, and talk about them is an integral part of social-emotional connection at every age. Feelings aren't easy, especially when emotions make you question your value in the eyes of your loved ones. 

Singing songs like "If you're happy and you know it" or its spin off "If you're angry and you know it" can help young children relate and understand expressions behind feelings. Using other texts like The Way I Feel (978-188-474-4717) and The Way I Act (978-188-473-4991) both by Steve Metzger and Ed Emberley's Glad Monster, Sad Monster (978-031-657-3955) will help young children see other ways emotions can be communicated. 

The War Within These Walls Review by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sax, Aline. The War Within These Walls. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-8028-5428-5. 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Misha and his family have been forced to live in a restricted area of Warsaw in 1939 by German soldiers because they are Jewish. At first, because his father is a doctor, and his family is of means, the teenaged Misha watches what happens to his people in the ghetto. The poor are the first to die, and then when food, clothing, and resources are scarce, everyone becomes poor and starved. Misha feels a drive in his gut to help his family survive, especially as he watches his mother waste away, starving in bed. But the German soldiers are relentless, and he knows if he is caught, they will not hesitate to kill him.  

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Although The War Within These Walls is considered a teen book of fiction, it is an illustrated text that is a stunning example about how humans, no matter how old they are, never really outgrow the power of the picture book. Author Aline Sax and illustrator Caryl Strzelecki have created a powerfully moving piece of literature about the horrors that befell the Jewish people during WWII at the hands of the Nazis. The use of black and white photos, black and white pages, and simple language paint a picture of stark desperation and the violence in the Warsaw Ghetto as people were separated from their families, starved, and shot or beaten in the street. Sax plays the emotion with an accuracy and authenticity that perpetuates the reader forward: "The tension slowly stretched out. Until it was ready to snap" (30). 

Readers hope for the best for Misha and his family, but Sax and Strzelecki also portray the sobering reality of life in the ghetto. The daily violence ensured most people would stay silent and not act out against the Germans out of fear of retribution on their own families. "The Germans laughed while the bystanders remained silent" (8). But in death, privilege didn't matter. All that mattered was who was breathing and who was not as dead bodies were stripped of their clothes and left in the streets to be carried away because "Clothes were for the living" (48). 

The accurate portrayal of the depravity of humanity during the war isn't a celebration of the ultimate resistance by the Jewish people, although in the notes to the book, the author recognizes that for four weeks 750 Jewish people were able to fend off 2,000 German soldiers. Instead, it raises a lot of questions about the war for global readers like: Where were the allies? Why wasn't the treatment of Jewish people enough to cause worldwide involvement sooner? What would we have done differently if we were suddenly jailed, beaten, murdered, and starved by a foreign country? 

4. AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPTS
ALA Mildred L. Batchelder Honor, 2014
USBBY, Outstanding International Books
National Council for the Social Studies and Children's Book Council, Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People
Publishers Weekly, Best Books of the Year — Teen
Kirkus Review, Best Books of the Year
Jewish Book Council, National Jewish Book Award

From School Library Journal (March 2014)
"The combination of illustration and the author's sparse prose make this a good choice for reluctant readers and an outstanding example of Holocaust fiction."  

From Jewish Book Council (2014)
"This hard-hitting saga will remain in the reader's mind long after the close of the last page."

5. CONNECTIONS
Sax's book reads a bit like a diary of Misha's every day life in the ghetto. Other Jewish people in history have their diaries published afterwards. The most famous is probably the Diary of Anne Frank. How do those real journals compare to Misha's fictional narration of his experience in Warsaw. Have students read both and compare and contrast. 

One of the connections students may make from reading this book is the issue of building walls. There were walls built around the ghetto to keep all the Jewish people together and separate from the outside world. There was a wall between East and West Germany. A boundary wall exists in Israel. The American Government is currently discussing building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Understanding the history of erecting walls and the political and social ramifications of them, is an important aspect of world history, and can bridge the past to the present to bring a larger cultural understanding to the reading of The War Within These Walls. 

