My Picks: New Biographies and Memoirs for Children Published in April 2015
I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives
By Martin Ganda and Caitlin Alifirenka
Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: April 14, 2015
This is a enthralling dual memoir of an American girl and her pen pal from an impoverished city in Zimbabwe. They exchanged letters for six years and their correspondence changed both their lives.
Trombone Shorty
By Troy Andrews and illustrated by Bryan Collier
Published by: Abrams Books for Young Readers
Release date: April 14, 2015
Troy Andrews was a musical prodigy and earned the nickname “Trombone Shorty” because he wielded a trombone twice as long as he was high.
Elvis: The Story of the Rock and Roll King
Written and Illustrated by Bonnie Christensen
Published by Henry Holt and Company
Release date: April 21, 2015
Elvis Presley was a shy kid who found solace in singing at church and learning to play the guitar. One day on a lark, he recorded a song for his mother’s birthday at Sun Record Studios and the rest is history.
The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch
By Chris Barton and illustrated by Don Tate
Published by: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
Release date: April 1, 2015
John Roy Lynch was born a slave in Mississippi. But, with the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, he was able to begin a new life and eventually he was elected to the United States Congress.