Eleanora Tate

The Minstrel's Melody -- part of the American Girl series -- is a well-written historical novel aimed at Tween girls. The story is set in 1904. The main character is a tween-age Negro girl who lives in Missouri. She wants to become a minstrel like one of her idols. After a disagreement with her mother, the girl runs away from home, hides with the minstrel show, and goes on, for several days, to experience the reality of life on the road for a traveling group of Negroes (the term used show more throughout the book) in that time period.

There are several morals to the story, including the value of family, and encouragement to follow dreams. A mystery involving the girl's parents' past is solved. Part of our country's history is taught in a manner that may "stick" better than dry memorization of facts. show less

Twelve-year-old Margie Carson loves hearing stories. And her daddy loves to tell them. One hot summer night Daddy, Margie, and her seven-year-old cousin Ethel troop over to the old one-room school for round of special storytelling. Daddy tells the girls about the time Aunt Daisy was chased by a scary, eight-foot-tall shadow one Sunday night in her backyard...about the flood that nearly washed away the whole town and left a catfish on a neighbor's pillow...stories about rocks that bite and show more walnut wars...stories about Mary McLeod Bethune and the time Eleanor Roosevelt came to town...ten wonderful stories in all. show less

This tale takes place when people were all the same. They were bored and wanted to be different so the high god recognized everyones differences and gave people everything they wanted. People were greedy and wanted more than their neighbor. The high god then scattered them all over the world giving them all different languages.

The children of Gumbo Grove Elementary School discover the contributions of many famous Afro-Americans during Black History Month.