Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of the Young John Lewis by Jabari Asim

Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of the Young John Lewis by Jabari Asim (author), E.B. Lewis (illustrator)

John wants to be a preacher when he grows up—a leader whose words stir hearts to change, minds to think, and bodies to take action. But why wait? When John is put in charge of the family farm’s flock of chickens, he discovers that they make a wonderful congregation! So he preaches to his flock, and they listen, content under his watchful care, riveted by the rhythm of his voice. Celebrating ingenuity and dreaming big, this inspirational story, featuring Jabari Asim’s stirring prose and E. B. Lewis’s stunning, light-filled impressionistic watercolor paintings, includes an author’s note about John Lewis, who grew up to be a member of the Freedom Riders, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and demonstrator on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. John Lewis is now a Georgia congressman, who is still an activist today, recently holding a sit-in on the House floor of the U.S. Capitol to try to force a vote on gun violence. His March: Book Three recently won the National Book Award, as well as the American Library Association's Coretta Scott King Author Award, Printz Award, and Sibert Award. Ages 5-8

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Ninth Ward by Jewel Parker Rhodes

Ninth Ward by Jewel Parker Rhodes

In the week before Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, twelve-year-old Lanesha is attending school, running errands in her neighborhood., and even starting to make a new friend in TaShon, a boy who lives nearby. Lanesha lives in the Ninth Ward with Mama Ya-Ya, the woman who’s raised her since she was born, while the ghost of Lanesha’s mother is the silent third resident of their home.

In this vivid work of realistic fiction the ability to sense things beyond the physical world is simply part of the fabric of Mama Ya-Ya’s and Lanesha’s lives. It’s as real as the rhythm of life in their neighborhood, a place where people do what they can for one another. But that rhythm is disrupted as the hurricane approaches and warnings come to evacuate. Lanesha and Mama Ya-Ya have no way out of the city, or even to the stadium where many others are taking shelter. They remain at home, eventually joined by TaShon. The ferocious winds and torrential rains are frightening, but the rising waters in the storm’s aftermath are a slow and quiet terror. When the attic in which the three take shelter begins filling with water, Lanesha discovers survival is more than a matter of strength and courage, but of faith as well. In the end, that means holding on, reaching out, and letting go in author Jewell Parker Rhodes’ memorable, exquisitely realized story that offers an affecting look at the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina through one child’s experience. Ages 9-12

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