Abby Takes a Stand and Phineas L. MacGuire Erupts!

I read two more Maud Hart Lovelace nominees to review for you.

Abby Takes a Stand from The Scraps of Time 1960s, a historical fiction book set in the time of the civil rights movement. Young Abby experiences discrimination first hand at the opening of a new restaurant in a department store. How would you feel if you were handed a flyer to try out a new restaurant and when you arrived and took your place in line — people started saying things like "What is she doing here?" It is just one of the many instances of discrimination against black people in the south. People in the town decide enough is enough and use the nonviolent strategies of another group doing sit-ins in North Carolina. Abby is too young to participate in the actual sit-ins but her mother and her cousin are organizers, so she is active in other ways to promote their cause for equality. This book is a great read and you get to learn about nonviolent protest used during the struggle for desegregation.

Phineas L. MacGuire Erupts! is written for the same age group, grades 3-5. But the younger readers will enjoy this more. Phineas or Mac as he is called, is in 4th grade and his best friend just moved away and he is stuck with another kid (a new student) to work on a science fair project. The book is written in the voice of Mac and even though he is a smart kid—there are a lot of goofy things he comes up with. For instance, this is an alternative science fair project he came up with:

When you drink milk and start laughing, why does the milk automatically squirt out of your nose? Does only milk from a little carton do this? How about milk from a glass? From a plastic cup? If you were drinking from a juice box, would stuff come out your nose, or does juice automatically go straight to your stomach?

You get the idea.