CLINE-RANSOME, Lesa. Light in the Darkness: A Story About How Slaves Learned in Secret. illus. by James E. Ransome. Disney/Jump at the Sun. 2013. ISBN 9781423134954. JLG Level: I+ : Independent Readers (Grades 2–4).

In an age when some kids drop out of school because they’re bored, it seems ironic that just over 100 years ago people of all ages risked their lives to learn to read. Rosa goes with her mother in the dark of night to learn her letters in a pit school. Pit schools were large holes covered in branches where slaves could hide while learning the alphabet. They could be whipped for every letter learned. Based on historical facts, the Ransomes weave an enlightening story about the thirst for knowledge.

DAVIDSON, Tish. African-American Scientists and Inventors. Mason Crest. 2013. ISBN 9781422223758. JLG Level: H35 : Series Nonfiction: History 3–5 (Grades 3–5).

Thomas Jennings received the first patent given to an African American for his dry cleaning process in 1821. When car traffic became a problem in the early 1920s, Garrett Morgan invented a crossing pole to regulate the vehicles. Mae Jemison was the first African American female astronaut to fly in space in 1992. In five short chapters, Davidson introduces African American scientists and inventors who made a difference in agriculture, industry, transportation, medicine, and aerospace. When George W. Carter’s crop rotation plan resulted in an excess harvest of peanuts, he invented 270 uses for them. Edison’s light bulb was short-lasting and expensive. Lewis Latimer succeeded in making a less expensive, longer-lasting carbon filament. In spite of racism, lack of education, and resources, these African Americans made important contributions to our history. Chapter notes, chronology, glossary, and resources support this informational text.

FRADIN, Judith Bloom and Dennis Brindell Fradin. The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery. illus. by Eric Velasquez. Walker. 2013. ISBN 9780802721679. JLG Level: NE : Nonfiction Elementary (Grades 2–6).

Husband and wife team up in an edge-of-your-seat picture book about a town that stands together to save one of their own. In spite of Ohio’s free state status, the Fugitive Slave Act allows slave hunters to capture runaways and return them to slavery for the reward money. Runaway and teacher John Price is in Oberlin, Ohio when Anderson Jennings and his team catch up with him. Thirteen-year-old Shake Boynton accepts $20 to help capture the fugitive. As the slave hunters take Price to nearby Wellington, they pass college student, Ansel Lyman, who runs to town for help. Hundreds of community members join in the fight to rescue Price. The narrative gets stronger when the Oberlin residents are arrested; a lone girl stands up for her teacher, “There is more goodness in his little finger than in your whole carcass!” The price of freedom in this town is three months in jail, but their release binds them together in a pledge, “No fugitive slave shall ever be taken from Oberlin either with or without a warrant, if we have power to prevent it.” Powerful illustrations accompany this amazing tale.

ORR, Tamra. Louis Armstrong. Mitchell Lane. 2013. ISBN 9781612282640. JLG Level: S68 : Series Nonfiction: Social Studies 6–8 (Grades 6–8).

Footnotes and short chapters combine for a brief introduction to a legend in America’s music history. From a night in jail to posthumous honors, jazz performer Louis Armstrong is portrayed as a man who blazed his own trail, never losing sight of his path. “Pleasing the people” was his way of life. He lived to make music, whether it was on the beat-up cornet he found for five dollars, or his last concert at the Waldorf Hotel.

Orr blends research with dialogue to make Armstrong’s story more accessible to readers of. “My belief and satisfaction is that, as long as a person breathes, they still have a chance to exercise the talents they were born with.” While the author doesn’t omit the hardships Louis faced (multiple marriages, poverty, lack of education and musical training), she paints a vivid picture of a man who was born to bring music to everyone around him. Chapter notes, selected works, and other back matter supplement the short chapters.

WINTER, Jonah. You Never Heard of Willie Mays?! illus. by Terry Widener. Random/Schwartz & Wade. 2013. ISBN 9780375968440. JLG Level: SE : Sports Elementary (Grades 2-6).

The award-winning baseball-loving team, Winter and Widener, is back with another grand slam. Willie Mays, the “Say-Hey Kid,” wanted to be the next Joe DiMaggio. Trouble was he lived in a time when major league baseball teams didn’t allow black men to play with white guys. Then in 1951, Mays got his chance. In his first bat at the Polo Grounds he hit a homerun. In 1954, the Hall of Fame-bound sportsman made a play that even today we still call “the Catch.” Fact-filled side bars add even more details about Willie and the records he broke. Beautiful acrylic illustrations allow readers to feel the tension in the game and the determination of a man who made a difference in the baseball’s history.

