The Politics of Hard Times Revisited
No, I’m not being lazy. I’ve spent a lot of time reading the news and thinking about a book I read and reviewed for “Waging Peace” nearly five years ago, David Chotjewitz’s Daniel Half-Human. This book...
View ArticleTwo Cuban-American Writers for Teens: Margarita Engle and Meg Medina
President Obama’s trip to Cuba today represents another stage in the opening of relations between these two countries. In honor of this event, I’m highlighting two authors of books for children who...
View ArticleCrossroads of a Painful Past
Living in New York City, I’ve become familiar with some of the out-of-the-way museums. Among them is the Weeksville Heritage Center in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. There, wood frame houses...
View Article“Won’t Know Much About History”: PEN Presents at the Brooklyn Book Festival
I apologize for this late post, the result of a busy schedule beginning with the Brooklyn Book Festival over the weekend. One of the perks of living in New York City — and there are many to outweigh...
View ArticleA Basket of Books
Shortly after Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment in September, I emptied my basket of recyclables and filled it with books — not to recycle but to recommend. While I took issue with her...
View ArticleTeens Resist: A Bibliography of Historical and International Perspectives
Several months ago, Teen Librarian Toolbox decided to focus on the topics of diversity, immigration, and social justice, in large part as a response to the recent national election. I had once written...
View ArticleSharia East/Sharia West
The other day I was watching an (East) Indian TV channel. A host had a panel of 5 or 6 folks with opposing views on a burning topic. Much like Don Lemon does occasionally on CNN, the host lost...
View ArticleHow the Past Informs the Present: An Interview with Debut Novelist Katherine...
As an author of historical fiction with two published books and three in progress and waiting to come out in the next few years, I’m always on the lookout for other authors who write about similar...
View ArticleRebel Women of the Past: A Review of The Radical Element and Interview
Short story anthologies for teen readers have enjoyed a resurgence lately. One of the pioneers of this genre was A Tyranny of Petticoats, edited by Jessica Spotswood, which appeared in 2015. Spotswood...
View ArticleAll the Stars Denied: History That Echoes Today
Beginning in 1930, in the throes of the Great Depression, the U.S. government “repatriated” more than one million Mexicans and Mexican Americans. Sixty percent of them were U.S. citizens – children...
View ArticleRadio Underground, New Adult Literature, and the Crisis of Democracy
Around 2010 the category of New Adult emerged to describe novels with older teenage protagonists or ones in their early to mid-20s, but with a focus on leaving home, going to university or into the...
View ArticleWisdom, empathy and eloquence versus Hypocrisy, cruelty and a “different...
This has been quite a week of losses for all of us in the United States. I was trying to decide whether to write about the death of Toni Morrison; amazing writer, teacher, editor, mentor and deep...
View ArticlePunch Up, Punch Down, Punch Sideways: Humor and Satire
One of my favorite end of year rituals is reading every media reviewer’s list of favorite books, music, and movies. Living in New York City now, I’m fortunate to see many of the independent movies in...
View ArticleEngaged
I am going to present this post in a similar manner to the last few I have posted by covering a few topics in short order rather than covering one topic in more detail. I do use the above title because...
View ArticleUncovering Hidden Histories in Children’s Books: Show Me a Sign
Two weeks ago, I presented the 2020 We Are KidLit Summer Reading List to help parents find diverse books. In addition to those are newer titles, many of them published in spring, after the lockdowns...
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