February 2025 – Nonfiction Monday

February 24, 2025February 23, 2025

Janie Writes a Play

Janie Writes a Play: Jane Yolen’s First Great Story
by Heidi E. Y. Stemple (Author) and Madelyn Goodnight (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Janie Yolen loves to read, write, dance, and sing. So when her teacher announces Janie’s elementary class will perform a play, Janie is thrilled. There’s just one problem . . . the play is boring. With the support of her teacher and classmates, Janie rewrites the play, resulting in a hit class musical.

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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

February 10, 2025February 9, 2025

Spotlight on Stepping (Just Dance)

Spotlight on Stepping (Just Dance)
by Mel Hammond (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Get ready to stomp, step, and clap! Discover stepping from its beginnings in Black communities to how people perform and celebrate this type of dance today. Then try it yourself!

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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

February 3, 2025February 1, 2025

Stokes

Stokes: The Brief Career of the NBA’s First Black Superstar
by Ty Chapman (Author), John Coy (Author), Lonnie Ollivierre (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: In a 1958 game against the Minneapolis Lakers, Stokes, went down hard and hit his head, losing consciousness. At the time, there was no concussion protocol, and Stokes went back into the game. A few days later, he went into a coma and woke up unable to move his body from the neck down. Players did not have any sort of financial support in situations like this, and Stokes’s teammate Jack Twyman worked with other players and Milton Kutsher to put on a benefit game during the summer at Kutsher’s hotel in the Catskills. This game became an annual tradition, and Stokes was eventually able to travel and watch the game.

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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!