Dean Robbins (1)Besprekingen

1. I think this book could be used at any age. It shows segregation in a less heavy way to students while still getting the point across.
2.This book goes through the story of Segregation in dance and shows how Latin Jazz helped fight against segregation. How dance changed and allowed people to forget about segregation and just dance for fun. A true story.
3.This is a very good book to start introducing the history of segregation to in a less heavy way to students. I highly recommend.

deaf from childhood fever, Kitty beat land record for car by 200 mph!

Jewish man solves the problem

Dean Robbins brings us an account for kids about how a new music and dance craze helped create social change for the better.

In 1940s New York, he writes, “People from different neighborhoods weren’t supposed to mix. Not at dances and not in many other ways.”

But the forces of segregation couldn’t compete with the universal appeal of the music of Machito and His Afro-Cubans with their new sound. As the Library of Congress explains, the group combined Afro-Cuban rhythms, improvisation, and big band jazz to form something entirely new, and seemingly irresistible.

New York Latin Culture Magazine relates that the unique arrangement caught fire in 1942, after Machito and his Afro-Cubans, with music director Mario Bauzá, cut “Tanga,” the first jazz recording in clave, essentially the beginning of “Latin Jazz”:

“It had a rhythm section of conga, bongo and timbales, and gave the timbales a more central role. It was Cuban music arranged as jazz. It was a big band sound in Cuban music. It incorporated improvised jazz soloing in Cuban music and broke the three-minute song mold for Latin music.”

The word clave, pronounced clah-vay, designates a rhythmic pattern originating in sub-Saharan African musical traditions, named after the traditional two-stick percussion instrument.

The clave sound, which is repeated throughout the song, forms the foundation for other musicians in an ensemble, and invariably makes listeners want to move in time with the beat. The clave is the fundamental rhythm of Latin music including reggae, reggaeton, and Afro-Brazilian music.

Machito’s band included and performed with a diverse group of musicians forming the first truly multi-racial ensemble in the U.S. And a multiracial group of dancers wanted to hear them.

The author writes that all of the different ethnic groups that were traditionally separated - Italians, Puerto Ricans, Blacks, Jews, and many others - longed to dance to these new rhythms. Thus they came to the same places to listen and dance in spite of their disparate backgrounds.

The Palladium Ballroom at Broadway and 53rd St. made this happen. In 1948, the author reports, the Palladium Ballroom broke the rules and opened the doors to all people, hiring Machito and his band to play. It was the first night club to open its doors to Latins. It was also the first where all races and social classes could get together.

Delighted patrons came and danced the mambo. Machito shouted from the bandstand, “¡Mambo Mucho Mambo!” The book focuses on Millie Donay, who was Italian, and Puerto Rican Pedro Aguilar, who, dancing together, became the most well-known mambo team - first at the Palladium - then in the whole country.

Robbins writes: “Millie and Pedro showed the world that anyone, anytime, anywhere, can dance together to Latin jazz.”

An Author’s Note gives more background on Machito, Latin jazz, and the mambo. [The mambo was developed in the 1940s in Cuba, and replaced rhumba as the most fashionable Latin dance. Later on, with the advent of salsa and its more sophisticated dancing, a new type of mambo including breakdancing steps, called “modern mambo,” was popularized in New York.] Robbins concludes with the statement that “By challenging segregation, the Palladium Ballroom set the stage for the 1950s civil rights movement.”

Award-winning illustrator Eric Velasquez adds richly detailed oil paintings that display his usual meticulous attention to historical detail. Additionally, he captures the joy and movement of dance throughout.

Evaluation: This history for readers 7 and up has an important message: we humans have much more in common than outer appearances indicate, and music is a great way to bridge the gap.

Age: 9-12

Jonas Salk wasn't seen as a brave hero―not at first. As a child he was quiet and unassuming, but Jonas dreamed of tikkun olam, the Jewish phrase for “healing the world.” He saw the polio virus strike his city, and he knew that with determination and hard work, he could be the one to stop its spread. So he grew up to study medicine, ultimately creating the polio vaccine that saved untold numbers of lives―and healed the world!

