Bel Purie Books

Ryan, Pam Munoz. Esperanza Rising. New York. Scholastic

Press. 2000.

Esperanza Ortega’s fist home was El Rancho de las Rosas. Everyone and everything she loved was there. She was a child of wealth and privilege, believing that she was more deserving than those who were her inferiors. That was until one horrible afternoon when her father was murdered by bandits. With that one devastating act, Esperanza’s life of ease ended. Not only did Esperanza lose her beloved father, but then her grandmother, Abuela, had to also leave her. With the help of their former servants, Esperanza and her mother flee their homeland Mexico and immigrate to California. But even in the land of the free, Esperanza learns that inequality and prejudice against Mexicans exists. Learning to deal with the loss of her mother, cooking, working for a living, and accepting her new life helps Esperanza learn that with patience things will come aright.

Black-eyed Susan Books

Bruchac, Joseph, The First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story. Illustrated by Anna

Vojtech. New York. Dial Books for Young Readers. 1993.

This pourquoi tale explains how strawberries came to be. When the first man and the first woman have a fight, she stalks off so quickly he cannot catch up with her. The sun takes pity on the man, who is truly sorry, and tries to help. Each fruit the sun causes to grow fails to pique the woman’s interest and make her stop. It is not until a strawberry field grows does she finally stop to examine them. The man catches up with her and they share the sweetness of the first strawberries.

(Listing also included in Non-Fiction Books)

Bruchac, Joseph. The Great Ball Game: A Muskogee Story. Illustrated by Susan

L. Roth. New York. Dial Books for Young Readers. 1994.

Back in the long ago, the animals and the birds were fighting about which group of creatures was better. To finally decide the question, they agreed to play lacrosse. The winning team would not only have the right to call themselves the best, they would then choose the punishment for the losers. This pourquoi tale explains bird migration and which group bats belong to and why.

(Listing also included in Non-Fiction Books)

Czernecki, Stefan and Rhodes, Timothy. The Singing Snake.

Illustrated by Stefan Czernecki. New York. Hyperion Books

for Children. 1993.

To decide which animal has the most beautiful singing voice, Old Man held a contest. All the animals practice singing, each one is determined to be judged the best. Snake tries and tries, but he can’t sing. So, he hatches a plan to ensure he will be judged the best. When his deception is discovered, all the other animals shun him and promise to never trust him again. A pourquoi tale of why snakes hiss.

(Listing also included in Non-Fiction Books)

Isaacs, Anne. Swamp Angel. Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky. New York. Dutton

Children’s Books. 1994.

This picture books tells the tall-tale of Angelica Longrider. Angelica grew up to become the greatest woodsman in Tennessee. When she was born she was only slightly shorter than her mother, but that quickly changed. She earned her nickname, Swamp Angel, when she rescued a group of pioneers from Dejection Swamp. This book is the female version of the Paul Bunyan tall-tale.

MacGill-Callahan, Shelia.The Children of Lir. Illustrated by

Gennady Spirin. NewYork. Dial Books. 1993.

At the beginning of this lyric Irish fairy tale, King Lir has a beautiful wife and four children. When Lir’s wife dies he takes another bride, a selfish, conniving woman. The new queen plots to get rid of Lir’s children, thus having him all to himself. The queen possesses dark powers and turns the children into swans. When Lir learns his children have vanished, he loses his mind and wanders the countryside, looking for his beloved children. Through the intercession of kind-hearted land, air, and sea creatures, Lir’s children are restored whole to him and the evil queen is vanquished.

(Also listed in Non-Fiction Books)

Melmed, Laura Krauss. The First Song Ever Sung. Illustrated by Ed

Young. New York. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books. 1993.

A young boy questions those he meets as to what was the first song ever sung. Each person’s answer shows what is important to the speaker. For his father, it is warriors; his sister, jumping rope. For the minnows in the brook, swimming and splashing. But for his mother, the first song ever sung was a mother’s song of love.

Coretta Scott King Award Books

Coretta Scott King Award

Hamilton, Virginia. Her Stories. Illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon.

New York.The Blue Sky Press. 1995.

This book is a collection of African-American short stories, fairy tales, legends, and tales of the supernatural. There is a Cinderella-type tale, Catskinella, a tale also done by the Pinkneys-Good Blanche, Bad Rose, and the Talking Eggs, and the familiar legend of Annie Christmas. Each entry comes with a comment by the author about the story. The comments range from the story’s place in African-American culture to the story’s connection to the author.

(Also included in Non-Fiction Books)

Coretta Scott King Award

McKissack, Patricia. The Dark Thirty. Illustrated by David Pinkney.

New York. Alfred A. Knopf. 1992.

This collection of short stories deals with folk tales and monsters. The first story deals with a white brother’s (Henri) hatred of his more favored black brother (Amos). Taking place in the south before the Civil War, the white brother sells his brother to another plantation. Rather than be separated from his wife and child, Amos and his family run away, only to meet a tragic end. Other stories deal with a hanged man coming back to get justice, a man with second sight who tries to save his family from disaster, a little boy raised by Bigfoot, and a semi-autobiographical tale of facing down monsters in your life.

CSK Recommended Book

McKissack, Patricia C. & Frederick L. Christmas in the Big House,

Christmas in the Quarters. Illustrated by John Thompson.

New York. Scholastic Inc. 1994

Patricia and Frederick McKissack elegantly explain what Christmas was like for those living in the plantation mansion and the slave quarters. Life in the mansion, as would be expected, was wonderful and lush. There was more food than anyone could possibly eat. Large amounts of expensive presents for the children hung on a large, heavily decorated tree, and there were visits from many friends and relatives. Christmas in the slave quarters was very different. There was enough food to eat, but that only lasted for the short week between Christmas and New Year’s. Family may visit, but only if they had been given a pass from their master to do so. An interesting look at the differences between the master and slaves experiencing the same holiday on the eve of the Civil War.

CSK Recommended Book

McKissack, Patricia. Goin’ Someplace Special. Illustrated by Jerry

Pinkney. New York. Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing

Division. 2001.

Tricia Ann begs her grandmother to allow her to go “Someplace Special” by herself for the first time. Grandmother, though worried, allows Tricia Ann to make this journey alone. On her journey to “Someplace Special”, Tricia Ann experiences the harshness of segregation in the south in the form of where she is allowed to sit or even stand in various places she encounters. Finally she reaches “Someplace Special” where segregation doesn’t exist, where all are welcome.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal

Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal

Hamilton, Virginia. Her Stories. Illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon. New York.

The Blue Sky Press. 1995.

This book is a collection of African-American short stories, fairy tales, legends, and tales of the supernatural. There is a Cinderella-type tale, Catskinella, a tale also done by the Pinkneys, Good Blanche, Bad Rose, and the Talking Eggs, and the familiar legend of Annie Christmas. Each entry comes with an author’s commentary about the story. The comments range from the story’s place in African-American culture to the personal connection each story has to the author.

(Also included in Coretta Scott King Awards and Non-Fiction Books)