Tonya Bolden

To my knowledge, there are very few historical fiction novels that deal with this part of American history: the Black upper class, sometimes called the Black aristocracy or the Black Elite, that existed in the 19th century. Granted, changes in civil laws—the nullification of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, the legalization of segregation, and much more—would shift the flow of history for Black Americans.

But the Black Elite did exist, and I decided to read this young adult novel almost immediately after seeing the cover and skimming part of the blurb.

The opening stages of Essie's story have an atmospheric quality, and I was drawn in. I didn't remain that engrossed the whole time, however. I thought the story could have used more emotional flavors, including dashes of distinct humor, and a little something more to the relationships.

On the whole, the novel didn't quite strike the right balance between history and story for me. I do appreciate historical fiction that's steeped in its period, and this book has no lack of American history nuggets. Yet, in the midst of the many nuggets as well as all of the details on culture and style—the lists of real people, the lists of real books, the extended descriptions of fashion and furnishings and foods and whatnot—Victoria gets fairly lost as a character, as does the sense of a plot surrounding her. Through much of the novel's second half, the vignettes concerning Victoria the person seem to rush by with little in the way of emotional development or connection. Even with the introduction of Victoria's love interest in the fourth quarter, I didn't sense a real build of emotional chemistry between the couple, so I didn't connect with the romance.

Still, as Victoria's past eventually comes to meet her present, I'd say the novel does come back around to feeling more like a story again before the conclusion. And the history is yet valuable.

Anyone who reads this novel must be sure not to skip the Author's Note at the end.… (més)

First sentence: A long, long time ago, there you were.
Pint-size sensation in tiny
Cotton Plant, Arkansas.
Rosa,
Rosabell,
Rosie Etta.
Who had a clue you'd one
day rock the world?

Premise/plot: This one is a picture book biography of singer/musician Sister Rosetta Tharpe. It is written in verse. It covers her life and career.

My thoughts: I'd never heard of Sister Rosetta Tharpe before reading this one. (Though I'd heard of This Train. And maybe perhaps even heard *her* version of This Train.) It is always a pleasure to genuinely, actually LEARN while reading children's nonfiction. This one left me super curious to seek out her music and give it a listen.… (més)

As the subtitle indicates, 15 landmark American speeches, each preceded by an introduction from Bolden that directly conveys needed history to the under-12 set.

This collection treats readers not only to well-known oratory, such as Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream,” Frederick Douglass’ “What, to the Slave, Is the Fourth of July,” and Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman” (rendered here in standard English as “I Am a Woman’s Rights”), but also to some that are not as famous but still a necessary part of the discourse about what the American experiment meant and still means to different people affected by it. Seneca chief Red Jacket’s explanation to white American missionary Jacob Cram that “we do not wish to destroy your religion, or take it from you; we only wish to enjoy our own” is powerfully resonant today, for instance. What separates this collection from other anthologies that celebrate spoken patriotism is the way Bolden gives readers a critical historical context—explaining, for example, that Patrick Henry was enslaving black people even as he fiercely opposed Britain's enslaving the white colonists with unreasonable taxes. Velasquez contributes luminous oil portraits, rather disappointingly portraying Truth as an angry black woman but otherwise ably giving strong faces to these strong voices.

A golden celebration of the multicultural voices who demand that the U.S.—and the world—do better. (author’s note, illustrator’s note, timeline, sources, permissions) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

-Kirkus Review… (més)