Where Have All the Birds Gone? by Rebecca E. Hirsch

Where Have All the Birds Gone?

by Rebecca E. Hirsch

Twenty-First Century Books, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. 2022.

Birds are essential to a healthy planet. They help pollinate flowers, eat pesky insects that may damage crops, some even thrive on roadkill. Birds wake us up in the morning with their songs, and we spend countless hours with binoculars watching them, both in the field or at our home bird feeders. Yet, despite our love of birds, they are disappearing at an alarming rate. According to Rebecca E. Hirsch, “Since 1970, nearly 30 percent of all birds in the United States and Canada have vanished.” 

In Where Have All the Birds Gone?, biologist turned science writer, Hirsch writes an excellent account of what is causing such a drastic decline and ways communities can protect these essential workers. From bird strikes on windows, light pollution, pesticides, the household kitty-cat to vanishing habitats, the nine chapters cover specific issues that have caused the greatest damage to birds and the people who have worked to find a solution. Well-captioned color photos visually support the text. Text boxes also add a deeper explanation of something being mentioned within the narrative.

The book includes an Author’s Note, glossary, source notes, selected bibliography, further information, and an index. 

An excellent addition to all library collections, Where Have All the Birds Gone? is a must read for everyone.

For more information about Hirsch, go here. 

Call Me Miss Hamilton by Carole Boston Weatherford

Call Me Miss Hamilton: One Woman’s Case of Equality and Respect
by Carole Weatherford Boston; Illustrations by Jeffery Boston Weatherford
Millbrook Press, an imprint of Lerner Group, Inc. 2022.

In her latest picture book biography, award-winning author, Carole Boston Weatherford writes of Miss Mary Hamilton, a civil rights activist during the 1960’s. Her sparse text is compelling and together, with Jeffery Boston Weatherford’s scratchboard illustrations, makes this a powerful book.

Everyone deserves respect. To be addressed as Miss, Mrs, or Mr. 

Mary Hamilton was taught respect by her parents, by the nuns in her catholic school, and college. Yet, even in states that outlawed segregation, where African Americans were barred from many places, whites addressed African Americans “out of their names.” Grown men were called “boy;” grown women called “girl” or “auntie.” 

Mary believed that by addressing someone by proper titles showed courtesy and respect.  

In 1960’s Mary joined the Freedom Riders. She was jailed many times. In Alabama, she was held in contempt of court for five days for refusing to answer when a white prosecutor called her Mary instead of Miss Hamilton. In 1964, Mary took her case to the United States Supreme Court and won. “The highest court in the land ruled in Mary’s favor, deciding everyone in court deserved respect.”

Call Me Miss Hamilton includes an author’s note, timeline, and suggestions for further reading.

Click here to read an interview with Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffery Boston Weatherford. 

A must have for all libraries, school and public. 

Another contender for ALSC/ALA awards. 

Evicted! : The Struggle for the Right to Vote by Alice Fay Duncan

Evicted!: The Struggle for the Right to Vote
Alice Fay Duncan; Art. by Charly Palmer
Calkins Creek. An Imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers. 2022

In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson to eliminate discrimination in America’s political elections. “The law was passed to stop such criminal acts as racial gerrymandering, poll taxes, and economic reprisals.”  In Evicted!, Duncan tells the gripping true story known as the Fayette County Tent City Movement. She follows ten individuals to retell the events leading up to the trial of sharecropper Burton Dodson in 1959, and how that pivotal moment brought the Black community in Fayette County to stand together to demand their right to vote. 

“In 1950, Fayette County’s population of 28.000 was two-thirds Black, and the Black majority was made up mostly of unlearned sharecroppers living on cotton farms owned by white landowners.” To discourage Blacks from registering to vote, the white minority used fear of lynching and terror of fire. Each two-page spread, Duncan recounts the events that had families burned out of their homes and forced to relocate to a makeshift community of tents, called, “Tent City.” “Seven hundred Black families in both Fayette and Haywood Counties were removed from their farms where they had lived and worked for two or three decades.” 

Once Blacks registered to vote, their names were placed on a list, a “blacklist”, that was shared throughout the white community in Fayette County. They were denied groceries and gasoline, white doctors denied medicine, and insurance agents cancelled policies.

This well-documented narrative nonfiction includes an epilogue, timeline, list of resources, bibliography, and brief author and artist note. Charly Palmer’s illustrations, rendered in acrylic paint, capture the emotion of this time. 

An upsetting read given the present political situation, Evicted! is an important addition to all collections, a must read for middle and high school readers. 

Click here to listen to an interview with Alice Fay Duncan.

Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution

Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution

Written by Bernie Sanders; Illustrations by Jude Buffum

GodwinBooks. an Imprint of Henry Holt. 2017

Grade 6 and up

I know this book is a couple of years old  (2017), but as we approach another presidential election cycle, it seems like the perfect book to include in any displays on voting. 

This book delves into the major issues facing our country today and gives a passionate argument that supports embracing change for each topic. From livable wage, tax reform, health care for all, making higher education affordable, combating climate change to reforming our criminal justice system and immigration reform. Buffum’s black and white illustrations give a visual explanation of what is Bernie is explaining in the text. 

I found the last chapter, What Is “Government,” Anyway? very interesting. I did not know that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in their World Factbook describes thirty-one different forms of government around the globe. “Most are variations of the eight major types (autocracy, communism, democracy, monarchy, oligarchy, socialism, theocracy, and totalitarianism.” Bernie gives a brief explanation of each of the above and ends with what it means to live in a democracy.

Politics is the hot topic with middle and high school students lately. Since we do spend a lot of time teaching students to check where they get their information when it comes from the Internet, offering Bernie’s Guide to Political Revolution will give them a leg up when it comes to understanding just what the progressive platform is all about. 

I borrowed this book from my local public library to write this review.

Click here to listen to why Bernie wrote this book.