

If your looking for an elementary aged picture book that doesn‘t sugarcoat slavery, Alexander‘s new picture book is well done!
If your looking for an elementary aged picture book that doesn‘t sugarcoat slavery, Alexander‘s new picture book is well done!
A flawed, but incredibly powerful collection of stories.
It serves as a commentary on the Jim Crowe South…and also oddly on (the awkwardness of?) Communist idealism. It also has some beautiful use of idiomatic language, terrific characters, and insane dramatic tension.
Etchings are by John Wilson for the story Down by the Riverside.
#RichardWright
Started a new book this morning.
#RichardWright is a planned 2023 theme for me. This collection of novellas was his first published book, originally published in 1938 and expanded in 1940.
Nonfiction time. Poor Casey‘s got a bad stomach today, so he was happy to curl up close beside me while I read another chunk of this excellent book on faith and food.
I am totally blown away by this book in which the author, a culinary historian and a Jew, talks about the intersection of Black and Jewish cultures. Just fascinating!
But the photographs...
Called poetic or elegant prose, this is really a kind of historical manifesto on the crimes of America against African Americans, contextualized as an economic power struggle between the wealthiest (whites), and on the manipulation of poor white tensions by directing them towards white/black divisions. The photographs, almost all depression-era images from the FSA, are magnificent. Terrific text/photo combo.
The water thundered into her ears, forced itself down her throat, and burned its way into her nose, her lungs, her brain. This water was fierce and deadly—no cool, gentle waves, but hot, choking liquid flames, sucking the breath of life from her.
#RomietteAndJulio #SharonMDraper #firstline #openingline #book #books #bookdesign #bookdesigner #bookdeal #YoungAdult #Romance #Fiction #RealisticFiction #Teen #Retellings #AfricanAmerican #Contemporary