Tag Archive | Washington DC

P is GREEN PROMISES: Girls Who Loved the Earth, by Jeannine Atkins (YA fiction) #AtoZ

Apr18
Book cover of Green Promises: Girls Who Loved the Earth, by Jeannine Atkins. Shows 2 women in old-fashioned dresses and hats, one sitting on riverbank and sketching its tall grasses, one wading in the river and examining rocks she has picked up there.

Grasses swaying in the breeze,
different rocks in the river,
what stories do they tell about time and change?

Now packed into Grandmother’s small Chicago flat with her siblings and widowed mother, Agnes misses green meadows, learns to draw sidewalk flowers on old envelopes, wishes for school past 8th grade.

School soon for Marguerite, exploring the river’s edge with its intriguing rocks, across from Washington DC where her father and other Black men labor. Her parents never learned to read, yet she dreams of going to high school.

Agnes becomes a talented botanical artist, is asked to travel and survey grasses of the west at her own expense (because she’s a woman), at last working in the Smithsonian.

Marguerite longs to become a teacher, to make a difference in her world, to envision what factors increase flood risks in the nation’s capital.

Women march for the right to vote in 1913! Agnes jailed with other white women protestors, Marguerite and other Black women shunted to the end of the parade.

Will Agnes’s decades of work to find and catalogue the grasses of the world be recognized?
Can Marguerite find a university where she can earn degrees in geology?
How many women will they both inspire to learn and discover and succeed?

This evocative novel-in-verse brings us the lives and work of women who persevered in natural sciences when society’s expectations tried to limit them.

By the author of Hidden Powers: Lise Meitner’s Call to Science (recommended at https://booksyalove.com/?p=12527) and Stone Mirrors: the Sculpture and Silence of Edmonia Lewis (here https://booksyalove.com/?p=8212).

What’s your favorite museum of natural history?
**kmm

Book info: Green Promises: Girls Who Loved the Earth / Jeannine Atkins. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2025. [author site https://www.jeannineatkins.com/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Green-Promises/Jeannine-Atkins/Girls-Who-Love-Science/9781665950572] Review copy & cover image courtesy of the publisher.

D is for Dan: MONUMENT MAKER: DANIEL CHESTER FINCH AND THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL, by Linda Booth Sweeney & Shawn Fields (MG non-fiction) AtoZ

Apr4
book cover of Monument Maker: Daniel Chester Finch and the Lincoln Memorial, by Linda Booth Sweeney; illustrated by Shawn Fields; shows detailed ink sketch of the sculptor on a platform watching workers use ropes & pulleys to lift the left arm of Lincoln's seated marble statue in Washington DC's Lincoln Memorial.

Imposing, inspiring Lincoln Memorial anchors the great public spaces of Washington, D.C., but do you know who made it?

Dan Finch was just 14 when Lincoln was assassinated; fifty years later, the noted sculptor was asked by architect Henry Bacon to create a colossal statue of the beloved president for the newly commissioned Lincoln Memorial, saying “It must seem to have a soul.” (pg. 35)

Before the first bit of clay was carved, Finch researched Lincoln’s life, talked to Robert Todd Lincoln (the president’s son), and looked at plaster castings of Lincoln’s hands that had been made while the president was alive.

From a small clay “sketch” model to a larger working model to a 7 foot high model, the sculpture of Lincoln became more detailed and life-like as Finch worked in his Massachusetts studio over many months.

After the famed Piccirilli brothers enlarged that final model to carve Lincoln’s seated image from 28 huge blocks of marble, the Lincoln Memorial was officially dedicated in May 1922, seven years (and a world war) after Bacon offered Finch the opportunity to create a statue that would unite all Americans.

This wide illustrated non-fiction book turns the reader sideways for its tall double-page spreads of Finch’s famous Minuteman sculpture and the sculptor’s own awe-struck visit to the completed Lincoln Memorial, all sketched in great detail with pen-and-ink.

The extensive back matter includes a detailed timeline of Finch’s life, artistic training, and sculptures, plus notes from the author and a resources list, as befits a book jointly published by the Concord Museum of his hometown.

Have you ever visited the Lincoln Memorial?
**kmm

Book info: Monument Maker: Daniel Chester Finch and the Lincoln Memorial / Linda Booth Sweeney; illustrated by Shawn Fields. Tilbury House Publisher in association with the Concord Museum, 2019. [author site https://lindaboothsweeney.com/monument-maker/] [illustrator site https://www.shawnfields.com/] [publisher site https://www.tilburyhouse.com/product-page/monument-maker] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher via Publisher Spotlight.

W is for wonderful AudioSYNC summer – reading with your ears starts NOW! #A2Z

Apr27

Once again, audiobook publishers have teamed up to give us two FREE professionally produced titles through AudioSYNC every week for a summer of great listening, starting today!

