A-Z Theme Reveal 2019...Are You In? #AtoZChallenge

It is that time of year where I gear up for the A-Z Blog Challenge. It is an annual challenge every April where 1000+ people blog about a variety of things. This year is the 10th year of the challenge. Wow! 

I have blogged for several years this challenge and I am excited to join in again. I will attempt two blogs again, although last year, I did not do so well. For this blog, I will once again be reviewing books. I will be tweaking things a bit than my usual norm due to time constraints.

My rules:
1. I will be mostly reviewing children's books. I have a huge TBR pile and I am also behind on book reviews for some authors. There may be other genres too. All books will be family friendly.
2. I will most likely just give the review and where to find the authors. I usually have a summary with my reviews too but to cut down on some time, I may not have the summary.
3. There may be repeat authors as some of my TBR pile the author's sent me multiple books written by them. This will not effect the challenge in the least.
4. I reserve the right to drop "A" or "The" from a title to make it fit for the letter of the day. However, if that is the case, I will have it in parenthesis in my blog title.
5. There may or may not be a giveaway attached to some of the books. Feel free to enter them.
6. I will try to visit as many people I can, especially those that comment each day. However, I work full time, and like other people, I am pre-posting some of the letters. Please comment though, I love a good comment like you do.

Please join in this year if you want to. You can join HERE.

Happy reading and Happy April!
~Michelle

A-Z Blog Challenge Theme Reveal 2017 #atozchallenge

Hello, all. It is approaching April again and that means it is time to do the annual A-Z Blog Challenge that I participate in every year. This year I thought I would change it up and do something different but alas, my mind says, "nope!"

So, what am I going to do? Well, that is the whole purpose of the theme reveal. Of course, me, being me, is a bit behind as we were supposed to reveal on Monday and here it is Thursday. Okay, okay, I plain forgot that we do this and barely am remembering that it is almost April.

So, get on with it...right?

Here it is...my big reveal...drum roll, please

...I said, DRUM ROLL!   bah, dah, dah, dah....bing...

I am doing a children's book review every day beginning with the letter of the day. 

1. I reserve the right to leave off the words: the, a, and an
However, I also reserve the right to keep them if it fits the letter of the day. HA!
2. The review will likely not be as extensive as I usually would write for a book. This means I may or may not add the author or his/her links to a buy now page. The only exception to that will be if it is a book tour that I am part of.
3. There may or may not be giveaways attached to a book, again depending on if I am with a tour.
4. Some of the books that I will be reviewing will come from my own TBR pile and others will come from the library. All will get an Amazon review.
5. If you comment with a link, I will come visit your page and reciprocate. I appreciate you commenting and reading as I am sure you do too.
6. If you would like to be added to my sidebar linky for this challenge, let me know in a comment only with your link and I will add. I will not add however any kind of adult theme related links. This is to my discretion after I visit your blog.

HAPPY BLOGGING! Until then, keep visiting my page for new reviews, spotlights, and giveaways!
~M.M.

#Review: Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh #Multicultural

Summary:
Almost 10 years before Brown vs. Board of Education, Sylvia Mendez and her parents helped end school segregation in California. An American citizen of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage who spoke and wrote perfect English, Mendez was denied enrollment to a “Whites only” school. Her parents took action by organizing the Hispanic community and filing a lawsuit in federal district court. Their success eventually brought an end to the era of segregated education in California.

My review:
Before the Brown vs. Board of Education, which is well known to me, there was the Mendez family who fought for equality in the schools. I find it awful that such things have even taken place in this country, although, I know it has.

I applaud people like the Mendez's who fought for their children to have good education. All children deserve to have the same opportunities. This story follows them from the time the children were rejected right through the court case and back to the school.

I should not be, but I was amazed at the bigotry provided by the school, especially when the children were present at the case. Again, I question why?

In the back of the book, there is an update by the author, photographs of the real people involved, a glossary, and bibliography.

The illustrations in the book were simple line drawing and added to the feel. The colors were muted blues, browns, reds, and greens. I thought it was interesting that none of the character's faces were faced forward but always sideways. Was this a statement in itself? Perhaps.

Overall, I think this is a book that should be read to all children and the case should be brought to the public more as this was just the beginning of children's right to school. 

5 stars! Note: This book has received at least two rewards but I was not able to find which ones for my review.

Disclosure: I picked up a copy of this book at my local library to read and review. The opinions expressed here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Naila Moon

Where to find the author:

Amazon
Goodreads

Look Out For Me In April #AtoZChallenge

Tomorrow begins the annual A-Z Challenge. This year, I will be here posting all book reviews. Most of the reviews will be children's books but some will be of the mystery genre. There may be only a spotlight or two. There will also be a couple of giveaways and of course, the Kid Lit Blog Hop that I host every month.

I will try to get around to as many people as possible but with nearly 2000 people participating, that is not feasible to get to everyone.  In any case, I do hope you will stop here at least once or twice during the month and say hello. Yes, let me know you are here and I will come visit.

Happy April everyone!

PS>Please stop at my other blog too, Just the Stuff Ya Know, where I have decided to do music postings again!