One of my favorite things is to discover nonfiction series books that are dependable, informative, and eye-catching. Ones like
- Wicked History and History’s Worst
- Captured History
- Actual Times or the newer series Big Ideas that Changed the World by Don Brown
- Ordinary People Change The World
- Olympians graphic novel mythology series by George O’Connor
- Who Is/Who Was; What Is/What Was
just to name a few. And after reading Teri Kanefield’s newest in her The Making of America series focused on Franklin D. Roosevelt, I’ll now always have my eye out for the next one. I actually realized I missed a few of them, but have some time to catch up: when Roosevelt’s hits shelves this fall know that she’s already hard at work on number six featuring Thurgood Marshall.
What works well for the series is the chronological organization of biographical information that is equal parts intrigue and straight facts. There’s a humanity in Kanefield’s delivery that does not dilute the truth, yet weaves a story of a person hellbent on creating an America that they had envisioned as they rose to notoriety.fame. With a mix of photographs and eye-catching covers, they’re as star-spangled as the flag.
The monumental task of telling their stories is made just a tad easier in that loads has been written about them since they’re historical figures. But it’s the angle that Kanefield uses that makes them refreshing for a middle grade and young adult audience (plus interested adults re: nerdy librarians!)
If you haven’t read the first through fourth, get them. Have the fifth, Roosevelt’s pre-ordered and then find some stuff to read in between because Marshall’s won’t be out until spring 2020. Let’s leave the woman in peace so she can research and write because I know I’m waiting patiently over here.
On May 20, 2018, my family and I embarked on a journey of epic proportions inspired by the Alison Deering book illustrated by Bob Lentz called 
So when I began reading Arcos’ book and the first flashback chapter told from Zara’s mom, Nadja’s point of view in 1992 in Visegrad I knew there was something special. It took a little bit to build as there was an uncertainty between the dysfunction of Zara and Nadja’s mother-daughter relationship, but it ballooned once readers began to connect Nadja’s war-torn young adulthood and Zara’s discovery of Nadja’s hardships as Nadja lays comatose after a bomb detonates at the farmers market they were visiting. Zara is wounded and suffering from post-traumatic stress while again, her mother is hospitalized unable to communicate. It becomes less about the present day and more about Nadja’s survival against the atrocities of war while trying to hold on while the trauma of murder and rape burns through their family, neighborhood, and country.
What was I thinking? Plenty of us avid readers have felt sadness in the last book of a beloved series and this one was no different. Reynolds is the GOAT, period. Whoever designed the covers needs a raise. Reynolds’ ability to create deep characters with authentic middle grade voices has been spotlighted in this series and shines again with Lu, another track star under Coach’s tutelage who is helping his father right his wrongs while hopefully looking toward a future with a baby sister when his mother should have never even been able to have him. Rich with inspiration and motivation, it’s the power of our human experience through Lu whose Albinism hasn’t changed his perspective much, in fact his newest job as big brother has allowed him to grow as he passes through the awkwardness of youth.
Readers Be Advised 