Each month we post an annotated bibliography of books that were rated ‘Outstanding’ and nominated for our Distinguished List at our previous month’s meeting. Members can see full reviews of these books and many more in the January edition of BayViews. Not a member? Join, come to our monthly meetings, and hear about these Outstanding books in person!
Fiction
28 Days: A Novel of Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto written by Safier, David; Feiwel & Friends, 2020.
Sixteen-year-old Mira is sneaking food into the Warsaw ghetto as the novel opens, and the mind-numbing fear of that smuggling trip leads into a chilling and detailed description of the Nazi’s genocidal liquidation of the Jewish population, and the fierce but doomed resistance of the dwindling survivors. (Grades 9-12.)
The How & the Why written by Hand, Cynthia; HarperTeen/HarperCollins, 2019.
An affecting and insightful look at adoption from the perspectives of an adopted child and her birth mother. Fine writing and rich character development enhance the letters that “S” writes to her unborn daughter and the quest that her daughter takes to find her 18 years later. (8-12.)
I Can Make This Promise written by Day, Christine; HarperCollins, 2019.
Twelve-year-old Edie loves to interpret her world through drawings, but she finds the hidden layers underneath this world which center around her Native American mom’s adoption by a white couple, and her own mixed-race heritage, less easy to delineate. (4-7.)
Nonfiction
Mission: HTML written by Preuitt, Sheela; Lerner, 2020.
[Series.] In these efficient books, readers can learn coding basics and practice along in real time on their computers. Practical applications are given at the beginning of each book, making the series a fine addition to a computer classroom in conjunction with a project, or as a basis for coding lessons. (3-6.)
Mission: Javascript written by Preuitt, Sheela; Lerner, 2020.
[Series.] In these efficient books, readers can learn coding basics and practice along in real time on their computers. Practical applications are given at the beginning of each book, making the series a fine addition to a computer classroom in conjunction with a project, or as a basis for coding lessons. (3-6.)
Biography
Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace written and illustrated by Bryan, Ashley; Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, 2019.
In an easy-to-follow narrative, award-winning writer/illustrator Ashley Bryan remembers through his artist’s eyes the boredom, hard work, and horrors of war as well as the racism Black soldiers experienced, while powerfully intertwining the three vast subjects of art, race, and World War II. (5-12.)
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