Friday, October 10, 2025

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 ReaderWhat 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. 



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.


8 comments:

  1. I'm usually always up for winning free books! Winning them is harder to do though, lol. I equate it to the bookish lottery and when I last checked my stats on it I had won 11 times in the 10+ years I've been on Goodreads and checking and entering contests regularly for at least half that! So yeah, it's tough! Lol.


    Here's my BBH

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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  2. That sounds like a wonderful book. I always like it when Ali Velshi focuses on his banned books. Some of them just amaze me.

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  3. I try and win books off Goodreads but only those already on my to-read shelf. I think over a 10 year period I have only won one book.

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  4. I completely agree with you about winning books (or getting “free” books for an “objective review.”) It’s much better to read truly objective reviews (such as published book reviews) and find ones that are worth the time it takes to read them. Life is too short!

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  5. PS — I also like your book reviews and follow up by reading some of your favorits.

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  6. That sounds like a cute book. We are lucky here in the UK that there aren't any banned books (that I know of!). I am sure that it won't be long though 🙄

    I don't often enter giveaways to be honest. I don't always trust them.

    Have a great weekend!

    Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
    My post:
    https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/book-blogger-hop-how-often-do-you-enter-goodreads-giveaways/



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  7. This looks like a wonderful book. As far as entering Goodreads' giveaways, I have entered many for the books I've added to my TBR list. I was alerted the other day that I won a book (Evensong by Stewart O'Nan), but have not yet received it. I think I've won maybe 3 or 4 since joining Goodreads.

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  8. I'm adding this book to my wishlist. I've never heard of the 1619 Project before reading this post. Also, thanks for including the video. It was very interesting to watch.

    I've never entered the Goodreads giveaways. I have recently begun entering the LibraryThing Early Reviewer giveaways, though. I 've won four of them, 2 from the August batch, and 2 from the September batch. I've finished 1, which was a really good read; I'm currently reading 2, one is good, the other so-so; I'll like begin the other sometime in the next few days.

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I love to hear your thoughts.