Photographs by Teri Fullerton

When William Alexander recently walked across the stage at the National Book Award ceremonies to accept this year’s award for Young People’s Literature, he joined a very small group of writers who have won such an award for their first novel. But Goblin Secrets (S & S, 2012) isn’t at all his first published work. He’s the author of many short stories printed in journals such as Weird Tales and Interfictions.

Will lives in Minneapolis, in a writerly neighborhood within walking distance of excellent coffee, amazing Mexican food, and a library. “We’re also close to a lake,” he writes, “but everyone in Minnesota lives close to a lake.” His writing day begins when his son goes off to preschool. “Then I drink coffee, bandage my wounds from the pre-preschool struggles, and put on some music. The cellist Zoe Keating makes excellent soundtracks for fairy tales.” He writes in “a strange little room,” taken up mostly by his desk and his bookcases. Will’s wife, Alice, recently built him a standing desk, with the kind of floor mat cherished by professional chefs; he can stand up all day on it. His collection of masks lines the walls.

Will and Alice and their two children have one pet: Nyx the polydactyl cat. “Like most cats, she understands that books are filled with things we were never meant to know. She curls up on the pages of whatever I’m trying to read, always. I’m sure she’s only trying to protect me.”

Will writes through the day until “I look at the time and realize that I should have picked up my son from preschool by now.” We are all grateful for his son’s patience, for it has led to the splendid Goblin Secrets .“When I sent Goblin Secrets out into the world, I hoped it could possibly communicate my sense of theater—what it is, what it does, and why it’s important,” he writes. “And I hoped it would be fun to read aloud.”

It does, and it is.

GDS: In your acceptance speech—which was very gracious, by the way—you quoted Ursula K. Le Guin.
WA: Thanks! That line is from her book of essays Cheek by Jowl. I’ll repeat it here. It’s worth returning to, over and over again. She writes that “the literature of imagination, even when tragic, is reassuring, not necessarily in the sense of offering nostalgic comfort, but because it offers a world large enough to contain alternatives and therefore offers hope.” We need to remember that the way things are is not the only possible way that they could be.

Let’s talk about the goblins. Did George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin provide a starting place for your own, who are quite unlike the goblins of, say, The Hobbit?
Absolutely. Along with Jim Henson’s film Labyrinth, with all of those goblin puppets designed by Brian Froud. There is something so gleeful and wonderful about them—even if they are dangerous. I wanted mine to be consistent with goblin lore, full of mischief and trickery. And the thing I stole from Henson and MacDonald is that goblins used to be children. They haven’t been swapped for children, as in fairy lore about changelings. They’re kids transformed.

In the novel, the goblins are often referred to as the “Changed”; Rownie is “an unchanged child” and sometimes reaches up to see if his ears are becoming pointed to discover if he is “changing.”
I’m pretty sure that this fear and curiosity about monstrous transformations explains the endless popularity of vampires and werewolves, too. They’re the monsters that you might become, so they make perfect metaphors for all of the changes we actually experience while trying to figure out who we are.

Your goblins are also outsiders: they are outside the world of Zombay, unaccepted there even though one of their missions is to protect the city.
This is what connects my goblins to actual actors at various points in theater history. It’s a disreputable, mischievous, goblinish profession, and a vital one. In Shakespeare’s day they were barely considered people. But they were also the only ones outside the nobility who could legally wear silk. All sorts of rules reversed onstage. And theatrical mischief also takes its responsibilities seriously. You have to get your cues right. You have to pull the ropes at precisely the right time or else the wrong piece of scenery falls into place, and in that moment nothing else is more important. Nothing could possibly be more important than the painted landscape on the other end of that rope. So theater folk may be mischievous, but there’s also a dedication and a clear precision to what they do; it’s not all irreverent foolishness. It can even be heroic.

To perform and to be heroic, these goblins don masks.
I interviewed some master mask makers while researching the book, and tried to learn as much as possible about the mythic and ritual origins of masks. In ritual the mask can stand in for powerful forces that we have no control over—the hunt, or the weather, or the river that might flood and kill us all. But if we can give those forces a voice and a face, then we might be able to interact. We still don’t have any control, but at least we can have a conversation. And in performance we can take on some of the qualities we’re afraid of.

Which is why Rownie becomes the giant when he puts on the giant’s mask, and why he becomes the fox at the end of the novel by putting on the fox’s mask—and so taking on some of the qualities of the fox.
Absolutely. It can be a privately transformative ritual as well as an ancient, public attempt to communicate with angry weather. The giant mask comes from one of my favorite theatrical exercises, an especially useful one for children’s workshops. You get everybody to walk in a circle and give them vivid, impossible metaphors: “Walk like your feet weigh five hundred pounds. But you’re used to it. They always have. Now walk like your head is full of honey. Now walk like your hair is on fire, and always has been.” This is great for giving each character a distinct way of moving. One of those basic exercises is “Walk like a giant.” Some stand on tiptoe as soon as you say “giant,” but they shouldn’t. “You’re already a giant. You don’t need to stand on tiptoe. You are already very tall.” That’s a useful walk to learn. No one ever bothers you when you stand like a giant, no matter how tall you happen to be.

It’s also fun to put on a mask.
Yes! Absolutely. Don’t forget about the fun. Here we are talking about mythic origins and transformation, but none of it matters much without the fun.

