The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

 

Today's Featured Book for Banned Book Week: 

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (Picture Book)

written by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson

illustrated by Nikkolas Smith

Genre: Historical Fiction

Published: November 16, 2021

Page Count: 48 pages

Summary: 

A young student receives a family tree assignment in school, but she can only trace back three generations. Grandma gathers the whole family, and the student learns that 400 years ago, in 1619, their ancestors were stolen and brought to America by white slave traders.

But before that, they had a home, a land, a language. She learns how the people said to be born on the water survived.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

My teacher gives us an assignment. "Who are you?" she asks. "Trace your roots. Draw a flag that represents your ancestral land."

Hannah-Jones, Nikole; Watson, Renée. The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (p. 1). Kindle Edition. 

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

How to Make Home  

After a long day’s work plantig tobacco in the fields,  after brutal treatment, after nothing to show for their hard work,  sadness would come, a longing for Ndongo,  for the mommas, for the daddies, for the friends  they could no longer hug and talk with under the warm sun.  We are in a strange land, they said.  But we are here and we will make this home.  We have our song, our recipes, our know-how.  We have our joy. We will love, laugh, sing,  and hug our children as tight as you can hold a child.  We wil survive because we have each other. 

Hannah-Jones, Nikole; Watson, Renée. The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (p. 72). Kindle Edition. 

To mark Banned Book Week, I reread a wonderful children's picture book first published in 2021, The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson. It begins with a question I remember asking first myself and then my parents and grandparents when I was a child: Who are you? We all want to know where we came from, I think, who our people are and were, and what brought us to where we are today. Looking at the truth of the past is the first step in moving forward into a future of living with others in a world where all are equal under the law. 

Here is my original review.

Velshi Banned Book Club: The 1619 Project: Born on the Water takes a thoughtful look at banned books, and especially notes the importance of not banning books for children.

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

October 10th - How often do you enter Goodreads' Giveaways? And how many have you won over the years? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Review)

I am not interested in entering giveaways for books. I want to read the books I want to read, and I would rather buy or borrow the books myself.