Sidewalk Flowers Review by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lawson, JonArno. Sidewalk Flowers. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2015. ISBN: 978-155-498-431-2. 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
A father and daughter are walking home through the city. The father is busy on his cellphone while the pair make their way home, meanwhile his young daughter focuses not on getting from point A to point B, but on all the unexpected color and beauty that she finds along the way. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Sidewalk Flowers is a delightful, wordless picture book that illustrates the beauty of the wonderment of children that can often get lost in the adult world. Sydney Smith, the illustrator, does a tremendous job of pulling the readers' eyes to the little girl in the book by putting her in a bright red hoodie. The girl's coat stands out against the harsh concrete gray color of the city. Periodically, Smith would allow some whimsy through the color in a flowered dress or in the wildflowers/weeds that the little girl found on her journey. The book is particularly touching when, after collecting her flowers, the little girl gives the unexpected beauty to others who she thinks needs some color and beauty in their lives. 

Lawson and Smith portray an average commuter day in a Canadian city quite well. They show that in a city there are lots of different, diverse people going places, working, shopping, etc. The idea for Sidewalk Flowers came to Lawson one day when he was walking home with his own daughter. "As we walked, she gathered little flowers out of the sidewalk cracks -- the street seemed grey and ugly, and I realized she was seeing the beauty in it, and I wasn't seeing it. I was rushing and missing everything," Lawson said (Cerny, 2015). 

The emotional authenticity that Lawson gives the book is one that children and adults can relate to, particularly when the daughter honors a dead bird in the book with some of her flowers. It's acknowledgment of life's coldness with a level of empathy children have for the hard truths at a very early age. 

4. AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPTS
CCBC Choices — 2016 Picture Books for School Age Children Award
Kirkus Reviews, Best Children's Books of 2015, Picture Books
Booklist, Best Picture Books, 2015
Publishers Weekly, Best, Children's Books of 2015, Picture

From School Library Journal (March 2015)
"If I had my way [JonArno Lawson's] name would grace the tongue of every children's librarian in America. However, he is both Canadian and a poet and the dual combination dooms his recognition in the United States... A kid who grows up in a busy city finds a comfort in its every day bustle... you pay far more attention to her actions than her emotions."  

From Quill and Quire (March 2015)
"The book provides much for parents and kids to discuss, including death, cultural diversity, and the beauty that can be found in unexpected places. While the emphasis will vary from child to child and family to family, Sidewalk Flowers wraps readers in kindness, tenderness, generosity, and wonder -- things we can never have too much of."

5. CONNECTIONS
After reading Sidewalk Flowers take your students on a walk around the school to see what beauty they might see that you miss. Are there dandelions, clovers, violets available for them to pick if the season is appropriate? If so, incorporate theses into an open-ended art activity, where the children can glue the flowers into a picture they draw or shape the flowers into something. Grab crayons and thin tracing paper and let them try rubbings. 

If the season is not friendly to fresh flowers, have the children identify who in their lives might enjoy having flowers and create them using tissue paper and pipe cleaners. Then they can distribute them, as they see fit to the people in their communities. 

6. REFERENCES
Cerny, Dory. "Honors stack up for JonArno Lawson and Sydney Smith's Sidewalk Flowers." Quill and Quire. Accessed September 6, 2017. http://www.quillandquire.com/book-news/2015/10/29/honours-stack-up-for-jonarno-lawson-and-sydney-smiths-sidewalk-flowers. 

Review of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Saenz, Benjamin Alire. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013. ISBN 9781442366411

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Aristotle and Dante are two 15-year-old boys living in El Paso, who feel like they don't fit in anywhere, when they meet each over the summer at the local swimming pool. Aristotle is the youngest of four children in a Mexican-American family that is still reeling from the pain of having a family member in prison and a father who emotionally disconnects after serving time in the military during war time. In comparison, Dante's home life appears all sunshine and light to Aristotle, but Dante's openness about not feeling Mexican enough, about not fitting in socially, and about needing to communicate his feelings at all times touches Aristotle deeply. The two boys become close friends and help each other survive adolescence and more importantly, they both find a place in the world where they fit perfectly. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
I'm going to say this up front. I feel like I cheated with this book. I didn't read it. I let Lin-Manuel Miranda of the Hamilton the Musical fame read it to me on the audio book, but I loved every moment of the audio experience. It was seven discs of ups and downs in the lives of two teenage boys, who felt alone and unsatisfied with their lives. 

