God Inside of Me
Author:  Della Reese, Yvonne Buchanan (Illustrator)
Publisher:  Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published:  March 1999

Grades 1-4
Reese, a celebrity from the TV show Touched by an Angel, has spun a story that, despite its wonderfully oral voice, is long-winded and lacks child appeal. Kenisha knows that there's a piece of God in her, but it takes a lesson from her doll to see that there's also "...good in everyone, even those who get on our nerves." The girl's talking toys make up the main cast of characters and are not convincing. Also, Kenisha slips too often into an adult voice, revealing the storyteller's edifying intentions. The pastel and warm-toned watercolor illustrations are full of life and movement, but the human features are often so distorted that the girl and her brother not only look like different people on each page, but also appear elderly. Some schools or libraries may have an adult demand for this kind of Sunday-school story, but otherwise it holds little use. - Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Happy to Be Nappy
Author:  bell hooks, Chris Raschka (Illustrator)
Publisher:  Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published:  August 1999

Kindergarten - Grade 3
A short, rhythmic tribute to little girls with "nappy" locks. "Girlpie hair smells clean/and sweet/is soft like cotton,/flower petal billowy soft,/full of frizz and fuzz." Raschka's illustrations are a perfect accompaniment to the brief, handwritten cursive text. They bring out the spirit behind hooks's writing and have great child appeal. With only watercolor-washed squares as background, the whimsical figures dance and caper. Reduced to the simplest childlike element, they nevertheless convey emotion and movement with the curve of a mouth or the jut of a hip. Using broad brush strokes, the artist creates fantastic hair that curls, whirls, and flows across the page or flips and piles over heads. This title is sure to invite comparisons to Carolivia Herron's Nappy Hair (Knopf, 1997). Hooks's text is gentler, a single, almost dreamy, literary voice. It is less personal than the lively call-and-response device found in Herron's book, which is full of the loving, yet pointed teasing of a large, close-knit family. Both authors, in their different ways, have written joyous celebrations that give hair a life of its own and encourage self-acceptance. - Karen James, Louisville Free Public Library, KY Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks
Author:  Faith Ringgold
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Children's
Date Published:  October 1999

Kindergarten - Grade 4
A talking bus is literally the vehicle for this picture-book biography. Marcie, on her way to school, finds herself on a driverless bus occupied by a group of unfamiliar passengers who don't seem to notice she's there. A disembodied voice tells her that this used to be the Cleveland Avenue bus but is now the Rosa Parks bus, and then launches into an account of the woman's life. Ringgold recounts the dramatic events triggered by Parks's refusal to give up her seat: the Montgomery bus boycott; the leadership, persecution, and death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; the Supreme Court decision to ban bus segregation; and public recognition of the woman who started it all. The story ends when Parks herself enters the bus for a birthday celebration with the passengers who are now revealed as personages from her history. While the artifice of the talking bus and a few minor lapses in logic sometimes detract from a solid telling, the story does much to humanize a larger-than-life figure. Ringgold's colorful, textured acrylic-on-canvas paper paintings done in a na f style are a perfect complement to the stark realism of the events and the simple dignity of the subject. Color and line are used to suggest ideas, such as the turbulent purple, black, blue, and chalky white and the jagged forms depicting the Ku Klux Klan and bombings. Text and art harmonize, with print changing from black to white and appearing on each page in an interesting variety of layouts. An accessible telling and beautiful illustrations result in a worthy contribution to this developing genre. - Marie Orlando, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

2000 Award Winner
Outstanding literary work, Children’s- "If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks" 
by Faith Ringold.
(Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

The Day I Was Rich: (Little Bill Series)
Author:  Bill Cosby, Varnette P. Honeywood (Illustrator)
Publisher:  Scholastic, Inc.
Date Published:  August 1999

Little Bill's parents expect him to dress up and act like a gentleman during their party, even though he would rather be playing soccer with his friends.

Through My Eyes: The Autobiography of Ruby Bridges
Author:  Ruby Bridges, Margo Lundell
Publisher:  Scholastic, Inc.
Date Published:  August 1999

Grade 4 - 7
Profusely illustrated with sepia photos-including many gritty journalistic reproductions-this memoir brings some of the raw emotions of a tumultuous period into sharp focus. In her recounting of the events of 1960-61, the year she became the first African-American child to integrate the William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Bridges is true to her childhood memories. She is clear about what she remembers and what she later learned. Her account is accompanied by excerpts from newspaper articles, comments by her teacher, and a time line that fill in the details and place her story within the context of the Civil Rights Movement. The narrative draws a distinct contrast between the innocence of this six-year-old child who thought that "Two, four, six, eight, we don't want to integrate" was a jump-rope chant and the jeers of the angry crowd outside her school carrying a black doll in a coffin. A powerful personal narrative that every collection will want to own. - Daryl Grabarek, School Library Journal Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.