The Red Bicycle: The Extraordinary Story of One Ordinary Bicycle by Jude Isabella, illustrated by Simone Shin

After mowing lawns, raking leaves and shoveling snow, Leo finally has enough money to buy his dream bicycle, a red bike with 18 gears that he names Big Red.  Leo goes everywhere on his bike, but after a few years, he has outgrown Big Red.  Leo took good care of his bike and it served him well, but now it's time for a new one.

Leo tells the bike shop owner he would like to pass Big Red on to someone who needs a bike and the bike shop owner tells him about an organization that will take bike donations and send them to countries where they are needed.   At the donation area, Leo takes Big Red apart for shipping and soon his bike, along with 461 others, is sailing across the ocean on its way to someone in Africa who really  needs it.

Soon Big Red arrives in Africa, and finds a new owner.  Young Alisetta is a perfect match for Big Red.  In no time, Alisetta has learned to ride her new bike and now she can get to the fields earlier, harvest more sorghum and her family can eat better.  And she can ride to the village market, carrying items she and her grandmother have made to sell.  With the extra money, Alisetta's younger sibling can go to school.

One day, there is money to buy a second bike, but while Alisetta is away doing that, a pig tramples Big Red, ruining the wheel spokes.  Now it's only good for parts.  But Big Red's usefulness isn't quite over.  A worker from a medical clinic takes the bike, repairs it and turns it into an ambulance by attaching a trailer and stretcher on it.  Now when people in villages can't otherwise get to the clinic, Haridata can ride to them and even transport them back to the clinic using her bicycle ambulance.  Soon people in all the surrounding villages know about the wonderful bicycle ambulance that the kids now call Le Grand Rouge.  Le Grand Rouge transports many people for the next few years.  When Haridata leaves the clinic, she wonders who had this red bike before her, not knowing about what a wonderful journey Big Red/Le Grand Rouge has been on thanks to one boy's generosity.

This is one of those picture books for older readers that shows that even one person can make a difference in the world on a small but important scale.  The story of Big Red's journey is told in simple language, but includes lots of detail.  Readers probably don't need to know things like how Leo takes his bike apart for shipping but I think it adds a real touch of realism that makes this thought-provoking book accessible.

Shin's digital illustrations are done in a flat folk-art style using a soft pastel palette which makes the bright red bicycle really stand out which seems only right since it is the bike's story.

At the end of the book, there is information about what kids can do to help bring used bikes to areas in the world that need them and the organizations to contact should they have a bike to donate.  The book does make it clear that once they donate their bikes, kids will not know where it goes or who will use it or how they will use it.  As a donor, kids will just have to have faith that their bike will be loved and welcomed the way Leo's Big Red was.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley

The Mystery of the Missing Lion: A Precious Ramotswe Mystery for Young Readers #3 by Alexander McCall Smith

One of my favorite adult book characters is Precious Ramotswe of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series written by Alexander McCall Smith.  Detecting was clearly what Mma Ramotswe is meant to be doing and she acknowledges much of her success to her father Obed Ramotswe, who taught her many skills as a child.  Now, young readers can read all about Precious and her early adventures in detecting in a series of chapter books.

The Mystery of the Missing Lion is the third book in the series.  Here, Precious is invited to visit her Aunty Bee who works in the Eagle Island Safari Camp in the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana in Africa.  Precious is very excited and on her first day she makes friends with Khumo, a young boy about her age.

There is also a movie crew in the area, making a film that will be using a trained actor lion named Teddy.  Of course, the kids are interested and soon the director asks if they can hide in the bushes and makes sounds of a guinea fowl to attract Teddy during a shoot.  It is a fun day for Precious and Khumo who are treated like part of the film crew.

And so is the next day, but later that day, Precious hears a commotion and when she goes outside, she learns that Teddy is missing.  The next morning, Precious puts to good use the tracking skills her father had taught her, but there are no lion tracks to be found.

Precious and Khumo decide to borrow Aunty Bee's canoe (with her permission, of course) and set off on the river looking for Teddy.  They finally spot him in a pride of lions at the river's edge.  Hurrying back to camp, a new search party is formed to find Teddy and bring him back.  But is that the right thing to do?  Precious has other ideas about where Teddy belongs, but will she have the courage to say something?