For ideas about how to use these books and links to supportive sites, check out the Junior Library Guild blog, Shelf Life.

Junior Library Guild is a collection development service that helps school and public libraries acquire the best new children’s and young adult books. Season after season, year after year, Junior Library Guild book selections go on to win awards, collect starred or favorable reviews, and earn industry honors. Visit us at www.JuniorLibraryGuild.com.

Fiction prize: Frank Cottrell Boyce has won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize £1,500 for his novel, The Unforgotten Coat (Candlewick, 2011), published in the UK by Walker Books. Established in 1967, the prize is unique because it is judged by writers. This year’s panel included children’s authors Tony Bradman, Cressida Cowell, and Kevin Crossley-Holland, and was chaired by Guardian Children’s Books editor Julia Eccleshare. The novel is the story of refugee brothers from Mongolia who live in Liverpool and examines the hard-hitting effects that immigration has on children. “With his brilliant depiction of two brothers from Mongolia trying to adapt to school in Liverpool while haunted by a fear from home, Frank Cottrell Boyce never preaches to the reader, and the judges felt that he writes with such credibility and warmth that his readers will be left wiser when they have finished the story,” said Eccleshare. A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle, Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos, and The Abominables by Eva Ibbotson were shortlisted for the Prize.

Essay Contest

Intergenerational project: Kids can learn about real life from real people. The Listen to a Life Essay Contest gives students the opportunity to discover the past by interviewing a person over 50 years old (grandparent, mentor, neighbor, etc.—but not a parent) about “their hopes and goals through their life, how they achieved goals and overcame obstacles, or how dreams may have changed along the way.” Youngsters between the ages of  8 and 18  are eligible to write a 300-word essay based on the interview. The national contest, now in its 13th year, is run by the Legacy Project and the nonprofit Generations’ United in Washington, DC. Be sure to check out the contest rules, sample interview questions and interview tips. Applicants must fill out the online entry form. All entries should be be received by March 22, and winners will be announced by May 8.

Judging will be based on writing quality, content depth, and appropriateness of theme, particularly the ability to capture a timeless idea, insight, or theme based on real-life experience. The judges will take into account the age of the entrant in evaluating entries. The grand prize winner will receive a Lenovo ThinkCenter All-in-One Computer, an autographed copy of Dream: A Tale of Wonder, Wisdom & Wishes (Communication Project, 2004) by Susan Bosak, and a timepiece from Expressions of Time. Ten runners-up will receive an autographed copy of Dream, a framed award certificate, and a timepiece from Expressions of Time. All award-winning essays will be posted as part of the permanent Legacy Library.

“Generations are a living perspective, says Susan Bosak, Legacy Project Chair. “When you bring young and old together, you complete the circle. This contest gives young people and older adults the motivation to talk. As more people live longer, they can be a tremendous resource to enrich young lives and create a legacy to change the future.”

You Have to Be in It…

Make Lemonade: To coincide with the release of Jacqueline Davies’s The Candy Smash (Houghton Harcourt, 2013), the fourth title in “The Lemonade War” series, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation is teaming up with the book’s publisher and author to challenge students in elementary and middle schools to take part in a lemonade war of their own to help fight kids’ cancer. Schools will compete to see who can raise the most money through a lemonade stand project or other event. Participants can register until April 1. Fundraising may not begin before February 14, and all money must be received no later than April 26. Winners will be contacted on May 3. Be sure to check out all the entry rules.

Davies will visit the school that raises the most money by May 17. The winner will also receive up to 100 autographed copies of The Candy Smash. Three runner-up schools will be awarded Skype sessions with Jacqueline Davies and audiobooks of The Lemonade War and The Lemonade Crime (both Recorded Books). To date, the Foundation, a registered 501 (c)3 charity, has raised more than $55 million.

Awards

African American literature advocate: Nominations for the 2013 Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Practitioner Award for Lifetime Achievement are being accepted through December 15, 2012 by the American Library Association (ALA). Librarians in public, academic, or schools; preK–12 educators; college or university faculty; and youth literature advocates are eligible for the award. Named in memory of children’s author Virginia Hamilton, the award is presented to a practitioner “for substantial contributions through active engagement with youth using award winning African American literature for children and/or young adults, via implementation of reading and reading related activities/programs.” Be sure to check out the selection criteria and complete the nomination form.