Each theme-related pair of audiobooks will be available for one week (Thursday-Wednesday) so I will alert you about new titles for all 13 weeks.

You’ll need to download the free Sora reading app (instructions and sign-up link here) if you don’t already use it with your school or library.

It’s all free, and once you save either or both weekly selections to your Sora shelf, you can read them with your ears whenever you like – no expiration dates.

AudioSYNC summer begins now, with these two titles about the Freedom to Know:

CD cover of TOP SECRET: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers. Published by L.A. Theatre Works | recommended on BooksYALove.com

TOP SECRET: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers (free Sora download 4/27-5/3/23)
by Geoffrey Cowan, Leroy Aarons | Read by John Heard, Susan Sullivan, James Gleason, and a Full Cast
Published by L.A. Theatre Works

Dramatization of the Washington Post’s publication of the secret Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War and pushback from the Nixon White House – recorded with a live audience.
https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/38585/top-secret-by-geoffrey-cowan-leroy-aarons-read-by-john-heard-susan-sullivan/

CD cover of YOU CAN'T SAY THAT! Writers for Young People Talk about Censorship, Free Expression, and the Stories They Have to Tell. Published by Brilliance Audio / Candlewick | recommended on BooksYALove.com

YOU CAN’T SAY THAT! Writers for Young People Talk about Censorship, Free Expression, and the Stories They Have to Tell (free Sora download 4/27-5/3/23)
by Leonard S. Marcus [Ed.] | Read by Tom Parks, Roxanne Hernandez, Arthur Morey, Janet Metzger, Thom Rivera, Susan Dalian
Published by Brilliance Audio / Candlewick

A noteworthy collection of YA authors share their experiences of their books being challenged for ‘controversial issues’ – Matt de la Peña, Robie H. Harris, Susan Kuklin, David Levithan, Meg Medina, Lesléa Newman, Katherine Paterson, Dav Pilkey, Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, Sonya Sones, R. L. Stine, and Angie Thomas.

I recommended the 2021 print book earlier on BooksYALove.com here

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/198953/you-cant-say-that!-by-leonard-s-marcus-ed-read-by-tom-parks-roxanne-hernandez/

How many audiobooks do you read in a year?
**kmm

divider clipart – http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/mondays-throughout-the-day-17164159

Solve his life by DOWN AND ACROSS? by Arvin Ahmadi (book review)

Jul28
cover image of Down and Across, by Arvin Ahmadi. Published by Penguin | recommended on BooksYALove.com

His life needs focus, purpose.
Consult an expert?
Yes! Go now!

Almost 17, Saaket (call him Scott) has bumbled his way through school and life, much to the dismay of his doting Persian parents. Surely he can stick with this lab internship for a month while they are away…

On a whim, he travels to DC instead so he can ask an expert how to get grit, that ability to follow through with things. He’ll be back in Philadelphia long before his parents get back from Iran…

Meeting Fiora on the bus as she goes back to Georgetown University is a stroke of luck since that’s where Professor Mallard works! Fiora is a crossword fanatic and a daredevil who introduces him to Trent and a crazy bar, dares Saaket to get out of his comfort zone…

Professor Mallard has a project for him – great!
Fiora has a plan to connect Trent with a mentor – fantastic!
Saaket is running out of time and money – where’s that grit?!

Family expectations can be a balloon or an anchor – Saaket and his new friends are deciding how the answers of their pasts will fill their personal crossword puzzle of future possibilities.

How far can grit take you in life?
**kmm

Book info: Down and Across / Arvin Ahmadi. Viking, 2018, Penguin paperback, 2019. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

E = EVERYWHERE YOU WANT TO BE, by Christina June (YA book review)

Apr5
book cover of Everywhere You Want to Be, by Christina June. Published by BlinkYA | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Be a dancer? No, go to college!
Who will get the lead role? Watch your back!
Play it safe with her heart? Take a chance, Tilly!

It may be her last opportunity to dance, so she’s working hard with the troupe, refining her technique, hoping her mother will relent and allow Tilly to keep dancing, instead of immediately attending Mama’s dream college.

A backstabbing troupe member, an old friend who may become a new love, late-night stress baking, all of New York City to explore in this too-short summer!

You might have met Tilly earlier in her stepsister Tatum’s story, It Started With Goodbye (I recommended it here), and their abuela and Paolo, too.

And check out Tilly’s guide to New York on the publisher’s website here.

When do you know which dreams are uniquely yours?
**kmm

Book info: Everywhere You Want to Be / Christina June. Blink YA, 2018. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: From her quiet DC suburb to New York City’s clamor, Tilly is thrilled to be with a summer dance troupe, but competition for roles gets vicious!

Their choreographer/director is a genius, telling them that ‘slaying the dragon’ will center their dance in a stunning performance space to end the summer.

What a summer! Grueling and rewarding rehearsals, exploring the city with her roommate, increasingly irksome pranks, and trying to undo the way she ended things at home with musician Paolo.

