03.23.2021 KIDS ON THE MARCH by Michael G. Long @algonquinyr, @MichaelGLong1

Publisher : Algonquin Young Readers (March 23, 2021)
Language : English
Hardcover : 304 pages

From the March on Washington to March for Our Lives to Black Lives Matter, the powerful stories of kid-led protest in America.  
Kids have always been activists. They have even launched movements. Long before they could vote, kids have spoken up, walked out, gone on strike, and marched for racial justice, climate protection, gun control, world peace, and more. 

Kids on the March tells the stories of these protests, from the March of the Mill Children, who walked out of factories in 1903 for a shorter work week, to 1951’s Strike for a Better School, which helped build the case for Brown v. Board of Education, to the twenty-first century’s most iconic movements, including March for Our Lives, the Climate Strike, and the recent Black Lives Matter protests reshaping our nation.
 
Powerfully told and inspiring, Kids on the March shows how standing up, speaking out, and marching for what you believe in can advance the causes of justice, and that no one is too small or too young to make a difference.

Review

"Readers will be inspired by the advocacy, leadership, and determination of the young change agents. The stories are accompanied by photos and primary source documents, breathing life into the subjects and showing a clear connecting thread between young people of different generations."
—Kirkus Reviews

“As Long gives background information on each protest, he makes the accounts engaging with a storylike narrative filled with quotes from some of the young protestors. Plenty of period photos help readers imagine the events. … Both historical and timely.”
—Booklist

“Calling all young revolutionaries and historians! This book is for you.”
—Youth Services Book Review

MY REVIEW:

Kids on the March: 15 Stories of Speaking Out, Protesting, and Fighting for Justice By Michael Long

This book was simply amazing! I loved how powerful and truly impactful this read is, where Michael Long deftly tells the stories of how children's voices do make a difference in the world we live in. The stories include marches in Washington to Black Lives Matter and other kid-led activism stories and protests against injustices in the world.

Through inspirational stories that span from the early 1900's to the current, we learn about the changes and impact kids have done through activism and having their voices heard. There are so many social issues and social justice topics on-going now such as the increasing violence and hate against Asians that this book will really inspire and motivate children and adults alike today.

I found the writing and the organization of the book easy to read for young readers. The fifteen stories mentioned were wonderfully curated that shares the themes of civil rights, immigration, gun violence, climate issues and a whole slew of other important topics. This should be a required reading for adults and children alike. 

Thank you Algonquin Young Readers and Michael Long for this advanced readers copy. My reviews and opinions are my own.

About the Author

Michael G. Long is the author and editor of many books on civil rights, peaceful protest, and politics. Kids on the March is his first book for younger readers.

6/18/20 ORDINARY GIRLS by Jaquira Díaz PUB: ALGONQUIN BOOKS

Print Length: 334 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1616209135
Publisher: Algonquin Books (October 29, 2019)
Publication Date: October 29, 2019

One of the Must-Read Books of 2019 According to O: The Oprah Magazine * Time * Bustle * Electric Literature * Publishers Weekly * The Millions * The Week * Good Housekeeping

“There is more life packed on each page of Ordinary Girls than some lives hold in a lifetime.” —Julia Alvarez In this searing memoir, Jaquira Díaz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age.

While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn’t find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be.

Reminiscent of Tara Westover’s Educated, Kiese Laymon’s Heavy, Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club, and Terese Marie Mailhot’s Heart Berries, Jaquira Díaz’s memoir provides a vivid portrait of a life lived in (and beyond) the borders of Puerto Rico and its complicated history—and reads as electrically as a novel.


THOUGHTS/REVIEW:

Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Diaz was a heartfelt, heartbreaking and yet hopeful memoir about Diaz’s life growing up in poverty, and living in the projects of Puerto Rico and Miami Beach.

Diaz told her story with unflinching bravery and honesty about her harrowing childhood, surviving the harsh streets, and with a mother suffering from mental illness. With the odds against her, she rose from all these and utilized her talents through her writing and pursuit of education to achieve the impossible.

Her story is about resilience, survival and the strength to overcome when the life handed to you is set up for failure. In this memoir Diaz’s triumph becomes our triumph as we get to examine this extraordinary life we are privy to.

Brava to this powerful and Insightful memoir I highly recommend!




AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT:

Jaquira Díaz was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Miami. She is the author of Ordinary Girls: A Memoir, winner of a Whiting Award, a Florida Book Awards Gold Medal, and a Lambda Literary Awards finalist. Ordinary Girls was a Summer/Fall 2019 Indies Introduce Selection, a Fall 2019 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Notable Selection, a November 2019 Indie Next Pick, and a Library Reads October pick. Díaz's work has been published in The Guardian, The Fader, Conde Nast Traveler, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and The Best American Essays 2016, among other publications. She is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Kenyon Review, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. A former Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s MFA Program in Creative Writing, and Consulting Editor at the Kenyon Review, she splits her time between Montréal and Miami Beach, with her partner, the writer Lars Horn.