The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Engle, Margarita. The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom. New York: Henry Holt, 2008. ISBN: 978-0805086744. 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Characters Rosa, Lieutenant Death, José, young Silvia, and other townspeople, and military representatives tell the highly emotional story of Cuba's three waves of war for independence that represent over five decades of violent struggle during the second half of the 19th century in this poetic historical masterpiece by Margarita Engle. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom uses free verse poetry to describe the struggles of the Cuban people during their long war for independence from the Spanish from 1850-1899. The historical fiction story is told by multiple narrators: Rosa, who is a former slave turned nurse/natural healer; Lieutenant Death, a former slave hunter whose life-long pursuit of Rosa consumes him; José, Rosa's husband and protector of her nomadic medical care efforts; and Silvia, a young preteen, who has lost her entire family to the wars, and has escaped the world's first concentration camp to train as a healer with Rosa. There are other insights from characters like writers, community members, and military personnel, but they are not as involved as the four mentioned above.

I listened to this book as an audio text via Overdrive from my public library. From start to finish, Engle's poetry rises and falls with the action. "I cannot save the poet from bullets," Rosa laments, as she looks over the flowers and natural herbs she collects and grows to try and help those who are sick, show signs of infection, or injured. But her flowers and herbs are up against a growing wave of cruelty and despair that is hard to confront. During the war with the Spanish, the first concentration camp in human history is created to detain Cuban peasants and slaves. Rosa identifies the camp as what it is — a prison, as there were no houses or tents, just lots of people herded into one place and kept behind fences with very little food or care.

Young Silvia who is taken to the camp at age 11, after the troops steal what they want from her house and burn it to the ground, is motivated to stay alive to fulfill her grandmother's suggestion that she find Rosa and join her cause, if anything should happen to her family.

As I listened to the audio I wonder will Lt. Death ever catch up with Rosa and what will happen if he is finally able to act on his decades of mounting hatred? When slavery ends in The Surrender Tree in 1886, many years after Rosa and Lt. Death meet for the first time, Lt. Death is confused to see light and dark men fighting as allies, even though they are all people from different regions and socio-economic divisions. Cuban landowners fighting next to their slaves from the Canary Islands, Africa, China, etc. He is despondent that the "art of slave hunting" is lost, and he feels devalued and frustrated by the change in the world. There's a definite reason Rosa calls him Lt. Death, even though she met him when he was only a boy. His survival had always depended on enslaving and making others afraid of him and perpetuating the racial and socio-economic inequalities in Cuba, and he is unapologetic for it.

In contrast, for her whole life as a healer, Rosa stays calm and committed to her values to assist everyone who is injured: Cubans, Spaniards, Americans, etc. She does not discriminate by what side a soldier fights on, the color of their skin, or their socio-economic place in society. Rosa's narration by Yesenia Cabrero is hard to listen to sometimes. It's like she reads too slowly. Her breaks in her lines don't flow as well as they could, but the other voice actors don't have the same difficulties. Their monologues roll of their tongues effortlessly in character. In the audio edition, each actor has to say the name of their character before they read, so the listener understands whose ideas follow. This is sometimes helpful and sometimes jarring to the flow of the text. It is important to know what's going on, but by a third of the way through the book, listeners, even younger audiences, are likely to know which actor represents each character and the identification seems unnecessary and obtrusive, where as in written text, a name at the beginning of a chapter is quickly processed and moved on from.

Engle's story represents many themes common to Hispanic Literature. The concept of strong family and community bonds, the oral tradition of passing stories on from generation to generation, and addressing specific historical and cultural aspects of Cuban and Spanish history are all themes repeated through the book. For example, José protects Rosa's work and moves the medical facilities from cave to hut and back to caves. He looks over her and watches for enemies. Rosa takes in Silvia and raises her after recognizing she has lost everything and everyone to the war. Silvia holds dear her memories of her grandmother and how much her grandmother trusted in Rosa, so Silvia chooses to follow Rosa's lead to make positive changes in her homeland by training as a healer.

Historically, Engle's spoken author's note says that Rosa's character is based on a real person in history—Rosa Bayamesa. Engle also recognizes that Rosa's existence in the war as a doctor is strange, from a political standpoint, not just because of her unwavering care for all people, but because most other medical personnel that were recognized during this time period weren't women -- and they certainly weren't former slaves. Rosa was the first woman to be named Captain of Military Health. (As a side note, Margarita Engle was the first Latina author to be awarded the Newbery Award in 2009.)

In addition, at the beginning of the book, slaves are escaping from their Cuban masters, but it doesn't take long for the relationships between the Cuban landowners and the Spanish invaders to deteriorate causing the landowners to free their slaves and to join up with the independent resistance fighting against the common enemy of foreign invasion. After witnessing this integration among her own countrymen, Rosa is confused when the Americans show up and light men and dark men work in segregated brigades, but, as they die, are buried together. The nonsensical reasons behind segregation repeat over and over in this book.

