English Middle Graders Black Culture & Identity summary Both of these books are beautiful collections of badass historical figures, many of whom are still alive and continuing to make history! If you’re in the market for nonfiction anthologies about historical figures (like I am 100% of the time) make sure you check these out from…
Category: Immigration
Hello, Mandarin Duck!
English & many others! 4+ May Day Languages Welcoming Bao Phi & Dion MBD summary Twins Hua and Hue are on their way to the big May Day parade in their community when they come across a Mandarin duck looking a bit lost. As they run into more of their friends, they welcome the duck…
Nice White Ladies
English YA+ White Supremacy Complicity Unconscious Bias White Feminism Jessie Daniels summary “No amount of positivity, light, and love will help us defeat the patriarchy if white feminists can’t tolerate being criticized” (8). If you’re a white lady, you should be reading this book. If you’re a “nice” liberal white lady, you should be reading…
The Samosa Rebellion
English MG Politics Oppression Racism Internment Rebellion SEL Activism Government Surveillance Immigration Shanthi Sekaran summary Did I pick up this book expecting a great read? Sure did. Did I expect it to blow my mind in the way that it did? Absolutely not. I love it when that happens. 12 year old narrator Muki lives…
A Song of Frutas
English & Spanish 3+ Intergenerational Stories Visting Family Fruit Vendors Cuban-American Authors Mexican Illustrators Margarita Engle & Sara Palacios summary For the first day of Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month, I wanted to share a book that’s fun. In A Song of Frutas, a young girl loves to visit her abuelo because it means she…
When Can We Go Back to America? Voices of Japanese American Incarceration during WWII
English & Japanese YA Japanese Internment/Incarceration History Nonfiction Racism Oppression Personal Narrative Susan H. Kamei summary Meticulously researched and fastidiously detailed personal narration fill this historic book. Susan Kamei has done a marvelous job in describing the intricacies of the political events and racism that led to the incarceration of the Japanese American population following…
Two Books Honoring the Immigration & Refugee Experience
English 5+ Immigration Military Occupation Poetry CW: Violence, gunfire, occupation summary I’ve always lived in the same country, but that’s certainly not everyone’s experience. It’s not even all of my family’s experience. I have two books for you today that pay homage to the international refugee experience. With all of the abominable happenings in Afghanistan,…
Starting Over in Sunset Park
English & Spanish 4-8 years Immigration Single-Parent Family New Beginnings NYC Animals Cat-sitting José Pelaez, Lynn McGee, & Bianca Diaz summary Our story opens with a young girl and her mother arriving to NYC from the Dominican Republic, ready to begin a new life for themselves. Initially staying with relatives, the pair is looking forward…
Yang Warriors
English & some Hmong 6-10 Hmong Culture Own Voices Refugee Experience Family Lived Experiences Social-Emotional Learning Kao Kalia Yang & Billy Thao summary Yang Warriors is a beautiful story that is one of the first books I’ve read that’s entirely Own Voices, with both a Hmong author and Hmong-American illustrator. The book takes place in…
Salma the Syrian Chef
English & Arabic 4-8 years Immigration Refugee Stories Community Chosen Family Cooking Danny Ramadan & Anna Bron Summary: For #TheFictionFeast this month, I wanted to highlight a book that hits a lot of important details that I look for in a story. Main character Salma from Salma the Syrian Chef looks to a mixed refugee…