Skip to main content

Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington

By


Fifty Cents and a Dream:  Young Booker T. Washington
by Jabari Asim, illustrated by Bryan Collier
Little, Brown and Company, 2012.  Unpaged.  Biography.

     Born into slavery, Booker T. Washington carried his master's daughter's books to school and longed to understand the writing that would open the world to him. When his family were finally freed, Booker took every opportunity to learn his letters and then to read. Grit, determination, courage, and persistence finally set him on the 500-mile road to Hampton Institute, a place where black people could study and learn without fear. He walked most of the way, often tired, hungry, and cold, arriving on campus with only fifty cents in his pocket. Working long hours to support himself in school, he had finally realized his dream "to let no obstacle prevent me from putting forth the highest effort to fit myself to accomplish the most good in the world."  Some of the good he later accomplished is laid out in an author's end note, but the message of this lovely picture book biography is one of persistence and love of learning, hard work and responsibility.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

By
KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Teacher of Nomad Land

By
The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story By Daniel Nayeri Montclair, NJ: Levine Querido, 2025. Historical fiction. 181 pgs. In 1941 Iran, 13-year-old Babak will do anything to stay with his younger sister Sana, who is 8. After their father is killed during the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, the siblings are left orphaned and Babak takes over guardianship to prevent the two from being separated. Carrying his father's blackboard on his back, Babak and Sana set off from Isfahan to find the nomadic tribes as they make their yearly trek across the mountains. Along the way, they encounter a suspicious man named Vulf, a friendly Englishman with a name that means cabbage, and a Jewish boy named Ben who has Vulf hot on his heels. As he is known for doing, Daniel Nayeri weaves a highly readable adventure with threads of philosophy about God, the ties of family, and musings about how cultures can reconcile across differences. The setting of this novel is ingeniously unique, and a lengt...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Forest of a Thousand Eyes

By
The Forest of a Thousand Eyes Written by Frances Hardinge Illustrated by Emily Gravett New York: Amulet Books, 2025. Fantasy. 120 pgs. Feather lives on the edge of The Forest, in a community perched on the top of a stone wall. Her entire life has been a balance of keeping the wild forest and it's dangerous creatures at bay. As a gatherer, Feather is tasked to venture down the Wall and find supplies, but it's obvious to everyone that there is less and less to forage. When a stranger named Merildun offers a map of the known world in exchange for a spyglass, Feather is tricked into giving away her community's most valuable possession. In a frantic race for survival, Feather pursues after Merildun and discovers a series of isolated communities fighting against a hostile nature. This novel is a quick read for many readers, but the excellent illustrations - at times haunting and at others magical - will prompt extra time for close study. The illustrations perfectly support a lavi...
Post a Comment
Read more