By the end, Silvia, who has grown to be a young adult and a volunteer nurse of Rosa's, lives up to Rosa's self-sacrificial creed as a caretaker: "The wounded are sacred. We never leave them. When every else flees the battlefield nurses are the ones who rush to carry the wounded to Rosa. I am learning how to stay far too busy for worries about dying."

4. AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPTS
Newbery Medal 
Pura Belpré Award
Claudia Lewis Award
Jane Addams Children's Book Award
ALA Best Books for Young Adults
NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Book

From Booklist 
"The switching perspectives personalize the dramatic political history, including the establishment of the world's first 'reconcentration camps' to hold prisoners, as well as the role of slave owners who freed their slaves and joined the resistance against Spain."

From Audiofile
"Written in free verse, the novel presents a challenge to the narrators, who have to respect the form of the poetry and the flow of the story." 

5. CONNECTIONS
Most American students may not know that the idea for concentration camps came from Cuba's war with Spain. They will likely first associate concentration camps with the Holocaust in World War II. Researching the many "first" in war tactics came from the Cuban fight for independence, including how countries used encampment to detain prisoners either in the name of security (American Japanese internment camps) or in the name of genocide is an important part of understanding and identifying worldwide current and past humanitarian crises. 

In addition, The Surrender Tree can be complemented with another one of Margarita Engle's books, The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano (ISBN 978-0312659288). With America's constantly changing relationship with Cuba over the last five years, knowing more about the history of the people to our south and their culture is critical in understanding how the two countries have related to one another as close neighbors with differing political views. 

Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down Review by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pinkney, Andrea Davis. Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-31607016-4. 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Four college friends sit at the lunch counter at Woolworth's on Feb. 1, 1960, in Greensboro, NC, and wait to order a doughnut and coffee with cream on the side. But their chance never comes, because in 1960, African Americans were not allowed to eat at the lunch counter with white folks. Their silent protest of segregation in the United States was an important part of the country's Civil Rights Movement, and is told beautifully by Andrea Pinkney (author) and Brian Pinkney (illustrator) who take readers on a journey of the students' non-violent protests that started America's integration process. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS 
Although the story's initial main characters are college friends David, Joseph, Franklin and Ezell, Andrea and Brian Pinkney write and illustrate Sit In as a journey through the timeline of peaceful protest toward the Civil Rights Movement's goal of racial integration in the 1960s. Andrea's flowing free verse and heavy use of metaphors give young readers a firm understanding of the importance of the Civil Rights struggle as the young protestors faced crowds of hateful people resistant to social change. During the most violent part of the book where white people dumped food and hot coffee all over the young African American protestors and treated them as if they were less than human, Brian makes an interesting choice to not give much color tone or determined features to the white aggressors. Instead, he focuses on the peaceful determination of the students. Two of them sat withdrawn from the angry mob, their eyes shut concentrating, and one girl, eyes wide open, with a look of empty determinism, stares straight ahead at the reader -- enduring the pain, hatred, and intimidation for a larger cause (22). 

Not treating African Americans as if they, too, are human was a theme throughout the book. Young children might be surprised or hurt when they learn about the "Whites Only" signs mentioned in the text, which were posted all over communities to tell African Americans where they could not share public spaces or facilities including: bathrooms, pools, parks, and certain sections of the buses. "This was the law's recipe for segregation. Its instructions were easy to follow: Do not combine white people with black people. Segregation was a bitter mix" (5). 

By not integrating, white people were able to "ignore" and "refuse" to serve black citizens in a myriad of ways (6). But by turning the tables on the white rules, the protesters were refusing the status quo that kept them down. 

Another main character in the book who is never visually depicted but is with the protesters and the Civil Rights Movement throughout the text is the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Andrea uses his words as inspiration during important parts of the story urging the protestors to continue to "demonstrate calm dignity" (26). 

Brian's swirling and colorful drawings keep up with the pace of Andrea's poems. The two work together seamlessly to tell the story of one of the most important periods of America's history. To support the accuracy of the story, the author also offers a non-fiction timeline of the Civil Rights Movement and "A Final Helping" of notes about the people the characters were based on in the book. Extra readings and websites pertinent to the subject are listed on the back page, as well. 

4.  REVIEW EXCERPTS
From Booklist 
"Food-related wordplay adds layers to the free verse, as in the lines about the protesters' recipe for integration: 'Combine black with white/ to make sweet justice'... The recipe metaphors are repetitive, but at the core of the exciting narrative are scenes that show the difficulty of facing hatred."

From School Library Journal
"With swirling swabs of color that masterfully intertwine with sometimes thin, sometimes thick lines, Brian Pinkney cleverly centers the action and brings immediacy to the pages." 

