Washington Children' Choice Update

We are about two-thirds of the way through the list of books nominated for the

Washington Children's Choice Award.  All K-3 Students will be voting at the end of March on their favorite book.  Recently we read Ron's Big Mission, a fictionalized account of an incident that occurred in future Challenger astronaut Ron McNair's childhood.  At the age of 9, when African-Americans were not allowed to check out books from the local public library in Lake City, South Carolina, McNair refused to leave the library until he was allowed to check out the books on advanced scientific topics that he was interested in.  While Ron's Big Mission doesn't dig deeply into the issues of segregation in the 1950s, it presents the topic in a manner that's accessible for young students. And the students who were close to the age McNair was at that time were able to appreciate the courage and self-confidence he must have possessed to engage in this act of civil disobedience.  I was not aware of this story prior to reading Ron's Big Mission, but I read more about Dr. McNair after reading the book, and he was an amazing, inspirational person who is now revered in his hometown.  Last week, on the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, there were several news stories about him.  I enjoyed this one, about how the library that refused to provide service to African Americans when McNair was a child has been restored and reopened as the Dr. Ronald E. McNair Life History Center to honor this exceptional American hero.