Nat Love was born in 1854 as a slave. After the Civil War ended, he worked hard to help support his family. After he won a contest for breaking horses, he decided to head out west and try to make his way on his own. Nat became a cowboy, and was so skilled at roping steer and shooting a gun that he won the Great Cowboy Games in Deadwood, South Dakota. After that, he was known as Deadwood Dick. Nat spent twenty years risking his life out in the west, facing torrential storms, stampeding buffalo, and vicious gunfights with bandits and various Indian tribes. This graphic novel is based on Nat Love's autobiography and the dramatic and colorful artwork skillfully reveals the exciting and dangerous events in his life. Nat Love was one of the few African American cowboys to gain notoriety, and this book does a great job of telling his story.

Similar books: Houdini: The Handcuff King by Jason Lutes; Saloons, Shootouts, and Spurs: The Wild West in the 1800s by Kenneth McIntosh

Reviewed by: lauraf

Date read: 9/28/2012

ISBN-10: 0811857492

ISBN-13: 9780811857499

Check the library catalog

This tale of an Ojibwa girl living in North America in the mid-nineteenth century is a tale of everyday life, with its pleasures and dilemmas, but also a story filled with the depth of family love, grief and healing in the face of tragedy, and the complexity of growing into one's identity as a human being. In this story of a year in the life of Omakayas, we learn of her mixed feelings towards her siblings and chores, her relationship with a crow who becomes a beloved pet, and the complexities of the yearly routines (such as the building of the birchbark house and the collection of maple sap to make syrup) that allow her family to survive on the land. At the same time, we join her as she faces deep grief at the loss of a loved one through illness, discovers secrets of her past, and comes into her own as a human being. This is a thoughtful, quietly powerful tale that both tells a story from an important perspective often overlooked in this region's history and also explores the timeless theme of the experience of growing up and into oneself as a person.

Similar books: The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich; The Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich

Awards nominated: National Book Award Finalist

Reviewed by: emc

Date read: 12/31/2011

ISBN-10: 0786814543

Check the library catalog

This wonderfully tender collection of poetry reflects on the many beautiful shades of black skin. Eloquent text and powerful illustrations fill the page. The first poem questions 'What shade is human?'. She proceeds in other poems to use phrases such as 'I am biscuit brown', 'I am raspberry black', 'I am as light as snowberries in fall', and 'I am toasted wheat berry bread' to characterize the rich colors.

Awards won: Coretta Scott King Award (Illustrator)

Reviewed by: rn

Date read: 12/18/2009

ISBN-10: 0060253754

ISBN-13: 9780060253752

Check the library catalog

Brendan Buckley has developed a question notebook because of the encouragement of his fifth-grade teacher. He calls the notebook, 'Brendan Buckley's Book of Big Questions About Life,the Universe and Everything in It.' He has questions like, Do centipedes really have 100 legs? and Do boys fart more than girls? He answers the questions in his notebook by putting up his EXPERIMENT IN PROGRESS sign on his bedroom door and using his scientific methods to answer the questions. Brendan loves collecting rocks. One day on a visit to the mall with his grandma Gladys, Brendan stops to talk to a man with a rock collection display named Ed DeBoses. Grandma Gladys is shocked when she sees him talking to the man and ushers him away. Brendan pieces information together and discovers that this man is his grandpa(his mother's father) that he has never met. In his notebook, he writes down the questions he has about why he hasn't ever met his grandpa. Try as he may, Brendan just can't answer these questions. Just as he is about to give up and try to forget about Grandpa Ed, answers and forgiveness come!

Awards nominated: 2013 Bluestem Nominee

Reviewed by: jb

Date read: 6/8/2012

ISBN-10: 0385734395

ISBN-13: 9780385734394

Check the library catalog

'The Cats in Krasinski Square' by Karen Hesse recounts a little-known event, conducted by the brave men and women of the Jewish Resistance in Poland during World War II. Having invaded Poland, the Gestapo displaced its Jewish residents behind giant walls establishing the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw. These walls prevented safe living conditions, adequate food, quality medical care, and personal freedom. The Gestapo continually patrolled this area to prevent food and supplies from being smuggled into the ghetto to the starving people imprisoned there. In a brave attempt to help these people, Mira and her little sister devised an ingenious plan. They used the homeless cats of Warsaw to outwit the Gestapo and foil their plan to intercept these much needed supplies. This story gives testament to the courage and determination of many young men and women who risked their lives to fight the Nazis. Due to the subject matter of this book, younger readers should read this story with an adult.

Similar authors: Amy Littlesugar; Sharon Jennings

Similar books: One Yellow Daffodil: A Hanukkah story by David A. Adler; Star of Fear, Star of Hope by Jo Hoestlandt; The Doll with the Yellow Star by Yona Zeldis McDonough; Willy and Max: A Holocaust Story by Amy Littlesugar; A Chanukah Noel by Sharon Jennings

Reviewed by: mb

Date read: 7/15/2011

ISBN-10: 0439435404

ISBN-13: 9780439435406

Check the library catalog