The city of Zombay is itself a stage for remarkable and sometimes frightening events—and it’s a stage about to be overwhelmed by the coming floods. What influenced the physical world of the novel?
After high school I saved up some money and became the clichéd American traveler with a backpack and a Eurail pass. I started in England and then headed east. Zombay probably began when I landed in Florence and saw the Ponte Vecchio. It’s a very old bridge with houses and shops on it, suspended over the river. It seemed like a magically impossible in-between place. Then, just a few days later, I was wandering through Prague and crossed the Charles Bridge. That one was covered with performers: musicians with glass harps playing intricate compositions and puppeteers and painters and guitarists and people with costumes and masks, all performing together, all making a vibrant mess of art and collecting coins in hats. Then I found the old town square of Gothic streets and spires—like those in Zombay’s Southside—in direct contrast to blocks of Soviet-style apartments surrounding the city. And I saw the clock tower of Prague. They say the prince who commissioned that clock put out the eyes of the craftsman who made it so he could never build its equal. All I had to do was put the clock tower in the middle of the bridge, and the rest of Zombay took shape around it.

Parts of the story, and the setting, read as very Dickensian to me. Is it fair to cite Dickens as an influence?
That’s fair. And flattering. I have to embrace Oliver Twist as an influence.

The orphan in the company of other orphans, all bullied and controlled by the powerful Graba…
Exactly. But the larger debt to Dickens comes from his essays and articles on urban geography, stolen from the book Dickens’ London. He went for long walks and made the invisible parts of the city visible by writing about them. Southside gets much of its flavor from those essays. In one he describes, with gentle irony, an absolutely terrible play. That helped me write about a theatrical fiasco, when my goblins attempt to perform by the docks and everything goes wrong.

Zombay is very much haunted by London. The old London Bridge was a town unto itself, like a larger version of the Ponte Vecchio. And the south side of London was a rough and disreputable place in Shakespeare’s time, so of course the theaters were there.

Most inland cities seem to have grown up around rivers. London has the Thames. Minneapolis and Saint Paul watch each other across the Mississippi. The contrast between the river and the urban world that borders it is compelling. But in each case the river is very much older than the city, and it doesn’t care about us. It isn’t a malevolent force, but it does what it does as a river, and sometimes that includes swallowing our bridges whole—just as the Mississippi swallowed our 35W bridge a few years ago. The river can swallow you without bothering to notice you. I borrowed a fair bit of nautical lore for the relationship between Zombay City and the Zombay River, the reverence and terror that sailors have always had for the sea. It takes a particular kind of courage to live next to forces larger than yourself. I suppose we always do, but it takes courage to recognize it.

But there are also forces in Goblin Secrets that do what they do for evil purposes. There’s the Mayor, for example, who takes away hearts and volition, and who’s willing to let all of Southside be drowned so he can remake it in the image of Northside. Sometimes very disturbing things happen in Goblin Secrets —not the least of which are the burning pigeons. Were you ever concerned about including varied and visceral kinds of violence in a book intended for children?
Concerned, yes. Hesitant, no. I figured it was important to write what the story needed first, and then soften it later if the audience demands. Then I decided it was important not to soften it. Everyone points out that fairy tales are always dark, and everyone is right, though every few years we still have a big, public battle about it. We’ve been having that particular argument for thousands of years. Plato favored censorship. Aristotle didn’t. Puritans tried to ban theater throughout Shakespeare’s career; they insisted the stage was both dangerous and foolish, a vile and disreputable kind of lying. And it is both dangerous and foolish. That’s its power. Shakespeare admitted to the foolishness in Midsummer and the dangers in Tempest—his two fantasy stories. Both theater and fantasy are still stuck in this conversation, whether we’re talking aboutHarry Potter or Dungeons & Dragons. The argument gets even more heated when kids are in the audience.

We need to give those kids more credit. Violence and darkness in books for children creates a necessary framework of emotional possibility. Cruel and horrible things might happen in a novel, but the young reader—even a young reader to whom nothing especially horrible has happened—will recognize the reality of those dark things and their presence in the world. In his or her world. The politics of the playground are cruel and horrible enough. In a story, they can experience those events and emotions vicariously, from a safe distance.

And what does that give a young reader?
Stories are actually the only way to wrestle with such things from a safe distance. We do a terrible disservice to young readers if we deny them that chance. They need a richer sense of possibility.

Fictional pain works like a vaccine. You inoculate yourself to tragedy by learning that tragedy exists, as in Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia. That book forces readers to make sense of a senseless death—hopefully before they have to do so in fact. And everyone has to eventually. But books can give warning, so when young readers encounter full-blown sorrow it might not be an utterly new experience. It might not be overwhelming. Things like it have already happened to fictional characters they’ve loved.

This is what A. E. Housman says of sad and dark poetry in “Terence, This Is Stupid Stuff,” when he writes that “if the smack is sour,/ The better for the embittered hour.” And he concludes the poem with an anecdote about Mithridates, who made himself immune to poison by taking small doses each day—suggesting that reading bitter poems helps, as you say, to inoculate against the devastation of later sorrow.
Exactly! Perfect example. In Goblin Secrets, the puppet show works the same way. It warns both Rownie and the reader about what happens later. That’s also basic foreshadowing, so it follows the standard rules of drama—but those rules all have more than one purpose. It’s an unjust mistake to deny children the full emotional range of fictional experience. We arm the reader as best we can inside the story, and afterwards they might continue to be armed.

And not to keep going back to Housman—except that I really like this poem—but he would affirm this as well. His narrator speaks of using ale to create a tale about a good world where everything is fine, but when he wakes up, “I saw the morning sky:/ Heighho, the tale was all a lie;/ The world, it was the old world yet.”

There’s another important side to all of this. Young readers might have experienced tragedy already. In that case we aren’t offering a vaccine or a warning. Too late for that. But we can offer solace. Trauma is alienating. If you read something that parallels your own experience, then you’re no longer alone. And the inexplicit parallels offered by fantasy can be especially useful. A direct, literal representation of trauma might turn out to be more of a trigger than a comfort. Some things you can only get at sideways. Tolkien insisted that allegory is an inferior form of storytelling because it lacks that metaphoric quality that invites multiple understandings, and Le Guin once summed up all of fantasy and science fiction as “metaphor made literal.”

I should probably point out that Goblin Secrets isn’t entirely composed of sorrow and pain! There’s a bit of fairy tale violence, it’s true, but I hope the book is also fun. Goblins are fun. We shouldn’t forget about the fun.

You mentioned the need for a “richer sense of possibility.” Can you give us some hints about this in your next book?
The next book is called Ghoulish Song, and it’s set in exactly the same time and place as Goblin Secrets. Zombay is a big city, and there’s always more than one story happening at once in a city. This story is as much about music as Goblin is about theater. The protagonist is Kaile, the young girl who brings a basket of bread to the goblins when her father tosses them out of his alehouse. The book repeats that scene from her point of view. Rownie makes a cameo, along with several other characters from the first novel, but the second one is still meant to stand alone.

And so one story can become many stories. And now that you’re back home after the National Book Awards?
Now I’m back to teaching classes, changing diapers, reading to my toddler son—with all the character voices—and finding time to write.

Gary D. Schmidt was chair of the 2012 National Book Award committee for young people’s literature. His most recent novel, Okay for Now (Clarion), was a 2011 National Book Award finalist and the winner of SLJ’s 2012 Battle of the Kids’ Books tournament.

As a librarian, I love it when I find books that relate to one another in terms of themes or content, which gets me thinking about potential program ideas. The titles selected for this first column of the new year are full of such connections. Starting with the idea of focusing on longer fiction, I found two semiautobiographical novels in verse, and both are historical fiction that deal with the protagonist coming of age. Two other novels are connected by the relationship of a child with a grandparent that both explore the idea of coping with loss, which relate to a third, classic title about the relationship between a child and a cherished uncle. Then there are two books of scary short stories rooted in the Latino tradition. And finally, a new biography of a cherished Latino musician.

An article by Frank Bures in a recent issue of The Rotarian magazine entitled “The Bicultural Advantage” reminded me of the fact that one of the best ways to understand and see through the eyes of others is to learn their language. Once we speak the language, we understand the logic and can move into a space where we are not outsiders to the culture. Even though we may not all speak the language, the books in this column can take us to explore that place and help us be part of a very rich and vital culture. These books celebrate family, a culture informed by language and music, and literary tradition in which magical and strange things are possible.

BROWN, Monica. Tito Puente: Mambo King/Rey del mambo. illus. by Rafael López. HarperCollins/Rayo. Mar. 2013. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-006-12-2783-7.
PreS-Gr 2–Brown has written a series of picture-book biographies of Latino poets and musicians that have set the standard for what a biography for young readers should be. She has taken the lives of Pablo Neruda, Gabriela Mistral, Gabriel García Marquez, and Celia Cruz and created a special type of poetry of her own, with lyrical texts that capture the essence of who these artists were. This newest title is no different. Puente’s first band was called Los Happy Boys, and, like his music, reading this book aloud can’t fail to put a smile on one’s face. It’s particularly exciting that Rafael López, the illustrator of Brown’s biography of Celia Cruz, has returned for this portrait of another Latin musician. From the cover that shows a grinning Puente gleefully beating on drums with what look like four arms, the joy that he took in music-making can hardly be contained on the page.

Activity Ideas: Of course the only thing lacking is the music itself, so I suggest using Tito Puente as the basis for a Latin-music-themed storytime. Since the book is bilingual, it lends itself to the technique of using two readers—one to read in English, and the other in Spanish. Then play some Mambo music, preferably by Puente himself, and let everyone dance. If you know the mambo, the rumba, or the cha-cha, you could even teach some basic steps. (A basic rumba rhythm is included on the back page of the book.) Brown mentions that Puente was making music before he could walk, banging on spoons and forks, and pots and pans. Bring some utensils and see how your storytime crowd can make music. Since Puente notably recorded with Celia Cruz, you could pair this with Brown’s My Name Is Celia (Luna Rising, 2004 )for a celebration of Latin rhythms. If you use an iPod for your storytime music, there is an “iTunes Essentials” playlist of Puente’s music that you could purchase that includes a track with Cruz singing a number entitled “Celia y Tito.”

ENGLE, Margarita. The Lightning Dreamer. Houghton Harcourt. Mar. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-547-80743-0.
Gr 6 Up–Engle has produced a fabulous work of historical fiction about Cuban poet, author, antislavery activist and feminist Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda. Written in free verse, the story tells of how Tula, which was her childhood nickname, grows up in libraries, which she calls “a safe place to heal/and dream…,” influenced by the poetry of José María Heredia. In Tula’s voice, Engle writes, “Books are door shaped/portals/carrying me/across oceans/and centuries,/helping me feel/less alone.” She takes elements from Avellaneda’s novel Sab, which is believed to be autobiographical, and creates a portrait of a girl “expected/to live/without thoughts” who will not be forced into an arranged marriage, and who falls in love with a man who wants her to marry the suitor of the woman he has always loved. Tula speaks out against slavery and arranged marriages, finding them both a form of imprisonment. Engle inhabits the voices of various characters from the story, including Avellaneda’s mother, who loses her inheritance because of Tula’s refusal to accept an arranged marriage, and who ultimately banishes her to live with an uncle.

