From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse_at_wisc.edu>
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:48:43 -0600

Two Honor Books given distinction via the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults contain memorable news.

According to YALSA website information about "Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream" by Tanya Lee Stone (Candlewick) "all testing of women's potential for the Mercury program was done outside NASA's purview and without their permission. The reasons will stun readers." Absolutely. According to a documented conversation with former vice president LBJ the reasons were anti-woman - and more. Much more. The reasons were also racist, excluding all men as well as all women of color. At that time no person of color would be admitted to the space program.

A detail continues to resonate for me in "Claudette Colvin" Twice Toward Justice" by Philip Hoose (Melanie Kroupa Books / Farrar Straus Giroux). The highly independent high school girl Claudette Colvin was acquainted with Mrs. Rosa Parks and spent time in Mrs. Parks' home during some afternoons after school. This was months before Mrs. Parks remained seated in a segregated Montgomery bus. Midst all that's been written for children and teens about the Montgomery bus boycott, occasionally there has been a reference to a teenager who might have been the "test case" (my words), but she was "flawed" (my word). Now readers know about this former teenager who was more than willing to resist typical peer pressure and to standing up to racist laws and practices, too.

Ms. Stone and Mr. Hoose have written excellently about these dramatic historic events and individuals. If these authors had turned out merely ordinary accounts of their subjects, their books wouldn't have risen to the top. Great appreciation to the editors and publishers as well as to these writers for creating two extraordinary books about two extraordinary subjects.

Respectfully, Ginny

Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse_at_wisc.edu
Received on Sat 20 Feb 2010 07:48:43 AM CST