youth – ACHUKA Children's Books UK

I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes ill. Gordon C James

February 16, 2021 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 17 Feb 2021

“The poetic text, full of imagery is perfectly matched by the warmth of the vibrant, painterly illustrations. Joyful and at times poignant this is an aspirational, motivational and moving celebration of black boyhood.” BfK 5 STAR review

“Gordon C James’s painted portraits brim with spirit and dignity. The result is a truly special book by an American author-illustrator duo at the top of their game…” GUARDIAN

“Barnes and James provide us with a range of powerful, positive names to call Black boys as they urge us to see them, to love them, and to let them live their lives as they deserve….” Horn Book

Selected by Oprah Magazine as one of its ‘essential books for discussing racism with kids’.

I am a non-stop ball of energy.
Powerful and full of light.
I am a go-getter. A difference-maker. A leader.

Step inside the mind of the confident narrator of this book! He is proud of everything that makes him who he is. He’s got big plans, and will see them through. He’s creative, adventurous, smart, funny. A good friend. A superhero. Sometimes he falls, but he always gets back up. And other times he’s afraid, because he’s often misunderstood. So, slow down, look and listen as he shows you who he really is …

Follow Derrick Barnes on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorderrickdbarnes/
Follow Gordon C. James on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gordoncjamesfineart/

Amanda Gorman: Youngest Inaugural Poet In History

January 21, 2021 By achuka Leave a Comment

Amanda Gorman read her poem The Hill We Climb in front of a sea of masked Americans during Joe Biden’s Presidential Inaugural Swearing-In Ceremony. She stood in the U.S. Capitol on January 20th, 2021, to recite a poem about hope and change, echoing some of the messages Biden has used during his campaign…

This amazing young poet is (b. 1998) comes from Los Angeles. Gorman was the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate. She published the poetry book The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough in 2015.

Gorman grew up it with limited television access and had a speech impediment as a child. She has said she was something of a “weird child” who enjoyed reading and writing and was encouraged by her mother, a teacher. She graduated from Harvard last year with a degree in sociology.

The Hill We Climb is a poem fresh off the page, most of it written while watching pro-Trump extremists storm the Capitol on January 6th. A debut poetry collection is due to be published this autumn (2021), as will a children’s picture book, Change Sings, A Children’s Anthem, llustrated by Loren Long.

Follow Amanda Gorman on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandascgorman/

Francesca Simon On How Being Denied A Barmitzvah Still Rankles

June 3, 2016 By achuka Leave a Comment

Francesca Simon is irritated. It may be more than four decades ago now, but it still rankles that she was denied a batmitzvah. After all, she was a Jewish girl living in California – why did she have to miss out?
"It made me very angry," the author, most famous for creating the best-selling Horrid Henry series, admits, from the calm surroundings of her publishers in London. "We lived in Malibu and neither of my parents wanted to drive me to the synagogue. That was the reason. They drove my younger brother, of course, for his barmitzvah, but not me."
The 61-year-old does not appear to be the kind of person to bear grudges. But this was important then, and clearly still matters now.

via I’m drawn to characters who don’t care | The Jewish Chronicle.