I have always been a little leery of novels in verse because, if there is no artistic reason for the story to take that format, the verse form seems to be little more than a gimmick. Engle is writing historical fiction about a real Cuban poet, and she convinces readers that the story couldn’t be told any other way.

Activity Ideas: This book is ideal for literature units and can be used across the curriculum. Students can read this as an entry point to the history of Cuba, the issues of slavery and feminism, and Avellaneda’s prose and poetry itself. Engle’s book lends itself to teaching, and her appendix includes a bibliography of titles that kids will want to explore and research.

MCCALL, Guadalupe Garcia. Under the Mesquite. Lee & Low. 2011. Tr $17.95. ISBN 978-1-60060-429-4.
Gr 6 Up–This autobiographical novel in verse chronicles Lupita’s coming of age set against the backdrop of her mother’s cancer diagnosis. I love the way that the author begins with the diagnosis, and then follows up with a section of poems about her memories of growing up. She then returns to the present, and the final section deals tenderly with the loss of her mother, and the way her father helps the family through the crisis with quiet strength. This novel rightfully won the Pura Belpré Author Award and it deserves wide exposure. I particularly appreciate the glossary of names, Spanish words, and cultural references, which ties readers to the world of South Texas and the Latino culture that is so prevalent in that region.

Children and Grandparents

MCCALL, Guadalupe Garcia. Summer of the Mariposas. Lee & Low/Tu Bks. 2012. Tr $17.95. 978-1-60060-900-8.
Gr 6 Up–This novel more than fulfills the promise of McCall’s Under the Mesquite. In Summer of the Mariposas, she audaciously sets out to retell Homer’s Odyssey within the context of Latino folklore. Odilia is the oldest of five sisters who have vowed to stay together forever. When they happen upon the body of a drowned man in their swimming hole, they decide to take him back to Mexico to his family, who happen to live nearby their own grandmother. La Llorona appears to Odilia and becomes her mentor and guide. The journey to the girls’ grandmother’s ranch involves getting across the border with a corpse without being caught by authorities. Then the magical realism kicks in as Odilia and her sisters have to combat various supernatural beings, including a shape-shifting witch and the dreaded Chupacabras, the monster who eats goats. These are just some of the connections, especially with the books of scary short stories mentioned below, that make this book such a rich source of material to introduce children to Latino myths, as well as theOdyssey itself. I love McCall’s take on La Llorona, whom she sets out to redeem as a sympathetic mother figure, rather than the scary child kidnapper she is most often made out to be.

MANZANO, Sonia. The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano. Scholastic. 2012. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-545-32505-9.
Gr 5-8–Manzano is, of course, best known for her role as Maria on Sesame Street. In this book, she has brought to life an incident from 1969, when a group of young Nationalist Puerto Ricans, known as the Young Lords, occupied the First Spanish Methodist Church, after the clergy turned down their requests to use the building during the week as a place for breakfast and other social services for the poor. The story is related in the voice of Evelyn Serrano, a young teen who realizes that she wants to find ways to create social change. The girl’s social consciousness comes alive in tandem with her grandmother’s arrival. Her abuela takes over Evelyn’s room, forcing her to occupy the couch. Even with this to grapple with, along with the contentious relationship between her grandmother and mother, Evelyn eventually forges a relationship with the older woman, who was a Nationalist in Puerto Rico. She also discovers more about her grandfather, who was on the other side of the political debate, and this makes her all the more anxious to be a part of history. Manzano makes the Puerto Rican barrio come alive, and the atmosphere she creates reminded me a great deal of West Side Story. Of course, she manages to insert a quick reference to Sesame Street itself, which also first aired in 1969.

ADA, Alma Flor & Gabriel M. Zubizarreta. Con cariño, Amalia. S & S/Atheneum. 2012. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-006-12-2783-7.
Gr 3-6–This is a Spanish translation of a book that previously appeared in English as Love, Amalia. When Amalia’s friend Martha moves away, she deals with an acute feeling of loss that is soothed by her grandmother. The book portrays this loving relationship in a very tender way that is made all the more poignant when Amalia’s grandmother passes away. At the end of the story Amalia reconnects with Martha via a letter, and works to reforge a connection. The book includes recipes for the dishes that Amalia and herabuela make together.

