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Category Archives: Picture Books

A Penny For Your Thoughts by Pat Brown

01 Friday May 2015

Posted by truebooktalks in Children's Books, Picture Books

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Bullying, Children's books, multiculturalism, Picture Book, racial issues

a penny for your thought

Today we are experiencing much racial unrest and divide in our society. I would like to offer my book, A Penny for Your Thoughts, as a way of discussing racial differences with a Christian perspective.  How a little boy begins to understand the reason for differences of skin color is theme of this story.

This book began to take root in my mind many years ago while I was attending college. I started to think that our racial problems would begin to disappear when enough intermarriage occurred so that we were all tan or brown in color.

However, as time went on I began to learn that we need to appreciate our differences, and that God didn’t make a mistake when He mad us different in color.

Time passed and my daughter married an African-American (He gets upset when I say that.  He says, “I am an American, and I have black skin: I am not some hyphenated American). I use that phrase because it seems to be the most acceptable one for our culture in spite of what my son-in-law believes.  My daughter had two boys. The older of the two has lighter skin than his brother.  The younger boy asked me one day when he was about three, “Grandma, when will my skin look like yours and mom’s.” I told him that it would never look like ours, but that wasn’t a mistake because God made him just the way he should be.

From that conversation grew the story you will find in A Penny For Your Thoughts.  It is available from me or through Amazon. A few libraries also carry it. It is a picture book intended for Pre-K through grade two – or as a read-aloud.

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My Name is Truth: the life of Sojourner Truth by Ann Turner

10 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by truebooktalks in Children's Books, History, Non-Fiction, Picture Books

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abolitionist movement, Children's books, History, Picture Book, slavery, women

my name is truth

Finding non-fiction for young readers is sometimes challenging.  Finding good biographies about women is also a challenge. This book meets those challenges in an exceptional way. Sojourner Truth’s belief in God shines through clearly without being “preachy.” Her strength of character is obvious, but she is also shown as having fears and sometimes doubts about herself.  She is a very real woman.

Ann Turner tells the story of Sojourner Truth to younger readers using Truth’s own words.  James Ransome has done a fantastic job with the illustrations. Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree. She was one of at least 10 children born to her parents.  Her mother instilled in her a love for God and a good knowledge of right and wrong.

Her last owner was very cruel and worked Isabella like a draft horse because she was tall and strong. New York was set to abolish slavery in 1827 and her owner had told her that she would go free a year before that happened, but she was injured and her owner refused to let her go, so she escaped with her baby Sophia.

She had to leave her three other children with her former owner because she could not take all four of them on her flight to freedom.  When she found out that Mr. Dumont, her former owner has sold her son, Peter, she went to court and won his release. (This was the first case of its kind in the U.S.).

She took the name Sojourner Truth many years later and became a strong voice in the abolitionist movement and with William Lloyd Garrison to free all slaves.  I think the book will appeal to children of all ages; however, is specifically designed for grades 1-3. I would highly recommend its purchase for any elementary library.

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Bears Don’t Read by Emma Chichester Clark

22 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by truebooktalks in Children's Books, Picture Books

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bears, Children's books, Picture Book, reading

5bears don't read

George, a large grizzly bear, is different from other bears.  He likes to think about life and about his existence as a bear.  He wants MORE, but he doesn’t know just what that is. One day he finds a book in the forest that has pictures of bears just like him in it, and he decides to learn what the words in the book have to say about bears.  He goes to town to find someone who can teach him to read, and, of course, scares people to death.  Eventually, a little girl teaches him to read and all turns out well even though it took a while for George to learn to read.

Learning to read can be a challenge for some children. This read-aloud book lets those children know that George had to work hard to learn to read, but he eventually succeeded.  It teaches children that persistence is necessary to achieve one’s goals.  This is a good book for Pre-K and first graders.  I definitely recommend it.

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