EDRE 4320 - Tabitha

Title: Separate is Never Equal  Author: Duncan Tonatiuh  Genre: Non-fiction  Awards: Bluebonnet,  Pura Belpre Illustrator Honor,  Robert F. Sibert Honor Age Group: 8-11 Summary: This book is about  Mexican-American students, in California who wanted to end discrimination at their school and all over. Sylvia Mendez, and her family tried to send her to a school near their farm but was sent to a  “Mexican school." Her father was upset that she wasn't able to attend the whites school, which was the better school, even though she was a citizen and could speak, what we could consider good English.  The father was so upset that he filed a law suit, even though other Mexicans didn't want him to cause trouble. After the lawsuit, her family received a lot of support from civil rights organizations. Once the trial is set, they hear first hand the awful insults that the superintendent has to say about Hispanics and how white...

Title: The Baby-Sitters Club, Dawn and the Impossible Three Author: Gale Galligan  Genre: Graphic Novel  Awards: N/A  Age Group: 8-12 Summary:  This book is about a girl named Dawn. She deals with friendship issues, and family changes., while babysitting the Barrett kids, who are horrible little kids. The mothers request are crazy and  inappropriate. Buddy Barrett goes missing, and she has to confront the mom about their behavior. Dawn’s mom and her friends dad are getting serious about their relationship, and the girls are excited about becoming sisters. In the end, the six girls, are smiling for the camera with their arms around each other. Teacher Evaluation: I wasn't a fan of this book, because the words are all over and I have to really look and study the pictures to follow and understand. This book made my brain go crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even though I didn't like this book, i'm sure kids love them so I will have some of these in my c...

Title: Gone Crazy in Alabama  Author: Rita Williams-Garcia  Genre: Fiction  Awards: Coretta Scott King  Age Group: 8-12 Summary: This book is about three sister who go to Alabama to spend the summer with their grandmother ,big ma, and their great-grandmother, ma-Charles. The girls are coming from Brooklyn, where they can be outspoken, and have been seeing all the good things the Black Panthers are doing for their community, to Alabama where they have to watch what they say and how they behave on the bus ride there because of the different view points to the KKK. Once there, they have to face their uncle Darrel, who stole from them when he was on drugs, and all of the back and forth their grandmother and her half-sister have for each other. Vonetta is the one would finds interest in this feud and she relays messages back and forth. The power of family overcome the feud when Vonetta rides a bike to town to get milk and a tornado takes her. She ends up ...

Title: Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry Author: Mildred D. Taylor Genre: Historical Fiction  Awards: Newbery Medal  Age Group: 10-15 Summary: The book is about a family living in the South, going thru hard times, and suffering racism. The mother is a teacher, father works for the railroad and is always away working, so one of the father's friends and farm hands lives with them for added protection since a family was burned to death by white men for no apparent reason. The white men who did the burning, ended up being the Wallace's, who owns the store that the blacks buy from for all of their needs. Cassie's mama starts a boycott of the store and it doesn't go over to well. She looses her teaching job, they have to pay he bank imminently for the land that they own, which is very uncommon for blacks to own land during that time, and the father gets shot in the leg coming for the next town buying supplies from another store. T.J., one of the children's fri...

Title: Shiloh Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Genre: Realistic Fiction  Awards: Newbery Medal  Age Group: 6-9 Summary: This book was about a boy and his family enduring a financial hardship. Along comes a dog, and the boy easily falls for the dog and wants to keep him as a companion but fears that because of the families hardship, they wont be able to feed the dog, yet alone themselves. They find out who the do belongs too, their neighbor Judd and finds out the dog is abused. The dog runs away again, and comes back to the little boy, so he hides him in a make shift cage. The boy sneaks food to him but the mother finds out and says he has to tell his dad. They are awaken in the middle of the night to screaming because the dog was attacked by a bigger dog, they take him to the vet and he survives. They make an offer to Judd to buy the dog, but the little boy has to work for him. Judd makes the boy do horrible, hard work because he is resentful because he was abu...

Title: The War That Saved My Life Author: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Genre: Historical Fiction  Awards: Newbery Medal , New York Times Bestselling Author  Age Group: 10-15 Summary: This book is about children in London, being moved to England to escape the bombs from Hitler's army. Its starts off with a disabled girl in her home, having to care for her mother and younger brother. She isn't allowed to leave the home because of her club foot, and the mother has made everyone in their community believe that she is special in the head. It then shows all of the abuse and mistreatment that she receives at the hands of her hateful mother, due to her husband dying and her never wanting children. When Ada learns that all the children are leaving, she starts teaching herself how to walk so that her and her brother can leave. Once that time comes, they go to England and are placed with a woman who wasn't prepared to take care of them, because of the depression she was...