A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck- Newbery Award Book

Peck, R. (2000). A year down yonder. New York: Scholastic.
In the book A Year Down Yonder the character Mary Alice has to leave her life in Chicago to go live with her grandma in a small town during the Great Depression. Mary Alice has visited Grandma in the past, but only for a week every summer, and never without her brother. Mary Alice is used to life in the city with her parents and when she goes to Grandma's she has to adapt to life in the country. While staying with Grandma Dowdel, Mary Alice learns many life-lessons, and comes to love her grandma more than she ever imagined.
This book is a sequel to A Long Way From Chicago. Both books include the crazy antics of Grandma and her small town life. This book teacher children about history, survival, different cultures, and ethics.

The Watson's Go to Birmingham-1963: Diverstiy

Curtis, C. (1995). The watson's go to birmingham-1963. New York: Scholastic.
The Watson's Go to Birmingham is a humorous book with an emotional twist written by Christopher Paul Curtis about an African-American family who leave their home and travel to Birmingham, Alabama to leave their trouble making family member, Byron with Grandma. The trip is quite amusing until they arrive in Birmingham during the time of the Civil Rights Movement, and witness some of the most horrific scenes in history. The family enters Alabama to see segregation first-hand and witness the hatred shown towards African-Americans during this time in history.
This book is a wonderful book to share with students from 5th grade on. I like the way this book shows the strength of a family through trials and tribulations. This book is a great way to open minds and eyes to how other cultures and races have been treated throughout history. Students are always shocked by the events that took place during the Civil Rights Movement.

Chicken Sunday-Diversity

Polacco, P.(1992). Chicken sunday. New York: Scholastic.
Patricia Polacco is one of my favorite authors of children's literature. She always addresses diversity in her books in more than one way. Chicken Sunday is just one of her many books that teaches that we can love others from different religions, ages, and cultures. In this book a young Slavic girl becomes like family to Miss Eula, an African-American grandmother and her two grandsons. The theme of this book teaches children that love can break down barriers of culture and color.
In this book, Easter is coming and the children want to buy Miss Eula a pink Easter bonnet from a local hat maker's store. The children check the price of the bonnet and realize that they can't afford to purchase it, and decide to ask Mr. Kondinski if they can pay for it by doing odd and end jobs around his store. Before they get the chance to ask, he accuses them of egging his store. Instead of getting angry they give him a gift of Pysansky Eggs. The gift makes him realize they are good children, and he allows them to sell their eggs in his store. In the end the students offer to pay for the hat, but he gives it to them instead.
This book reminds me of the community of a small town like I live in. Although, we do not have the diversity in the book, people still do good deeds for one another. This book is great to read in my school because of the lack of diversity in our town.

Martin's Big Words- Caldecott Honor Book

Rappaport, D. (2001). Martin's big words. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Martin's Big Words written by Doreen Rappaport was a Caldecott Honor book in 2002. This book is based on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his speech, "I Have a Dream." Martin's Big Words is written with the elementary child in mind. The illustration are beautiful and bring the book to life. The book discusses how life was difficult for African-Americans and how they struggled for Civil Rights. Each page of this book contains information and a quote from Marting Luther King Jr.'s life. I have found that younger children learn an abundance of information from the pictures of this book. This books is wonderful to use in Social Studies class and to teach children that all should be treated equally.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a brilliant, loving man who helped change our country. He tried to love everyone, good or bad. I am thankful for books like these.

Olivia-Caldecott Honor Book

Falconer, I.(2000). Olivia. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Olivia is a wonderful story written and illustrated about the life of a dramatic, young pig and her family. This is the first book in a series of books based on this character. Olivia is a very active pig that keeps her family and friends very busy with her exaggerated stories and over-active imagination. This book is wonderful for young readers and is ideal to read with young children. Many parents can relate to the story of Olivia because their children have many of the same characteristics. The illustrations in the book aren't the most eye catching, but get the job done with detail. Olivia is now shown on Nickelodeon as a cartoon series.

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat-Caldecott Medal

Taback, S. (2000). Joseph had a little overcoat. New York: Scholastic.
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat is a book that was adapted from a Yiddish folk song. The book takes students through the transformation of Joseph's overcoat to a jacket, , vest, scarf, necktie, handkerchief, and finally a button. This books is colorfully illustrated and very eye-catching for the young reader. The reading is simple and follows a pattern. Taback also uses die cuts on his pages to give the reader a hint of what is to come next. I like this book for younger grade levels, because it teaches that you can always over come things that try and get you down. I try and teach my kids to look at the good in all situations. This book has very positive message and I truly love reading it with my little boy at home.

The Bracelet, a book by Yoshiko Uchida

Uchida, Y. (1998). The bracelet. New York: NY. Putnam.
The book I chose to critique was The Bracelet written by Yoshiko Uchida. Our school library has this book and I found it and even used it while teaching about immigrants in Social Studies. I was very impressed with the book and the way it was written. This was the first time I had ever read a book by this author.
The setting of this book takes place in the 1940's, while the United States is fighting World War II with Japan over the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This book was eye-opening for my students, because they didn't realize the way the Japanese Americans were treated at this time. The book tells the story of a little girl, Emi, who is Japanese-American, being forced from her home to an interment camp. Her father had already been taken to an internment camp in Montana leaving his family behind to await their fate. Before leaving for the camp, Emi's best friend, Laurie gives her a bracelet to remember her by.
The book reminds of The Diary of Anne Frank. I really enjoyed the way this book was written and the pictures were great.

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, Corretta Scott King Award Book

Nelson, K. (2008). We are the ship: The story of negro league baseball. New York: NY. Hyperion Books for Children.
This book is the story of determined athletes and owners to overcome the barriers of race on and off the baseball field. This book talks about the lives of the baseball players, and how they were treated and disrespected because of the color of their skin. This book tells the story of the real heroes of baseball. Actually, one of my students was reading this book and I asked to check it out after he was finished. This book makes you want to cry when you read about the lives that these men lead each day. They wanted so badly to play and to break down the walls of racism. The Negro Baseball League began in the 1920's and ended when Jackie Robinson crossed over to the major's in 1947.

The Patchwork Quilty, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

Flournoy, V. (1985). The patchwork quilt. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.
The Patchwork Quilt is one of my favorite stories. The story is about a young girl, Tanya, who wants so badly to help her grandmother make a quilt. Jerry Pinkney one a Corretta Scott King Award for the beautiful illustrations in this book. The quilt made by the grandmother includes scraps of clothing from each member of the family. The grandmother is the glue that keeps this family grounded and she shows that she loves them by taking each day and working on the special quilt, with help from her granddaughter. This story has always touched my heart because of the relationship the little girl has with her grandmother. My great-grandmother always made quilts, and she would give those to us as gifts. I will never forget the hard work and time she put into her wonderful work.
Jerry Pinkney, is a very talented artist, who has illustrated numerous other books. Some of his works include: Mirandy and Brother Wind, written by Patricia C. McKissack. John Henry, written by Julius Lester, and The Ugly Duckling.