A Ride To Remember (Interview with Author Sharon Langley)

Hey Guys!!!!!

First I'd like to celebrate the fact that I've reach 500 Views!!!! Thank you all so much for stopping by my page. I know I haven't been on here in a while, but school is in session and my mom has me doing everything. However, I am still an active reader, I just need to be better about blogging what I've been reading.

Ok, now lets get to the good stuff. A NEW BOOK!

A Ride To Remember was written by Sharon Langley and Amy Nathan, released on January 7, 2020.

This book is so cool because it's a true story and talks about something so real that happened back in 1963, but in a way for people of all ages to understand. The illustration, which was done by Floyd Cooper, helps to capture a very real and important situation and make it alluring to draw readers in.

The author's approach to this story is brilliant and welcoming as well as informative. This book is a Civil Rights story about a young girl who represented change during a time when segregation was still law in some parts of the US.
I can't stress enough how important and relevant this story is in today's society, because I don't know how it is in anyone else's school, but ever since I was a kid, none of my schools ever talked about black history. My mom always had to go up to my schools and fight for that knowledge to be taught. She even got one of my schools to have me play the Black National Anthem on the schools so they can discuss it in class.

I think this book is important because this was a time that wasn't so long ago, yet, somehow is being forgotten. I really appreciate the presentation and the gentle approach to share history in a family book. I definitely recommend this book.

MY INTERVIEW WITH SHARON LANGLEY

1. What inspired you, after all these years, to tell the story of the little girl (you) 

who made history on August 28th 1963? A few years ago, Amy Nathan and I talked about working together to tell the story for young readers and their families.

2. Because you were so young when the laws change for segregation, can you recall a time when you truly understood what segregation meant and how you represented hope and change? If so, how would you describe your realization?  My parents told me the story of our family’s role in Gwynn Oak’s integration many times.  It’s important that we have a sense of history, acknowledging those barriers that have come down and addressing those that still remain.  I appreciate my parents telling me the Gwynn Oak story, as well as the experiences that they had growing up.  It helps to have an appreciation for the things that our ancestors endured and overcame.  It also helps you to be aware of circumstances and situations.

3. What do you hope the readers take from this book? This event was not very long ago. Situations where people are excluded and marginalized are still occurring. We all have an opportunity and a responsibility to speak up, stand up and take action when we know that something is wrong. 

4. Because I am growing up in a different time and it seems some of our history is slowly becoming forgotten, what advice can you give an African American kid like myself to help contribute to our cause, our purpose and our history? As a continuation to the question number 3, it’s important that you’re aware of your history.  It’s also important that you’re aware of the sacrifices that previous generations gave to improve our lives, the lives that we live now.  But, even with progress, there’s still more progress to be made.  How are your neighborhoods?  How are  your schools?  How are your prospects for the future?  If you see any inequity, that’s letting you know that there’s still work to be done and most likely, you and your generation are the people to do it.

5. I read online somewhere that you were a teacher. Are you still teaching? If so, Which subject(s)? I do still work in school, but as an elementary administrator. Now, I work with students, teachers, parents, and our school community.

6. Have you ever shared this story with your students? If so, what were their thoughts? Before the artwork for A Ride to Remember  was completed, I shared the story along with some photographs from the protests and the day my dad and I rode the carousel.  Although the groups of students were young (first and second graders) and the photographs were from a time long ago, they were able to tell me quite a bit about the story and what they understood about segregation. 

7. I had the opportunity to interview Floyd Cooper over the summer and it was super awesome. He's really nice and cool. How was it for you to work with him? I had the opportunity to meet him in person at National Conference of Teachers of English (NCTE) in November 2019. We were scheduled to appear together on a teacher round-table.  It was great to finally meet him.  Working together on the panel was a pleasure.

8. Can you recommend me 3 books to add to my collection? Sure. 
 I’ll suggest these: Brown Baby Lullaby by Tameka Fryer Brown,  
Just Like Me by Vanessa Newton and Dream Builder: The Story of
 Architect Phillip Freelon by Kelly Starling Lyons.

Sharon Langley became the first 

African American child 

to ride the carousel at Gwynn Oak 

Amusement Park  

on the day it was integrated. 

That day represented the end of an 

eight-year effort to 

desegregate the park.

 It was for many a great day.

FLOAT

Float

By: Laura Martin

Hey guys! 

Long time no read. Just joking. Anywho, Let me catch you up on some books I've read 

FLOAT is about a boy name Emerson with floating powers  that he can't control. He has to wear big heavy boots and a big vest so he doesn't float away. His mother signed him up for an at risk summer camp for kids just like Emerson. There, Emerson got to meet some cool kids like himself and eventually made some best friends. Even Emerson's teacher had powers. 