Aristotle is the youngest of four children. His two older sisters are married with kids of their own and the sisters annoy him with their criticisms. His older brother Bernardo he barely remembers because Bernardo was arrested and sent to prison when Aristotle was only a small boy, and much to his dismay, no one in his family talks about his brother — ever. His pictures aren't in the house, and it is an assumed family understanding that he is not to be brought up. But Aristotle feels angry about this, because he wants to know more. There are a lot of things that his family doesn't discuss, like his father's perpetual silence about his experience in the military. It was clear that his experience changed him, but Aristotle always feels like his father keeps him at arms length emotionally. Is it because of the war or is it because of Bernardo? 

Meanwhile, Dante's family shares everything. As an only child, Dante's needs are often met immediately. His father, Sam, the professor, has impressed book after book upon Dante teaching him a passion for literature, philosophy, art, and history. Dante is a walking, talking ball of questions, and when the two boys meet at the swimming pool one summer day when Dante offers to teach Aristotle how to swim, the two connect in ways they never thought they could connect to anyone. 

There are lots of emotional ups and downs in this book. Author Benjamin Alire Saenz does his best to keep the dramatic rises and falls of teen life as realistic as possible, and any slow bits are pulled together in the audio version by Miranda's efforts to inflect emotion and use subtle changes in voices for the characters. There's even a joke about how boring studying Hamilton is that makes him the perfect voice actor for this book. 

The story takes place in 1987 in El Paso, Texas, before cellphones and the Internet. The boys are walking around town freely, and their neighborhood can get a bit rough. But they stick up for each other through thick and thin, which makes the families grow close and helps them both heal in wonderful ways. 

My 11-year-old son's favorite part of listening to the book was hearing Miranda curse. In the book, Dante does a lot of swearing as a form of rebellion, but only when he talks to Aristotle. To my 11-year-old swearing is taboo and something you do with your friends or when you drop a can of soup on your toe putting away groceries. To hear Dante use the words loudly and openly just to say them as part of his everyday "older boy" vocabulary lured my son in. He was also glad when the boys stuck to each other through accidents, moving away from each other, and when facing discrimination. Aristotle's ability to fight physically scared him a bit, but in the story, it scares Aristotle, his parents and Dante a bit, too. 

The theme of the book is friendship, but it progresses into love, when the characters are both ready. The support from the boys' parents throughout their relationship is a giant safety net for both boys, one that I wish existed in all families. The boys' conversations were very advanced, but Saenz backs up their depth in thought by both boys having a strong interest in reading and figuring out how the world works and why. 

Overall, I'm glad I decided to listen to the story. The performance made it feel more compelling. I felt like I was intruding from time to time on the characters' more intimate moments. It was a story that had to be told through characters who talked a lot, sometimes too much, about what they were thinking and feeling. Dante was a perfect catalyst for seeing a side of boys that books don't often show. Boys who are perfectly willing to ask hard questions, be vulnerable and not sacrifice who they are for anyone. And to see Aristotle react to that vulnerability and protect it and cherish it was breathtaking.

Better yet, there's a sequel in the works according to the author's Twitter feed. 

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S) and AWARDS
ALA Notable Children's Book, 2013
Printz Award 
Kirkus Best Young Adult Book
Pura Belpre Award
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, 2013
Stonewall Book Award

From Publishers Weekly
"A tender, honest exploration of identity and sexuality, and a passionate reminder that love—whether romantic or familial should be open, free, and without shame." 

