Reynolds, Peter H. Playing from the Heart.

Reynolds, Peter H.  Playing from the Heart.     Candlewick Press  2016  unp.  $15.00  ISBN 978-0-7636-7892-0  all ages  Picture book  VG-BN    

Music connects the musician and the audience.  When Raj begins plunking away on the piano, the music flows from his heart to the keyboard.  His father is impressed and arranges for Raj to take music lessons. As Raj’s technical skills increase, his love of playing piano decreases.  When he graduates, Raj moves away and abandons music.  Then, many years later, when his father becomes very ill, Raj rediscovers the song that flows from his heart, when his father asks him to play music for him once more.

Reynolds’ evocative illustrations are the perfect complement to the bittersweet story.  Moving without being maudlin, this is a gentle story about the power of music to heal and to inspire.     

Summary: Raj learns the technical aspects of playing the piano, but when his father becomes ill and asks Raj to play for him, will Raj learn to play from the heart?

Music-Picture books                                   --Hilary Welliver

Reynolds, Jason, and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys.

Reynolds, Jason, and Brendan Kiely.  All American Boys.     Simon & Schuster/ Atheneum    2015  308p  ISBN 978-1-4814-6333-1  ms/hs  Conflict  E-BN  

In this excellent young-adult novel, Rashad, a black teenager, finds himself as the victim of unjust police brutality.  He ends up in the hospital with broken ribs and other injuries that the policeman, Paul, inflicted, but most of all, his sense of justice has been damaged.  At the same time, Quinn, a classmate who is white, has witnessed the event up close.  Quinn has a long-standing friendship with Paul and his family, and he is pressured by them to defend Paul’s actions.  To complicate matters further, Quinn plays on the same basketball team as Paul’s brother, and the coach wants the boys to focus only on basketball.  The narrative, which switches back and forth from Rashad to Quinn, is riveting, and poses some very important questions about individual responsibility, racism, friendship, and loyalty.  The language is quite strong and for that reason, middle-school collections may want to think twice about purchasing it.  However, it is an excellent read for high school, and the kids talk the way many kids really do talk.  For middle-school and high-school collections.       

Summary: A black teenage boy is brutally beaten by a police officer who misunderstands his actions, and an entire town is torn apart by opposing reactions to the situation.  Meanwhile, a white boy witnesses the beating and must decide how to respond. 

Police brutality-Fiction, Race relations-Fiction                  --Carol Kennedy