Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

This afternoon I sat in on a wonderful event at the NYPL’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.  It was a talk by Philip Hoose, author of the superb nonfiction book,  Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, and Claudette Colvin herself.  The event was for the Junior Scholars Program so the room was full of attentive teens as well as a few adults.  For me,  listening to Phillip and then Claudette speak to this particular audience made what they said all the more moving.

Philip began telling how he first learned of Claudette when researching his book We Were There Too, how he then wanted to tell her story, how he tracked down a reporter who was in touch with Claudette, and then how he was quietly persistent, checking in with his contact every few months until one day Claudette was ready to speak to him.  He spoke of how he was able to  “drag an important story from under the carpet of history.” He then gave an overview of the book, of the teenager Claudette refusing to move months before Rosa Parks, of her being jailed, of her courage when she later became part of a law suit against Montgomery that eventually overturned bus segregation in Montgomery, and much more.  There was at least one audible gasp from the young people in the audience when he presented a particular harsh story before he turned things over to Claudette.

And boy was she impressive.  She vividly recalled for us the memory of the click of the key when she was thrown into jail. She spoke of the way her teachers had filled her up so on that day she felt history glued her to that bus seat.  She reminded me of something I’d not thought of till then — that I had been in Montgomery at that time, barely two years old and my sister a few months old.  My parents were involved too, driving people during the boycott.  But this isn’t about us, it is about Claudette. And let me tell you, after reading the book, I was profoundly moved by seeing her and hearing her, especially in that venue and with those young people.  I thank @editorgurl for alerting me to this event.

And I highly, highly, highly recommend the book. Hoose’s research is remarkable, but it is the way he seamlessly interweaves Claudette’s own memories with his third person account (sprinkled with other quotes) that makes this book so outstanding.  Hoose does a beautiful job bringing in Jim Crow, the players, the situations, the trials, the arrests, and so much more while keeping Claudette’s own words front and center.  I think this book does an extraordinary job helping young readers today get a sense of that time through Claudette’s words and experiences.

The questions from the teens today were moving and interesting, reflective of their distance from a totally different time.  One asked if Claudette had been angry all the time. But she had not. Another asked about her heroes and she spoke of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

Today I heard and saw history right smack in front of me.

Byatt on Tatar’s Enchanted Hunters

This is a grown-up book for grown-up people who haven’t forgotten being childhood readers. It satisfies imagination and curiosity, revisiting things you suddenly remember clearly, telling you new things you didn’t know.

A. S. Byatt reviews Maria Tatar’s Enchanted Hunters in the Guardian.

Oh, that Corpse!

If you aren’t following The Exquisite Corpse Adventure I recommend you do so pronto.  Just to recap, it is based on the game where one person writes a bit of a story and then passes it on to the next person to continue.  In this case the highfalutin people doing the writing and illustrating are having a complete blast with this wild and wooly game.  You may think of some of them only in terms of dark and serious writing, but you would be wrong, wrong, wrong.  Sure, we expect zany behavior from our Ambassador, but did you know that Katherine Paterson, Susan Cooper, and Kate DiCamillo are equal if not able to top him?  Episode 4 has just gone up and I can only say that Nancy and Joe (like those names?) are intrepid, brave, plucky, and that clown is s-c-a-r-y.

Coming Soon: Rita Williams-Garcia’s One Crazy Summer

My eyes stung. I was spilling-over mad. I couldn’t stop what I had to say, even if she stood over me and became my crazy mother mountain and knocked me down. I was spilling over.

It is the summer of 1968 and eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters Vonetta and Fern have been sent from Brooklyn, New York to Oakland, California to spend the summer with a mother they don’t know at all. A mother who abandoned them after Fern was born.

Cecile is still a mother who wants nothing to do with them. She refuses to call Fern by her name, leaves them to get their own meals, and makes it very clear that she wants them out of her hair and home during the day so she can do her work as a poet.  And so she immediately sends them off to the Black Panther’s People’s Center. “Can’t miss it. Nothing but black folks in black clothes rapping revolution and a line of hungry black kids.” They are to go for the free breakfast, stay there all day for the program, and just keep out of her way till evening.

Delphine is used to taking care of her sisters and while she is horrified at the thought of spending their days with the Black Panthers she also isn’t totally surprised — the stories Big Ma, her grandmother, has told them about Cecile are right in keeping with this sort of behavior. Clearly Cecile has zero interest in them. Zero. And so the three girls make their way to the Center where they meet Black Panthers, learn about them, and, as the summer goes on, contribute their own part to the movement. And by the end, they have gotten to know their mother, one of the more unique mothers of recent children’s literature.

Rita Williams-Garcia has created unforgettable characters in the three girls and their mother —they are sure to linger in your mind long after you have closed the book. Especially Delphine — she tells their story and she tells it straight. There are big and powerful moments in the book — say a poetry reading at a rally — and small sharp moments as well — say requests by whites to photograph the three girls. Big or small, they feel absolutely real and true to the characters, the times, and the ideals of the times. And finally, there is the writing — spare, poetic, and incredibly moving.

Come January, keep your eyes peeled for Rita Williams-Garcia’s One Crazy Summer. It is a keeper.

Arggh: Two Great Events at the Same Time

I’m in need of a time-turner for this Saturday.  Anyone got a spare they can lend me?  You see, there are two events that I badly want to go to taking place at the very same time at opposite ends of town.

In midtown at Betsy Bird’s library there is the monthly Literary Cafe featuring a wonderful panel built around the Cybils.  I’m honored to be a middle grade fiction judge this year and so would love to meet the creators of the award and hear all they have to say.

And then uptown at the NYPL’s Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture there is a program featuring Phillip Hoose and Claudette Colvin, author and subject of one of my favorite books of the year, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.

