Me, Frida

Me, Frida

Written by: Amy Novesky
Illustrated by: David Diaz

**2011 Pura Belpre Honor Book**

"This picture book focuses on the year that Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and her husband, Diego Rivera, spent in San Francisco while he worked on murals for the Pacific Stock Exchange. It was 1930 and Frida was young, newly married, and just beginning her own career as a painter. She had never been out of Mexico and everything about this trip was new and overwhelming. Novesky adeptly tells how Kahlo began to gain her confidence and find her place in the world, using the city and its surroundings as inspiration for her own work. The writing is succinct and careful, and a portrait of Frida as a strong, feisty woman comes through clearly. Diaz's acrylic and charcoal paintings echo Kahlo's own folkloric style, brimming with color and detail, but are unique as well, providing a rich complement to the text."

School Library Journal Review

Online Resources:
http://www.pbs.org/weta/fridakahlo/life/index.html

The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba

The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba

Written by: Margarita Engle

**2011 Pura Belpre Honor Books**

"The freedom to roam is something that women and girls in Cuba do not have. Yet when Fredrika Bremer visits from Sweden in 1851 to learn about the people of this magical island, she is accompanied by Cecilia, a young slave who longs for her lost home in Africa. Soon Elena, the wealthy daughter of the house, sneaks out to join them. As the three women explore the lush countryside, they form a bond that breaks the barriers of language and culture.

In this quietly powerful new book, award-winning poet Margarita Engle paints a portrait of early women’s rights pioneer Fredrika Bremer and the journey to Cuba that transformed her life."

Product Description

Online Resources:
http://us.macmillan.com/thefireflyletters

90 Miles to Havana

90 Miles to Havana

Written by: Enrique Flores-Galbis

**2011 Pura Belpre Honor Book**

"Drawing on his own experience as a child refugee from Cuba, Flores-Galbis offers a gripping historical novel about children who were evacuated from Cuba to the U.S. during Operation Pedro Pan in 1961. Julian, a young Cuban boy, experiences the violent revolution and watches mobs throw out his family’s furniture and move into their home. For his safety, his parents send him to a refugee camp in Miami, but life there is no sweet haven. He tries to avoid the powerful camp bullies (“the big eat the small”) while he waits in anguish for his parents, and in a wrenching parting, his two older brothers are sent away to a harsh orphanage in Denver. The messages get heavy at times about the meaning of democracy, at odds with the political and the camp power games. But this is a seldom-told refugee story that will move readers with the first-person, present-tense rescue narrative, filled with betrayal, kindness, and waiting for what may never come."

Booklist Review

Online Resources:
http://www.efgportraits.com/pages/bio.htm

A Long Walk to Water

A Long Walk to Water

Written by: Linda Sue Park

"A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about a girl in Sudan in 2008 and a boy in Sudan in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way."

**Jennie's note ... to build background knowledge for this book teachers could use Brothers in Hope written by Mary Williams prior to reading. There are additional stories about "The Lost Boys of Sudan" in the online resources section below.


Publishers Description

Online Resources:
http://www.lindasuepark.com/books/longwalk/longwalk.html
http://www.lostboysfilm.com/

The Secret Trial of Robert E. Lee

The Secret Trial of Robert E. Lee

Written by: Thomas Fleming

"The year was 1865. The Civil War is over and the South lies in ruins. But for some, the former slaveholders have not been punished enough. A cabal of powerful men, led by Charles A. Dana, the Assistant Secretary of War, plot to break the spirit of the South once and for all—by convicting General Robert E. Lee of treason and hanging him like a common criminal."

Publishers Synopsis

Online Resources:
http://www.uta.edu/english/tim/civilwar/2006flesec.html
http://thomasflemingwriter.com/

Forge

Forge

Written by: Laurie Halse Anderson

Award-winning author Laurie Halse Anderson have delivered an equally thrilling novel to follow up her National Book Award Finalist book Chains with Forge. Readers can pick up right where Curzon and Isabel left off at the end of Chains as they escaped from Revolutionary New York City in the middle of the night. After their escape, Curzon and Isabel take different paths with Curzon becoming a soldier at Valley Forge. He later meets up with Isabel after his master has captured him forcing him to leave the army to become a servant again. This novel details the treacherous living conditions soldiers at Valley Forge faced during that harsh winter. Halse-Anderson also discusses how many black soldiers fought in the Revolution with the hopes of gaining their freedom when the war was over. Curzon is a well-developed character that students will be able to relate, especially those who are interested in black soldiers serving in the war. Female students will connect with Isabel and the determination she possess in spite of the struggles she faces being torn from her family. This book will have a follow-up story as well which readers (including myself) will be eagerly waiting for!

Jennie's Review

Online Resources:
http://books.simonandschuster.com/Forge/Laurie-Halse-Anderson/9781416961444
*Readers guide at bottom of the page*
http://madwomanintheforest.com/historical-forge/
http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/links/index.html

The Color of My Words

The Color of My Words

Written by: Lynn Joseph

Upper Elementary, Junior High Grades

"Sometimes you have no control over what will happen next, as I discovered the year I was twelve years old. . .

Ana Rosa is a blossoming young writer growing up in a poor seaside village in the Dominican Republic. At twelve, she finds herself faced with turning points that will make up who she is--watching her brother's search for a future, learning to dance and to love, and finding out what it means to be a part of a community.

But in a country where words are feared, Ana Rosa must struggle to find her own voice and the means for it to be heard. Gradually she learns that her words have the power to transform the world around her-celebrating what is most beautiful on her island and transcending even the most unthinkable of tragedies.

This debut novel from poet Lynn Joseph is a lush and lyrical journey into the landscape and culture of the Dominican Republic. The Color of My Words explores the pain and the poetry behind what it means to be part of a family, what it takes to find your place in the world-and what it feels like to write it all down."

Online Resources:
http://www.learner.org/libraries/engagingliterature/voices/lessonplan.html