From Kirkus Reviews
"Meticulous pacing and finely nuanced characters underpin the author's gift for affecting prose that illuminates the struggles within relationships."

5. CONNECTIONS
Other novels by Benjamin Alire Saenz: 

• He Forgot to Say Goodbye. ISBN 971416994343
• The Inexplicable Logic of My Life. ISBN 9780544586505
• Last Night I Sang to the Monster. ISBN 9781935955092

Other books with gay or LGBTQ characters for young adult readers:

• Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig. ISBN 9781250085634
• Openly Straight. by Bill Konigsberg. ISBN 9780545798655
• The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli. ISBN 9780062348708

When I was growing up, there weren't a lot of books that I read in high school with gay characters. There were equally few with any kind of racial diversity. It wasn't until I got to college that books like Aristotle and Dante were on my radar. I don't know if it's because they didn't exist or because my educational experiences put little emphasis on diverse books. 

As an adult and parent and educator, I understand that it is important to identify and respect people's choices about how they raise their children, but it is also inexplicable to me that groups of people in our country exist without any kind of understanding of people who have lives different from their own. Studies show that reading fiction teaches children empathy and understanding when discovering people different from themselves for the first time. It gives readers a broader window in which to view the world from and opens their minds and hearts to all of humanity. These books deserve to be in your library. Better yet, they deserve to be read. 

Take a look at your collection, is it diverse? How can you improve it? Look at the diversity of your classroom, does it reflect everyone in the room? Children need books they can relate to as well as books that push their boundaries. When was the last time you read a new book that was at the same level as your students or the children visiting your library? Is continued reading in your professional development plan? If not, it really should be. 

Summer is coming, make a list of children's books to read that may be outside of your comfort zone or different from typical canonized literature and discover a new author or series so that you can discuss and recommend books to your students and patrons more effectively. 

Review of The Crossover

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. ISBN 9780544107717

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Josh "Filthy McNasty" and Jordan "JB" Bell are the most skilled players on their middle school basketball team. The twins love the game, but are super competitive on their court and with each other. When JB begins a relationship with Alexis, and develops priorities other than basketball and his family, Josh does not know how to deal with the change in their relationship and acts out violently, causing Josh to lose his spot on the team and risk everything he has worked so hard for. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Chuck "Da Man" Bell is raising twin 12-year-old boys, Josh and Jordan, in his basketball image of greatness. They love the game and are highly competitive players on their middle school basketball team, but the boys are growing apart, as Jordan begins to focus on girls in a way that Josh can't contemplate —yet. 

In this moving free verse novel, author Kwame Alexander introduces readers to what it's like when the main focus of play in childhood shifts and changes our peer and family relationships in the most uncomfortable ways. The novel is told from Josh's perspective. In his poetry, he and his alter ego,"Filthy McNasty," are unstoppable on the basketball court. He is the only member of his team that can dunk the ball. He has the fastest, most dominant moves. Off the court, the twins' mother has reinforced that education comes first because basketball can't last forever. The family understands this fact firsthand, as Chuck's promising career was ended early due to knee injury and now, in his late 30's, Chuck is trying to live his life with his boys while balancing a scary heart condition. 

The poetry in Alexander's story is sharp, moving, and rhythmically aggressive, like Josh's moves on the court. In the poem "Conversation" Josh is direct with his father about his health issues. "In the car/ I ask Dad/ if going to the doctor/ will kill him./ He tells me/ he doesn't trust doctors,/ that my grandfather did/ and look where it got him:/ six feet under/ at forty five/" (p. 123). 

Alexander balances many coming-of-age themes including: competition, romance, team work, practice, and independence throughout the book. He also addresses common issues with being black in America, like when Chuck is pulled over for a broken taillight while taking Josh to a basketball game. His fame makes the uncomfortable stop more tolerable, but for the reader it resonates with the fear African Americans feel when they are often pulled over for driving while black. 

