Nonfiction Monday--Little Rock Girl

Nonfiction Monday was started by Anastasia Suen and is hosted this week at The Children's War. Stop by to see a great list of nonfiction reviews.

Tougas, Shelley. Little Rock Girl 1957: How a Photograph Changed the Fight for Integration.
EARC from Netgalley.com
Elizabeth Eckford knew that starting Central High School would not be easy for her or the other eight black students who were enrolling in the fall of 1957, but she might not have realized the impact that one photograph taken of her would have on the people who saw it. Starting with the circumstances under which the picture on the cover was taken, this book explores various aspects of the Central High School integration, from media coverage (including the man who took the photograph) to the long range implications of the event on the people involved as well as the nation in general. Well illustrated with period photographs, this offers an easier to read overview of the Little Rock events than Magoon’s Today the World is Watching You, which was completely excellent but a little too long. Students who read this book might want to go on to read Magoon’s wonderful book.
Strengths: The pictures reveal so much about the world of this time, and will help students understand the events a little better. Having one small moment, such as this picture, to focus on helps make a little more sense of a complicated event.
Weaknesses: The chronology goes back and forth a little more than I would like, being a very linear thinker, but makes sense given the way the book is laid out.

I have a large order of nonfiction books in the works, since the language arts classes are going towards the common core and reading less fiction. I'm trying to balance between titles that coordinate with the curriculum and those that will circulate well.

Landau, Elaine. American Quarter Horses Are My Favorite!
EARC from Netgalley.com

I would love to have the entire series of My Favorite Horses from Lerner Publications. This one was well illustrated, had a great diagram with the parts of a horse labeled, and had realistic information about owning a horse and taking care of one. However, at $17 for 24 pages, I don't think I will be buying any of these. I also want The Best Dogs Ever series; I've already read the Yorkshire Terrier and Poodle ones to Sylvie. Capstone has a series on horses that come in at 32 page each, but I want at least 64 pages of information for that price. Oh, well. I think the public library has them. Need to encourage students to get cards.