FARIAS, Juan. Los caminos de la luna. illus. by Alicia Cañas Cortázar. Anaya (Sopa de libros). 1997. pap. $8.20. ISBN 978-84-207-8293-5. www.anaya.es
Gr 5-8–While not about a grandparent, this book, which translates as “The Paths of the Moon,” is about the relationship between a young girl and her uncle, known as Juan el Viejo. When his niece Maroliña actually wants to be bored, he takes the opportunity to show her the wonder of life, and to prepare her for a time when he will no longer be there. Written in small snippets of poetic prose, this book has been a longtime favorite. Here’s how it begins: “Juan el Viejo loved walking along the beach at sunset, when the gulls had not yet gone to sleep. Almost always he was accompanied by his niece, Maroliña, the one who listened best. Juan el Viejo tells stories of what comes to his memory.” Each section of the book is introduced by a quote from another book, and, at the end, Farias talks about each quote and its connection with his story, and encourages readers to explore these other books. Sadly, Farias, who won numerous awards in the Spanish literary world for his children’s books, died in 2011.
Activity Idea: After experiencing any of these books, the best thing would be to take kids to a place where they can interview seniors and capture oral history. Years ago when I worked for the Dallas Public Library, there was a senior center directly behind the branch library and we took kids there to do just this. The interviews were all recorded, then transcribed. This was a satisfying experience for everyone involved.

Scary Stories

Below are two books of scary short stories that will appeal especially to boys. Both of these books mine the very rich lode of Latino folklore; any number of these stories would be great to read aloud, or to learn to tell on your own. Both books are bilingual, with the stories presented in both English and Spanish in the same volume.

GARZA, Xavier. Kid Cyclone Fights the Devil and Other Stories. Piñata. 2010. Tr $10.95. ISBN 978-1-55885-599-1.
Gr 5-8–Garza is mostly known for his picture books about lucha libre, or Mexican wrestling. The title story of this collection is about a lucha libre fighter, Kid Cyclone, who ends up wrestling with the devil. In “Llorona 911,” a group of kids at a slumber party call the aforementioned phone number, and La Llorona. This would be the most ideal story to learn to tell aloud. Garza also creates stories with other mythical characters such as the Owl Witch, who torments a girl named Esperanza nightly, asking for her baby sister. Then there is the Elmendorf beast, which finds its match in a very strong and stubborn pig. There are also the “Winged Beasts of Elotes County,” which you ignore at your own peril. There is an interesting tale of the U.S.-Mexican border in which a border patrol officer learns that the thing in the shadows is not an illegal alien, but the legendaryChupacabra itself. Some stories center on the idea of revenge, such as a woman known as “Donkey Lady” who turns the tables on her tormentor. The theme that runs through this collection is that of young people trying to prove, unsuccessfully, that old legends are not true. A great choice for any time a scary story is needed.

SALDAÑA, René, Jr. Batiando con el diablo y otros cuentos de mas allá/Dancing with the Devil and Other Tales from Beyond. tr. by Gabriela Baeza Ventura. Piñata. 2012. Tr $9.95. ISBN 978-1-55885-744-1.
Gr 5-8–The title story is about a high school dance in which Joey hopes to dance with Marlen, his major crush, but doesn’t get to her in time. Instead Marlen accepts an invitation to dance from the devil, which turns out to be fatal for her, and tragic for Joey, who could have saved her were it not for his inattention. Saldaña provides a La Llorona tale that mixes the original story with a more contemporary one in which the tragic scenario plays itself out again. In a second variant on the tale, “Have I Got a Marble for You,” a boy who wants to win a marble tournament obtains a magic marble from a creepy kid who turns out to be working forLa Llorona, helping her obtain a second child. In “Louie Spills His Guts,” an old wives’ tale literally comes true when Louie cuts his toe and then finds his leg swelling up. In Latino culture, a common phrase is “Sí Dios quiere” or, “If God wills it.” This phrase is often used to respond to invitations when there is some uncertainty involved. In “God’s Will Be Done” a girl who wants to go to a dance and meet a forbidden boy decides to do it whether God likes it or not. She finds out through the medium of a fierce bull that God doesn’t really want her to go. All of these stories are full of uniquely Latino cultural elements.

Tim Wadham is the director of the City of Puyallup Public Library in Washington State. Email him at wadhambooks@gmail.com.

Illustration by James Ransome from This Is the Dream (HarperCollins, 2006).

Fifty years ago this May, people around our country turned on their televisions to the sight of children being viciously assaulted with fire hoses and snarling dogs by uniformed grown men, their faces twisted with hatred. The violence in Birmingham, Alabama, stirred a swelling of national conscience and raised questions demanding an answer: Do we really believe that “all men are created equal”? What would our country look like if we really did? What has to change to make that dream a reality?

Until recently, most books for children about the Civil Rights Movement focused on the great leaders. Now, authors and illustrators are using multiple lenses, choosing to illuminate the inner workings of a populist revolution in which many people, with differing beliefs, made difficult choices. Historical fiction and poetry delve empathetically into motivations, situations, and dilemmas. Enticing nonfiction presents a variety of primary sources representing multiple viewpoints, asking readers to compare and contrast versions of reality, draw their own inferences, find personal meaning, and examine the art of history-telling.

These books about the Civil Rights era contain universal themes: How do we recognize and address our own prejudices? How do we make social change happen? How do we find the strength to overcome adversity and do what we know to be right? How can one person change the world? Give these titles to students so that they may start to answer these questions for themselves.

Panning the Scene
Background, Overviews, Introductions

ARONSON, Marc. Race: A History Beyond Black and White. S & S/Atheneum. 2007. Tr $19.99. ISBN 978-0-689-86554-1.
Gr 10 Up—This weighty tome breaks down the social construct of “race,” revealing how it developed, morphed, and impacted societies from the Ancient Greeks to today. Aronson mixes in graphically detailed atrocities alongside deeply personal examinations of his own prejudices and hypothetical modern-day scenarios to guide deeper understanding.

