Hula-Hoopin’ Queen
Thelma Lynne Godin
Illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Lee & Low Books, 2014

I like Hula-Hoopin’ Queen for several reasons, but I mainly like the book because it offers the readers a glimpse of a rather contemporary African-American community.

Although it is not historical yet, I am listing Hula-Hoopin’ Queen as appropriate for Black History Month. History is a fluid thing. We make new history every day.

I fell in love with the book when I watched and heard Oprah Winfrey reading it:

About the elderly MizAdelne
“She’s sitting and listening to a jazzy blues tune, noddin’ her head like a spring robin looking for a worm,” Godin

[This passage is an example of a simile]