Real Kids. Good Books.
Our children are gorgeously diverse and they love a good read. At the heart of Real Kids/ Good Books are authors and illustrators who are building a new diverse canon, book by dazzling book.
Themes include: children of color, LGBTQ, adoption, special needs, math, science and writing. And of course there is also a mishmash of miscellany and reblogged tidbits that strike my fancy as they float by.
Thanks for stopping by.
-Kate
Out of the Dust (1997) by Karen Hesse.
Another all-time favorite. There aren’t too many verse novels out there and there are only a handful that I can think of in the middle grades. This one is just stunning.
Excerpt:
Beginning: August 1920
As summer wheat came ripe,
so did I,
born at home, on the kitchen floor.
Ma crouched,
barefoot, bare bottomed
over the swept boards,
because that’s where Daddy said it’d be best.I came too fast for the doctor,
bawling as soon as Daddy wiped his hand around
inside my mouth.
To hear Ma tell it,
I hollered myself red the day I was born.
Red’s the color I’ve stayed ever since.Daddy named me Billie Jo.
He wanted a boy.
Instead,
he got a long-legged girl
with a wide mouth
and cheekbones like bicycle handles.
He got a redheaded, freckle-faced, narrow-hipped girl
with a fondness for apples
and a hunger for playing fierce piano.
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parisswingbox likes this
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loveishowyoustayalive reblogged this from realkidsgoodbooks and added:
i love verse novels. i want to read them all right now. should i spend money? books. always spend money on books.
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sheepshrooms likes this