The recipient will be selected by five members of the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement Committee of the Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT). A medal and a check for $1,500 is presented to the winner during the Coretta Scott King Awards Breakfast at the ALA Annual Conference. Named in memory of children’s author Virginia Hamilton, the award is presented to a practitioner “for substantial contributions through active engagement with youth using award winning African American literature for children and/or young adults, via implementation of reading and reading related activities/programs.”

Calling All Publishers

New Writer/Illustrator Book Awards: The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation and the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at The University of Southern Mississippi is requesting submissions from publishers for the 13th Annual Ezra Jack Keats New Writer and New Illustrator Book Awards. Publishers have until December 30 to submit works by an outstanding new writer and new illustrator of picture books for children “who are committed to celebrating diversity through their writing and art.” Eligible books have to be copyrighted in 2012 and authors and illustrators must have published no more than three books. The selection committee includes early childhood education specialists, librarians, illustrators, and experts in children’s literature. The winners will each receive a $1,000 honorarium and a gold seal with a picture of Peter, the protagonist in Keats’s The Snowy Day, for the publisher to affix to the book. Be sure to read the submission guidelines for new authors and new illustrators.

Bottom of the Ninth (Ryan Woodard Art & Animation)

Baseball season may be coming to an end, but a true fan’s enthusiasm for the sport never wanes. Reason enough to consider two new digital products for your iPad: Ryan Woodward’s Bottom of the Ninth and The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The first is an animated graphic novel, the second, a reference guide. Here’s what our reviewers had to say about these releases.

Many graphic novelists and artists are grappling with how comics can be presented in a digital format. Professional animator Ryan Woodward offers a strong template with his app for iOS devices, Bottom of the Ninth (Ryan Woodward Art and Animation, 2012; $3.99; Gr 9 Up). The story takes place 200 years in the future and features Candy Cunningham, a teenager with a phenomenal pitching arm who wants to play “New Baseball.” While technology has made the game faster, more exciting, and somewhat dangerous, attitudes toward women on and off the field haven’t evolved. This first chapter of the story signals a promising start as the tale has both a retro and futuristic feel to it. More chapters are in the works, but it might be a while before the entire story can be told.

Page layouts resemble those found in comic books, and each page offers some well-integrated, fluid animation. The sepia-toned artwork is stylish and appealing, with baseball memorabilia (ticket stubs, scorecards, etc.) worked into the images. The narration and sound effects also evoke the ballpark and include sports commentary and a cheering crowd. Some panels exhibit a speaker icon that can be tapped for extra audio and a touch to any word balloon will trigger audio dialog (sometimes enhanced). Both the narration and the music soundtrack are of high quality. Drawbacks include slow updates and the need to purchase on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Still, the app is a significant accomplishment artistically and technologically and will likely influence future graphic novelists moving into digital.—(Mark Richardson, Cedar Mill Community Library, Portland, OR)

A poignant foreword by award-winning sport’s journalist Joe Posnanski introduces the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum  (The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum/RareWire, $3.99; Gr 4 Up), a spotlight tour of the best Negro League players who, except for a few, never competed in the Major Leagues. Navigating this app is reminiscent of walking through the museum, located in Kansas City, MO.

The first exhibit is an illustrated timeline beginning in the 1860s and ending in the 1950s, by which time nine Major League MVP awards had been won by former Negro Leaguers. The timeline concisely covers major events in U.S. history, African-American history, Negro League baseball history, and baseball history. Though one excellent video of a clown team playing ‘pepper ball’ (think comedic baseball play in the spirit of the Harlem Globe Trotters) is embedded, the chronology doesn’t  explore the impact of events in any depth or link to text that will aid young viewers in understanding causality. For example, the Jim Crow laws that are mentioned made it difficult, if not impossible at times, for the heavy-traveling barnstorming Negro League teams to find hotel and restaurant accommodations, especially in the South.

The next section provides a selection of Negro League team histories, rosters, and team photos navigated by map, while a third section, titled “Field of Legends,” crisply presents bronzed baseball card images to provide succinct player profiles. The final section, a digital scrapbook, wraps up this brief but broad and clear overview of Negro League Baseball history.—(Nicole Politi, The Ocean County Library, NJ)

Eds. note: After a brief hiatus during the transition to our new website, our app reviews are back. —moving from School Library Journal’s blog roll into a column, and pushing out in our Extra Helping enewsletter. Archived reviews can be found on the SLJ website under “Blogs and Columns.” However, to ensure you receive all of our postings, be sure to add “Touch and Go” to your RSS feed.