5. CONNECTIONS
America's racial divide has deepened since the last presidential election. For African Americans protests in response to police violence against black people, particularly young boys, have had increased attention in last decade due to the internet and 24-hour news coverage. It is impossible to have an understanding of how America got to where it is today in regards to race relations, without understanding what the country was like over 50 years ago. Telling this history is important so that people can continue to understand the struggle and perseverance of African Americans in the United States. 

For elementary school children, the current racial tensions are likely more in their faces than some adults may think. Reading books about the movement, its leaders, and how they were able to make positive change for not just African Americans, but for all minority groups can give voice to children of color in the classroom, and build empathy and understanding for those who were unaware of the struggles other people face in their day-to-day life. 

Consider reading several companion picture books to Sit in like Lillian's Right to Vote: A Celebration of Voting Rights by Jonah Winter (ISBN: 978-0385390286) and The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks: A Young Civil Rights Activist by Cynthia Levinson (ISBN: 978-1481400701). Whether citizens are seniors, like Lillian, or young, like Audrey, standing up for equality for all people is a social imperative. 

Ghost Review by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reynolds, Jason. Ghost. New York: Atheneum Books, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-4814-5015-7. 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Castle "Ghost" Cranshaw doesn't know why he can run fast, all he knows is that he can, and he doesn't need any fancy clothes to do so. But one day while walking home from school, he catches a group of children his age at track practice and decides to take on the fastest runner there. To everyone's surprise, wearing street high tops and jeans, Castle keeps up with the team's fastest new sprinter. In response, Coach Brody decides to see if he can't help Ghost refine and strengthen his athletic gift by inviting him to join the team. What Ghost discovers is a lot more than how fast his feet can run, he finds a circle of friends he never knew he needed. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In Ghost, Jason Reynolds tells the story of an African American middle schooler Castle "Ghost" Cranshaw, who lives on the poor side of town with his single mother, who works full-time and goes to school. His father is in prison serving time for domestic abuse, and Ghost wanders around his neighborhood playing basketball (sometimes), eating sunflower seeds, and going to school without much direction, interest, or passion. What he does know is that he's a fast runner and he wants to be famous for something that will get him into the record books. When he gets the opportunity to train with a track team in the park, Ghost is unsure how he will fit into the team. Lu, the sprinter, is a definite competitor, but Patina, who is also a sprinter, welcomes him. 

Ghost realizes that being a fast runner in short distances is very different than being a distance athlete, and he learns to respect and understand each of the kids on his team and to see them as whole people, and not just their track events. "I felt like they could see me. Like we were all running the same race at the same speed" (133). The track team also introduces Ghost to a more integrated social experience than the neighborhood where he lives. 

What is more difficult for Ghost to work through is how to meet track team social norms -- knowing his mom can't afford fancy running shoes or track suits. 

Through the love and discipline of Coach Brody, his neighbor, Mr. Charles, and his mom, Ghost learns that it feels good to be seen and recognized for hard work and perseverance. What is even better is having an adult (or three) in your life who see you for who you are trying to become, and always have your back, no matter how many mistakes are made or how big you try to talk. 

Reynolds' shows how for some children, particularly those who have experienced trauma, racial discrimination, and poverty, finding adults who they can consistently count on to show up and care about them as a parent, a mentor, or a role model helps ground them into their lives. Many kids miss these connections at home and at school, where parents and teachers may be seen as disconnected oppressors, often in positions of power. Reynolds does an outstanding job with developing Ghost as the protagonist, recognizing that kids' realities are never perfect, and to deny teens' emotions about the state of their existence is dangerous and negligent. In Ghost's case, it was as if he was treading water for a long time, feeling all by himself, and by learning to run, he learned how to pull himself out of the water. 


4. AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPTS
National Book Award Finalist
YALSA 2017 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults
CSMCL Best Multicultural Book of 2016
2016 Cybils Award Winner, Middle Grade Fiction
The Kirkus Prize, 2016 Nominee, Young Readers
NCTE Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children, Winner
Publishers Weekly Best Books 2016, Middle Grade

From Horn Book Magazine 
"Reynolds has created a wonderfully dynamic character in Ghost; his first-person narrative is one with which young readers will readily identify. Conflicting emotions are presented honestly and without judgment."

From Publishers Weekly
"Ghost is a well-meaning, personable narrator whose intense struggles are balanced by a love of world records, sunflower seeds, and his mother." 

5. CONNECTIONS
Ghost is the first of a series of four books Jason Reynolds has committed to writing about the Defenders track team participants. His second, Patina (ISBN: 978-1481450188) was recently released. In addition to this series, Reynolds has several middle grade fiction and young adult books that are reflective of the African American experience. 

As Brave As You Are (ISBN: 978-1481415903) is at the same reading level and maturity of Ghost and Patina, but if your middle schoolers are interested in a story that has all of the heart of Ghost, but a little more teenage grit and angst, have them read Boy in the Black Suit (ISBN: 978-1442459519) or All American Boys (ISBN: 978-1481463348) and have them do an author study on Jason Reynolds. 

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.