The Hate U Give

My daughter Kerry's take on the magnificent new novel The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

See Kerry's blog 

The Hate U Give I was up all last night reading "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas, recommended to me by my father. All I can say is, I am impressed by her writing. This book is told through the eyes of a young black girl who witnesses the fatal shooting of her best friend, a young black man, by a cop on their way home from a party. This leads to outrage from her poor black "ghetto" community and demands for justice. The neighborhood quickly turns into a war zone and riots break out and the militarized police are sent in. Excuses are made for the officer who pulled the trigger, who insisted that the boy was a drug dealer and a gangbanger, and that he was only attempting to protect himself. Chaos ensues when the officer is dropped of all charges, repeating that he was simply fearing for his own safety. I don't want to give too much away, all I want to say is that this book is highly recommended. And it's sad, but true, and shows how much farther we still have to go. Had it been a white kid that the officer had shot, he most certainly would have done time. I can hardly understand the feeling. I am a young woman with pale white skin of Celtic and Nordic descent. No, I don't know what it's like to fear for my life every time I walk out of my house. I can walk, run, or drive down the street without fear of getting shot by a cop. However, I most certainly have heard black men as being quoted as saying that "they fear for their lives every time they walk outside." Literally. And it wasn't that long ago that black men were actually hung simply for sport. There is a sickening picture in my Homeland Security textbook taken not too long before my parents were born...of a crowd laughing and cheering at the hanging of two black men. Like at a basketball game today. There are couples on dates in that picture. Our professor-who is white as well as military, law enforcement, and government, mind you-said that it made him sick and we still have such a long way to go. I also wanted to point out that, as a Criminal Justice major, I still of course believe that "Blue Lives Matter." It's corrupted officers like this who give all police a bad name. I believe that at police academies, more in-depth training should be done to weed out the ones who are more likely to "shoot first, ask questions later." It may take some thinking to figure out how to do it, but something should be done. http://www.advocacystoriesnstuff.blogspot.com

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Children's Books, What's Your Favorite?

RECENTLY I put a call out on Facebook, asking my 'friends" to name their favorite children's books. This was in preparation for an ALL SIDES WEEKEND/BOOKS broadcast.

My guests were WOSU's wonderful book critic Kassie Rose, Ryan Buley, Youth Services Manager at the New Albany branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, and Melia Wolf, owner of the Cover to Cover bookstore.

Author Ben Hatke joined us on the phone. his latest graphic novel is a re-telling of Jack and the Bean Stalk: Might Jack



WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOKS?  LEAVE A NOTE HERE ON THIS POST!

You can find the show archived at http://radio.wosu.org/post/all-sides-weekend-books-17

I had over two hundred replies!
Here's the list of people's favorite children's books.

* = multiple votes

I'm delighted that so many titles I loved 50+ years ago are still loved and read today.
I also found several titles I forgot I had loved.
It was like being re introduced to beloved old friends after a long time.

Such are the gifts and emotional ties of books!

__________

Favorite Children’s Books

For an ALL SIDES WEEKEND broadcast (August 18, 2017) on children’s books, I asked my Facebook friends to share their favorite titles.

I got lots of responses-thank you!-that is a good problem to have.

Here we go!

*Charlotte’s Web 

Emil and the Detectives

Goodbye Mister Chips

*The Secret Garden

Goodnight Moon

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

The Giving Tree

*The Phantom Toll Booth

Winnie the Pooh and the A.A. Milne books

The Wind in the Willows (my favorite)         

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

*A Wrinkle in Time

The Little Engine That Could

*The Hardy Boys series

*Nancy Drew series

*Johnny Tremaine

Heidi

*Where the While Things Are and all Maurice Sendak

*Dr. Seuss

Curious George series

Pipi Longstocking series

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

James and the Giant Peach

The Snowy Day

Harriet the Spy

We Shook the Family Tree

The Wizard of Oz

The Velveteen Rabbit

Good Dog Carl

Brave Cowboy Bill

*The Boxcar Children (Margaret Warner)

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret (Judy Blume)

Momo and the Yellow Umbrella

*Alice in Wonderland

Prince Caspian

*Narnia Series

*The Black Stallion

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry

Jan Brett books

The Castle of Grumpy Grouch

The Stinky Cheese Man

Honey Bunch Series

*The Little Prince

Stand Back Said the Elephant, I’m going to Sneeze!

Black and Blue Magic

The Treasure of Alphoneus T. Winterborn

Betsy Tacy Series ( Maude Hart Lovelace)

*All of a Kind Family series

*Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

Beverly Cleary books: Henry Huggins, Ramona

*Make Way for Ducklings

Marjorie Morningstar

Grimm Fairy Tales

Geraldine Belinda

Treasure Island

Robin Hood

*Black Beauty

The Happy Hollisters  

The Way Things Work

Bambi

The Princess and Curdie

Ginger Pye

John Henry

Lad, a Dog

The Monster at the End of This Book (with Grover)

The Pokey Little Puppy

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Ferdinand the Bull

In Beyond Zebra (Seuss)

Huckleberry Finn

Cheaper by the Dozen

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The Puschcart War

The Red Balloon

Alexander and the Magic Mouse

Danny Dunn series

Little Women

The Little Princess

Mr. Bear Squash You all Flat

Bartholomew and the Oobleck

A Series of Unfortunate Events

My Father’s Dragon

Peter Rabbit

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