The Mystery of the Missing Lion is a perfect book for young readers ready to tackle a higher level chapter book.  The writing is uncomplicated and where something new is introduced, like the Okavango Delta, Smith gives a clear description/definition for his readers.  There is a map of Africa showing where Botswana is at the beginning of the book, but I would have liked to see a more detailed map of Botswana, since there is a bit of geography to the story.  At the back of the book, there is a page detailing information about Botswana and the geography that is also helpful but would be better with a map.

Of course, in the Reader's Guide at the back of the book, there is pre-reading activities and one is focused on map work and the varied wildlife that is found in Botswana.  People sometimes forget that Africa is such a large continent with many different countries, all with their own customs, traditions and cultures, not to mention landscape and wildlife.  The Mystery of the Missing Lion goes far in helping kids understand what at least one country is like.

There are spot black and white illustrations throughout the story by Iain McIntosh, giving the story a real feeling of being in Botswana.

As an adult, Precious Ramotswe gives her father Obed a lot of credit for many of the things she knows and one of those is a strong sense of right and wrong.  This comes through so clearly in this book about young Precious, making it a wonderfully gentle story for young readers.  But Obed had also imparted a real love for Botswana, its people, animals and land in Precious and that too is already evident in this delightful young girl.  So the same charming qualities that make the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series such a pleasure to read are present in this chapter book.

This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This book is an EARC received from NetGalley

My Name is Blessing and Hope Springs both by Eric Walters, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes

 My Name is Blessing is the story of Muthini, a young Kenyan boy living with his grandmother and her eight other grandchildren.  And, though they are poor and often hungry, there is a lot of love in Muthini's home.

The youngest of the cousins, Muthini had been born with no fingers on his left hand and only two on his right hand, and so his mother had given him a name that meant suffering.

One day, his grandmother took Muthini on a long walk to a place where he could hear children laughing and playing behind a gate.  Inside were happy, healthy, well-dressed children, boys and girls.  Muthini became self-conscious of his tattered clothing, his bare feet and his hands.

Here was a home for kids, and although it was very painful for his grandmother to do so, she asked if there might be a place for Muthini, she was just too old and poor to give him much now.  Gabriel, whose home it was, welcomed them, and asked to see Muthini's hands.  Then he told there there was no place in his home, "not as Muthini, not as suffering, but as Baraka, as a blessing" there is definitely a place.

Which pleased his grandmother, who had always seen Muthini as a blessing anyway and she can visit him as often as possible.

This is a simple, straightforward story,  There is not one indication in the portrayal of the grandmother that giving up her youngest grandchild isn't one of the most painful decisions she has ever had to make, but loving him like she does, she knows it is for the best.  Her resources are so severely limited.

But this is also a story about hope and the future, and about how a disability and the child's shameful attitude towards it can be changed under the right circumstances.  Muthini had always hidden his hands out of habit, but the idea that this will be different in the future, is quite clear.

The wonderful expressive illustrations by artist Eugenie Fernandes are done in a earth-tone palette of acrylics, with soft yellows, blues, browns and greens throughout, evocative of the African Savannah, where Kenya is located.   Fernandes also captures the full range of feelings and emotions experienced by Muthini, his grandmother and Gabriel.

There are five pages of back matter about the real Baraka and his grandmother, giving information about which tribe they belong to, the conditions of their home and what life is like for the children who come to live the home (called Creation of Hope) founded with the purpose of creating a better future for the children Mbooni region of Kenya (where Baraka comes from).  The home/school that is the Creation of Hope is a project that author Eric Walters is very involved in (you can find out more by clicking the link).

In Hope Springs, returns to Kenya to tell the story of Boniface.  Boniface live in an orphanage with many other children, and each child has certain chores to do everyday.  Boniface's chore to to go down the mountain with other children and collect water in containers at a little spring some distance away.

But there has been a drought in Kenya and the other people at the spring don't want to share the water with the orphanage, tossing their water containers aside.