BARTOLETTI, Susan Campbell. They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group.Houghton Mifflin. 2010. Tr $19. ISBN 978-0-618-44033-7.
Gr 7 Up—In an unflinching chronology of the K.K.K., Bartoletti purposefully draws from and presents primary sources representing a range of perspectives, including that of violent white supremacists themselves, in the form of images, interview clips, and more. Guaranteed to provoke fruitful discussion. Audio version available from Brilliance Audio.

OSBORNE, Linda Barrett. Miles to Go for Freedom: Segregation and Civil Rights in the Jim Crow Era. Abrams. 2012. RTE $24.95. ISBN 978-1-4197-0020-0.
Gr 6-10—Osborne thoroughly supports her historical examination of segregation with well-chosen quotations, rare photographs, ephemera, and other visual information from the Library of Congress. This cleanly written history of the Jim Crow era is ideal for anyone studying the times, or simply interested in our shared past. A highly readable, substantive title.

PINKNEY, Andrea Davis. Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down. illus. by Brian Pinkney. Little, Brown. 2010. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-316-07016-4.
Gr 2-5–With the 1960 Greensboro Woolworth counter sit-in as a central example and food as a metaphor, Pinkney’s highly readable poetic phrases relate how ordinary people’s nonviolent actions eventually led to integration. Brian Pinkney’s buoyant color washes with vibrant ink drawings enhance the spirited tone of his wife’s words.

RAMSEY, Calvin A. Ruth and the Green Book. illus. by Floyd Cooper. Carolrhoda. 2010. RTE $16.95. ISBN 978-0-7613-5255-6.
Gr 1-4–A young African American girl uses the Green Book to find black-friendly businesses on her family’s 1950 car trip from Chicago to rural Alabama, easing the pain of her first encounters with Jim Crow. Cooper’s art, using a grainy, subdued palette that subtly evokes historical photographs, supports this understated but interesting slice of history.

SHANGE, Ntozake. We Troubled the Waters. illus. by Rod Brown. HarperCollins/Amistad. 2009. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-133735-2; ebook $11.99. ISBN 978-0-06-206563-6.
Gr 6 Up–Shange’s spare, dialect-strong poems are vivid, emotional snapshots of the Jim Crow South from a black perspective. They leave plenty of thought-provoking, unspoken ideas between the lines. Together with Brown’s photograph-inspired muralistic oil paintings, this powerful book invokes personal reactions to historical wrongs.

SHELTON, Paula Young. Child of the Civil Rights Movement. illus. by Raul Colón. Random/Schwartz & Wade. 2010. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-375-84314-3; PLB $20.99. ISBN 978-0-375-95414-6; ebook $10.99. ISBN 978-0-375-98281-1.
K-Gr 3–Colón’s richly textured pastels match Shelton’s inviting, friendly descriptions of being a small child among the loving inner circle of leading Civil Rights families. These vignettes from Andrew Young’s daughter simultaneously magnify and humanize the struggle.

SHORE, Diana Z. & Jessica Alexander. This Is the Dream. illus. by James Ransome. HarperCollins/Amistad. 2006. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-055519-1; PLB $17.89. ISBN 978-0-06-055520-7; pap. $7.99. ISBN 978-0-06-055521-4.
K-Gr 3–Glowingly illustrated with a strong palette, this short “House That Jack Built”-metered picture book starts with imagery of segregation, proceeds to iconic nonviolent protests, and culminates with integrated, happy modern children. This excellent read-aloud celebrates the gains of the Civil Rights Movement with a heartfelt sense of patriotic pride. Younger children will need explanations throughout.

STOTTS, Stuart. We Shall Overcome: A Song That Changed the World. foreword by Pete Seeger. illus. by Terrance Cummings. Clarion. 2010. RTE $18. ISBN 978-0-547-18210-0.
Gr 4 Up–The anthem of the Civil Rights Movement steadied and fortified the righteous. Here is a mini-ethnomusicological study of the song, from its origins through its role at many dangerous and important protests. Archival images, strong poster-art-inspired red/black/white artwork, and a CD accompany the story of the song’s journey.

WATKINS, Angela Farris. My Uncle Martin’s Words for America. illus. by Eric Velasquez. Abrams. 2011. RTE $19.95. ISBN 978-1-4197-0022-4.
K-Gr 4–In the grand tradition of deifying King, this title works well as a lap-read companion to Doreen Rappaport’s Martin’s Big Words (Hyperion, 2001). Bold text emphasizes the simple concepts of King’s satyagraha philosophy while taking on a more complete, but age-appropriate, history of the movement. Bright oil-painted portraits backed by stars and stripes lend a patriotic tone.

Zooming In
Places & Events

BAUSUM, Ann. Marching to the Mountaintop: How Poverty, Labor Fights, and Civil Rights Set the Stage for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Final Hours. National Geographic. 2012. Tr $19.95. ISBN 978-1-4263-0939-7; PLB $28.90. ISBN 978-1-4263-0940-3; ebook $19.95. ISBN 978-1-4263-0945-8.
Gr 6 Up–When the Civil Rights Movement arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968, the volatile mix of poverty, racial discrimination, and the black community’s own splintered loyalties came to a boil. This behind-the-scenes exposé sheds light on a specific place and time usually overshadowed by the subsequent assassination of King at the Lorraine Hotel.

