Ted Kooser, the Poet Laureate of the United States, is a writer of brutal brevity. His collection Sure Signs manages to be both stunningly visual and emotionally rich and complex. In Kooser, we get the very best of writing with scissors, as there is not an unnecessary line, phrase, or word polluting his writing. Instead, he gives us a kind of poetic space that is sparse, mid-western, gorgeous and unexpected. Sure Signs is the kind of collection that you continue to go back to; the one you pick up in six weeks or six months or six years and find new and unexpected nuance. This is nothing short of a stunning collection full of wit, humor and surprising beauty. It is a book that one is thankful for.
- Dr. Lorna Perez

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Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper would be a novel I would be able to teach in my secondary classroom.  Copper Sun could be compared to a slave narrative such as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass or The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.  However, this is a work of fiction and told through the eyes of a young girl, Amari.  We see Amari from her life with her tribe in Africa to her journey to and within America as a slave.   Draper does not hold back the hardships that slaves went through on their journey aboard the slave ships, such as sickness, starvation, rape and death.  When in America, we are also not spared the fear of being in a new place, understanding that you no longer belong to yourself and not being able to communicate with anyone around you.  Although, we are not saved from the horror of slave life by Draper, we are shown a new sense of community and family.  Amari becomes part of this community and has new family and friendships.

 Children being taught this book in a classroom may walk away with a better connection and understanding of the history of America and slavery than they would reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass or The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.  Children would be able to better relate to the thoughts and actions of someone their own age as opposed to a story of someone older looking back on their experiences.  Draper depicts accurate portrayal of the history of the slave trade and what occurred in the journey as well in America.  We are still shown the hardships of slaves in Copper Sun that we see in other slave narratives and we see the history intact in the same manner as well.  Children would be able to better relate to this, yet still walk away with the knowledge of America’s history in regard to slaves and the slave trade.

-Amy Widman