"Ellen's Broom"

Author: Kelly Starling Lyons
Illustrator: Daniel Minter
Awards: Coretta Scott King Award
Ages: Kindergarten- 3rd Grade

Pineapple Points: 3/5
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Summary:
      A narrative rendition of the Cohabition Act of 1866, Ellen's Broom uses a touching fictional story to inform readers about the marriage recognition of former Virginian slaves. Before, slaves marriages were not acknowledged. A tradition for these suppressed slaves was to jump over a broom to signify a "jumping into life together" and a marriage of two people inn the eyes of God. Ellen, a child of former slaves, was able to witness the legal marriage of her parents. With a rising fight to end racial injustices, a tradition to celebrate a union is kept alive, despite legal advances, to commemorate the past and its traditions.

Evaluation:
     Ellen's broom is a beautifully simplistic children's book that celebrates an advancement in African American rights. This would be a great book to illustrate the simplistic rights that many slaves and people of color were stripped of. As a history teacher I would like my students to read a selection of historical fiction children's literature that talked about the history of African Americans to create a timeline of events. Each event would be linked to the book and a blog like this one about the connecting book. This would help students with history and give them a creative way to use technology and literature to make connections.

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