My favorite portrayal of the book though comes from the way Alexander has Josh describe both his mother, who happens to be his assistant principal, and her no nonsense way of putting school, health and family before basketball, and his descriptions of Alexis, his brother's girlfriend, otherwise known as "Sweet Tea," whom he likes because she's a basketball junkie, but also hates because her relationship with Jordan has created an emotional distance between the brothers. In the poem "Things I Learn at Dinner" you can feel the apprehension Josh feels about disliking Alexis. "She knows how to do a crossover./ Her AAU team won a championship./ She's got game./ ... She smells like sugarplum. She has a sister in college. HER SISTER GOES TO DUKE" (p. 172). 

Most of the book is set either at the twins' home or at their school or on the court at local schools and the gym. Alexander focuses on what brings people to their "Tipping Point" when, as adolescents, they have difficulty regulating their emotions, and how the action they take after emotional faltering is an important part of learning how to grow up. 

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S) and AWARDS
Newbery Medal Honor Book
Coretta Scott King Honor Award, 2015
School Library Journal Best Book, Middle Grade, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Best Book
An ALA Notable Children's Book, Older Readers, 2015

From Booklist
"An accomplished author and poet, Alexander eloquently mashes up concrete poetry, hip hop, a love of jazz, and a thriving family bond." 

From Kirkus Reviews
"This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships. Most interesting is the family dynamic that informs so much of the narrative, which always reveals, never tells."

5. CONNECTIONS
Other novels by Kwame Alexander: 

• Booked. ISBN 9780544570986
• He Said, She Said. ISBN 9780062118981

Additional books by Kwame Alexander:

• Crush: Love Poems for Teenagers. ISBN 9781499364781
• Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets. ISBN 9780763680947
• The Playbook: 52 Rules to Aim, Shoot, and Score in This Game Called Life. ISBN 9780544570979

Kwame Alexander has been a lot of things in his career: a former high school English teacher, a former radio show host, a music producer, but foremost, he is a poet and a writer. According to his website, Alexander has written 24 books and his characters are often wonderfully smart, strong and represent the complexity of social issues surrounding being black in America.

The Crossover is a wonderful access point for middle grade and middle school readers to discover the power of poetry in contemporary fiction, as well as gaining insight into the American experience of diversity outside of what is typical in canonized literature. 

Alexander's books do something not a lot of other authors have done. They connect the past with the present. They link non-fiction with fiction, and they use both to inspire and tell stories without being preachy or righteous. They cradle humanity while confronting bigotry in a real and honest way. An author study on Kwame Alexander is a win-win situation for any classroom. And if you're really lucky, you may even be able to get him to visit... 

Review of Roller Girl

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Jamieson, Victoria. Roller Girl. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2015. ISBN 9780803740167

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Astrid's mother takes her and her best friend Nicole to see a roller derby bout. Astrid is excited about the athleticism, the attitude, and the creativity of the sport, but her friend Nicole, does not share her enthusiasm, and they have a falling out. Astrid spends the summer in roller derby camp learning the basics of the sport while also learning more important lessons about friendship and how to be a team player. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Like most tweens, when 12-year-old Astrid's mother takes her and her best friend Nicole out for "an evening of cultural enlightenment" full of "strong, positive female role models," Astrid is afraid she's in for another long night of poetry reading or opera, but instead, her mother takes the girls to roller derby, and a passion in Astrid's heart awakens. She just knows she has to play roller derby, so she signs up for a summer camp. Much to her dismay, Nicole does not share her interest and it drives a large wedge in their relationship. Nicole befriends a girl named Rachel, whose very existence makes Astrid green with jealousy. Her feelings toward Nicole turn even uglier when Rachel begins to bully Astrid.

On the rink, Astrid realizes she has a lot to learn. She's a terrible skater. She doesn't have a lot of balance, coordination, or endurance. But she is compelled to continue, particularly when she seeks out the guidance of a professional player named Rainbow Bite. Rainbow Bite becomes her mentor and the two communicate through notes left in Rainbow Bite's locker. In addition, Astrid feels not quite so alone when she befriends another novice player, Zoey. The two of them train together and even color Astrid's hair blue (much to her mother's dismay).

