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epatrickmaddox's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
mariahroze's review against another edition
3.0
So this book had a really great theme in it and great lessons for everyone. It talked about race and religion and how it shouldn't keep us apart. It also talked about how even though we are born into a specific race or religion it doesn't mean that we should be good at the activities that that group tends to excel at. This book is all about not putting people into boxes.
Sadly, this book was very confusing at the beginning and it took myself and my students a long time to figure out what the book was trying to get at.
Sadly, this book was very confusing at the beginning and it took myself and my students a long time to figure out what the book was trying to get at.
jypsel's review against another edition
5.0
Bold and beautiful, Richard Michelson's "Across the Alley" address both anti-semitism and racism in a way that children can understand and in a way that can still touch teenagers. Young Willie's dad is a baseball coach and he is on the baseball team; across the alley in Brooklyn, New York, his neighbor, Abe, a young Jewish boy, has been playing the violin seemingly all his life. The two boys end up exchanging hobbies through the windows in their apartments and shake the foundations of discrimination with their friendship.
Yesterday was World Read Aloud Day and I ended up reading this book to my middle school students. You might think that middle schoolers would be bored to death having to read a "kid's book," but these students had a special connection to this book: they're all Jewish. They were enchanted. It reminded me of when I would read out loud when I taught 1st grade and all of the students would be enrapt by the pictures in the books. Well, my students didn't seem to care too much about the pictures anymore, but they cared a lot about the story.
(The pictures were beautiful, though.)
It was validating for them, as well as eye-opening, too. It's easy to think that it's just your group that is being discriminated and focus on that, but when an author can bring two discriminated groups together, tell a story that isn't about one struggle, but multiple, well... that is bridging the gap between us all.
Yesterday was World Read Aloud Day and I ended up reading this book to my middle school students. You might think that middle schoolers would be bored to death having to read a "kid's book," but these students had a special connection to this book: they're all Jewish. They were enchanted. It reminded me of when I would read out loud when I taught 1st grade and all of the students would be enrapt by the pictures in the books. Well, my students didn't seem to care too much about the pictures anymore, but they cared a lot about the story.
(The pictures were beautiful, though.)
It was validating for them, as well as eye-opening, too. It's easy to think that it's just your group that is being discriminated and focus on that, but when an author can bring two discriminated groups together, tell a story that isn't about one struggle, but multiple, well... that is bridging the gap between us all.
azajacks's review against another edition
5.0
I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you: http://www.indiebound.org
middle_name_joy's review against another edition
5.0
Mid-20th century Brooklyn is the backdrop for Willie, an African American boy, and Abe, a Jewish American boy, to innocently cross race and culture lines with music and baseball. See, Abe loves to pitch, but his grandfather believes he should play the violin. Willie, on the other hand, can make the strings sing, a direct contrast with his abilities on the ball field. Can the boys find a way to celebrate their individual talents despite stigmas?
The tone and story line reminded me of [b: The Other Side|25744542|On the Other Side|Carrie Hope Fletcher|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1502574962s/25744542.jpg|45585298], and ironically the gorgeous illustrations here are done by E.B. Lewis who also illustrated that book and others by Jacqueline Woodson.
I love the message, and the backstory, and the characters. Richard Michelson definitely deserves to be in a category with Woodson and Patricia Polacco for Across the Alley.
The tone and story line reminded me of [b: The Other Side|25744542|On the Other Side|Carrie Hope Fletcher|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1502574962s/25744542.jpg|45585298], and ironically the gorgeous illustrations here are done by E.B. Lewis who also illustrated that book and others by Jacqueline Woodson.
I love the message, and the backstory, and the characters. Richard Michelson definitely deserves to be in a category with Woodson and Patricia Polacco for Across the Alley.
just_fighting_censorship's review against another edition
4.0
A lovely story of two boys, one black and the other Jewish, doing something completely innocent in secret. So great that in this story the reactions of the adults' are wise and accepting, too bad that isn't always the response.
There is a message of anti-racism here, but there is also a larger message about letting people be who they want to be. Too often parents force their children to pursue certain things like playing the violin or baseball, but it isn't what the kid is good at, it isn't their passion. This story addresses that common issue that isn't regulated by religion, race, or ethnicity.
Also really loved the part where Abe, the Jewish boy, talks about how his grandfather was treated like a slave by the Nazis and Willie says that his great-grandfather was a slave. Willie then says, "I never knew any white folk that were."
So poignant and powerful.
There is a message of anti-racism here, but there is also a larger message about letting people be who they want to be. Too often parents force their children to pursue certain things like playing the violin or baseball, but it isn't what the kid is good at, it isn't their passion. This story addresses that common issue that isn't regulated by religion, race, or ethnicity.
Also really loved the part where Abe, the Jewish boy, talks about how his grandfather was treated like a slave by the Nazis and Willie says that his great-grandfather was a slave. Willie then says, "I never knew any white folk that were."
So poignant and powerful.
fieldsla's review against another edition
4.0
Great historical fiction picture book about overcoming prejudice. Good for upper elementary.
beecheralyson's review against another edition
5.0
A very special story about two boys who live across the alley from each other in the 1950's NY. One boy is African American and the other is Jewish. The boy who is Jewish teaches his friend to play violin. The boy who is black teaches his friend to pitch. Though they feel that they can't really be friends publicly, it is through music and baseball that they finally conquer prejudices. The illustrations really are beautiful.
mysterybuff's review
4.0
Read this while browsing a book store in New York. Couldn't put it down. The illustrations by E.B. Lewis who I met at the SCBWI conference are so in-depth and wonderful. A real gem of a book.
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