Month: April 2021

Before She Was Harriet

/ Sara Gentry

Before She Was Harriet explores the many roles Harriet Tubman had throughout her life. Although she is most well known for her role in guiding slaves to freedom, Harriet also served as a spy in the Union army, a suffragist, and a nurse. In this Coretta Scott King Honor book, readers will be inspired by the various ways that Harriet demonstrated courage again and again and again.

Here are three reasons to love this book:

  • Illustrator James E. Ransome’s gorgeous watercolor illustrations offer unique points of view and interesting uses of color.
  • Author Lesa Cline-Ransome tells Harriet’s story in verse. The text is sparse, but lyrical and lovely.
  • The perfect structure tells us Harriet’s life in reverse (and the title hints at this!), starting with Harriet in old age and taking us back all the way to her early days as a young girl enslaved and working in the fields.

Before She Was Harriet is a great choice for readers six to ten years old. It would make an excellent historical selection, but could also be used to demonstrate the many facets of a person’s life.

Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera

/ Sara Gentry

Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera is a beautiful example of how narrative nonfiction can both captivate and educate. From the opening line “One summer morning deep in the nest,” readers are immediately drawn into the world of the working honeybee. I dare you to find a textbook that will teach young readers as much about the honeybee – effectively, so they actually remember! – as this book does.

Here are three reasons to love this book:

  • The melding of science and poetry. Candace Fleming’s text packs a powerful punch. Consider the conclusion of the opening line. “One summer morning deep in the next, a brand-new honeybee squirms, pushes, chews through the wax cap of her solitary cell and into… a teeming, trembling flurry. Hummmmm!”
  • Eric Rohmann’s illustrations transport readers into the middle of the beehive. The pictures are detailed and stunning.
  • Winner of the Sibert Medal (awarded to notable nonfiction books for children), you can be sure Honeybee is amazing, as the quality of children’s nonfiction works continues to rise.

I highly recommend this book for ages 6-10. Honeybee would be a wonderful supplement as part of an insect unit study or a spring/summer nature study.