Luckily, a well was being dug for the orphanage, but sadly, it was taking a long time.  Each day after school, Boniface raced over to see how the well was coming along.  Finally, one day, the well was deep enough and water starts gushing into it.  The orphanage would at last have all the water they needed.

But Boniface wasn't satisfied.  He went to the orphanage's houseparents, Henry and Ruth, and asked if it would be possible to dig another well by the little spring with the leftover materials.  And so with everyone helping, a second well was dug, providing enough water for the very same people that had refused to share with Boniface.

Both Walters and Fernandes return to the successful format of their book, My Name is Blessing in this wonderful story of kindness, sharing and community.  Boniface lives also lives in a Creation of Hope orphanage similar to the one Muthini was taken to by his grandmother.  Like Muthini's story, Hope Springs is also based on a true story.

Walters manages to tell the story of the wells in an entertaining way.  It is a feat of good writing to be able to tell a story in an entertaining manner while, at the same time, educating the reader about the importance of water where is it scarce and showing how an act of kindness can change a community's life and attitude without sounding preachy or making it didactic.

Fernandes returns to her earth-tone palette of browns, blues, greens and yellows in her lovely acrylic illustrations.

At the back of the Hope Springs, are a number of pages about the real Boniface, the problem of drought and the lack of water in Kenya and the work being done to help alleviate this situation.

Hope Springs and My Name is Blessing are excellent companion books and make thoughtful, inspiring read alouds, though given the subject matter they are really picture books for older readers.

Eric Walters has written over 92 books, including novels for kids of all ages and topics, yet he still finds  time to remain active in the Creation of Hope project.

My Name is Blessing and Hope Springs are recommended for readers age 7+
My Name is Blessing was borrowed from the NYPL
Hope Springs was an EARC received from NetGalley

#Diversiverse Review: The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Living on a small farm in the Darfur region of the Sudan, Amira has just turned 12 and her father has given her a new drawing stick to make pictures in the Sudanese sand.

But now that she is old enough and her mother tries to warn her about the Janjaweed militants, Amira just doesn't want to hear about that.  What she wants is to go to school like her best friend Halima has.  And although her family is happy and hard working, there just isn't any money for school.  Besides, her mother doesn't believe that girls should be educated, except for marriage.  For now, Amira will just have to be satisfied with drawing the pictures in the sand with her stick.

Then, one peaceful morning, in the middle of chores, the Janjaweed militants sweep through Amira's village, randomly shooting at people and animals as they go.  Amira sees her beloved father shot and, when it is all over, he is dead, their home is destroyed and their livestock gone.

Traumatized, Amira loses her ability to speak.  To make matter worse, Amira, her mother, disabled younger sister Leila, along with Old Anwar, a neighbor, and Leila's friend Gamal must now walk through dark nights to reach a displaced persons camp and safety.

Life is hard and crowded in the refugee camp, impinging everywhere on Amira's grief, so deep that even when things happen that make her want to speak out, she is still unable to utter words.  Then, one day, a Sudan Relief woman arrives at the camp, bearing pencils and yellow tablets for the children.  Everyone gets a yellow pencil, except Amira, who is give the one pencil that is red.

At first, she doesn't like the short, too shinny pencil, but little by little she begins to draw pictures of her life, before on the farm and now in the refugee camp.  But now that she is able to express herself again in pictures,  will she once again find her voice?

By placing this novel in free verse from September 2003 to June 2004, and putting the narration in Amira's voice, with accompanying simple pencil drawings on each page, Pinkney wisely manages to introduce the horror of government sanctioned genocide and displacement in Darfur to young readers of The Red Pencil without scaring them away.

Indeed, Pinkney pulls the reader into the story with verse images of Amira's peaceful, ordered life with her family - her new turning-twelve-twig, the birth of her sister, later, the birth of a lamb, even raking animal plop on the family's small farm.  But the fear and danger of the trip to the camp and the chaotic life there will also keep readers turning pages.

Young readers will certainly be able to relate to Amira on some level.  She is a girl with hopes and dreams just like any 12 year old, a little strong-willed and at times defiant, but also kind and loving.  There is some mother/daughter clashing over Amira's future, some sibling fighting, and a close father/daughter relationship - just as there are in many families.  However, her story may also help readers better understand the conflict in Darfur.

