Updated: Sep 18, 2021
The Story of the First Women's National Skateboard Champion
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Farrar Straus Giroux
(mackids)
(pub. 2.23.21) 48 pages
Author: Tootie Nienow
Illustrator: Erika Medina
Character: Pattie McGee
Overview: "There Goes Patti McGee! walks us through Patti's first place win in the women’s division of the 1964 National Skateboard Championship. She wowed the judges with with what would become her signature move―the rolling handstand. Inspiring and unapologetic, Patti McGee proves that anyone can skate." Tantalizing taste:
"Around and around, back and forth, up and down, and just for fun, she cartwheeled and walked handstands.
That's it! Patti thought. Skateboard is all about having fun. And this trick is the most fun!
Then the work began. Five hours a day!
Feet together. Toes pointed.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
It wasn't easy. Her arms ached and her knuckles bled.
On the day she balanced perfectly for six seconds, she knew was ready."
And something more: Tootie Nienow explains in the section Where Is She Now that "Patti McGee continues to inspire young skaters. At the Venice Annual Ladies Skateboard Jam in Los Angeles, Patti coaches skaters as young as five years old. She loves to help them hone their skills and tells them to 'skate every day.' In 2018, Patti embarked on a border-to-border tour from San Diego, California toVancouver, Canada... Wherever she goes, she shakes hands and gives hugs to everyone she meets, wanting to make people feel special and believe in their dreams, because that's how people accomplish the extraordinary... just like Patti did."
Updated: Sep 18, 2021
The Story of Ella Baker
A CHERRY ON TOP
Margaret K. McElderry Books
(Simon & Schuster)
(pub. 6.9. 2020) 48 pages
Author: Patricia Hruby Powell
Illustrator: R. Gregory Christie
Character: Ella Baker
Overview: "Long before the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, Ella Baker worked to lift others up by fighting racial injustice and empowering poor African Americans to stand up for their rights. Her dedication and grassroots work in many communities made her a valuable ally for leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and she has been ranked as one of the most influential women in the civil rights movement. In the 1960s she worked to register voters and organize sit-ins, and she became a teacher and mentor to many young activists." Tantalizing taste:
"All over the South
Ella made speeches
about freedom -
voting -
rights -
words straight from her heart
to the hearts of her audience.
Then she'd ask
WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH?"
And something more: Patricia Hruby Powell writes in the Author's Note: "Anyone who worked for the Black Freedom Movement (or for the Women's Movement) in the 1960s knew Ella Baker. But because she worked behind the scenes and didn't care about the spotlight, nor believed in following a charismatic figure or being followed, she is less known than she should be."
Updated: Sep 18, 2021
How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art
A CHERRY ON TOP
Abrams Books for Young Readers
(pub.4.20.2021) 48 pages
Author: Cynthia Levinson
Illustrator: Evan Turk
Character: Ben Shahn
Overview: " 'The first thing I can remember,' Ben said, 'I drew.'
As an observant child growing up in Lithuania, Ben Shahn yearns to draw everything he sees—and, after seeing his father banished by the Czar for demanding workers’ rights, he develops a keen sense of justice, too.
So when Ben and the rest of his family make their way to America, Ben brings both his sharp artistic eye and his desire to fight for what’s right. As he grows, he speaks for justice through his art—by disarming classmates who bully him because he’s Jewish, by defying his teachers’ insistence that he paint beautiful landscapes rather than true stories, by urging the US government to pass Depression-era laws to help people find food and jobs." Tantalizing taste:
"And at school, Ben Stared at what seemed like thousands of letters in all different shapes and styles and sizes. All different from Hebrew. Even worse, bullies tormented him about his clothes and accent, and they called him names just because he was Jewish.
Sometime, though, they'd pause if he chalked their portraits on the sidewalk. No one drew people better than Ben."
And something more: Cynthia Levinson writes in the Author's Note: "I came to appreciate what Ben once told his student, children's author and illustrator Tomie dePaola: 'Being an artist is not only what you do, but also how you live your life.'"
