Since 1976, the month of February has been designated Black History Month, to celebrate the achievements of African Americans in the United States. While this is an aspect of history that should be celebrated all year long, it can be a great opportunity to find new books that communicate African American biographies and stories to children and adults. To that end, I wanted to point out a few pertinent books that we've already reviewed. I'm also planning to post a new review on each Tuesday and Thursday during the month of February, to highlight a few more books that celebrate black history. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, here are a couple books that we've already reviewed featuring important individuals or events in black history:

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson is a well written, thoroughly researched look at the "Great Migration" of blacks from the south to the north and west during the earlier parts of the 20th century. While it's a long book, it doesn't feel long -- the "narrative nonfiction" style draws you in to the movement as a whole as well as the specific individuals whose journeys are featured through the course of the book. Highly recommended.

The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles is a picture book that tells the story of Ruby Bridges' fight to end school segregation. It's at once inspiring and heartbreaking that she was made to endure harrassment and hate just to get an equal education.

New reviews from this month will be linked below.

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, Author Unknown, Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Henry's Freedom Box, by Ellen Levine, Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

The Youngest Marcher, by Cynthia Levinson, Illustrated by Vanessa Brantley Newton

I Love My Hair! by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley, Illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Heart and Soul, by Kadir Nelson

Stella by Starlight, by Sharon Draper

Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston

Wild Nights: Heart Wisdom from Five Women Poets is a lovely collection of poetry from some well-known female poets of the recent (and distant) past, including some of my favorites. This collection focuses on feelings, romance, heartbreak, and other things to do with love and life. In order, the poets included here are:

Sappho: I'd heard the name before, but knew nothing of this most famous Greek poet from more than two thousand years ago. While Sappho's "voice" often varies based on the translator, she still speaks and influences poets and readers after all this time. I wasn't able to get into all of her poetry, but still appreciated the opportunity to read and learn some culture.

Emily Dickinson: I have enjoyed Dickinson's poetry since I was first introduced to it. I really like her penchant for using slant rhymes, and for being short and to the point in her writing. Not all of my favorites were included here, but it's always good to read her again. 

Amy Lowell: Lowell was a poet I have probably heard of but had not been introduced to yet. I don't tend to enjoy free verse as much as form, but I still found some poems that I enjoyed, especially "Fireworks." 

Sara Teasdale: I was introduced to Teasdale's poetry in my poetry writing class in college, and she became one of my favorite poets. This collection included some of my favorites of hers as well as some I hadn't read yet. I love her ability to communicate complicated feelings so clearly, and also the way she often uses aspects of nature to do so. 

Edna St. Vincent Millay: As a fellow Mainer, I was familiar with some of her work and glad to read it again. Much of it struck me as more cynical than I'd noticed before, but maybe it was just these particular selections. There is much here about loss of love as well as a general noncommittal attitude at times. But she expresses feelings so beautifully, whether in sonnets or freer forms. 

The end includes biographies of the poets (or at least what little is known of them, in the case of Sappho). It was interesting to note how Sappho influenced so many of these poets, and even though their styles are different, their "heart wisdom" is very similar.

(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)

Scrounged From: NetGalley

Format: Kindle
Authors: Sappho, Emily Dickinson, Amy Lowell, Sara Teasdale, and Edna St. Vincent Millay, with Lisa Locascio
Pages: 144
Content Advisory: Some poems are romantic/erotic in nature, but not explicit.

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Finding Wild is a short, simple, and lyrical "concept book" that celebrates the idea of "wild." What is it? Where do you find it? The answers aren't straightforward, but with enough examples and adjectives, as well as beautiful, evocative images of a pair of children exploring the outdoors, we start to get a picture of this word.

Wild can be dangerous -- it can have teeth, or sting, or prick your finger. But it can also be soft and sweet-smelling, producing berries and beautiful flowers.

Toward the end we see how much harder it can be to "find wild" in cities that are orderly and covered in concrete. But wild is still there -- if we look for it!

Scrounged From: Our local library

Format: Hardcover
Author: Megan Wagner Lloyd
Illustrator: Abigail Halpin
Pages: 32
Content Advisory: None

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Most picture books use words and illustrations to tell a story -- but some artists are skilled at storytelling without using any words at all. Here are some of our favorites, in no particular order:

Wave, by Suzy Lee, is a simple book with a long horizontal-rectangle shape, that depicts a little girl interacting with the waves on a seashore. The vibrant blue stands out so well against the black and white, and the exuberance and curiosity is evident on the girl's face as she joyfully watches, kicks, and even taunts the waves. This is a fun book that even young children can "read" to themselves.

David Wiesner has written and illustrated many imaginative and detailed picture books, and Sector 7 is a wordless fantasy that seems to explore the question: What if clouds were alive? A Caldecott Honor book in 2000, this story follows a boy who goes on a school trip to the Empire State Building, where he meets a friendly cloud who takes him through the air to visit "Sector 7," a giant "assignment station" in the sky where clouds are received and dispatched to various places in various forms. But the clouds are unhappy -- they are stuck making the same boring shapes over and over again -- can the boy help them be more creative? And if he can, what will the "powers that be" think of it?

Peter Spier's Noah's Ark won the Caldecott Medal in 1978. Aside from some introductory text, it wordlessly tells the biblical tale of Noah and his floating menagerie. It's fun to see the ways in which he envisions so many animals living together during a flood. By the end of the story, I can really feel the relief and freedom that comes when the ark door opens and everyone is finally free to go their own way.

Sidewalk Flowers, by JonArno Lawson, is full of beautiful black-and-white illustrations that gradually gain more color as the story progresses. The images follow a father and daughter out for a walk. The daughter notices little things that her father does not seem to see -- such as flowers growing up through cracks in the sidewalk and other places. It's a celebration of beauty, and of the natural curiosity of a child, as well as her care and compassion for the lonely things that adults have learned to simply pass by.

Zoom, by Istvan Banyai, is a clever book that simply shows us one image after another, and each time the frame is zoomed out a bit. After a while, we realize that some of the things that seem to be people are simply photos, or otherwise different than initially thought. By the time it's finished, it's hard to fathom how far away it is from the beginning. Each page contains a blank page on the left, and the image on the right, to keep from spoiling any surprises. This is one of the few books out there that is just as fun to "read" backwards!

Ada Lovelace has been my introduction to the Little People, Big Dreams series, books that tell short stories of the lives of people who changed the world for the better. 

This is a preschool-level take on the life of Ada Lovelace. We learn about how different (and somewhat absent) her parents were, but that Ada found ways to exercise both her logical and imaginative sides. She was taught math and logic, which was unusual for girls in those days, and eventually met with inventor Charles Babbage, leading her to develop the first computer programming code.

It's a fascinating story that is good for young children but also encourages additional reading about an important historical figure, especially since the text here is sparse. There is a somewhat longer informational page at the end, and also a few book recommendations, which are helpful.

(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)

Scrounged From: NetGalley

Format: Kindle
Author: Isabel Sanchez Vegara
Illustrator: Zafouko Yamamoto
Pages: 32
Content Advisory: The text mentions briefly that Ada's father left when she was young.

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