This selection traces the development of Margaret Hamilton from an intellectually curious and multitalented schoolgirl to a computer coding pioneer and the heroine of the Apollo 11 mission. Includes Author’s Note, Bibliography, Additional Reading, Photos.

This wonderfully illustrated book tells the story of Alice Paul and how she was spurred to become a suffragist. Her personality and beliefs come through and engage young readers in the issue of voting equality. Author’s Note, Bibliography.

Margaret and the Moon is one of those wonderful books that presents as a picture book for young children but which has plenty to teach older readers. It's a succinct biography of the pioneering software engineer whose code enabled the success of the lunar landings. Along the way, it even manages to deliver terse summaries of different branches of mathematics. ("She liked moving around x's and y's in algebra. She liked measuring circles and triangles in geometry. She liked studying curves in calculus.") My only quibble is that in the climax of the story, so much credit is given to Hamilton that it suggests her software alone saved the day, without mention of Buzz Aldrin's steady hand on the controls. But nearly every book about Apollo 11 makes the reverse omission, and I'm happy to see Hamilton get her day.

Miss Paul and the President is a biography about Alice Paul and her fight for suffrage. The book goes into detail about how she protested, and how she did not give up until she won. This book shows an important part of history and does not hide the fact that not everyone was equal in America. That it was a fight to get the right to vote for women, and it was not easy. Also the illustrations were amazing and beautiful, and plays with colors and shades. Which is a benefit for the character of Alice, since she is renowned for having a purple hat. Overall Miss Paul and the President is a good book, that talks about an important part of history.

In 1914, Alice Paul sets out to make a change in the United States, allowing women the right to vote. Alice Paul gathers a groups of women to take a stand against their rights. Through the difficulties, she eventually convinced the President and the law passed allowing women to vote. This book explains the importance of allowing all voices to be heard, as no one voice is more important than another.

Margaret Hamilton had big questions, and loved working out the answers. It was her math - and her code - that enabled Apollo 11's moon landing (and safe return).

Lucy Knisley's illustrations, which pair cartoon figures with real photographs and documents, make the story friendly for young readers.

See also: Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed, Counting on Katherine by Helaine Becker, Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly w/ Winifred Conkling

Margaret loved working hard in school, but she especially loved numbers. She loved math so much she knew how many miles to and from the moon, how many miles around earth, how fast the earth moved. She began working harder to solve math problems and she even tried solving some of the hardest. She then discovered computers and began making codes for the computer, before long she convinced NASAs leaders to let her try to get people to the moon, she was successful. Margaret was one of the first women to work and be successful at NASA. I loved this book because it shows that women are capable of just as much as men. It also shows that if you study hard and practice what you love, you can do anything you set your heart too.

Though I expected more from this book, I do find the combination of the two historical heroes, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass, to be brilliant. The had so little in common but then again, so much. They fought long and hard for rights in the United States that unfortunately were not always there. "Two Friends" displays what grabbing tea with each other might of looked like and what they most likely discussed. This book would be a nice introduction to American history for young readers.

I really liked this book. The book imagines what it would be like for Susan B. Anthony, who was at the forefront of women’s rights and Fredrick Douglas, who was at the forefront of Civil Rights meeting and discussion ideas for the future. I would use this in a unit where I was talking about American history, slavery, and human rights. This would be a great example that there was once a time when both of these individuals did not have any rights. The rights and freedoms we now have are because of them.½

Alice Paul a woman’s suffragist is a young lady who strived to make sure women had the right to vote. She was determined and wouldn’t stop, she made a women’s party, met with the president, traveled across the Inited States and rallied women into protesting with her. The book itself is very well written, I love the way it starts and then introduces her childhood activities. This book keeps you interested and wanting to turn the page to see what’s gonna happen next.

This biography follows the story of Margaret Hamilton's life. The story starts by laying the foundation of Margaret's path which is a love for math, science, and a heart for big wonderings. This is a great book for empowering women because Margaret wanted to work hard to break barriers. She eventually became a software engineer and started working with NASA. Margaret worked with code and wrote code that supported the Apollo 11's landing on the moon. I would use this book in a unit about the moon.

Biographies are neat! They are stories of people's lives. That is quite interesting to me. We each have our own stories. Alan Bean is multi-talented. I had never heard his name before. He is an astronaut who can also paint. He wanted to paint what he had seen on the moon because the pictures taken didn't give off enough feeling. Included in this book are the photographs and painted pictures from Alan Bean. Sean Rubin did a tremendous job illustrating this book. It's a great read! Alan even used his astronaut boots to stamp his artwork and dust from his spacesuit to give his paintings a rough look. His paintings are beautiful. he author was actually able to work with Alan when creating this book.

Miss Paul and the President is an inspiring biography of Alice Paul, a suffragette, who didn’t think it was fair that her father could vote but not her mother when she was little. Alice first organized a parade of 26 floats that gathered more crowds than greeting Woodrow Wilson who had just arrived in Washington. When Alice asked Wilson directly if he was going to support the vote for women, the later said no. But despite the degree of a challenge that was put in front of her, she kept working even harder. She traveled all over the US to urge women to write letters to the President. Ms. Paul also protested in front of the White House in freezing cold weather until she was arrested. Eventually, President Wilson's daughter weighed in on the question and, one day, Woodrow Wilson made his famous speech. I really enjoyed reading this book, it made me feel very proud and appreciative for Alice, and for the work suffragettes had done for us.

Margaret grew up wandering why boys and girls weren't treated the same. She always studied hard in school and always found answers to her questions. After years of work and preparation, she become the Director of Software for NASA's Project Apollo. Margaret thought of everything that could go wrong with Apollo 11 and prepared accordingly. As the spacecraft neared the moon, it became overloaded with tasks. Fortunately with Margaret's preparation all was fixed, and that is how she saved the first lunar landing!
This book tells girls that they too can do anything they want to when they grow up. I believe this book would inspire students to be scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and other stem related occupations. Margaret is proof that with enough hard work, students can accomplish anything. I thought the illustrations in this book were very fun and eye catching. This book would definitely be a fun read aloud!½

Ever since he and his paintings were featured as an Air and Space magazine cover story, Alan Bean has always been on my radar. I was delighted to find this picture book biography and quite pleased to see author Dean Robbins collaborated with Bean on this book. In fact, he dedicated this book to him. Alan Bean was both artist and astronaut and Robbins does an excellent job bringing this to life.
The high quality of this book is also due to the illustrations of Sean Rubin. He conveys Bean's artistic style marvelously, but does not copy it. My favorite illustration of the book is the wordless two-page spread of two astronaut shadows on the moon viewing Earth.
In an author's note at the end of the book, Robbins ends with this quote from Alan Bean - "I think of myself not as an astronaut who paints, but an artist who was once an astronaut".

This was a great story, I love that it is a true story of a woman going after what she wants even when there were not many like her. This is a great book to use in the classroom to inspire all students to think about things in a way they have not before and always do their best to solve problems. It is a great story about persevering and not stopping until you find the right answer. This is a great story to use to get children interested in math and engineering and problem solving in general.

The parallel lives and struggles of Susan B Anthony and Frederick Douglass. Their fights for equal rights.

In this book I learned about Alice Paul and the National Woman’s party. I learned how Alice Paul convinced president Wilson that woman should have the right to vote. The book also talks about the struggles Alice went through when supporting the women’s right to vote.

This book would pair good with a lesson about woman’s rights in general or even how the United States made the 19th amendment. This book honestly would be a good pair to a lesson about how woman received the right to vote.