The Girl who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil
Clementine has written a deeply moving account of her life as a Rwandan Refugee. At six years old she survived the genocide in Rwanda. For years, she lived through conditions that would break any human in two. The book travels back and forth from Clemetine’s adult life to her childhood in Africa. I learned so much about the roots of conflict and the ripple of devastation it spread. Clementine’s description of her feelings, how she wrestled with the residual trauma are beyond moving. Without empathy for what others have suffered, we cannot treat others with compassion and kindness. I was gripped with sorrow, and amazed at the author’s fighting resilience. This memoir is necessary and worth every moment. I am thankful she was brave enough to put this story into words, and I am thankful I read every one of them.
To Watch more about her life, watch her TED Talk:
Look for this title at your local book store with: Indie Bound
Best Overall Character: Emily Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman– Emily is the most real, quirky, and charming character I have read in a long time. She has been through very difficult circumstances, and we meet her just as she is beginning to step out of a safe, but isolated life. I was moved, laughed, cringed, and cheered for her the whole way through.
Best Historical Fiction: The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict– Did you know Albert Einstein’s wife was also a genius mathematician and physicist? This is a riveting and heartbreaking story of their love affair. It was fascinating.
Best Middle Grade Novel: Wishtree by Catherine Applegate– Told from the perspective of a tree, the history, heartache, and hope of a little town is revealed by one little tree. Beautiful, imaginative, and wonderful.
Best Sophisticated Brain Candy: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandya Menon– When Dimple heads to Standford for a summer program, she has no idea her traditional Indian parents have betrothed her to another student in the program. Calamity ensues, and it is funny, sweet, and light. Sometimes you just need a light read, this is it, but well written.
Best Non-Fiction: A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park– A simply stunning novel about the lost boys of Sudan. Everyone should read this book, and teachers or parents of 4th graders and up should add it to their read aloud list.
Orphan Train, the historical fiction novel set in this time period is outstanding. We meet three characters, Neeve, an orphan in 1929, Molly, aging out of the modern day foster system, and Vivian, a 90 year old woman who Molly is placed to serve community service. Their stories fit together perfectly, their struggles are different, but also a mirror image of one another. Each womans life is rich with emotion, perseverance, and redemption. A perfect historical fiction novel. The Audiobook was fantastic, I think it added to the book because of the characterization through different voices.
Jane Adams’ story is inspiring to adults as well as children. She grew up wealthy, yet she used her wealth to build a safe place for poor families and children. She provided food, work for immigrants, and schooling for teenagers with day jobs. This is a wonderful book to show children how to give, and think of others. I never knew of her influence and contributions, I am glad I know now.
Maria Merian was the first person to discover and explain butterfly metamorphosis to the world. In her era no one, especially a woman, studied insects. Her drawings and research changed the medieval way of thinking about nature. This book is poetic, and combines science concepts into a biography. The back story about her life at the end enriches the reader’s experience.
Harriett Powers was a slave in Athens Georgia. She became a renowned quilter when a school teacher saw her quilt at a fair and offered to buy it. The teacher wrote down the stories Harriett had represented on the quilt to display in a museum. Today, Harriet’s quilts hand in the National Museum of American History in Washington DC. The story is engaging, and there are facts printed on quilt squares throughout the illustrations to give more details. Sewing Stories is a powerful story and stunningly designed book.
Drum Dream Girl is about Cuba’s first famous female drummer. She broke the outdated rule that only men could be drummers. The book is rhythmic, poetic, with a beat suitable for an engaging read aloud. The illustrations are vividly colorful and alive with movement.
Clarksville is the hometown of the great Wilma Rudolph, the Gold Medalist from the 1960 Olympic games. In this book, two girls are competing to be the fastest runners, just like their hero Wilma. The girls learn about strength and friendship in this fictional picture book. The back of the book features pictures of Wilma in the Clarksville Parade after her win. The connection from present day hero to history is well done.
This is a lovely account of the Mary Cassatts life and striving to become an artist. It was not acceptable for women to paint, and she received harsh reviews of her first efforts. She kept painting, and keenly observing life in order to capture it. The illustrations are done in Mary’s own style of painting. This is a lovely book to launch a lesson on Cassatt and her work.
Althea Gibson was the first Africa American woman to win Wimbledon. Her story is so powerful, she was discovered on the streets of Harlem hitting hard and accurate ping pong balls. A few people saw her athletic talent, and invested in her life and future. She learned to play tennis, and worked very hard against many racial barriers to win Wimbledon. She is a woman all children should know about.
Beginnings and Book Ends 