The kids were ranked by how dangerous their "gifts" were and all of Emerson's friends were at a lower level of risk than he was except his friends Murphy. Murphy had the ability to time travel but against his will and if you touch him while he is about to time travel there's a possibility he takes you with him and there's also the possibility they neither of you return. Because of this, he puts everyone at risk. This makes the summer more interesting.

I found this book to be fun and exciting because each child had their own unique powers and each one of them were at risk of hurting or causing trouble for the other. It was fun to read about their everyday adventures and obstacles and them learning to co-exist despite their adversities. This book is not predictable and is probably good for ages 8-12. If you're interested in purchasing this book you can do so by clicking here.

Thanks for reading!

✌

Grandpa's Face-Interview with Illustrator Floyd Cooper

I'm super excited to tell you about this book! Why? Well, because I had the privilege of interviewing the illustrator, and of course, because it's a good book! 

The reason this book is so cool and the illustrator is even cooler, is because I see faces that look like mine and read about things I can relate to. The illustrations in Floyd's books are vibrant and familiar to me. I love it!!!

Grandpa's Face is about a little girl named Tamika who adored her grandfather, and even more, his facial expressions. No matter how angry, sad, or worried, Tamika always saw love in his face. 

Look at his face, it really is such a loving face. He seems like an awesome Grandpa to me.  

Later in the book, Tamika walked in on her grandpa rehearsing for a play he was in, and noticed a face that she have never seen before. She describe the face as as a hard face. She said he it had a tight mouth and cold eyes. She also said it was a face that could never love her or anyone. Because of this, Tamika became sad and worried that he might look at her that way one day. She tried to provoke him to see if he'd use that face on her. But he never did. His face always showed her love. And the book ended with her in awe admiring her grandpa's loving face.

                                                                                                                                                          Honestly, this book makes me think of my grandmother and her beautiful face. When I went back to New Jersey in spring of 2018, and my Mom Mom opened the door, I felt so happy, so much love and warmth. I love her face, her face makes me feel home.

This photo was taken in somewhere between April-July in 2012

MY INTERVIEW WITH FLOYD COOPER

Floyd Cooper is the Coretta Scott King award-winning illustrator of more than 60 books for children. Floyd started his career in illustration at Hallmark, after a successful career in the industrial side of art, he made the leap into picture books with Eloise Greenfield's Grandpa's Face.

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.   I Started drawing on the side of our house in Bixby, Oklahoma at 3 years old. Grew up in low income housing, the projects in Tulsa, OK. Attended all eleven elementary schools in North Tulsa.  Teacher's noticed my drawing, submitted my work to a scholarship committee. I attended University of Oklahoma on scholarship. Graduated and went to work for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City. Moved to Manhattan, NYC.  After struggle, secured my first publishing contract with Penguin. 

2. How long have you been doing illustrations?  My first book was published in 1988.

3. How many books do you think you've illustrated up until now?  I have just finished illustrating my 109th book. I have written 5 books.

4. What do you enjoy most about doing this?  Being able to work in my PJ's. Getting treated like a star on Thursday's. (Hahaha I love this guy)

5.  Do you do freehand drawings, or do you have subjects?  For books I like to secure models, but that isn't always possible. Therefore, I free-style at every chance. Besides, I still love to draw.

6. What kind of tools do you use?  My work is distinctive in that I use something I call "oil erasure" whereby I erase shapes from a background to produce the images in my books.  There is no other illustrating books this way.  It is my voice.  My favorite eraser is the kneaded eraser, followed by the electric eraser.

7. What inspired you to become an Illustrator?  I believe that we are born with inclinations, things we like to do.  We do these things a lot because we enjoy them. That makes us better at these things. Some people call it talent. Some call it a gift.  If you do something all day, every day you will become "gifted".

8. Do you work with a publishing company or are you a freelancer?  I work with all of the major publishing companies and have contracts for the next 3 years. I try not to book to far in advance, you never know what might pop up.

9. Is there a piece that you're particularly proud of? If so, which piece and why?  I like the book on my drawing board because it's fresh.  My favorite book is MAX AND THE TAG-ALONG MOON because Dolly Parton added it to her Imagination Library last year and it has sold over 1.5 million copies.

10. Can you recommend me 3 new books to read, that you've Illustrated? 
MAX AND THE TAG ALONG MOON,

THE RINGBEARER

 

WHERE'S RODNEY

  

Thank You Floyd for such an amazing interview!!! I appreciate you and best believe I'll be getting every book you mentioned!

Thank you all for reading!!!

Please come back again!!!

Double Identity

Double Identity 

By: Margaret Peterson Haddix

This book is about a girl named Bethany who grew up completely sheltered and spoiled by her parents. Until suddenly...things changed.