But The Red Pencil isn't a book about fighting, it is a book about resilience and surviving and even hope despite everything.  And it is about doing what you need to do in order to survive and be happy.  And it is also a testament to the healing power of art.

Though occasionally there is a word or phrase that sounds a little to American and less like Amira, for the most part, Pinkney's language throughout is so beautifully lyrical, at times causing me to read passages over and over just because of her delicate, very moving way of saying something.

The Red Pencil is definitely a book everyone should read.

There is a Reading Guide for The Red Pencil from the publisher which you can download HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was obtained from the author at BEA 2014


 I chose Alvin Ho: Allergic to the Great Wall, The Forbidden Palace, and Other Tourist Attractions for my first book in the A More Diverse Universe Reading Challenge and How I Became a Ghost for my second book because so often children's books written by people of color are overlooked and there are so many more that there used to be and so many are so wonderful.  The Red Pencil is a middle grade novel which I chose for the same reasons.

Mysterious Traveler by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham, illustrated by P.J. Lynch

No one knows, understands or respects the African desert like Issa, who has been guiding travelers through it for many, many years.  A desert storm can begin suddenly and before long, travelers are buried in the sweeping sand.  One morning, as he was watching the sun come up, Issa realized there had been a storm, then he noticed a red ribbon with black and green embroidery on it in the desert.  Hearing a cry and looking further, Issa finds a camel guarding a small baby.

Issa took the baby and camel home.  He named the baby Mariama and raised her.  As she grew, Issa taught her everything there was to know about the desert.  Issa and Mariama were inseparable.  One day, however, Issa told Mariama that he was going blind.  She became his eyes, describing the things around them exactly as he had taught her to do: "Now we are passing the line of thorn trees that look like old women lifting their shawls over their heads."

One day, three travelers come seeking Issa's services as a guide.  They do not want to take the long way through the desert, but the shortcut through the dangerous Bitter Mountains.  They offer Issa a pouch of pearls as substantial payment for his guidance, enough to help secure Mariama's future.  As the travelers are leaving, they discover Issa is now blind and guides with the help of a young girl, they get angry and leave.

In the morning, Mariama tells Issa that the travelers are gone, crossing the mountains without a guide.  Issa decides they will go find the travelers.  They follow their tracks but by the end of the day, they have lost them.  The next day, Issa figures out where the travelers are based on Mariama's description, but soon, he realizes that a dust storm is coming and so are the three travelers.  Issa directs them all to a gap in the mountains, where they wait out the sandstorm in safety.

The next day, the three travelers visit Issa to say goodbye, when the leaders notices a gold necklace Mariama is wearing.  After she tells him that she was found as a baby wearing it, he invites them to sit so he can tell them a story that will change the lives of Issa and Mariama forever.

Yes, to those of you who have already read this lovely story, I know the ending is predictable.  But the point of Mysterious Traveler isn't the ending.  At the heart of it is the concept of family and how we define it.  Mariama calls Issa grandfather even though they are not related (she also called him Baba which I took in its ancient Persian meanings of a term of endearment, but could also mean father).  Is family only those that we are biologically related to or does it include those who loved us as if we are family?

Mysterious Traveler is an enchanting story that will certainly bring the tales of the Arabian Nights to mind, in both words and illustration.  The language is picturesque and lyrical, evoking the the sights and sounds of a long ago way of life.  Not only does it convey the gentle love between Issa and Mariama, but the language also shows the desert in all moods from calm and beautiful at sunrise, to angry and dark in a sandstorm.  

This is the kind of story that is best read aloud, just as the Arabian Nights were told.  It is perfect for classroom or bedtime reading, with its calm, gentle tone.  The story is complimented by P.J. Lynch's beautiful, soft-focus watercolor and gouache illustrations, all done in earthy, desert tones.  These are at once realistic and dreamlike.  In fact, it was Lynch's cover illustration that first drew me to Mysterious Traveler.

Then I was delighted to see it was written by Mal Peet, a favorite of mine, and his wife Elspeth Graham.  They have worked as a team before and once again, they have given us a story that we can all appreciate.

This book is recommended for readers age 6+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

Deep in the Sahara by Kelly Cunnane, illustrated by Hoda Hadadi

Lalla wants to wear a malafa, just like all the girls and women in her Mauritania, West African village.  She says would like to wear a malafa so she can be beautiful like her mother, but her mother tells her that a malafa is for more than just beauty.

Lalla's sister looks mysterious in her malafa, but she tells Lalla that a malafa is for more than just mystery.

When she tells cousin Aisha she would like to wear a colorful malafa to be a lady, again she is told that a malafa is for more than just being a lady.

And Grandmother tells her a malafa is for more than just tradition, when Lalla approaches her.

When Lalla looks around her and sees the men going to pray in mosques, and the women praying in quiet places, she tells her mother that she wants to wear a malafa so she can pray just like her mother.  To her surprise, her mother brings out a beautiful blue malafa and wraps Lalla in it, just like all the girls and women in the village wear theirs.

Slowly, mother and daughter ascend the stairs and Lalla tells her mother that she knows was a malafa is for - it is for faith.

Deep in the Sahara is a lovely story about a young girl (and young readers) learning to understand and appreciate this very important aspect of her Muslim religion.  In her Author's Note, Kelly Cunnane writes that before she went to live in Mauritainia, she had viewed wearing the veil as repressive, an idea that I think many non-Muslims have.  But she said, once there she realized that it was a positive expression of Islam and she changed her way of thinking about wearing a malafa.  This book is an expression of what Cunnane discovered.  It certainly reflects the colorful, confident ease with which the women wear their malafas, but shows the importance of understanding just why a girl would chose to do so.

The lovely, colorful college illustrations by Hoda Hadadi, an Iranian artist, adds so much in showing the reader a strong, supportive community and close family relationships that exist in this part of the world.  I particularly like the was she showed the different ways women might express themselves in the color and pattern choices of their malafas.

Be sure to read the Author's Note and look at the small glossary of Arabic words used throughout the story.   This is a book that will go far in increasing our understanding of the Islamic religion.

This book is recommended for readers age 5+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

Africa is My Home: A Child of the Amistad by Monika Edinger, illustrated by Robert Byrd

The Amistad Revolt has been the subject of many books, movies and classrooms and even law schools for many years now.  Which means that we have learned about the Amistad from various male points of view, but never have we heard about it from the vantage point of one of the four underage female children that had also been abducted from Mendeland, West Africa (now Sierra Leone) and shipped to Havana, Cuba to be sold.  Until now.

Africa is my Home is the story of Margru, only 9 years old sold to slave traders.  Her journey began when famine struck her country.  Her father was forced to pawn her out for rice to feed the rest of the family.  But when he couldn't pay his debt, Margru was sold to traders and put on the ship Amistad along with 52 other men, women and children, who had either been abducted or used as pawn and sold like Margru.

In Cuba, the adults and four children were sold and put on the Amistad, heading to a Caribbean plantation.  But along the way, the men, led by a young African man nicknamed Cinque, rebelled, and after much fighting and death, took over the ship and attempted to sail back to Africa.  But, deceived by the ships navigator, they found themselves landing on the eastern tip of Long Island, NY and from there, they were placed into custody in New Haven, CT.  The adults went on trial, the children were used as witnesses.

And it is here that Margru's education began, leading her all the way to Oberlin College and eventually returning to Africa as a teacher.

Although Africa is my Home, is based on real persons and events, it should be remembered that it is a work of historical fiction.  I say this because you might have a little trouble remembering it, since the writing is just that good.  It is clear that Monica Edinger feels quite passionately about this story and has  really done her research.

Writing from a child's perspective, we can palpably feel Margu's homesickness, confusion and fear, as well as her ambiguity about putting on western-style clothing, her dislike of snow and her desire for a "free" name, eventually choosing to call herself Sarah Kinson.

I did find that the writing was somewhat uneven.  Sometimes it is just beautifully lyrical, the poems that are included are truly lovely, but the prose was occasionally flat, and it jarred me out of the story, despite the enthusiasm that I know Edinger feels for her subject.  Still, this is a solid 4 Star book.

