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!
Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts. Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2013. ISBN 978-1-14197-0845-9
Reader's Annotation: Rosie invents all sorts of engineering marvels: wouldn't you love to try a pair of helium pants? But after an embarrassing failure, Rosie faces her most difficult challenge ever: to rebuild her dream of becoming a great engineer.
Summary: Shy Rosie loves to invent and build gadgets and machines, but only late at night when she is alone in her attic bedroom. When she was younger, she boldly created invention after invention, and all out of bits and pieces of things that she collected. After a favorite uncle laughed at her creation of a cheese hat to keep snakes off of his head, she had given up on her dream of engineering for fear of failing again.
When Rosie's great-great-aunt Rose (who just might be Rosie the Riveter) arrives for a visit, Rosie's desire to grant her aunt's one unfulfilled wish to fly overcomes her reluctance to experience failure. Rosie gets to work on a heli-o-cheese-copter that could carry her aunt into the air. Will she succeed? Will she learn that the only true failure is allowing discouragement to triumph over the will to try again? Could great-great-aunt Rose, with her spunk and lifetime of experience turn Rosie's fear around?
Critical Evaluation: Beaty's narrative is wonderfully rhythmic with rhyming phrases that lend themselves to an enjoyable read-aloud experience. The text is accompanied by finely detailed illustrations full of the bits and pieces Rosie uses to create her amazing machines. The inventions themselves are represented at a level that invites closer examination to see exactly how they operate and how they are put together.
Not only is this book a worthy read, it is also a fine example of children's literature that challenges gender stereotypes. Rosie's engineering mind, and her great-great-aunt Rose, and the millions of other women like her, who stepped outside of a woman's traditional role during World War II, are sure to inspire young girls to expand their own horizons and consider possibilities that might at first appear to be mainly open to boys.
The inclusion of a historical note at the end of the text regarding women during the war effort, as well as a detailed excerpt from Rose's notebook highlighting firsts in flight by women aviators and inventors serve to reinforce the book's message of "We can do it!", and encourage further reading about strong women and the accomplishments that can result from following your dreams with persistence.
This is a lovely companion volume to Beaty and Roberts' prior collaboration, Iggy Peck, Architect.
Age or Interest Level: Ages 3 to 7
Lexile Level: 860
Awards: 2013 Parents' Choice Award Gold; 2014 Amelia Bloomer Project List; Geek Dad Best Books of Year; Reading is Fundamental Multicultural Collection; 2015 Bill Martin Jr. Picture Book Award Nominee
Why Included? This book has it all: engaging text, illustrations with a scientific bent, great read-aloud potential, and an inspiring message that encourages young readers to see failure as a step necessary to reaching success. With a strong female protagonist, Rosie Revere bucks gender stereotypes and reveals the importance of creativity and determination.
