Back to Reading....

...for fun!  I've been critiquing five manuscripts for the quarter-finalists competition (along other several other judges) for Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award, in addition to my regular reviewing assignment for School Library Journal, so I've not been able to read anything other than that for the past month.  It's been an interesting experience, but all reviews are in, so I can get back to my rapidly increasing TBR (to be read) pile (including several overdue books that I must finish ASAP).


Mile to Go For Freedom: Segregation & Civil Rights in the Jim Crow Years is an engrossing and occasionally difficult read chronicling the years after Reconstruction and before the Civil Rights movement.  Although the most restrictive rules were in the South, unspoken (and occasionally outright) segregation was also in effect in the Northeast and Midwest.  Through striking photography and first-hand accounts, Linda Barrett Osborne not only evokes the hardships endured by Jim Crow laws, but also the tight-knit communities centered around church, black-owned businesses, and social organizations that fought for equal rights and strove to foster a spirit of pride and self-worth among African-Americans.  Highly recommended for your black history collection; this is a stunner, both physically and emotionally.