From: Kathy Isaacs <kisaacs>
Date: Sat, 03 Feb 2001 08:25:04 -0500

These two wonderful but so-different books demonstrate how difficult it is for awards committees to single out just one (or five). The gritty realism, sympathetically drawn characters, and sense of hope Woodson leaves us with for Miracle's Boys make this a fine read and a worthy choice. But the distinctive storyteller's voice of Pinkney's collective biographies combined with Alcorn's evocative portraits make this an equally distinguished book, in my opinion. Pinkney's language is richly colloquial; it cries out to be read aloud. And even though this is a book for quite young readers (as well as older ones) she makes up no episodes and invents no dialog for her "sheroes of human equality." How do you choose between a convincing and well-told piece of fiction and an equally well-told and documented piece of non-fiction?

-Kathy Isaacs kisaacs at mindspring.com
Received on Sat 03 Feb 2001 07:25:04 AM CST