Bethany noticed that her mom was crying a lot and her dad started getting depressed.

One day her parents dropped her off at a strangers house and left her there without warning, without reason. They even changed their number so Bethany could not get in contact with them.

As time goes on Bethany  began to find out dark things about her parents and past that she never knew or could even imagine to be real. She came to realize she didn't know them at all. She even found out that she might have had an older sister who died in a crash that apparently looked identical to her.

It turned out that her father was on the run from a criminal who had just been released from prison.
There is some suspicion that her father was a part of some extremely illegal and unethical activities with this man and her father framed him, putting him away for the majority of Bethany's life up until now.

What kind of trouble did her dad get into? Did he and his wife give Bethany away to save her? Read the book to find out

I got this book for my 6th Birthday from one of my mother's friends. I know it sounds crazy but its not so bad once you get the whole story. Yes, My mom began reading the book to me when we first got it, but we put the book on hold until recently. I finished this book in 2018. Margaret Haddix writes a lot of young adult fiction books and is part of the Scholastic Book Club. At some of your school book fairs, you may even spot some of Haddix's books like 39 Clues, (which is a book that is part of a larger series by a variety of authors), or Risked (which is part of The Missing Series). If you have a book written by Margaret Haddix, share and tell me what you think of her as an author.

Thanks for reading!!!

Scared of the Dark

Scared of the Dark,

A book written by Shannon Passe

Illustrated by: Craig Orback

Published by: Heinemann

Fountas & Pinnell LITERACY  

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Words: 1067 

Level:  N

This book is not that long because it is part of a collection which I don't have, but I was lucky enough to get this copy because I'm actually in it. I'll explain later.

Quinn, 

A city kid, was being dropped off for two weeks at his uncle TJ and auntie Ny's house. He was used to being in the city not a rural neighborhood. 
Quinn does not like rural areas because there are no street lights, just nature, making it easy for him to use the black night to create scary figures in the night.

One night, Quinn left his uncle's binoculars outside on a tree and just remember he did when it was super dark out. At first he planned on getting it the next day but he knew he would get in trouble from his uncle if it got messed up, so he went outside to get it but heard sounds in bushes that made him scared. When he grabbed the binoculars he hurried back to the house and his auntie and uncle was there waiting for him. Quinn admitted he was scared of the dark but his aunt told him it wasn't that bad and told him to look in the sky.
The sky was lit with stars everywhere. He never got to see the night like that in the city. He and his aunt and uncle spent the night put stargazing. 

Back to what I was saying about me in the book, its true, I'm the kid illustrated in this book. See for yourself!

Pretty cool huh? 

I actually got to work with Craig Orback! 

I was shy at first but he was nice so I really enjoyed myself.

Hopefully I'll get the chance to do something like this again in the future. 

*FINGERS CROSSED* Thank you for reading.

Erased

by Kei Sanbe

This book was crazy, like very crazy. My mom picked out this book just like the other ones, She didn't know it was going to be crazy. I think she just chose it because of the cover. The cover doesn't do a good job at giving you any clue to how the book is gonna turn out. 

This book is very dark, not dark literally cuz the book cover is white 😂. But the book is pretty disturbing.

It's about a twenty nine year old guy named Satoru Fujinuma, who has the ability to go back in time and correct mistakes. He calls it "Revival." He didn't really understand how to use his powers at first, it was just like deja vu. 

Satoru would usually go back hours or days but one day his mom gets murdered and it heightened his abilities making him go back in time eighteen years. 

Going back in time may save his mom but may also cost him his own life. Erased is an eight book series but was also turned into an anime cartoon. Like most series that hit the screen, the anime is told a little different. Even though this book was a little disturbing it kept me on my toes and was satisfyingly suspenseful and intriguing. I give this book a 5 star rating. 

Here is a trailer of the Erased anime:

If you decide to read the book or watch the anime, please comment and share your thoughts.

Thanks for reading.  

Peace out ✌✌✌

Too Much Magic

Too Much Magic,
by Betsy and Samuel Sterman
Eight year old Jeff finds a cube in a park that grants any wish and has unlimited wishes. Jeff and his older brother Bill, finds it fun and interesting to wish for anything. The brothers started wishing for things any kid their age would wish for.  But eventually, the cube will get Jeff and Bill in to trouble. They need to work together to get things back in order.

The cool thing about this book is that it was written in 1987, 3 years after my mother was born, and it was her first Chapter book. She told me this was the first book that inspired her to want to read more books.

Reading this book, really took my imagination for a ride. I thought about all the cool things I'd wish for if I ever was lucky enough to find a magic cube, but reading about the trouble that Jeff and Bill caused, made me rethink how I'd go about my wishes.

Let me ask you something, If you had a magic cube with unlimited powers, what would you wish for? Comment below.