If no time turner shows up in the next couple of days I’m going for Hoose and Colvin because I think the opportunity to hear and see both of them is too important to pass up.  More on the book, the talk, and them anon.

Holt’s Darwin Ladies

A few weeks ago I was in one of the coolest conference rooms, a prow-like space in the Flatiron Building, at the invitation of Henry Holt, to hear their Dynamic Darwin Duo, Deborah Heiligman, author of Charles and Emma and Jacqueline Kelly, author of The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate.  Afterwards I managed to get a very poor Iphone pic of the two signing (so I could tweet it, natch); please take it from me that Deborah’s face is as gorgeous as her hair and blue dress.

Coincidently, before the event I’d given Jackie’s book to one of my history-loving fourth graders to read.  Here’s her review:

This story is about a little girl named Calpurnia Tate of the year 1899. Calpurnia is eleven years old and the only girl out of seven children. It takes place in a little town called Caldwell County, near Austin, Texas.

Calpurnia’s mother wants her to learn what regular little girls of the time do; piano, knitting, cooking, and other house work. Because Calpurnia’s mother wants her to become a proper lady and marry to a nice man.

However, once her grandfather shows her his science abilities, she opens her mind into the world of science and begins dreaming to be a scientist. When she hears the stories about woman-scientists like Marie Curie and all kinds of history about them, she gets fascinated and wants to grow up to be one, too. They start identifying insects and plants. They find a new specimen of a plant Vicia villosa, a member of the lowly pasture. They finally get a certificate for finding a new specimen of the plants.

In the 19th century, boys could only go to college or university. However, the year of 1899 is over and the year of 1990 begins in the end of the story. So it may mean that Calpurnia’s hope of going to college and dream of becoming a scientist may come true in the new century.

The author is trying to give a message that whatever little girls wanted to be in the olden days, some had to quit because it made their mothers uncomfortable. But some worked hard enough to prove that they really wanted to be something that women usually didn’t do. I would recommend this to people who are into history and following their own dream.

This book was a fascinating and amazing. Even though it might take some time for some readers to get into it, I think it is a great book to read.

In addition, the book cover is beautiful and makes you feel like Calpurnia. At first when you look at it, it just looks like branches and trees. But if you look and observe it like Calpurnia, you can find many things; books, microscopes, jars, animals, and other kinds of creatures. It will feel like you are at the river with Calpurnia and her grandfather. You may feel like being Calpurnia in the story.

Fairies Pro and Con

I’m a fairy person.  I grew up loving fairy stories — the classical fairy tales and various stories involving encounters with little, magical people.  So I was totally charmed by Laura Amy Schlitz’s forthcoming book The Night Fairy and happy to see Betsy Bird’s mention of the associated website.  It is indeed the perfect book for the child who loves tiny people, nature, and a gentle sort of magic. Completely and utterly delightful.

But I have to admit I also greatly enjoy clever works by those who are, shall we say, not nearly as enthused about the sweet fairies of the flower sort.  One of my all-time favorites of this sort is Terry Jones and Brian Foud’s (not for children) Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book which plays havoc with the Cottingley fairies story (which I adore and hope to write as a kid’s book one day).  Now we’ve got Conn Iggulden and Lizzy Duncan’s take in Tollins: Explosive Tales for Children.

Tollins are not fairies. Though they both have wings, fairies are delicate creatures and much smaller. When he was young, Sparkler accidentally broke one and had to shove it behind a bush before its friends noticed.

While not fairies, Tollins are magical and little. In fact, they made me think a bit of the Mainzelmannchen, cute little guys on German television ads since I was a kid.

Look out for both of these books — fun little people stuff for kids.

Looking Good!

Today’s New York City Marathon (which I ran a few times long, long ago) brings out many spectators kindly lying to exhausted runners that they are “looking good!”.  But I have to say that I feel I do look good today — on the cover of the latest School Library Journal.

As Mr. Monk would say, here’s what happened.  A few weeks ago I got an email from Betsy Bird of Fuse#8 asking me if I wanted to be on the cover of School Library Journal.  Rather! I answered and was soon deep in conversation with Betsy and my fellow cover girls about what was really important — our attire. Exactly why we were on the cover was a little vague to me; I gathered Betsy had done an article about blogs in which we were mentioned, but that was all I knew.

So today the new issue is online and I get to see the article in question (not to mention that cover and an interior shot of a gaggle of girl bloggers with attitude), “This Blog’s for You: Ten of the Best Blogs for Folks Who Take Kids’ Lit Seriously (but Not Too Seriously).“  The ten blogs are actually an addendum to the article which is a very thoughtful review of the state of our teeny tiny corner of the blogging universe.  Nice work, Ms. Fuse!

What Kids Think About the “Where the Wild Things Are” Movie

I started a book bloggers club this year partly so that kids who had blogs with me in 4th grade could continue with them in later grades and those from other classes who wanted to start blogs could.  Currently it is a lovely, if small cohort of 6th grade girls. Curious about what they’d think,  I took them to see “Where the Wild Things Are” last week.  Check out their very insightful reviews:

• dn’s Movie: Where the Wild Things Are (This one was up earlier this week so I tweeted it and quite a few people have already visited and commented)
• rc’s Very First Movie: Where the Wild Things Are
• uw’s Where the Wild Things Are – Movie
• lw’s Where the Wild Things Are

Another Worthy Best of List

… because I’m on it?  Perhaps, but I do think it is a very thoughtful list of blogs.  The categories are very interesting; for example, I’m in the “From and For the Professionals” section along with editors, writers, and reviewers.

Check it out:  100 Best Book Blogs for Kids, Tweens, and Teens.