Skip to main content

Books to Read...For Juneteenth

By
Today is Juneteenth, a holiday that commemorates the end of enslavement in the United States. It is also called, “Juneteenth Independence Day," “Freedom Day” or “Emancipation Day.” It became a federal holiday in 2021 and many are still learning the importance of this day. To help you learn more, we have compiled a list of some great books to read.

Written by Alliah L. Agostini
Illustrated by Sawyer Cloud
Bellevue, WA : becker&mayer! kids, 2022. Informational.

This informational picture book is a great resource to teach children all about Juneteenth and the history behind this holiday. It talks about the events that lead up to Juneteenth and how the first celebration of Juneteenth was called "Jubilee Day". The illustrations are colorful and bright and the author shares lots of information in a way that is easy to understand.

By Kim Taylor
New York : Holiday House, 2023. Informational. 

The author of this book, Kim Taylor, is a skilled quilter who uses her quilting skills to tell the story of Juneteenth. Each page has pictures of her handmade quilts that tell the story of Juneteenth through the eyes of a young girl named Huldah. This is a unique way of telling the story of this holiday that adds even greater depth to our understanding.

Written by Glenda Armand
Illustrated by Corey Barksdale
New York : Crown Books for Young Readers, 2023. Picture Book.

This picture book is written in the same rhyming pattern as The Night Before Christmas, which makes it a fun read aloud. This book tells about a family that gathers every year to hear Grandma tell the story, passed down from her Grandmother, about what it was like on June 19, 1865 when the people in Texas received word of the Emancipation Proclamation. 
 
Written by Rhiannon Giddens
Illustrated by Monica Mikai
Somerville, Massachusetts : Candlewick Press, 2022. Picture Book.

The author Rhiannon Giddens, is a Grammy Award winner, who originally wrote the text of this book as a song on the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth. She decided to also turn it into her first children's picture book. It tells of the struggles, hardship, and resilience of the enslaved African Americans and how they used music to sustain them. There is also a QR code included to be able to scan and listen to her powerful song.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Faker

By
Faker By Gordon Korman New York: Scholastic Press, 2024. Fiction. 214 pages. 12-year-old Trey is used to starting over at a new school -- he has the routine perfectly memorized: make new friends, introduce his dad to the wealthy parents of his new friends, and "Houdini" themselves out of there before they get caught running their latest scam. Trey's dad is a master con artist, and Trey has just been promoted to full-partner. Their new scheme for the next big score brings them to the affluent suburb of Boxelder, TN where Trey's dad has cooked up a fake electric car company for investors to buy into. The only problem is that Trey is starting to grow tired of moving around and never putting down roots, especially after forming a fast friendship with Logan and developing a crush on Kaylee, a socially conscious girl in his class. As Trey longs for a normal life, is there any way he can convince his dad to get out of the family business? Gordon Korman is a perennial favorit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Bletchley Riddle

By
  The Bletchley Riddle By Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin New York: Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2024. Fiction. 392 pages. It's spring of 1940, Hitler has swept through most of Europe, and people believe England will be next. Half Polish-Jewish, half American Jakob has been recruited from Cambridge to Bletchley Park where they are working on deciphering the enigma machine. Jakob's sister Lizzie, meanwhile, is being forced to move from London to Cleveland to live with her grandmother after her mother disappeared in a 1939 attack in Poland. Lizzie manages to escape the keeper her grandmother sent for her to bring her to America and makes her way to Bletchley, where she's eventually given the task of delivering messages between departments. When secret messages begin appearing with Lizzie's belongings, she must decipher them to find the truth about her mother's past and location, while keeping the secrets away from the MI5 agent that seems a little t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dragon Run

By
Dragon Run by Patrick Matthews Scholastic, 2013.  336 pgs.  Fantasy      Al Pilgrommor is excited for Testing Day, when he will receive his rank, a tattooed number on the back of his neck, and a path forward to his future occupation and life.  He feels confident because his parents were fours on a scale of seven, but he is worried for his friend Wisp who doesn't have much of a chance of scoring above a two at best. But when Al is scored a zero, he not only has no prospects, he may lose his life as the dreaded Cullers are unleashed to kill him and his family to purify the land's bloodlines.  Al's world is ruled by dragons--the lords and supposed creators of humankind--so he thinks that even if he survives, he will have to make his living as a beggar or thief. But when Al sticks up for his Earther friend in front of Magister Ludi, he is drawn into the struggle of a secret organization hoping to destroy the Cullers, and perhaps the dragons them...
1 comment
Read more