Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix

Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix

Written by: Gary Golio
Illustrated by: Javaka Steptoe

Upper Elementary, Junior High and High School Grades

**2011 Coretta Scott Book Award**

"Before he was famous, little Jimmy Hendrix tuned into a world colored with the sounds of the city outside the Seattle boarding house where he lived with his father. As a boy he strove to reproduce those sounds on his one-string ukulele, and eventually on a secondhand guitar. Golio's lyrical text sings with delicious description, and Steptoe's wildly colored mixed-media illustrations show the hues of the boy's imagination, with Hendrix always standing out from his surroundings. The story itself focuses on the musician's rise to fame, with a supplementary note and a bibliography providing more detailed background information. His tragic death is dealt with in a separate author's note, accompanied by a list of resources about substance abuse. A fascinating "Illustrator's Note" illuminates the process behind the intriguing artwork and underscores the book's theme of exploring the creative process. This book is likely to fascinate older children and reluctant readers who might be familiar with Hendrix's music, and could easily be tied into art and music curricula."

School Library Journal Review

Online Resources:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m2H5T7S5QOJG0L/ref=ent_fb_link
http://www.garygolio.com/

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave

Written by: Laban Carrick Hill
Illustrated by: Bryan Collier

Elementary Grades

**2011 Coretta Scott King Award**

"To us it is just dirt, the ground we walk on... But to Dave it was clay, the plain and basic stuff upon which he formed a life as a slave nearly 200 years ago.

Dave was an extraordinary artist, poet, and potter living in South Carolina in the 1800s. He combined his superb artistry with deeply observant poetry, carved onto his pots, transcending the limitations he faced as a slave. In this inspiring and lyrical portrayal, National Book Award nominee Laban Carrick Hill's elegantly simple text and award-winning artist Bryan Collier's resplendent, earth-toned illustrations tell Dave's story, a story rich in history, hope, and long-lasting beauty."

Publishers Description

Online Resources:
http://www.labanhill.com/dave_the_potter_53284.htm

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty

Written by: G. Neri
Illustrated by: Randy DuBurke
**2011 Coretta Scott King Award**

Content should be read and previewed by teacher to determine if content is appropriate for the age of student due to mention of gangs and violence. I think the relevance of this topic will be enjoyed by teens, and the graphic novel format will appeal to struggling readers.

Junior High and High School Grades

"Eleven-year old Roger is trying to make sense of his classmate Robert "Yummy" Sandifer's death, but first he has to make sense of Yummy's life. Yummy could be as tough as a pit bull sometimes. Other times he was as sweet as the sugary treats he loved to eat. Was Yummy some sort of monster, or just another kid? As Roger searches for the truth, he finds more and more questions. How did Yummy end up in so much trouble? Did he really kill someone? And why do all the answers seem to lead back to a gang-the same gang to which Roger's older brother belongs? Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty is a compelling graphic dramatization based on events that occurred in Chicago in 1994. This gritty exploration of youth gang life will force readers to question their own understandings of good and bad, right and wrong."

Publishers Description

Online Resources:
http://gregneri.com/yummy.html
http://www.leeandlow.com/p/yummy_dq.mhtml
Above link includes a teachers guide

Lockdown

Lockdown

Written by: Walter Dean Myers

Junior High and High School Grades

**2011 Coretta Scott King Award**

"Myers takes readers inside the walls of a juvenile corrections facility in this gritty novel. Fourteen-year-old Reese is in the second year of his sentence for stealing prescription pads and selling them to a neighborhood dealer. He fears that his life is headed in a direction that will inevitably lead him “upstate,” to the kind of prison you don’t leave. His determination to claw his way out of the downward spiral is tested when he stands up to defend a weaker boy, and the resulting recriminations only seem to reinforce the impossibility of escaping a hopeless future. Reese’s first-person narration rings with authenticity as he confronts the limits of his ability to describe his feelings, struggling to maintain faith in himself; Myers’ storytelling skills ensure that the messages he offers are never heavy-handed. The question of how to escape the cycle of violence and crime plaguing inner-city youth is treated with a resolution that suggests hope, but doesn’t guarantee it. A thoughtful book that could resonate with teens on a dangerous path."

Booklist Review

Online Resources:
http://www.harperteen.com/books/Lockdown-Walter-Dean-Myers/?isbn=9780061214806
*scroll down the page to the PDF teachers guide for this book!

One Crazy Summer

One Crazy Summer

Written by: Rita Williams-Garcia

Upper Elementary and Junior High Grades

*2011 Coretta Scott King Award Winner, Newberry Honor Book, National Book Award Finalist*

"Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the missing pieces of the past.

When the girls arrive in Oakland in the summer of 1968, Cecile wants nothing to do with them. She makes them eat Chinese takeout dinners, forbids them to enter her kitchen, and never explains the strange visitors with Afros and black berets who knock on her door. Rather than spend time with them, Cecile sends Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern to a summer camp sponsored by a revolutionary group, the Black Panthers, where the girls get a radical new education.

Set during one of the most tumultuous years in recent American history, one crazy summer is the heartbreaking, funny tale of three girls in search of the mother who abandoned them—an unforgettable story told by a distinguished author of books for children and teens, Rita Williams-Garcia."

Publishers Description

Online Resources:
http://www.ritawg.com/

Acolytes

Acolytes
Written by: Nikki Giovanni

Junior High and High School Grades

This collection of eighty new poems from distinguished author and poet Nikki Giovanni offers a variety of subjects evoking images from history such as Rosa Parks and Civil Rights activists as well as contemporary events like Hurricane Katrina. I've read many of Giovanni's works and this one in particular struck me as a book that teachers could use for a read-a-loud choosing one poem to read and focus on for a literary, social, or political discussion.

Jennie's Review

Product Description

Online Resources:
http://nikki-giovanni.com/acolytes.shtml