Deze auteur creëert kinderliteratuur met een focus op historische gebeurtenissen en educatieve thema's. Haar verhalen volgen vaak jonge protagonisten terwijl ze belangrijke uitdagingen aangaan en waardevolle levenslessen leren. Door verhalen over avontuur en persoonlijke groei inspireert ze lezers om moed en rechtvaardigheid te omarmen. Haar toegankelijke en boeiende stijl maakt haar werk favoriet bij jonge lezers en hun families.
Third-grader Azaleah Lane has been chosen STEM lab monitor for the week, but on her first day Harry the lab guinea pig gets out of his cage and escapes, and Azaleah has to figure out a strategy to locate where in the room he is hiding and catch him; but she also has another problem--how to get Terrance to listen to Rose, Jamal, and herself and work with the group on their Rube Goldberg machine project.
In 1851 twelve-year-old Sarah is a free Black, happy living with her parents, grandparents, and brother on their own farm in Iowa; but her father has been bitten by the gold bug and wants to take the trail west to California, and after some argument it is decided that the the grandparents will stay on the farm, but the rest of the family will go; the journey will be difficult and dangerous, but if they survive extreme weather, difficult terrain, illness, and the racism of others in the group there may be a better life waiting for them at the end of the trail. Includes nonfiction material on the Oregon Trail, a glossary, discussion questions, and writing prompts.
Matthew, a young African American with asthma who dreams of becoming an Olympic runner like his hero, Jesse Owens, accompanies his journalist father to the 1936 Olympics in Germany.
In 1854 in Eastern Maryland twelve-year-old Ann is a slave, grateful that her family is still all together; but when their master, in need of money, decides to sell Ann and her younger brother, their parents decide to take the dangerous step of running away north to freedom--a journey filled with danger, especially since they are not sure how to find the first station on the Underground Railroad