{"id":2804,"date":"2019-09-03T22:40:19","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T05:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/?p=2804"},"modified":"2020-12-14T14:37:50","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T22:37:50","slug":"book-review-stonewall-a-building-an-uprising-a-revolution-by-rob-sanders-and-jamey-christoph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/book-review-stonewall-a-building-an-uprising-a-revolution-by-rob-sanders-and-jamey-christoph\/","title":{"rendered":"Book review: Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution, by Rob Sanders and Jamey Christoph"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Sanders, Rob (author) and Jamey Christoph (illus.). Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution. <\/em><\/a>Random House Children?s Books. 2019. $17.99. 40p. HC. 978-1-5247-1952-4<\/strong><\/p>\n

?Two stable houses, side by side. For more than a hundred years, we witnessed history. Then came a night when we became part of history.? So begins Rob Sanders?s latest picture book, Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution. <\/em>The first picture book ever released on the Stonewall Uprising, Sanders?s book ? told from the perspective of the two stable houses that became the Stonewall Inn ? hit shelves just in time for the event?s 50th<\/sup> anniversary and has been largely well-received. As a children?s librarian, I was excited to get my hands on a copy and see what all the fuss was about first-hand.<\/p>\n

Jamey Christoph?s full-color digital illustrations are a perfect accompaniment to Sanders?s story, beautifully portraying the diverse, welcoming environment of New York?s changing Greenwich Village. When the tone of the text takes a dramatic turn halfway through ? ?Others were not as accepting. They thought those who gathered within our walls were too <\/em>different.? ? Christoph?s illustrations change with it, becoming darker and more foreboding. Before the story ends, however, Christoph?s illustrations change again, this time when the story moves beyond the uprising; here, on the last two spreads, readers encounter vibrant colors and sunny skies, the perfect match for Sanders?s optimistic tone.<\/p>\n

On the negative side, the story is a bit cut-and-dry, skimming over the violence of police raids and the danger inherent in protesting. Given that Stonewall<\/em> is geared toward children 5-9 years of age, however, these omissions are somewhat understandable; the book?s back matter ? including photos and an interview with an uprising participant ? allows for a closer look at the uprising itself. A more problematic shortcoming is the book?s centering of cis voices and perspectives. For instance, while the back matter makes specific note of the important role transgender individuals ? in particular trans women of color ? played in the uprising, they?re largely left out the story itself.<\/p>\n

Still, this is such an important topic for young people to be introduced to, and having a book that presents the story in the simplest terms is a great jumping-off point for caregivers and educators.<\/p>\n

-Kate Frick, New York Public Library<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sanders, Rob (author) and Jamey Christoph (illus.). Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution. Random House Children?s Books. 2019. $17.99. 40p. HC. 978-1-5247-1952-4 ?Two stable houses, side by side. For more than a hundred years, we witnessed history. Then came a night when we became part of history.? So begins Rob Sanders?s latest picture book, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1197,"featured_media":2982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[199,32,105,21],"tags":[254,305,304],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2804"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}