By the end of the summer, Astrid realizes she's made progress as a player, but that it may or may not be enough to start as the "jammer" in the last bout of the summer. Children, particularly tweens, will identify with Astrid's difficulty managing relationships with her peers while she struggles with a sport that requires her dedication and patience as well as learning to be a supportive member of a team.

Jamieson does a wonderful job developing Astrid's psyche. Readers can identify with the anxious feelings that go along with trying to make your own way in the world. Specifically, Astrid struggles with lying to her mother, creative expression, hard work, physical and athletic development, emotional regulation, friendship building, feeling sorry for herself, a desire to be independent, dealing with bullies, and coping with the asynchronous development in regard to sexual maturity when Nicole and Rachel are clearly becoming more interested in spending time with boys, when Astrid is not. Any of those issues are difficult for a child, but Jamieson does a great job laying out all of the struggles over the duration of Astrid's summer camp experience, without the drama feeling like it is unnecessarily weighing the book down.

Astrid's humanity makes her an approachable character for everyone, even boys, or so says my 11-year-old son, who chose this as his favorite book of the year, and wrote a five paragraph essay about the themes of friendship and self-reliance for his language arts class.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S) and AWARDS
Newbery Medal Honor Book
Publishers Weekly Best Book
School Library Journal Best Book
Kirkus Reviews Best Book
Chicago Public Library Best Book
New York Public Library Best Book for Reading and Sharing
Texas Bluebonnet Book Winner 
An ALA Notable Children's Book, 2016

From School Library Journal
"While this graphic novel provides interesting information about the sport, at its heart is a story of friendship, exploring the tensions which test the girls' relationships as they move from childhood to adolescence. Astrid learns to be honest with herself, her mother, and her friends through a series of stressful events. The graphic novelist employs several excellent visual devices: angles to denote action and effective placement and space within panels. Jamieson's clever use of imagery is noteworthy." 

From Kirkus Reviews

"Jamieson captures this snapshot of preteen angst with a keenly decisive eye, brilliantly juxtaposing the nuances of roller derby with the twists and turns of adolescent girls' friendships. Clean, bright illustrations evince the familiar emotions and bring the pathos to life in a way that text alone could not." 

5. CONNECTIONS
Other books by Victoria Jamieson: 

• Olympig. ISBN 9780803735361
• Pest in Show. ISBN 9780803737013

Additional graphic novels with female, pre-teen protagonists:

• Chmakova, Svetlana. Awkward. ISBN 9780316381307
• Holm, Jennifer L. and Matthew Holm. Sunny Side Up. ISBN 9780545741668
• Telgemeier, Raina. Drama. ISBN 9780545436995

The last 10 years has seen an extraordinary growth in graphic novels for children ages 8-14. These books are both wonderful as a way to entice reluctant readers from picture books into longer books that require more endurance and as a phenomenal way to appeal to readers of all levels to engage with the art of illustration through more emotionally complex stories.

Graphic novels also offer children an excellent advantage to become more emotionally savvy. When a child reads words that describe emotion, they may not fully understand the impact of the description, but when the words correspond to a drawing, readers can zero in on the facial expressions of the characters. The art can also be critical for readers who process things visually, like children on the autism spectrum.

A great way to engage children is to have them try to create their own graphic story. Introduce children to india ink and brushes, art materials they might not usually use. They can draw panels and pictures and then use regular markers to color in, just like a real graphic artist. Also, plan a field trip to the roller rink. If it's possible, make a connection with your local roller derby team and see if they can come out and skate with the students. If a field trip isn't possible, be fun, wear skates to school, sport a blue wig and rainbow socks in solidarity with Astrid.

Astrid spent a summer completely outside of her comfort zone. That's a lot of what adolescence is -- not feeling comfortable while a great transformation takes place both physically and emotionally. Help children make that transition by recognizing how difficult the process can be and letting them know you are there for them.