As we enter a new year, we are aware that in many ways we are the ones who call the new year into being. To a large extent, we can shape what will be, what will happen and how it will feel. What possibilities exist for this year? For you? What if there were no limits?
This month, we offer several invitations to engage your imagination in creating our world, ourselves and our year.
Imagining who you can become (what possibilities exist in you?)
Imagining what is beyond now and here (what possibilities exist for us?)
Imagining new and other worlds (the value of escape / what are the possibilities?)
Imagining a more just world (what work has been done to make our world more just and who has done it? What work can we do to make our world more just?)
Using our imagination and thinking outside the box
The books in the curated list below, all written by or about people, communities and identities under represented in literature, each draw upon these imagination themes. These, and hundreds more, are all available for loan to our library patrons as well as TVUUC members and families. Click “Borrow A Book” to learn how to bring these and other books home. If you’re not able to check books out, please refer to these suggestions when looking for books exploring imagination. How will you use your imagination this year?
*Monthly themes adapted from the work of Soul Matters Sharing Circle https://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com
Imagining who you can become (what possibilities exist in you?)
Board books
Dream Big, Little One by Vashti Harrison
Clive and His Babies (All About Clive) by Jessica Spanyo
Picture Books
ABC What Can He Be? Boys can be anything they want to be, from A to Z by Sugar Snap Studio
ABC What Can She Be? Girls can be anything they want to be, from A to Z by Sugar Snap Studio
Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment by Parker Curry, Jessica Curry and Brittany Jackson
A Princess of Great Daring! by Tobi Hill-Meyer
Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed
Middle Grades
Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World by Vashti Harrison
Imagining what is beyond now and here (what possibilities exist for us?)
Board Books
Baby Loves Aerospace Engineering! by Ruth Spiro and Irene Chan
Picture Books
The Paper Kingdom by Helena Ku Rhee and Pascal Campion
Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
Middle Grades
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Teen
Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky
Imagining new and other worlds (the value of escape / what are the possibilities?)
PIcture Books
The Boy Who Grew Flowers by Jen Wojtowicz and Steve Adams
MIDDLE GRADES
The Real Boy by Anne Ursu and Erin McGuire
Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Quintent series, vol. 1) by Roshani Chokshi
Teen
Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time: An Indigenous LGBT Sci-Fi Anthology by Hope Nicholson
Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha series Vol. 1) by Tomi Adeyemi
Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orisha series Vol. 2) by Tomi Adeyemi
Imagining a more just world (what work has been done?What work can we do?)
Board Books
Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi
A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara
PIcture Books
The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson
Sometimes People March by Tessa Allen
Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights by Rob Sanders and Jared Andrew Schorr
White Flour by David LaMotte and Jenn Hales
Stand Up and Sing!: Pete Seeger, Folk Music, and the Path to Justice by Susanna Reich and Adam Gustavson
Middle Grades
Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History by Vashti Harrison
The Promise of Change: one girl’s story in the fight for school equality by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy
Teen
When They Call You A Terrorist (Young Adult Edition): A Story of Black Lives Matter and the Power to Change the World, adapted by Benee Knauer from the adult work by asha bandele and Patrisse Khan-Cullors
A Dream of Freedom: the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1968 by Diane McWhorter
No One is Too Small to Make a Difference, Greta Thunberg
Adult
Just Parenting: Building the World One Family at a Time by Julie Greenberg
Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy by Chris Crass with Foreword from Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Introduction by Chris Dixon
Using your imagination and thinking outside the box
PIcture Books
Lissy’s Friends by Grace Lin
Lily Brown’s Paintings by Angela Johnson and E. B. Lewis
Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood by F. Isabel Campoy and Rafael Lopez
What If . . . by Samantha Berger and Mike Curato
Drawn Together by Minh Lê and Dan Santat
The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin by Julia Finley Mosca and Daniel Rieley
Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine by Laurie Wallmark
Juvenile
Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton and Don Tate
Middle Grades
Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women by Catherine Thimmesh and Melissa Sweet
The Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell