Carol Wilcox of Carol's Corner is one of our nominating panelists for Middle Grade and Young Adult Non-Fiction, and throughout the whole process she's been blogging about some of her favorite nominees and writing detailed, thoughtful reviews.
One of those reviews was of finalist title Ain't Nothing but a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry, by Scott Reynolds Nelson with Marc Aronson. This book is a historian's quest to find out about the real man behind our legendary concept of John Henry, using songs, old photos, prison records, and other artifacts. According to Carol,
Ain't Nothing But a Man is like a field trip into the mind of a historian. Nelson allows us to follow him as he puts together an enormous history puzzle–who was John Henry?
Read the full review here.