Make Lemonade - by Virginia Euwer Wolff



"This word COLLEGE is in my house,/ and you have to walk around it in the rooms/ like furniture." So LaVaughn, an urban 14-year-old, tries to earn the money she needs to make college a reality. She and her mother are a solid two-person family. When LaVaughn takes a job babysitting for Jolly, an abused, 17-year-old single parent who lives with her two children in squalor, her mother is not sure it's a good idea. How the girl's steady support helps Jolly to bootstrap herself into better times and how Jolly, in turn, helps her young friend to clarify her own values are the subjects of this complex, powerful narrative. The themes of parental love, sexual harassment, abuse, independence, and the value of education are its underpinnings. LaVaughn is a bright, compassionate teen who is a foil for Jolly, whose only brief role model was a foster parent, Gram, who died.

Review by Carolyn Noah, Central Mass. Regional Library System, Worcester, MA

Make Lemonade, written by Virginia Euwer Wolff.  New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1993.

This book represents a young woman who has two children at the age of 17.  This symbolizes a great book for a classroom, because any teacher's students can have parents who are or were teenage parents.  This proves there are all varieties of cultures and backgrounds in any classroom.

To Kill a Mockingbird - by Harper Lee



A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel—a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man's struggle for justice—but the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

Review by http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Mockingbird-50th-Anniversary/dp/0061743526/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288557553&sr=1-1

To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee.  Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott and Company, 1960.



Although banned in many classrooms, this book represents a perfect example of racism and overcoming it.  In a classroom, students must build a community where they get along with all cultures and backgrounds, and teachers must provide the opportunity for it.

Seedfolks - by Paul Fleischman

Sometimes, even in the middle of ugliness and neglect, a little bit of beauty will bloom. Award-winning writer Paul Fleischman dazzles us with this truth in Seedfolks--a slim novel that bursts with hope. Wasting not a single word, Fleischman unfolds a story of a blighted neighborhood transformed when a young girl plants a few lima beans in an abandoned lot. Slowly, one by one, neighbors are touched and stirred to action as they see tendrils poke through the dirt. Hispanics, Haitians, Koreans, young, and old begin to turn the littered lot into a garden for the whole community.

Review by http://www.amazon.com/Seedfolks-Joanna-Colter-Books-Fleischman/dp/0064472078/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288555550&sr=1-1

Seedfolks, illustrated by Judy Petersen.  New York: HarperTrophy, 1997.

This book uses multiple characters that are from different backgrounds yet come together to take part in one community activity-- creating a garden.  This is perfect for a middle school classroom, because although students are from different cultures, they must come together to form a community within the classroom.

When You Reach Me - by Rebecca Stead



Shortly after sixth-grader Miranda and her best friend Sal part ways, for some inexplicable reason her once familiar world turns upside down. Maybe it's because she's caught up in reading A Wrinkle in Time and trying to understand time travel, or perhaps it's because she's been receiving mysterious notes which accurately predict the future. Rebecca Stead's poignant novel, When You Reach Me, captures the interior monologue and observations of kids who are starting to recognize and negotiate the complexities of friendship and family, class and identity.

Review by Lauren Nemroff in http://www.amazon.com/When-You-Reach-Rebecca-Stead/dp/0385737424/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288554282&sr=1-1

When You Reach Me, written by Rebecca Stead.  New York: Random House, 2009.

This book identifies many varieties of cultures within a classroom-- poverty, race, class, etc.  By reading this in a classroom, students can become aware why having friends with different cultures is so important.

The Bluest Eye - by Toni Morrison



Originally published in 1970 and set in Lorain, Ohio, in 1941, The Bluest Eye is something of an ensemble piece. The point of view is passed like a baton from one character to the next, with Morrison's own voice functioning as a kind of gold standard throughout. The focus, though, is on an 11-year-old black girl named Pecola Breedlove, whose entire family has been given a cosmetic cross to bear:

You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question.... And they took the ugliness in their hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about the world with it.

There are far uglier things in the world than, well, ugliness, and poor Pecola is subjected to most of them. She's spat upon, ridiculed, and ultimately raped and impregnated by her own father. No wonder she yearns to be the very opposite of what she is--yearns, in other words, to be a white child, possessed of the blondest hair and the bluest eye.

Review by James Marcus in http://www.amazon.com/Bluest-Eye-Vintage-International/dp/0307278441/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288553380&sr=1-1

The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison. New York: Plume, 1994.

This is a great book, especially for a middle school classroom.  It represents an African American culture.  Students are focused on looks, and this novel allows students to look inside themselves to find their true beauty.

Miss Rumphius - by Barbara Cooney



Seeking adventure in faraway places, Miss Rumphius fulfills her dream and then sets out to make the world more beautiful.

Review by http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Rumphius-Barbara-Cooney/dp/0140505393/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288552939&sr=1-1

Miss Rumphius, written and illustrated by Barbara Cooney.  New York: Puffin Books, 1982.

This book is also a good historical example for students in a classroom.  The young girl describes her grandfather immigrating to America.  This explains that not all cultures come from the same background, and teachers must have background knowledge to explain this to their students.

The Small One - by Alex Walsh

Forced to sell his beloved donkey Small One, now old and weak, a young boy from Nazareth finds the perfect buyer in a man who is seeking a donkey to carry his wife, Mary, to Bethlehem, in a heartwarming story based on a Disney animated short.

Review by http://www.amazon.com/Small-One-Alex-Walsh/dp/0786830875/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288552348&sr=1-1

The Small One, illustrated by Jesse Clay.  New York: Scholastic, 1995.

This book is excellent for students to read, because it identifies a different culture other than one of cars, skyscrapers, and excessive amounts of food.  It is a great choice for a classroom, because it is very cultural by taking place in Nazarath, and it shows a lesson of helping friends when they are in need.