Tar Beach written and illustrated by Faith Ringgold. Crown Publishers, 1991. ISBN 0-517-58030-6
Reader's Annotation: Cassie Louise Lightfoot can do something that we have all, at some point in our lives, wished we could -- fly! In the evenings, she soars over her Harlem neighborhood, above the tall buildings and among the stars.
Summary: On hot summer evenings in Harlem, Cassie's family heads up - to the cooler air on the tar-papered roof to enjoy picnic style dinners with the neighbors. As Cassie and her brother lie on a mattress gazing at the stars, she floats up to fly above the George Washington Bridge and the construction projects her high-steel worker father has helped to build.
Cassie believes that her power of flight allows her to raise her family above the racial prejudice and financial struggles that they face at ground level. She will buy the bridge, the skyscrapers, and an ice cream factory and give them to her father. Her mother will be happy, and she will teach her little brother to fly too. There is just no stopping this brave heroine in her search for freedom and equality.
Critical Evaluation: Ringgold provides an approachable explanation, even for the very young, for the discrimination that many minority families experienced in our nation's history. By telling the narrative from the perspective of an eight-year-old girl, children can more easily grasp what life was like for a biracial child of this era.
Ringgold based the illustrations and text on a story quilt that she created in 1988, and portions of the quilt's fabric squares are shown within the colorful patchwork border on each page. The acrylic on canvas paintings are folk-like in style, and the colors Ringgold uses are vibrant and hopeful, just like Cassie's spirit.
The author has captured this family's summer evening experiences so clearly, you can almost hear the buzz of adult conversation in the background, and feel the warmth of the day's heat rising from the tar paper rooftop.
Age or Interest Level: Kindergarten to Grade 3
Lexile Level: 790L
Awards:A Caldecott Honor Book
Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award
A New York Times Best Illustrated Book
Winner of the Parents' Choice Gold Award
Why Included? The colors! The patchwork! Cassie's dream of freedom!
Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & her Family's Fight for Desegregation. Written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh. Abrams Books, 2014. ISBN 978-1-4197-1054-4
Reader's Annotation: "You don't belong here!" and "No Mexicans allowed!" were the harsh words that Sylvia Mendez heard as a young Mexican-American girl in 1940's California. Will her family win the battle against this discrimination so that Sylvia and her brothers can attend the nearby school?
Summary: In 1944, the Mendez family moved to Westminster, California where Sylvia's father had leased a farm. When trying to register Sylvia and her two brothers for school that fall, Mr. Mendez is dismayed to realize that his children will not be allowed to attend because they are Mexican-American. The Mendez children are sent to the "Mexican school", which lacked quality teachers, a sufficient building, and a playground.
Sylvia's father founded the Parents' Association of Mexican-American Children and, with the assistance of attorney David Marcus, dedicated all his time to ensuring that Mexican-American children in California would have access to quality, desegregated education. Other families and social justice organizations joined the effort, and the lawsuit filed to fight this injustice traveled all the way to the State Court of California where a ruling was made that forever changed our nation's history, and the opportunities available for thousands of Mexican-American children.
Critical Evaluation: Tonatiuh has crafted an account of our country's troubled history of segregation that is drawn from many primary sources, including interviews with Sylvia Mendez herself. Many informational books can focus so heavily on facts that the text becomes dry and uninteresting, but Tonatiuh has achieved the opposite effect: a factual accounting of true events that is not only interesting, but also inspiring.
The courage and tenacity of the Mendez family in the face of discrimination offers an excellent example for children facing their own battles today. As Tonatiuh points out in the author's note, educational segregation towards Black and Latino children is on the rise again, and the struggles faced by Sylvia Mendez and others like her, remain extremely relevant.
His style of hand-drawn and collaged illustrating is modeled after ancient Mexican art, and is strikingly different from most current children's book illustration. This unique work would be valuable in a study of equal rights, and could encourage empathy and fair-mindedness among children of all races.
Age or Interest Level: Grades 2 to 4
Lexile Level: 870L
Awards: 2015 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book; 2015 Pura Belpré Award, Honor, Illustrator; 2015 Robert F. Sibert Medal, Honor Book; ALA Notable Books for Children 2015, Middle Readers
Why Included? This is a fascinating account of a little-known chapter of American history that resulted in a tremendous change of attitudes and opportunities for many, many people.