Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom by Lynda Blackmon Lowery

There is a lot of interest in the Selma voting rights march and this memoir makes Selma and the preceding marches come alive from the perspective of a young person. Lynda Blackmon was actively participating in civil rights protests in Selma before the famous march to Montgomery. In this memoir she talks about how those marches were organized and how her black teachers helped students leave school to participate. Lynda was jailed numerous times and often was fearful, but she continued to participate and was supported by her family and friends. She was beaten on Bloody Sunday, and then became the youngest person to march all the way from Selma to Montgomery. It was on that march that she turned 15 years old. This story is told in the first person and is easy to read. It is written in chapters but it reads like a personal essay. Students as young as fifth graders will have no problem understanding Lynda's story and will learn a great deal about the events surrounding the Selma march, including the deaths of Jimmie Lee Jackson and Viola Liuzzo. This would be an excellent addition to a middle school Civil Rights unit.

Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed

This book grabbed me and I finished it within one day. I am interested in human rights and women's rights in particular, and this provided a fascinating look at the life of a girl of Pakistani heritage. Naila is an American girl with Pakistani parents. She is bright and ambitious and looking forward to college. She also has a boyfriend that she keeps a secret from her strict parents. But one night of fun gets her a consequence that she would not have believed. She thinks that her parents are taking her and her brother to stay with relatives in Pakistan for a short time, but the trip expands and all her future plans are up in the air. I found myself imagining how I would have gotten out of such a situation and I suspect that in real life Naila wouldn't have had a good outcome. I am curious how Pakistani readers react to this book. I imagine some would find it to be an indictment of their culture while others would welcome the story that exposes how girls can be treated differently in other cultures. I think American students will enjoy the story and learn something at the same time. I also must put in a plug for one of my all-time favorite books, Shabanu by Suzanna Fisher Staples. It's also about a girl Pakistan caught up in a world where she can't make decisions about her own future.