“Racism Explained to My Daughter,” by Tahar Ben Jelloun (The New Press, 207 pages, $13.95)
This thoughtful conversation between French writer Jelloun and his 10-year-old daughter emerged from a civil rights protest march the two attended in February 1997. About one-third of the book is the dialogue between the Jellouns, who are of Moroccan descent, followed by the author’s postscript account of students’ reactions to the text.
The elder Jelloun distills complex issues to the basics. Racists are dishonest, he writes, citing a student who accuses a teacher of racism rather than admitting his irresponsibility in failing to study. Jelloun, who preaches tolerance via education, zeroes in on the heart of the immigrant debate throughout the world:
“Facing reality fully involves confronting our history, embracing our past, including its deceptions and its discontents, its dishonesties and its disasters,” he writes, arguing that racism “is not a secondary sub-plot” but “a central and permanent theme coloring every other” aspect of our lives.
Jelloun admits the subject’s weightiness but sees it as essential for children growing up in a global community. By addressing racism nakedly, he writes, “We are not innocent, then, but neither are we paralyzed.” Ages 10 and up.
“Dear Mr. Rosenwald,” by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrations by R. Gregory Christie (Scholastic Press, 32 pages, $16.99)
Weatherford tells how Sears, Roebuck and Co. president Julius Rosenwald helped build schools for African-American children in the rural South.
By requiring the white community to contribute to the new schools, and arranging for the state to maintain them, the Rosenwald Fund built more than 5,000 schools from 1917 to 1932.
Though inadequate compared with post-civil rights era schools, the Rosenwald facilities offered one of the first concrete signs of hope to nonwhites in the post-Confederate South.
One caveat: Will middle readers, the intended audience, be willing to pick up what looks at first glance like a picture book? Let’s hope so. Ages 9 to 12.
“Ella Sets the Stage,” by Carmela and Steven D’Amico (Arthur Levine Books, 48 pages, $16.99)
Insiders know that a successful stage production requires a gifted director able to orchestrate and overcome challenges that include costume problems, stagecraft difficulties, missed cues and errant or unconfident performers.
Ella doesn’t try out for the talent show because she thinks she has no talent. But joining the talent show committee changes her mind. This charming story makes an appropriate gift for older readers who want to acknowledge the indispensability of all the backstage people who make any kind of show – theatrical, political, or otherwise. Ages 4-8.
“Flat Stanley: 40th Anniversary Edition,” by Jeff Brown, illustrations by Scott Nash (HarperTrophy, 80 pages, $4.99 paperback, $16.99 hardback)
Stanley goes from three dimensions to two when a bulletin board falls on him, leaving him both fit and flat, able to enjoy far-flung travels via post, not airplane. (Though the same new fluid restrictions apply when he’s en route.) As charming and offbeat as it was in 1966. Ages 4-8.
“The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon,” written and illustrated by Mini Grey (Alfred A. Knopf, 32 pages, $16.95)
What happened in the wake of Hey-diddle-diddle? The rash couple took to the stage, partied with the aristocracy, and got in trouble with “a gang of sharp and shady” loan sharks. (The loan sharks are knives and hammers.) The couple’s recklessness leads to breakage (Dish), and entering prison (Spoon).
Once justice is served, the tarnished but wiser tableware reunite, along with their long-forgotten friends. The illustrations are exceptionally witty and wry, full of nods and winks to familiar nursery rhymes. Ages 4 to 8.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com