Africa is my Home is wonderfully illustrated by Robert Byrd, whose work prompted me to buy Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! a few years ago, before I had even read it.  The ink and watercolor illustrations are all done in colors, shades and tones that reflect the greens and blues of Africa, the colorful images of Cuba, the darkness of the Amistad, and pastels of dreams and poems, enhancing and extending the story being told.

Africa Is My Home is wonderful supplement to a difficult topic and time in American history and is a must for all school libraries or, better yet, all classrooms.  Back matter includes an Author's Note and list of selected sources.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was borrowed from a friend

The National Archives offers original documents pertaining to the Amistad Rebellion, including teaching activities and a printable document analysis worksheet.  You may access them HERE

Laugh with the Moon by Shana Burg

From the Publisher:
Thirteen-year-old Clare Silver is stuck.  Stuck in denial about her mother's recent death.  Stuck in the African jungle for sixty-four days without phone reception.  Stuck with her father, a doctor who seems able to heal everyone but Clare.
Clare feels like a fish out of water at Mzanga Full Primary School, where she must learn a new language.  Soon, though, she becomes immersed in her new surroundings and impressed with her fellow students, who are crowded into a tiny space, working on the floor among roosters and centipedes.
When Clare's new friends take her on an outing to see the country, the trip goes horribly wrong, and Clare must face another heartbreak head-on.  Only an orphan named Memory, who knows about love and loss, can teach Clare how to laugh with the moon.
Told from an American girl's perspective, this story about how death teaches us to live and how love endures through our memories will capture the hearts of readers everywhere.

My Thoughts:
I had some reservations about this book when I first began reading it.  It seemed like it was going to be about another spoiled girl taken away from her comfortable home and friends and pouting her way to the end of the story towards a Eureka moment when her beloved materialistic life is somehow forever changed.

Well, close, but not quite.  Clare isn't as spoiled as she acts, but she is terribly alone and unhappy.  She has been unable to come to terms with the fact of her mother's premature death, and is afraid of losing her in her memory as well.  And she resents her father's seeming ability to just move on from her mother without even a look back.

But for all Clare is mad at her dad, a volunteer with the Global Health Project, and even gives his the silent treatment when she remembers to, she does begin to assimilate to her life in Malawi, and even makes a new best friend, a girl named Memory.

This is a wonderful story that deals with death, mourning and memory and the process that a 13 year old girl must go through when tragedy strikes her life.  I thought Clare's journey through this process was so realistically portrayed , and I can say that from experience.  My daughter lost her dad when she was that age and a lot of her feelings, thoughts and behavior were mirrored in Clare.

Actually the who book has a realistic feel to it.  Burg's interest in Malawi began while doing research on the Save the Children program there and much of what she discovered can be found in Laugh with the Moon through Clare's eyes.  Clare's observations and descriptions of the problems and deprivations, including death, that Malawian kids must deal with every day have a somewhat teachy feel to them but they are also really informative.

One of the things I did like and I think the readers will relate to is that for all the poverty and lack of books, technology and supplies, school turns out to be not so very different from school anywhere.  There is Memory, always friendly and easy going; Agnes, who thinks she is the school queen bee; and Saide, the good looking boy all the girls are crushing on.  But what is different, and what Clare learns about, is the idea of making do, which many school must do, even in this country nowadays.  When the headmaster asks Clare to take over teaching English to the younger children, for instance, she is shown how to create alphabet letters for the class by baking the mud from a termite hill.

This trip proves to be a pivotal trip for Clare in many ways.  Not only does she experience the disparity between how the native Malawians and the azungu (white people) are treated, but most importantly she discovers how Memory is able to deal the losses of parents and siblings in her own life.

But will Clare ever be able to come to terms with her mother's death so that she can follow Memory's philosophy: "Even the mourner must stop and laugh with the moon."

This is a wonderful middle grade coming of age novel that deals with some serious topics for kids that age.  It is an energetic, well-written and compelling novel and I highly recommend it.

This book is recommended for readers age 9-12.
This book was purchased for my personal library.