Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh by Uma Krishnaswami Intermediate Tu/Lee & Low 276 pp. g 5/17 978-1-60060-261-0 $16.95 “Don’t let it stop you, honey. Don’t you let nothing stop you. Promise me.” In World War II California, women like protagonist Maria’s beloved auntie, Tía Manuela, are working in factories, and in elementary schools […]
About Sarah Hannah Gómez
Sarah Hannah Gómez holds an MA in children’s literature and an MS in library and information science from Simmons College and is working toward a PhD in children’s and adolescent literature at the University of Arizona. She blogs at shgmclicious.com.
Review of Hello, Universe
January 21, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly Intermediate, Middle School Greenwillow 314 pp. 3/17 978-0-06-241415-1 $16.99 g e-book ed. 978-0-06-241417-5 $9.99 Virgil Salinas is shy and bullied at school. Since he doesn’t know his multiplication tables, his nasty classmate Chet Bullens, a.k.a. “the Bull” (your standard-issue middle-school bully), repeatedly calls […]
Review of City of Saints & Thieves
April 11, 2017 by Leave a Comment
City of Saints & Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson High School Putnam 409 pp. 1/17 978-0-39954-758-4 $18.99 g After her mother was murdered in cold blood by Roland Greyhill, a white mining tycoon and the father of Tina’s half-sister Kiki, Tina made a run for it. She deposited Kiki at […]
Decolonizing Nostalgia: When Historical Fiction Betrays Readers of Color
October 25, 2016 by 6 Comments
If I look back at my childhood in the nineties, I can tie my preferences for types of play very closely to the types of books I liked to read. Beyond swimming and riding my bicycle, I was an indoor kid who, though I had plenty of friends, was happiest playing with paper dolls, Kitchen […]
Review of Freedom in Congo Square
May 7, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford; illus. by R. Gregory Christie Primary, Intermediate Little Bee 40 pp. 1/16 978-1-4998-0103-3 $17.99 g In historic Louisiana, enslaved Africans were provided a half-day of rest each Sunday, and in New Orleans their official and legal gathering place was Congo Square. With two spare couplets for each […]
