The Port Chicago 50 - a review

Sheinkin, Steve. 2014. The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights. New York: Roaring Brook.

The Port Chicago 50, as they became known, were a group of African American Navy sailors assigned to load munitions at Port Chicago in California, during WWII.  The sailors' work detail options were limited; the Navy was segregated and Blacks were not permitted to fight at sea. The sailors worked around the clock, racing to load ammunition on ships headed to battle in the Pacific. Sailors had little training and were pressured to load the dangerous cargo as quickly as possible.

After an explosion at the port killed 320 men, injured many others, and obliterated the docks and ships anchored there, many men initially refused to continue working under the same dangerous conditions. In the end, fifty men disobeyed the direct order to return to work. They were tried for mutiny in a case with far-reaching implications.  There was more at stake than the Naval careers of fifty sailors.  At issue were the Navy's (and the country's) policy of segregation, and the racist treatment of the Black sailors.  Years before the Civil Rights movement began, the case of the Port Chicago 50 drew the attention of the NAACP, a young Thurgood Marshall, and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Through the words of the young sailors, the reader of The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights relives a slice of history as a Black sailor in 1944.

Steven Sheinkin combines excellently researched source materials, a little-known, compelling story, and an accessible writing style to craft another nonfiction gem.

Read an excerpt of The Port Chicago 50 here.

• The Port Chicago 50 was a 2014 finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
• The Port Chicago 50 was the 2014 winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Nonfiction.
• Steve Sheinkin is the author of Bomb! The Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Powerful Weapon - also a National Book Award Finalist, and the recipient of the Newbery Honor, Sibert Medal, and YALSA Award,

Contains:

• Table of Contents
• Source Notes
• List of Works Cited
• Acknowledgements
• Picture Credits
• Index

See today's Nonfiction Monday roundup at http://nonfictionmonday.wordpress.com 

Advance Reader Copy supplied by publisher.

Picture Book Roundup - May edition

So many great picture books have passed my desk lately.  Here are a few:

• Joose, Barbara. 2012. Old Robert and the Sea-Silly Cats. Ill. by Jan Jutte. New York: Philomel.

Each night, Old Robert counts "his regular things in their regular place"

Clean socks
a clock
my ship in the slip at the dock.
One dish
one spoon
a slice of the silver moon.

Things are always the same until the night a cat asks to come in.  There was no room for a cat on Old Robert's boat,

And yet ...
        and yet ...
               Old Robert said yes ...
... and the cat came in.

This is a delightfully, quirky story about Old Robert, his boat, and how one small decision can change a life (or two, or three, or ...).  Illustrations by the Netherlands' Jan Jutte, give Old Robert and the Sea-Silly Cats a salty and silly air reminiscent of old comics (think Popeye or original Tin Tin) touched with whimsy.  Comforting, repetitive refrains make this a great read aloud. 

There is just something irresistible about Old Robert and the Sea-Silly Cats.

And there's apparently a song available, too,  "Old Roberts Jig" by the Happy Racers.

• Elya, Susan Middleton. 2012. Fire! ¡Fuego! Brave Bomberos. Ill. by Dan Santat. New York: Bloomsbury.

My husband has had a long and wonderful career in the fire department, so I'll admit some partiality to firefighter books, even ones that feature firefighters rescuing cats from trees.  For the record, professional firefighters don't rescue cats from trees. They will, however, rescue animals from fires, and in Fire! ¡Fuego! Brave Bomberos, a house fire traps a poor kitty on an upper floor,

Climbing up la escalera,
KITTY, KITTY,
COME AFUERA.
Coaxed by food in small pedazos,
kitten jumps to outstretched brazos.

See how easy that was?  You're speaking Spanish. Even without the brightly colored double spread illustration of a firefighter on a ladder, hand extended with cat treats, you knew what it meant, and kids will too!  The story rhymes, the meter's fine, and if you need help with pronunciation, it's all in the Glossary.  All bias aside, I like it!

• Kohuth, Jane. 2012. Duck Sock Hop. Ill. by Jane Porter. New York: Penguin. 

I've been waiting to see this one, ever since I saw it on Fuse #8's Librarian Preview.  As usual, Betsy Bird knows her stuff. 

Warm up, wiggle,
stretch your beak.
Duck Sock Hop
comes once a week.

Short, fun, and simple with colorful illustrations surrounded by white space with minimal text on each page.  Perfect for storytime, for toddlers, for reading aloud.

And another song!  This one comes with the free "Duck Sock Hop Bop," composed by Jeremy Stepansky, the author's cousin.  I'm always game for singing, so I'll give it a try.  Thankfully, children are such kind audiences.

And last but not least, a little beauty of a book,

• Isadora, Rachel. 2012. Bea at Ballet. New York: Penguin.

Rachel Isadora's simple words are accompanied by pen and pencil sketches of an adorable mix of multicultural children.  All are highlighted by colorful clothing painted in oils. Another perfect book for very young listeners.

If you have or know a tiny ballerina, this book is a must!