BRIMNER, Larry Dane. Birmingham Sunday. Boyds Mill/Calkins Creek. 2010. RTE $17.95. ISBN 978-1-59078-613-0.
Gr 6 Up–Brimner homes in on the racially charged atmosphere of Birmingham in 1963 by hooking readers with details about the four victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing. These 48 pages, packed with photographs and sidebars of related information, reveal the shocking extent to which raw violence and danger were prevalent.

CONKLING, Winifred. Sylvia & Aki. Tricycle. 2011. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-1-58246-337-7; PLB $19.99. ISBN 978-1-58246-438-1.
Gr 4-6–Meet Sylvia and Aki, two real Southern Californian girls facing government-supported discrimination during World War II. Extrapolating from interviews, Conkling has crafted an alternating-narrator novel that compares and contrasts experiences by Americans of Mexican and Japanese heritage. This title reminds readers that the Civil Rights Movement wasn’t just about inequities faced by African Americans.

DUDLEY, David. L. Caleb’s Wars. Clarion. 2011. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-547-23997-2; ebook $11.99. ISBN 978-0-547-53420-6.
Gr 7 Up–In this novel of World War II-era rural Georgia, Caleb, a 15-year-old African American, chafes at the ways his family and community take Jim Crow for granted, despite his brother’s service in the U.S. Army. Getting to know a German POW assigned to work with him intensifies Caleb’s determination to claim his dignity.

EVANS, Shane W. We March. illus. by author. Roaring Brook/A Neal Porter Bk. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-1-59643-539-1; eook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-46681-084-6.
PreS-Gr 3–Evans’s expansive, richly colored, simplistic paintings depict a young African American family preparing for and attending the 1963 March on Washington. With carefully chosen, spare language, this simple book powerfully re-creates the event. Brief back matter provides much-needed context.

KITTINGER, Jo S. Rosa’s Bus: The Ride to Civil Rights. illus. by Steven Walker. Boyds Mill/Calkins Creek. 2010. Tr $17.95. ISBN 978-1-59078-722-9.
Gr 1-4–A fresh twist on the familiar tale of Rosa Parks’s defiance and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, with straightforward, simple storytelling, focuses on the historical nature of the bus itself. Walker’s bright oil paintings balance the text and mood throughout. Endnotes offer additional information for the inevitable questions from a read-aloud audience.

LEVINE, Kristin. The Lions of Little Rock. Putnam. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-399-25644-8; pap. $7.99. ISBN 978-0-1-424-2435-3; ebook $10.99. ISBN 978-1-101-55044-1.
Gr 5-8–This novel depicts 1958 Little Rock, roiling in racial tension in the wake of the Little Rock Nine. Desperately shy Marley befriends a new classmate at her still-segregated white middle school. When it’s discovered that her new friend is actually a black girl passing for white, the two must decide how important their friendship is. Audio version available from Listening Library.

LEVINSON, Cynthia Y. We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March. Peachtree. 2012. Tr $19.95. ISBN 978-1-56145-627-7.
Gr 7 Up–Fifty years ago, thousands of children purposefully set out to get themselves arrested and abused by marching in defiance of the most militant government-supported segregationists. This photo-essay interweaves the stories and memories of four disparate participants with contextual photographs and information, reveling in the marchers’ can-do spirit and sense of power. Audio version available from Listening Library.

LONG, Mark & Jim Demonakos. The Silence of Our Friends: The Civil Rights Struggle Was Never Black and White. illus by Nate Powell. First Second. 2012. pap. $16.99. ISBN 978-1-59643-618-3.
Gr 9 Up–Fiercely segregated 1968 Houston is the backdrop for this hard-hitting graphic novel memoir. It follows a confused white suburban kid and his photojournalist father when a black activist and his family enter their lives. The black-and-white palette contributes to a gritty, film noir tone as the authors openly depict people’s ugliness, uncertainty, selfishness, and cowardice.

MAGOON, Kekla. The Rock and the River. S & S/Aladdin. 2009. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-1-4169-7582-3; pap. $6.99. ISBN 978-1-4169-7803-9; ebook $6.99. ISBN 978-1-4391-5335-2.
Gr 7 Up–Sam, a 13-year-old African American Chicagoan in the summer of 1968, is torn between the pacifist path promoted by his reverend father and the more militant actions of the Black Panther party favored by his older brother. A sequel, Fire in the Streets (S & S, 2012), goes into greater detail about the day-to-day lives of the Black Panthers. Audio version available from Brilliance Audio.

NELSON, Marilyn. A Wreath for Emmett Till. illus. by Philippe Lardy. Houghton Harcourt. 2005. RTE $17. ISBN 978-0-618-39752-5; pap. $7.99. ISBN 978-0-547-07636-2; ebook $7.99. ISBN 978-0-547-77317-9.
Gr 9 Up–Nelson’s powerful crown of sonnets eulogizes the black 14-year-old brutally lynched in Mississippi in 1955, applying changing perspective, allusions to famous poets, vivid imagery, and metaphor. The sophisticated poetry, expounded upon in the back matter, is accompanied by simple, symbolic artwork, creating a cohesively charged and moving experience.

PARTRIDGE, Elizabeth. Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don’t You Grow Weary. Viking. 2009. Tr $19.99. ISBN 978-0-670-01189-6; ebook $16.99. ISBN 978-1-101-15097-9.
Gr 6 Up–From Bloody Sunday to the March on Montgomery, this nonfiction book presents the events of the summer of 1965 in Selma, Alabama, in a photo-journalistic story arc, complete with real-life teenage “characters” found through extensive interviews. Well-chosen, striking photographs contextualize the chronological retelling, supporting the real-life drama. Audio version available from Brilliance Audio.

