March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed The World! January 19, 2009
I live in a community where there is not as much diversity as you find in the rest of the world. One of the ways parents and teachers make up for the lack of diversity, is by sharing great books with their children and students.
March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed The World! by Christine King Farris and illustrated by London Ladd is a new picture book that I hope will be added to collections across the United States this year. The beautiful illustrations help illuminate events leading up to Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” that culminated after the March on Washington D.C. Readers will have help connecting pieces of Civil Rights history that they might have learned in isolation through this book and will also have the opportunity to learn new information, such as the name of the singer who took the stage before MLK Jr. began his famous speech.
Pair this book with Barak Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope and teachers and parents will have more than a week’s worth of important conversations with their children. Use them as springboard and you are exposing a new generation to a whole new world of possibilities.
Put it on the List! January 19, 2009
Put It on the List! is the first book by new author/illustrator Kristen Darbyshire and is due out mid February. I have to love a middle school art teacher who writes and illustrates picture books AND can draw with her toes. Teaching, illustrating, writing–all three are impressive on their own.
Put It on the List! is a familiar phrase to many moms out there. The never ending trips to the grocery store, coming home to unload and finding out you didn’t know you were out of a certain item.—cereal, toilet paper, etc.
On Monday…
we had pancakes, but no syrup.
On Tuesday…
We had toothbrushes, no toothpaste.
Teachers will enjoy pairing this book with Cookie’s Week or any other “days of the week” book.
A well-done and smartly illustrated first book. Congrats to the author/illustrator