Scouts from major ballet companies will be at their performance. Their families and friends will be there. Will the saboteur strike there, too?

One final summer to dance, to pray that Mama won’t force her to attend college, to dream that her future is all dance (and some Paolo, too) – too much to ask?

Tales of despair & hope – listen up!

Jun14

So many stories of enslavement and escape – here are two to read with your ears!

Thank you to the publishers of these audiobooks for making them freely available each week through http://www.audiobooksync.com/. 

Download either or both titles by clicking on the link from Thursday through Wednesday (14-20 June 2018), then listen to them whenever you want.

CD cover of My Name is Not Friday, by Jon Walter | Read by Dion Graham Published by Scholastic Audio | recommended on BooksYALove.comMy Name Is Not Friday (download here free 14-20 June 2018)
by Jon Walter
Read by Dion Graham
Published by Scholastic Audio

During the Civil War, young free-man Samuel stands up for his brother and is sold from their Northern orphanage into Southern slavery where he vows to remember his own name and regain his freedom.

Come August, Come Freedom: the Bellows, the Gallows, and the Black General Gabriel (download here free 14-20 June 2018)CD cover of Come August, Come Freedom by Gigi Amateau | Read by J.D. Jackson Published by Candlewick on Brilliance Publishing | recommended on BooksYALove.com
by Gigi Amateau
Read by J.D. Jackson
Published by Candlewick on Brilliance Publishing

Born into slavery, talented blacksmith Gabriel is inspired by Haitian revolutionaries to organize enslaved people of Virginia to rebel in 1800 – a little-known true story.

This Juneteenth, what other historical stories of rebellion and freedom should we be hearing?
**kmm

Voices above the majority crowd to read with your ears!

Aug4

This week’s free audiobooks from SYNC speak in voices from beyond and within America’s bordersso you can read with your ears!

Remember that although these complete audiobooks are only available from Thursday through Wednesday, you have free use of them as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device

CD cover of The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez | Read by Yareli Arizmendi, Christine Avila, Jesse Corti, Gustavo Res, Ozzie Rodriguez, Gabriel Romero Published by Random House Audio | recommended on BooksYALove.comThe Book of Unknown Americans: a novel (download here 4-10 August 2016)
by Cristina Henríquez
Read by Yareli Arizmendi, Christine Avila, Jesse Corti, Gustavo Res, Ozzie Rodriguez, Gabriel Romero
Published by Random House Audio

As the Riveras travel to the USA so daughter Maribel has a better life, voices from Latin America tell their tales meet them during their exodus and in their new land.
 
Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War (download here 4-10 August 2016)
CD cover of audiobook Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War by Steve Sheinkin | Read by Ray Porter Published by Listening Library | recommended on BooksYALove.comby Steve Sheinkin
Read by Ray Porter
Published by Listening Library

In the early 1970s reporter Daniel Ellsberg tracks down secrets about the USA’s involvement in the Vietnam War, risking his own life and liberty to disclose government disinformation to the American public.

How can listening to stories beyond the mainstream help you understand more?
**kmm

Tut: The Story of My Immortal Life, by PJ Hoover (book review) – pharoah in junior high?

May29

book cover of Tut My Immortal Life by PJ Hoover published by StarscapeRuling as powerful pharaoh – yay!
Becoming immortal – cool!
Stuck in middle school for eternity – ughhh!

And Tut’s forever-13-life becomes more complicated as a cult dedicated to evil god Set targets monuments in Washington DC, the general who killed his father is after him, and a mortal classmate gets involved in the hunt!

Lots of Egyptian gods hanging around the US Capitol these days, it seems…

Be sure to check out the book trailer here and the author’s website where you can visit the novel’s world in Minecraft, play games, and solve puzzles.

Would you let a friend join you in a dangerous quest?
**kmm

Book info: Tut: The Story of My Immortal Life / PJ Hoover. Starscape, 2014. [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Immortal teen Tut suddenly has bigger problems than an overprotective guardian and middle school bullies as the man who killed his father centuries ago reappears as head of an evil-worship cult in present-day DC.

Rescued by the god Osiris from assassination, now Tut lives with a golden scarab heart, forever age 13. Centuries later, his middle school’s field trip turns ugly when “Tut’s Tomb” exhibit includes dark god Set, much hated by the real Tut.

Scarabs swarming everywhere, exploding obelisk monuments, and too much attention from kids at school – many eerie things are happening in Washington DC.

When the general who killed Tut’s father escapes from his eternal prison to lead Set’s followers in destruction, Tut and mortal friend Henry follow clues found by his army of tiny shabti soldiers and advisor Horus in cat form.

Can they save DC residents from this supernatural peril?
Why is Tut’s guardian hiding a deadly secret?
Will Tut have to use the last spell in The Book of the Dead  to stop Horemheb?

Egyptian gods and strange connections abound in this action-packed adventure! (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)