SCATTERGOOD, Augusta. Glory Be. Scholastic. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-33180-7.
Gr 4-7–In 1964 when her small Mississippi town closes Glory’s beloved swimming pool to avoid integration, the naive white 11-year-old takes a stand. Glory’s story, focusing primarily on members of the white community, compares and contrasts the small actions and inactions of different characters.

TOUGAS, Shelley. Little Rock Girl 1957: How a Photograph Changed the Fight for Integration. (Captured History Series). Compass Point. 2012. PLB $33.99. ISBN 978-0-7565-4440-9; pap. $8.95. ISBN 978-0-7565-4512-3.
Gr 4-8–The focus here is the shocking photograph of 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford being viciously jeered by a white peer as she and her fellow black students integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Tougas explains the context of the photograph and how the iconic image affected history.

WILLIAMS-GARCIA, Rita. One Crazy Summer. HarperCollins/Amistad. 2010. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-0-06-076088-5; pap. $6.99. ISBN 978-0-06-076088-5; ebook $6.99. ISBN 978-0-06-196667-5.
Gr 5-9–Spending the summer of 1968 at a Black Panther summer camp is not what the three African American sisters of this novel intend when they visit their estranged mother in Oakland, California, but what they learn about racial identity and pride changes their lives forever. Audio version available from Recorded Books.

Portraits
Featured Faces

BRIMNER, Larry Dane. Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene “Bull” Connor. Boyds Mills/Calkins Creek. 2011. RTE $16.95. ISBN 978-1-59078-766-3.
Gr 6 Up–A fascinating photo-journalistic, two-person biography about the obstinate men who led black and white factions against each other in 1960s Birmingham, Alabama, not only showcases the important role played by the oft-overshadowed Rev. Fred L. Shuttleworth, but also reveals how extremist factions overrode the more moderate voices of other Birmingham residents.

HOOSE, Phillip. Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. Farrar/Melanie Kroupa Bks. 2009. Tr $19.99. ISBN 978-0-374-31322-7; pap. $9.99. ISBN 978-0-312-66105-2; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-429-94821-0.
Gr 6 Up–Hoose’s slice of little-known history introduces readers to Claudette Colvin, the teenager who did exactly what Rosa Parks became so famous for nine months later. However, Colvin was marginalized by the very same famous adults (the NAACP, Dr. King, etc.) readers have been taught to revere. Guaranteed to spark a “That’s not fair!” response.

JEFFREY, Gary. Medgar Evers and the NAACP. illus. by Nick Spender. (A Graphic History of the Civil Rights Movement).Gareth Stevens. 2012. PLB $23.95. ISBN 978-1-4339-7495-3; pap. $8.15. ISBN 978-1-4339-7496-0; ebook $23.95. ISBN 978-1-4339-7498-4.
Gr 3-7–The richly colored, pamphlet-size graphic novels in this series are excellent fodder for reluctant readers. This old-fashioned dramatic comic-book retelling of the 1963 assassination of Mississippi Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers attributes a hero’s due to the man’s pride and perseverance. A brief textual preface and afterword frame the action.

NELSON, Vaunda Micheaux. No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller. illus. by R. Gregory Christie. Lerner/Carolrhoda LAB. 2012. Tr $17.95. ISBN 978-0-7613-6169-5; ebook $12.95. ISBN 978-0-7613-8727-5.
Gr 7 Up–The fascinating proprietor of Harlem’s National Memorial African Bookstore touched the lives of thousands of black Americans. This unique quasi-journalistic approach is comprised of faux memories from people Michaux affected, peppered with historical ephemera and Christie’s simple line ink drawings. Begs analysis of what makes a life well lived.

PINKNEY, Andrea Davis. Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America. illus. by Brian Pinkney.Hyperion/Disney. 2012. Tr $19.99. ISBN 978-1-4231-4257-7.
Gr 4 Up–In this compilation intended for sequential reading, Andrea Pinkney’s comfortable storytelling style showcases the intelligence, perseverance, and leadership of 10 black men from Benjamin Banneker through Barack Obama. A poem and a full-page lively facial portrait preface each fascinating biography; Brian Pinkney’s smaller, paint-washed scenes are also inset throughout.

STOKES, John A. with Lois Wolfe & Herman Viola. Students on Strike: Jim Crow, Civil Rights, Brown, and Me.National Geographic. 2008. Tr $15.95. ISBN 978-1-4263-0153-7; PLB $23.90. ISBN 978-1-4263-0154-4.
Gr 5-9–In 1951, Stokes and other black students in Farmville, Virginia, organized against the city to request a high school building as nice as the one the white students attended. Reading Stokes’s chatty style is like hanging out with a guy who’s reminiscing about the accidentally remarkable things he did when he was young.

TEITELBAUM, Michael & Lewis Helfand. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Let Freedom Ring. illus. by Sankha Banerjee. (Campfire Graphic Novels Series). Campfire. Jan. 2013. pap. $12.99. ISBN 978-93-80028-69-9
Gr 4-6–Drawn reproductions of iconic news photographs alternate with text boxes and imagined private moments as the biographers portray age-appropriate aspects of this very public figure’s life. A straightforward graphic-novel biography, each page rich with color, detail, and nicely balanced design.

Rhona Campbell is a teacher-librarian at Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC.