There’s More to Our Story: A Critical, Diverse and Honest Histories Booklist for Babies Through Adults as We Celebrate 250 Years as a Nation

With this weekend’s milestone of 250 years as the United States of America, there is much to celebrate and reflect on.  Moments like this have many, including ourselves, asking who we are?  Who have we been? Who are we becoming? What have we learned? And importantly, not only where are we going, but where do we want to go and how will we get there?  

Unfortunately, at a time of so many important questions, there is a great collective narrowing of our ability to ask and answer such questions, especially publicly and in dialogue with each other.  Discourse is limited.  Dissent is restricted.  History is removed from public buildings and national parks.  Books are banned from schools and removed from public libraries.  Art that teaches is replaced with art that dictates.  The list goes on.

In a time of narrowing, honest and critical histories can broaden our knowledge, offer diverse perspectives, and reveal the spaces between the history we know, what we’ve been taught and what has been shared, and the history we don’t know or haven’t examined.  In order to be proactive about our present and future, we need to understand the full story of how we got to now, both the stories that inspire us, and the truths that challenge us.  With these questions and issues in mind, we offer this booklist of critical, diverse and honest histories to help us understand ourselves and create an informed empowered deliberate future. 

All these titles, and hundreds more (search “history”), are available for no cost loan to library patrons of our free community lending library. Click “Borrow A Book” to learn how you can bring these and other books home. See also our Hours and Location. If you’re not local to our lending program, please refer to these suggestions when looking for honest, diverse and critical history books for all ages.  To learn how to support our efforts to provide these and other critical books for understanding who we are and where we can go, visit Get Involved at www.cdjlibrary.org.   

*Titles not currently available in the Knox County Public Library system.

Board Books

• *The Life of / La Vida de Delores (Lil’ Libros), Patty Roríguez and Ariana Stein

• Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History, Vashti Harrison 

• Little Legends:  Exceptional Men in Black History, Vashti Harrison

• *A Is for Awesome!: 23 Iconic Women Who Changed the World, Evan Chen and Derek Desierto

Picture Books

• The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Renée Watson and Nikkolas Smith

• *Before I Lived Here, Stacy S. Jensen and Victo Ngai

• My Lost Freedom: A Japanese American World War II Story, George Takei and Michelle Lee

• *Main Street: A Community Story About Redlining, Britt Hawthorne, Tiffany Jewell and David Wilkerson

• The History of We, Nikkolas Smith

• *My History, My Gender, Me; Cassandra Jules Corrigan

• *Be Amazing: A History of Pride, Desmond Napoles and Dylan Glynn

• A to Z Black History Knoxville, Kharmon Anderson, Dream2Design.org

• We Want to Go to School: The Fight for Disability Rights, Maryann Cocca-Leffler and Janine Leffler

• Pura’s Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories, Annette Bay Pimentel and Magaly Morales

• I’m an American, Darshana Khiani and Laura Freeman

• Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation, Duncan Tonatiuh

• Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World, Cynthia Chin-Lee

• Equality’s Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America, Devorah Diesen and Magdalena Mora

• *Stronger Than, Nikki Grimes, Stacy Well, E.B. Lewis

• *The Rabbi and the Reverend: Joachim Prinz, Martin Luther King Jr., and Their Fight Against Silence, Audrey Ades, Chiara Fedele

Juvenile

• Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper

• Evicted!: The Struggle for the Right to Vote, Alice Faye Duncan

• Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies, Cokie Roberts and Diane Goode

• *Black Heroes: A Black History Book for Kids: 51 Inspiring People from Ancient Africa to Modern-Day U.S.A., Arisha Norwood

• *A Child's Introduction to Pride: The Inspirational History and Culture of the LGBTQIA+ Community, Sarah Prager, Caitlin O’Dwyer

• We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know, Traci Sorell and Frané Lessac

• *Hear My Voice / Escucha mi voz: The Testimonies of Children Detained at the Southern Border of the United States, Warren Binford and Michael Garcia Bochenek

• *I Am Not a Label: 34 artists, thinkers, athletes and activist with disabilities from past and present, Cerrie Burnell and Laruen Mark Baldo

• *Amazing: Asian American and Pacific Islanders Who Inspire Us All, Maia Shibutani, Alex Shibutani, Dane Liu and Aaliya Jaleel

Middle Grades

• Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism and You, Jason Reynolds, Sonja Cherry-Paul, Rachelle Baker, Ibram X. Kendi

• History Smashers: The Mayflower, Kate Messner and Dylan Meconis

• Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States: A Graphic Interpretation, Paul Peart Smith

• *What Was Stonewall? Nico Medina, Jake Murray, Who HQ

• Betty Before X, Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson

• *Fred Korematsu Speaks Up, Laura Atkins, Stan Yogi, Yutaka Houlette

• *Pride: An Inspirational History of the LGBTQ+ Movement, Stella Caldwell

• *Rad American Women A - Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future!, Kate Schatz

• Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box, Evette Dionne

• Finish the Fight!: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote, Veronica Chambers, the staff of the New York Times

Teen

• *Queer History of the United States for Young People, Michael Bronski, Richie Chevat

• *Caste (Adapted for Young Adults) by Isabel Wilkerson

• Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Brandy Colbert

• Trans History: A Graphic Novel: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, Alex L. Combs, Andrew Eakett

• *Stamped from the Beginning: A Graphic History of Racist Ideas in America, Ibram X. Kendi, Joel Christian Gill

• They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group, Susan Campbell Bartoletti

• *Lies My Teacher Told Me: Young Readers' Edition: Everything American History Textbooks Get Wrong, James W. Loewen, Rebecca Stefoff

• *Lies My Teacher Told Me: A Graphic Adaptation, James W. Loewen, Nate Powell

• *One Person, No Vote (YA Edition): How Not All Voters are Treated Equally, Carol Anderson, Tonya Bolden

• Call and Response, the story of Black Lives Matter, Veronica Chambers

• An Indigenous People's History of the United States for Young People, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Debbie Reese, Jean Mendoza

• *We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration, Frank Abe, Matt Sasaki, Tamiko Nimura, Ross Ishikawa

• *Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fights for Their Rights, Mikki Kendall, A. D’Amico

• Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History, Blair Imani

Adult

• Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W Loewen

• *Blunt Instruments: Recognizing Racist Cultural Infrastructure in Memorials, Museums and Patriotic Practices, Kristin Hass

• Stamped from the Beginning, Ibram X. Kendi

• A Queer History of the United States (revisioning history), Michael Bronski

• *https://www.librarycat.org/lib/CDJLibrary/item/241879547, Kim E. Nielsen

• The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ilena Silverman, Jake Silverstein, The New York Times Magazine, Cailin Roper

• *Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender, Dr. Kit Heyam

• Brown: The Last Discovery of America, Richard Rodriguez

• *People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present, Dara Horn

• A Black Women's History of the United States, Daina Ramey Berry, Kali Nicole Gross

• An Indigenous People's History of the United States (10th Anniversary Edition), Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

• The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority, Ellen D. Wu

• *A Protest History of the United States, Gloria J. Browne-Marshall

• An African American and Latinx History of the United States, Paul Ortiz

• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson

• Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts, Rebecca Hall, Hugo Martinez

• The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls, Joan Jacobs Brumberg

• The Heat of a red Summer: Race Mixing, Race Rioting in 1919 Knoxville, Robert J. Booker

Rethinking "Traditional" Thanksgiving: Centering Native American Voices with Events and Resources

This year as we approach Thanksgiving, we invite you to join us at our Rethinking “Traditional” Thanksgiving Storytime, and the activities we’ve set up to follow or, if you can’t make it in person, to engage with any of the resources we’ve gathered together here.

Storytime & Activities

Please join us at the Children’s Diversity & Justice Library on Saturday November 22 for an opportunity to thoughtfully engage with Thanksgiving.

At 10:30am in the CDJL we will share at least three stories written by Native authors and centering the voices of Native Nations and Indigenous Peoples to help us rethink what we’ve been told and taught about Thanksgiving. Storytime starts at 1:00pm and runs for approximately 30 minutes.

After storytime you will have the chance to participate in some activities such as exploring the  Native Land Digital interactive online map to learn about who's land we are inhabiting, decorating land acknowledgement table tents for your Thanksgiving table and creating thank you notes for anyone who has helped you.

resources

Here are some suggestions for books to read with kids, as well as resources for how to engage with the themes of Thanksgiving, and some great educational materials for us as adults!

• Do you know who the indigenous inhabitants were/are of the land where you live?  You can search your address at Native-Land.ca | Our home on native land.  Then consider printing out this Land Acknowledgement Table Tent with the info you find, and display it during your Thanksgiving meal.  You can also follow the links from the Native-Land site to learn more about the native peoples whose land you live on.

• “Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun’s Thanksgiving Story” is a fabulous new picture book that tells the story of Thanksgiving from the perspective of the Wampanoag people.  And the book’s website also has educational material including a section on “rethinking Thanksgiving” and lesson plans that could be adapted by families for exploring “The Real Thanksgiving” and “The Three sisters” for older kids and youth.  https://keepunumuk.com/

• After reading Keepunumuk, try making your own Three Sisters Salad with this version from the Cherokee Tribal Food Distribution System https://food.ebci-nsn.gov/2021/07/19/three-sisters-salad/

•  Traci Sorell, author of "We Are Grateful" and “We Are Still Here” (both in our Children’s Diversity & Justice Library collection) and enrolled Cherokee National member shares her thoughts on talking with children about Thanksgiving - https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/11/16/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-thanksgiving

• “Decolonizing Thanksgiving: A Toolkit for Combatting Racism in Schools” has info that’s relevant for families as well as educators, including a list of resources & books for further exploration - https://tinyurl.com/decolonizingthanksgivingkit 

• Instead of First Thanksgiving myth stories, how about sharing some books that honor Native American Heritage Month with kids? - Reading While White: What Does Thanksgiving Make You Think Of?

• American Indian Perspectives on Thanksgiving - here’s a document from the National Museum of the American Indian that is a GREAT resource that also has suggestions for younger kids as well as older kids - https://americanindian.si.edu/sites/1/files/pdf/education/thanksgiving_poster.pdf 

• This blog post from a librarian has a fascinating exploration of the history of the Pilgrims-and-Indians myth’s association with the Thanksgiving holiday (Hint: it didn’t start when you think it did…) -https://amomssparetime.blogspot.com/.../11/thanksgiving.html

The Question(s) of Banned Books in 2025

This past week has been The American Library Association’s Banned Books Week as well as the 7th anniversary of opening the lending collection of the Children’s Diversity & Justice Library, a free community lending library, now with nearly 2,500 books in the collection, all connecting with one or more of fourteen primary dimensions of diversity and justice.

We began this library, because we knew that all people – including children – deserve to see themselves, their families, people they love and their life experiences reflected in literature.  They also deserve to learn how to understand and be respectful of people, identities, cultures and ideas that differ from their own.  And we wanted to make it easier for them to have access to the books that do these things and tell these stories. We also believe that difference is beautiful, necessary and worthy of being  celebrated and that being exposed to ideas that they or their families don’t share is life-affirming, life-nurturing and even life-saving. This is how we become good neighbors, kind humans and learn to critically evaluate information and identify authenticity; essential skills for life as citizens of a democracy.  

In the seven years since the CDJL began lending diversity and justice themed books, we have seen a tragically ironic co-occurring phenomenon in which there has simultaneously been greater publication of, and demand for, diverse children’s literature, but also a vicious backlash against diverse voices and stories in especially children’s and teens books in public and school libraries resulting in record breaking numbers of books bans and challenges across our country. This makes free community lending libraries like the Children’s Diversity & Justice Library all the more important and now fulfilling roles we never imagined.

As we approached these dual events, the ALA’s Banned Books Week 2025, and our own anniversary, we took some time to evaluate our collection which has grown five fold in seven years and now includes the beginnings of a mobile collection that will allow us to more easily get to where our readers are with the books they want and deserve.  

197 books from the CDJL collection, listed by title below, are found on PEN America’s list of 6,870 instances of book bans in the 2024 - 2025 school year.  These bans represent nearly 4,000 separate titles.  This unique and diverse collection increasingly becomes an island as we face the fact that 119 and 335 titles respectively have been banned from the schools in each of two surrounding counties. The majority of banned titles on the PEN America list are Teen books – 100 of those both banned somewhere in the country and held in our collection.  But quite a few middle grades and juvenile books are included too, as well as 36 picture books and 5 board books with titles that include “An ABC of Equality,” and “Yes! No! A First Conversation About Consent.” 

Keep in mind, all these books are specifically targeted by name for removal or restriction from access.  But an even bigger issue is a kind of “shadow ban” — books that will never be shelved in the first place, are having access restricted even if they are still in library collections, or are being quietly removed because of new legal restrictions or worry about backlash or reprisal.  Picture books in particular are threatened in this way.  Many many more of the books in the CDJL will never be found in public or school libraries, or can only be found in special segregated collections with names like “the parenting collection.” Readers may never discover these titles because if they are shelved at all, they have been relegated to separate shelves where they can’t easily be encountered by the average casual shelf browser.

We know why this is happening.  Books are being banned in schools across the country, or segregated in our public library collections, or not made available for loan in the first place because some people believe that if kids aren’t introduced to diversity, aren’t told honest stories about justice and the painful parts of history, aren’t exposed to ideas that they or their families don’t agree with, then they will never be affected or influenced by them. We know that isn’t true. In fact, what we don’t know CAN hurt us because what we don’t know keeps us ignorant and doesn’t allow us to learn and grow and do better.  What we don’t know can also make us feel alone, like we might be the only one to have a certain kind of experience or feeling or family or belief.  And when we believe we are alone, we are less powerful.  

But, we can push back against the silencing and hiding of ideas and identities by continuing to provide free access to diverse and justice oriented books and by READING BANNED BOOKS!

Children’s Diversity & Justice Library Holdings Found on the PEN America 2024 - 2025 Index of Book Bans

Board Books

1. An ABC of Equlity by Ewing, Chana Ginelle

2. Antiracist Baby by Kendi, Ibram X.

3. Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race by Madison, Megan

4. Yes! No! A First Conversation about Consent by Madison, Megan

5. A is for Activist by Nagara, Innosanto

Picture Books

1. What Riley Wore by Arnold, Elana K.

2. Something Happened in Our Town by Celano, Marianne

3. Bodies are Cool by Feder, Tyler

4. Calvin by Ford, J. R.

5. Calling the Doves: El canto de las palomas by Herrera, Juan Felipe

6. Jacob's New Dress by Hoffman, Sarah

7. The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish by Hot Mess, Lil Miss

8. I am Jazz by Herthel, Jessica

9. IntersectionAllies: We Make Room for All by Johnson, Chelsea

10. My Princess Boy by Kilodavis, Cheryl

11. Families, Families, Families! by Lang, Suzanne

12. Julián at the Wedding by Love, Jessica

13. Julián Is a Mermaid by Love, Jessica

14. Call Me Max by Lukoff, Kyle

15. When Aidan Became a Brother by Lukoff, Kyle

16. Téo's Tutu by Macias, Maryann Jacob

17. Twas the Night Before Pride by McClintick, Joanna

18. My Rainbow by Neal, DeShanna

19. Sparkle Boy by Newman, Lesléa

20. The Family Book by Parr, Todd

21. My Footprints by Phi, Bao

22. This Day in June by Pitman, Gayle E.

23. My Maddy by Pitman, Gayle E.

24. Marley's Pride by Retener, Joelle

25. And Tango Makes Three by Richardson, Justin

26. She's My Dad!: A Story for Children Who Have a Transgender Parent or Relative by Savage, Sarah

27. Jack (Not Jackie) by Silverman, Erica

28. From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea by Thom, Kai Cheng

29. It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity by Thorn, Theresa

30. Introducing Teddy by Walton, Jess

31. Grandad's Pride by Woodgate, Harry

32. Sharice's Big Voice by Davids, Sharice

33. When a Bully is President by Gonzalez. Maya

34. Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness by Higginbotham, Anastasia

35. Be Amazing: A History of Pride by Napoles, Desmond

36. Were I Not a Girl: The Inspiring and True Story of Dr. James Barry by Robinson, Lisa

JUVENILE

1. A Boy Called Bat by Arnold, Elana K.

2. You Be You!: A Kid's Guide to Gender, Sexuality, and Family by Branfman, Jonathan

3. Who Are You? The Kid's Guide to Gender Identity by Pessin-Wedbee, Brook

4. In Our Mothers' House by Polacco, Patricia

5. A Child's Introduction to Pride: The Inspirational History and Culture of the LGBTQIA+ Community by Prager, Sarah

6. Too Bright to See by Lukoff, Kyle

7. Rainbow Revolutionaries: Fifty LGBTQ+ People Who Made History by Prager, Sarah

middle grades

1. A High Five for Glenn Burke by Bildner, Phil

2. Ban This Book by Gratz, Alan

3. Brown Girl Dreaming by Woodson, Jacqueline

4. Ciel in All Directions by Labelle, Sophie

5. Different Kinds of Fruit by Lukoff, Kyle

6. Don't Ask Me Where I'm From by De Leon, Jennifer

7. Ghost Boys by Rhodes, Jewel Parker

8. Gracefully Grayson by Polonsky, Ami

9. Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World by Blake, Ashley Herring

10. Lily and Dunkin by Gephart, Donna

11. Little Rock Girl: How A Photograph Changed the Fight for Integration by Tougas, Shelley Marie

12. Melissa by Gino, Alex

13. Mosque by Macauley, David

14. One Half From the East by Hashimi, Nadia

15. One True Way by Hitchcock, Shannon

16. Out of My Mind by Draper, Sharon M.

17. Pride: An Inspirational History of the LGBTQ+ Community by Caldwell, Stella

18. Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You by Reynolds, Jason

19. The Antiracist Kid: A Book About Identity, Justice, and Activism by Jewell, Tiffany

20. The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Cartaya, Pablo

21. The List of Things That Will Not Change by Stead, Rebecca

22. The Moon Within by Salazar, Aida

23. The Pants Project by Clarke, Cat

24. The Serpent's Secret by DasGupta, Sayantani

25. The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet by Arlow, Jake Maia

26. This is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, and Us by Locke, Katherine

27. This Would Make a Good Story Someday by Levy, Dana Alison

28. What Was Stonewall? by Medina, Nico

29. Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice by Browne, Mahogany L.

30. You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P by Gino, Alex

31. Zenobia July by Bunker, Lisa

32. This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Jewell, Tiffany

Teen

1. 19 Love Songs by Levithan, David

2. A Queer History of the United States For Young People by Chevat, Richie

3. A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities by G., Mady

4. A Scatter of Light by Lo, Malinda

5. Alex as Well by Brugman, Alyssa

6. All American Boys by Reynolds, Jason

7. All Eyes on Us by Frick, Kit

8. All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages by Mitchell, Saundra

9. Allies: Real Talk About Showing Up, Screwing Up, And Trying Again by Bourne, Shakirah

10. Almost Perfect by Katcher, Brian

11. American Street by Zoboi, Ibi

12. Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation by Folman, Ari

13. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Sáenz, Benjamin Alire

14. Autoboyography by Lauren, Christina

15. Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Cronn-Mills, Kirstin

16. Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jennings, Jazz

17. Between the World and Me by Coates, Ta-Nehisi

18. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Kuklin, Susan

19. Beyond the Gender Binary by Vaid-Menon, Alok

20. Brave Face: A Memoir by Hutchinson, Shaun David

21. Children of Blook and Bone by Adeyemi, Tomi

22. Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Adeyemi, Tomi

23. Chlorine Sky by Browne, Mahogany L.

24. Copper Sun by Draper, Sharon M.

25. Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Khorram, Adib

26. Dear Martin by Stone, Nic

27. Flamer by Curato, Mike

28. Forever is Now by Lockington, Mariama J.

29. Frankly in Love by Yoon, David

30. Full Disclosure by Garrett, Camryn

31. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Kobabe, Maia

32. Girl Mans Up by Girard, M-E

33. Gravity by Deming, Sarah

34. Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction by Krosoczka, Jarrett J.

35. History Is All You Left Me by Silvera, Adam

36. How to Be a (Young) Antiracist by Kendi, Ibram X.

37. I am J by Beam, Cris

38. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Sánchez, Erika L.

39. I Wish You All the Best by Deaver, Mason

40. Keeping You a Secret by Peters, Julie Anne

41. Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Lo, Malinda

42. Lawn Boy by Evison, Jonathan

43. Let's Talk About Love by Kann, Claire

44. Light It Up by Magoon, Kekla

45. Lighter Than My Shadow by Green, Katie

46. Little and Lion by Colbert, Brandy

47. Long Way Down by Reynolds, Jason

48. Maus 1: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Spiegelman, Art

49. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Andrews, Jesse

50. Michigan vs. the Boys by Allen, Carrie S.

51. Modern HERstory by Imani, Blair

52. Needlework by Watts, Julia

53. Nevertheless, We Persisted: 48 Voices of Defiance, Strength, and Courage by In This Together Media

54. Night by Wiesel, Elie

55. Odd One Out by Stone, Nic

56. Parachutes by Yang, Kelly

57. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Satrapi, Marjane

58. Pet by Emezi, Akwaeke

59. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Knisley, Lucy

60. Rethinking Normal: A Memoir in Transition by Hill, Katie Rain

61. Shatter the Sky by Wells, Rebecca Kim

62. Shout by Anderson, Laurie Halse

63. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Albertalli, Becky

64. Some Assembly Required by Andrews, Arin

65. Something Like Gravity by Smith, Amber

66. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Reynolds, Jason

67. Starfish by Bowman, Akemi Dawn

68. The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Slater, Dashka

69. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Alexie, Sherman

70. The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person by Joseph, Frederick

71. The Book Thief by Zusak, Markus

72. The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Spiegelman, Art

73. The Downstairs Girl by Lee, Stacey

74. The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities by Levithan, David

75. The Gender Binary is a Big Lie: Infinite Identities Around the World by Wind, Lee

76. The Gender Quest Workbook: A Guide for Teens and Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity by Testa, Rylan Jay

77. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Lee, Mackenzi

78. The Hate U Give by Thomas, Angie

79. The House on Mango Street by Cisneros, Sandra

80. The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Reyes, Sonora

81. The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Khan, Sabina

82. The Mirror Season by McLemore, Anna-Marie

83. The Other Talk: Reckoning with Our White Privilege by Kiely, Brendan

84. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Chbosky, Stephen

85. The Poet X by Acevedo, Elizabeth

86. The Running Dream by Van Draanen, Wendelin

87. They Both Die at the End by Silvera, Adam

88. They Called Themselves The K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Bartoletti, Susan Campbell

89. This Book is Gay by Dawson, Juno

90. This Is My America by Johnson, Kim

91. Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Prince, Liz

92. Trans+: Love, Sex, Romance, and Being You by Gonzales, Kathryn

93. We Are Not Yet Equal by Anderson, Carol

94. When the Moon Was Ours by McLemore, Anna-Marie

95. When We Make It by Velasquez, Elisabet

96. With the Fire on High by Acevedo, Elizabeth

97. All Boys Aren't Blue by Johnson, George M.

98. Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir by Nehanda, Walela

99. Call and Response: The Story of Black Lives MatterChambers, VeronicaJuliet Takes a Breath by Rivera, Gabby

adult

1. A Queer History of the United States by Bronski, Michael

2. A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns by Bongiovanni, Archie

3. An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Ortiz, Paul

4. Becoming Nicole: The inspiring story of transgender actor-activist Nicole Maines and her extraordinary family by Nutt, Amy Ellis

5. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Noah, Trevor

6. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Wilkerson, Isabel

7. Fun Home by Bechdel, Alison

8. I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made For Whiteness by Brown, Austin Channing

9. Raising the Transgender Child by Angello, Michele

10. So You Want to Talk About Race by Oluo, Ijeoma

11. Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Kendi, Ibram X.

12. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Skloot, Rebecca

13. The Transgender Child: Revised & Updated Edition: A Handbook for Parents and Professionals Supporting Transgender and Non-binary Children by Brill, Stephanie A.

14. The Transgender Teen: A Handbook for Parents and Professionals Supporting Transgender and Non-binary Teens by Brill, Stephanie A.

15. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Khan-Cullors, Patrisse

16. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About RaceTatum, Beverly Daniel

Celebrating & Demonstrating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: 50+ Books for All Ages

Despite recent, increasing and widespread attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion, these three concepts remain central to the CDJL mission.  We firmly believe that, not only are diversity, equity and inclusion not bad words, they are essential for a thriving and successful society.  

We start with books. Books addressing diversity, equity and inclusion fight division, exclusion and intimidation. By continuing to provide and share books that demonstrate and celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion we show that everyone’s story is worthy of being told and shared and everyone’s story has something to teach and something from which to learn.  

This list includes three books each featuring diversity, equity and/or inclusion for each age range we serve from board books for babies through educational books for parents, educators and other adults.  Over 50 titles in total!  These books all also include at least one of the fourteen primary dimensions of diversity in our collection.  These, and hundreds more, are available for loan to library patrons of our free community lending library. Click “Borrow A Book” to learn how you can bring these and other books home.  If you’re not local to our lending program, please refer to these suggestions when looking for diversity, equity and inclusion books.  To learn how to support our efforts to provide these and other critical books for fighting division, exclusion and intimidation please visit Get Involved at www.cdjlibrary.org.  

DIVERSITY

Board Books:

• American Babies by The Global Fund for Children

• Love Makes a Family by Sophie Beer

• Hats of Faith by Medeia Cohan-Petrolino

Picture Books:

• We're Different, We're the Same by Bobbi Kates & Joe Mathieu

• Thank You, World by Alice B McGinty

• Little Humans by Brandon Stanton

Juvenile:

• Home, Sweet Home by Moira Butterfield & Clair Rossiter

• Color Me Purple by Ellie Schatz & Donna Parker

• I'm an American by Darshana Khiani & Laura Freeman

Middle Grades:

• This Is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, and Us by Katherine Locke & Nicole Melleby

• Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman & Judy Pedersen

• The Moon Within by Aida Salazar

Teen:

• American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures by America Ferrera

• The Collectors: Stories by M.T. Anderson

• The Breakup Lists by Adib Khorram

Adult:

• Better with Books: 500 Diverse Books to Ignite Empathy and Encourage Self-Acceptance in Tweens and Teens by Melissa Hart & Sharon M. Draper

• Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, China Martens, Loretta J Ross, & Mai'a Williams

• Brown White Black: An American Family at the Intersection of Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Religion by Nishta J. Mehra

EQUITY

Board Books:

• We Care: A First Conversation About Justice by Megan Madison, Sharee Miller, & Jessica Ralli

• An ABC of Equality by Chana Ginelle Ewing & Paulina Morgan

• A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara

Picture Books:

• Fair is Fair, Isn't It? by Dr. Lindsey L. Wilson & Shiela Alejandro

• We Move Together by Kelly Fritsch, Anne McGuire, & Eduardo Trejos

• Dirt on Their Skirts: The Story of the Young Women Who Won the World Championship by Doreen Rappaport and E. B. Lewis

Juvenile:

• Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh

• I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy & Elizabeth Baddeley

• We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices by Wade Hudson

Middle Grades:

• This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality by Jo Ann Allen Boyce & Debbie Levy

• Every Human Has Rights: A Photographic Declaration for Kids by National Geographic & Mary Robinson

• Together We March: 25 Protest Movements That Marched into History by Leah Henderson & Tyler Feder

Teen:

• How to Be a (Young) Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

• Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History by Blair Imani, Tegan & Sara, & Monique Le

• The Other Talk: Reckoning with Our White Privilege by Brenden Kiely & Jason Reynolds

Adult:

• Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks

• The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee

• Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally by Emily Ladau

INCLUSION

Board Books:

• The More We are Together by Children's Press

• Together by Mona Damluji & Innosanto Nagara

• Together: A First Conversation About Love by Megan Madison, Jessica Ralli, & Anne/Andy Passchier

Picture Books:

• All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold & Suzanne Kaufman

• Everyone Belongs by Heather Avis & Sarah Mensinga

• I Want To Be Like Poppin' Joe: A True Story Promoting Inclusion and Self-Determination by Jo Meserve Mach & Mary Birdsell

Juvenile:

• Old Enough to Make a Difference: Be inspired by real-life children building a more sustainable future by Rebecca Hui & Anneli Bray

• We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorell & Frane Lessac

• Start Now!: You Can Make a Difference by Chelsea Clinton

Middle Grades:

• Take Back the Block by Chrystal D. Giles

• Barely Floating by Lilliam Rivera

• Evicted!: The Struggle for the Right to Vote by Alice Faye Duncan & Charly Palmer

Teen:

• Michigan vs. the Boys by Carrie S. Allen

• Black Internet Effect by Shavone Charles & Ashley Lukashevsky

• We are Inevitable by Gayle Forman

Adult:

• Widening the Circle: The Power of Inclusive Classrooms by Mara Sapon-Shevin

• Gay Poems for Red States by Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr.

• Disability Pride: Dispatches from a Post-ADA World by Ben Mattlin

New Books for Pride Month and More!

In honor of Pride Month, we have made a commitment to increase our LGBTQIA and GENDER resources.

With assistance from a generous donor, and after thoroughly reviewing our current wishlist of LGBTQIA and/or GENDER books, we selected and ordered 18 new titles prioritizing those not currently available in local lending collections, including the public libraries, as well as those with the best reviews.  They will be on our shelves as soon as we can catalog them!

In addition, the first six months of 2023 have seen 255 titles added to our collection with one quarter of those added just this past month alone!  These new books also included some titles in the LGBTQIA and GENDER diversity dimensions.  *If you haven’t been to visit us in a while - what are you waiting for?!  

An amazing number of additions this year have been through donations from readers and supporters just like you!  THANK YOU!  

By working together, YOU make it possible for us to help readers access the books they want to read regardless of the current political and cultural climate.  Many people who aren’t local, and can’t check out our books, still use our catalog and blog posts to guide their reading.  *For additional and local Pride themed book lending check out the Knoxville Rainbow Library as well as our Pride Book Recommendations list from earlier this month here https://tinyurl.com/fol-cdjl-pride.

If you haven’t had the chance to donate to the little library that love built yet, there is always time! Our general wishlist is available here https://tinyurl.com/wishlistCDJL. Our LGBTQIA wishlist subset is available here https://tinyurl.com/CDJL-lgbtqiawish and our GENDER wishlist subset herehttps://tinyurl.com/CDJL-genderwish\

*During June and July, we are open 10am - 3pm Monday - Thursday and 9:30am - 12:30pm on Sundays.  Expanded hours will begin again this fall. 

Pride additions June 2023:

Board Books:

• Together: A First Conversation About Love written by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli with illustrations by Anne/Andy Passchier

•  Bye Bye, Binary words by Eric Geron, illustrations by Charlene Chua

• Clive and His Bags by Jessica Spanyol 

Picture Books

• The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish by Lil Miss Hot Mess; illustrated by Olga De Dios

•  When Langston Dances words by Kaija Langley; illustrations by Keith Mallett

• Girl Running written by Annette Bay Pimentel, illustrated by Micha Archer

• Two Grooms on a Cake author, Rob Sanders; illustrator Robbie Cathro 

• Ho’onani: Hula Warrior written by Heather Gale; illustrated by Mika Song

• Calvin written by J. R. Ford & Vanessa Ford; illustrated by Kayla Harren

• Twas the Night Before Pride written by Joanna McClintick; illustrated by Juana Medina 

Juvenile

• Different Kinds of Fruit author Kyle Lukoff

Middle Grades

• This is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, Us edited by Katherine Locke and Nicole Melleby

• The List of Things that Will Not Change written by Rebecca Stead

• The Pants Project, Cat Clarke

Teen

• Girl Mans Up written by M - E Girard

• Boys Don’t Knit (in public), T. S. Easton

• Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo

Adult

• The Educator’s Guide to LGBT* Inclusion, Kryss Shane

• Rethinking Sexism, Gender and Sexuality, Editors and Authors Rethinking Schools, Kim Cosier, Rachel Harper, Jeff Sapp, Jody Sokolower, Melissa Bollow Tempel, Annika Butler-Wall

• The Stonewall Reader by The New York Public Library edited by Jason Baumann

Welcoming Light: Celebrating Winter Holiday Traditions

In the northern hemisphere, where the Children’s Diversity & Justice Library lives, it is winter. In only a few weeks, we will experience this year’s longest night and shortest day. Many cultures and religions recognize this time of year as a time to Welcome Light whether in the form of history, myth or legend, of evergreen trees or of sun, of candles or bulbs, or of stories and songs. Warmth and community are also celebrated through food, time with loved ones, acts of service and gestures of care and love.

As we move into a time when so many faiths, traditions, families and communities celebrate light, commemorate important events and gather together we wanted to share many of our favorite winter holiday themed books. These books all also include at least one of the fourteen primary dimensions of diversity in our collection, and/or are written by people whose identities or communities have historically been under published and under represented in literature. These, and hundreds more, are available for loan, at no cost, to library patrons. Click “Borrow A Book” to learn how you can bring these and other books home. If you’re not local to our lending program, please refer to these suggestions when looking for winter holidy books. May this list help you and yours welcome light and celebrate the season.

BOARD BOOKS

• Hanukkah Lights written by David Martin, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

• My First Kwanzaa (My First Holiday) by Karen Katz

• Hanukkah: A Counting Book by Emily Sper

PICTURE BOOKS

• Winter Candle written by Jeron Ashford, illustrated by Stacey Schuett

• The Ninth Night of Hanukkah, Erica S. Perl and Shahar Kober

• A Dog Named Haku: A Holiday Story from Nepal, Amish Karanjit, Margarita Engle, Ruth Jeyaveeran and Nicole Karanjit

• The Shortest Day, Susan Cooper author, Carson Ellis illustrator 

• The Trees of the Dancing Goats by Patricia Polacco 

• Too Many Tamales - Gary Soto author, Ed Martinez illustrator

• *The Real Santa - written by Nancy Redd and illustrated by Charnell Pinkney Barlow

• Elijah’s Angel: A Story for Chanukah and Christmas by Michael J. Rosen 

• Oskar and the Eight Blessings by Tanya Simon, Mark Siegel illustrator

• Rachel’s Christmas Boat by Sophie Labelle

• Shante Keys and the New Year’s Peas by Gail Piernas-Davenport (author) and Marion Eldridge (illustrator)

• Lights of Winter: Winter Celebrations Around the World by Heather Conrad

• Snowflake Kisses and Gingerbread Smiles - Toni Trend Parker, author. Earl Anderson, illustrator.

• *Queen of the Hanukkah Dosas by Pamela Ehrenberg, illustrated by Anjan Sarkar

• *Twelve Dinging Doorbells: An Every-holiday Carol with words by Tameka Fryer Brown and pictures by Ebony Glenn

• Together for Kwanzaa by Juwanda G. Ford

• Daddy Christmas & Hanukkah Mama by Selina Alko

• I Got the Christmas Spirit by Connie Schofield-Morrison, illustrated by Frank Morrison

• A Solstice Tree for Jenny by Karen Shragg

• *Feliz New Year, Ava Gabriela! written by Alexandra Alessandri, illustrated by Addy Rivera Sonda

• Santa’s Husband, written by Daniel Kibblesmith

• Latkes and Applesauce: A Hanukkah Story story by Fran Manushkin, art by Robin Spowart

• *Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story - Angela Shelf Medaris, author; Daniel Minter, illustrations

• *A World of Cookies for Santa: Follow Santa’s Tasty Trip Around the World written by M. E. Furman, with illustrations from Susan Gal

PICTURE / juvenile BOOKS

• The People Remember written by Ibi Zoboi, illustrated by Loveis Wise

• Angela and the Baby Jesus written by Frank McCourt with illustrations by Raul Colon

JUVENILE BOOKS

• The Power of Light: Eight Stories for Hanukkah by Isaac Bashevis Singer 

• Hanukkah Moon by Deborah da Costa

JUVENILE / MIDDLE GRADES BOOKS

• Kwanzaa Karamu: Cooking and Crafts for a Kwanzaa Feast written by April A. Brady, illustrations by Barabara Knutson

MIDDLE GRADES

• The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice by Carolyn McVickar Edwards

• Aisha’s Moonlight Walk: Stories and Celebrations for the Pagan Year by Anika Stafford

• *Tru & Nelle: A Christmas Tale written by G. Neri

ADULT

• *Circle Round: Raising Children in Goddess Traditions - written by Starhawk, Diane Baker and Anne HIll, with illustrations by Sara Ceres Boore

Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month Book List and Diversity Element Announcement

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are integral members of our American cultural mosaic.  

AAPI communities are diverse, consisting of approximately 50 ethnic groups speaking over 100 languages with connections to 30 - 50 countries depending on the geographic scheme followed.  Over 24 million Americans, or 7.3% of the U.S. population, identify as AAPI and by some accounts they are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in the United States.

Despite having been integral members of our country since colonization, the US has a history of racism towards, and oppression of, Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and peoples.  Examples include the Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese Incarceration (Internment) camps, the 2012 Wisconsin Sikh Temple shooting and the Atlanta spa and massage shooting just over one year ago.  Between March 2020 and September 2021, more than 10,300 incidents of hate against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were reported to the Stop Asian Hate website. This must stop.  

The mission of the Children’s Diversity & Justice Library is to empower young people to celebrate diversity and seek justice in their lives and communities.  We do that by providing a curated free lending community library of books all written by or about under-published communities and people who identify with communities that are under-represented in literature, particularly children’s literature.  We also offer programs and resources such as this booklist that help people find diverse justice related literature.  

In recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this May, and as further action in realizing our mission, we are pleased to announce we have catalogued the over 150 AAPI books in our collection in a newly identified primary diversity element ASIAN ASIAN-AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER.

From now on, searching or browsing this keyword tag in our collection will bring forward all resources reflective of these communities.  All AAPI books in our physical collection can be identified by a lime green dot on their spine.  We will continue to catalogue our books with more specifically descriptive tags as well, such as specific languages, cultures and countries within the diverse AAPI category such that more specific searches can be conducted and the diversity within this broad diversity element is not lost.  In addition, after reviewing several resources defining and describing AAPI geography and cultures, and considering reader needs and desires in searching and identifying literature, for the purposes of our collection, and recognizing that we will change our practices as we learn more and as needs develop, we have decided to include the Central Asia, Eastern Asia, South-eastern Asia, and Southern Asia subregions in the United Nations geoscheme for Asia as Asian Asian-American and Pacific Islander.  For now, Western Asia, a geographical region commonly referred to as the Middle East including for example Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Qatar will not be labeled AAPI.  

As one way to lift up, celebrate and recognize the contributions, successes and struggles of AAPI communities, our May booklist consists of some of our favorite titles from our AAPI collection, board book through adult, all written by or about people and communities that identify as Asian, Asian-American, and/or Pacific Islander.  

For additional resources about AAPI communities, AAPI social justice, AAPI Heritage Month and for additional booklists, we recommended the following:

• Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

• Stop AAPI Hate

• Asian Americans Advancing Justice

• Asian / Pacific American Librarians Association Literature Award Winners

• Social Justice Books: Asian Americans and Asia book list

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May 2022 CDJL Asian, Asian-American & Pacific Islander Booklist

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Board Books

• Holi Colors by Rina Singh 

• Diwali (Celebrate the World) - words from Hannah Eliot; illustrations from Archana Sreenivasan

• Will You Wear a Blue Hat? By Children’s Press 

Picture Books

• Binny’s Diwali - author Thity Umrigar and illustrator Nidhi Chanani

• A Dog Named Haku: A Holiday Story from Nepal - authors, Amish Karanjit, Margarita Engle and Nicole Karanjit; illustrator, Ruth Jeyaveeran

• Beautifully Me written by Nabela Noor, illustrations from Nabi H. Ali

• The Seed of Compassion: Lessons from the Life and Teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama - written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, illustrated by Bao Luu

• Is Nothing Something?: Kids' Questions and Zen Answers About Life, Death, Family, Friendship, and Everything in Between - by Thich Nhat Hanh, illusrated by Jessica McClure

• A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin

• Watercress written by Andrea Wang, illustrations by Jason Chin

• Just Add One Chinese Sister: An Adoption Story written by Patricia McMahon and illustrated by Karen Jerome

• Colors of Aloha written by Kau-Arteaga, illustrations by J. R. Keaolani Bogac-Moore

• When Lola Visits written by Michele Sterling, pictures by Aaron Asis

• Golden Threads written by Suzanne Del Rizzo and illustrated by Miki Sato

• Mali Under the Night Sky: A Lao Story of Home words and illustrations by Youme Landowne

• My Name is Yoon written by Helen Recorvits, with illustrations by Gabi Swiatkowska

• The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

• A Different Pond by Bao Phi

• It Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way written by Kyo Maclear with illustrations by Julie Morstad

• Bilal Cooks Daal written by Aisha Saeed, illustrated by Anoosha Syed

• Drawn Together written by Minh Le with illustration by Dan Santat

Juvenile and up

• Front Desk by Kelly Yang 

• Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes 

• Rickshaw Girl written by Mitali Perkins, with pictures by Jamie Hogan

• Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen and _______ from the Jasmine Toguchi series written by Debbi Michiko Florence, illustrated by Elizabet Vikovic

• Dia’s Story Cloth written by Dia Cha with illustrations by Chiie Thao Cha and Nhia Thao Cha

• Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story by Paula Yoo

Middle Grades and up

• The Breadwinner Trilogy written by Deborah Ellis

• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Series by Grace Lin

  • Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (vol 1)

  • Starry River of the Sky (vol 2)

  • When the Sea Turned to Silver (vol 3)

• Pie in the Sky a graphic novel by Remy Lai

• Aru Shah and the End of Time, Book 1 in the Pandava Series - written by Rokshani Chokshii

• Dragonwings by Laurence Yep

• Takedown by Laura Shovan

• Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling

• When You Trap A Tiger by Tae Keller

• Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park

• American Born Chinese a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang

• Stories for South Asian Supergirls by Raj Kaur Khaira

Teen

• The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan

• The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee 

• Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman

• Lovely, Dark, and Deep by Justina Chen

• Picture Us In The Light  by Kelly Loy Gilbert 

• The Authentics by Abdi Nazemian

• They Called Us Enemy a graphic novel written by George Takei, Justin Eissinger and Steven Scott, illustrated by Harmony Becker

• Frankly in Love by David Yoon

Adult

• Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, Jose Antonio Varga author

• Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations, Mira Jacob author

• The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir a graphic novel by Thi Bui

• Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong

Renewal: Books for March 2022

Life is full of both joy and sorrow, opportunity and challenge, dark and light.  Sometimes it’s all so good we feel we might burst!  Other times, trying to hold it all is so difficult it can be hard to remain hopeful.  

At times when everything feels like it’s falling apart - the climate, racism, the pandemic, book banning, political divides we need to believe that goodness is real.  We need to know that more is possible.  We need to renew our awareness of all that is good in and around us, all the possibilities that already exist.  

Where can we find renewal?   How do we keep hope alive?  In what can we place our faith that everything is going to be OK?  

“Once a reporter asked A.J. Muste, "Do you really think you are going to change the policies of this country by standing out here alone at night in front of the White House with a candle?"

Muste replied softly: "Oh I don't do this to change the country. I do this so the country won't change me.” 

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Your mileage may vary.  The answers are different for different individuals, and different communities.  But faith may be more of an action than a thing upon which we can place hope.  Maybe its practice can bring about renewal.  Maybe it’s more about remembering what we love, who we want to be, and how we want the world to be, than about trust that things will work out.  

Renewal comes in many forms, and varies from person to person.  For some, it’s laughing and joining in a group that makes us feel joyful and alive.  For others, its moments of stillness, meditation, or long walks in fresh air.  It might be watching movies, exercising, knitting, or reading, or maybe even reading or sharing some of the books on this list.  It might come from commitment or rededication to promises, it might come from sunsets. This month, we share books about finding Renewal in places available to us all: 

• Ourselves - the practice of trusting our gifts

• Promises - the practice of making and honoring agreements

• Each Other - the practice of joining together 

• Simple Things - the practice of noticing the richness we already, and always, possess

The books in the curated list below, all written by or about people with identities and/or from communities that are under-published and under-represented in literature, each draw upon these themes.  These, and hundreds more, are available for loan to our library patrons.  Click “Borrow A Book” to learn how to bring these and other books home.  If you’re not local to our lending program, please refer to these suggestions when looking for books.  May this list help you and yours to find renewal. 

*Monthly themes adapted from the work of Soul Matters Sharing Circle https://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com

Finding Renewal in Ourselves - the practice of trusting our gifts

Board Books

• I Can Do it Too! - Karen Baicker, author; Ken Wilson-Max, illustrator

• Hands Can - Cheryl Willis Hudson, author; John-Fracis Bourke, photographer

Picture Books

• Uniquely Wired:A Story About Autism and its Gifts - Julia Cook, author; Anita DuFalla, illustrator

• Rae’s First Day written by Danny Jordan and illustrated by Agustina Perciante

• Red: A Crayon’s Story, written and illustrated by Michael Hall

• Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration - written by Samara Cole Doyon, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita

• The Girl and the Wolf written by Katherena Vermette, pictures by Julie Flett

• Aaron Slater, Illustrator (The Questioneers) written by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts

Juvenile

• The Boy Who Grew Flowers - Jen Wojtowicz, author; Steve Adams, illustrator

• My Story, My Dance: Robert Battle’s Journey to Alvin Ailey written by Lesa Cline-Ransome, with a foreword by Robert Battle

Middle Grades

• The Real Boy - Anne Ursu, author; Erin McGuire illustrator

Adult

• Special Topics in Being a Human: A Queer and Tender Guide to Things I’ve Learned the Hard Way about Caring for People, Including Myself, written by S. Bear Bergman with illustrations by Saul Freedman-Lawson

Finding Renewal in Promises and Commitments - the practice of making and honoring agreements

Board Books

• Nibi is Water by Joanne Robertson

Picture Books

• I Have the Right to be a Child written by Alain Serres, illustrated by Aurelia Fronty, translated by Helen Mixter

• The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist - Cynthia Levinson, author; Vanessa Brantley-Newton

• Vote for Our Future! - Margaret McNamara, author; Micah Player, illustrator

• All the Way to the Top: How One Girl’s Fight for Americans with Disabilities Changed Everything - Annette Bay Pimentel, author; Nabi Ali, illustrator.

• V is for Voting - written by Kate Farrell; illustrations by Caitlin Kuhwald

Juvenile

• The Promise written by Nicola Davies, with illustrations from Laura Carlin

• The Book Rescuer: How a Mensch from Massachusetts Saved Yiddish Literature for Generations to Come; writing by Sue Macy, artwork by Stacy Innerst

• Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh

Juvenile & Middle Grades

• What’s the Big Deal About Elections; writing by Ruby Shamir, illustrations by Matt Faulkner

Middle Grades

• Every Human Has Rights: A Photographic Declaration for Kids by National Geographic with foreword written by Mary Robinson

• This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy

Teen

• Just Mercy: A True Story of the Fight for Justice (adapated for young adults) - Bryan Stevenson

Adult

• Basic Facts about the United Nations, edited by the United Nations Publications

• Road Map for Revolutionaries: Resistance, Activism, and Advocacy for All; Elisa Camahort Page, author.

• Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books - Aaron Lansky

• Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption - Bryan Stevenson

• Raising the Race: Black Career Women Redefine Marriage, Motherhood, and Community (Families in Focus) - Riché J. Daniel Barnes

Finding Renewal in Each Other - the practice of joining together

Board Books

• Together - author, Mona Damluji; illustrator, Innosanto Nagara

• Daddy, Papa, and Me written by Leslea Newman, illustrated by Carol Thompson

• Mommy, Mama, and Me written by Leslea Newman, illustrated by Carol Thompson

• The More We Are Together by Children’s Press

PIcture Books

• Love is Powerful written by Heather Dean Brewer, with illustrations by LeUyen Pham

• 47,000 Beads, written by Koja Adeyoha and Angel Adeyoha

• Because written by Mo Willems, illustrated by Amber Ren

• My Family Plays Music - Judy Cox, author; Elbrite Brown, illustrator

• Sometimes People March by Tessa Allen

• Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins written by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Jerome Lagarrigue Lagarrigue

• Si, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can! Janitor Strike in L.A. by Diana Cohn 

Juvenile

• IntersectionAllies: We Make Room for All by Chelsea Johnson

Middle Grades

• Take Back the Block by Chrystal D. Giles

• The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust by Karen Gray Ruelle  

Middle Grades & Teen

• A Dream of Freedom: the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1968 by Diane McWhorter

• Together We March: 25 Protest Movements that Marched into History by Leah Henderson, illustrated by Tyler Feder

Teen

• March, Book One; March, Book Two; March, Book Three - John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, authors; Nate Powell, illustrator

Adult

• The Interfaith Family Journal - Suan Katz Miller

Finding Renewal in Simple Things - the practice of noticing the richness we already, and always, possess

Board Book

• My Heart Fills with Happiness by Monique Gray Smith

• Hands Can - Cheryl Willis Hudson, author; John-Fracis Bourke, photographer

• Little You - Richard Van Camp and Julie Flett

Picture Book

• Layla’s Happiness by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie, with illustrations by Ashleigh Corrin

• Lily Brown’s Paintings, written by Angela Johnson, with illustrations by E. B. Lewis

• All We Need written by Kathy Wolff, illustrated by Margaux Meganick

• Here and Now by Julia Denos

• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

• You Matter by Christian Robinson

Juvenile

• Love Your Body, Jessica Sanders

• Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the World - Anabel Kindersley with Unicef

• Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco

Middle Grades

• Lucky Broken Girl - Ruth Behar, writer

Middle Grades & Teen

• Hope in the Holler - Lisa Lewis Tyre, author

• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate - Jaqueline Kelly, author 

• The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate - Jaqueline Kelly, author

• Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World, Rachel Ignotofsky author

Widening Our Circles: Books for February 2022

As Grandpa says in one of our favorite books, “All Around Us” written by Xelena Gonzalez and illustrated by Adriana M Garcia, “Circles are all around us.  We just have to look for them.”  And it’s true, circles are all around us, even within us, and we within them, from the tiny circles of cells and atoms to the circle of the water cycle with rain falling from the clouds, filling up reservoirs, travelling through rivers, evaporating up again, and coming back down.  

One thing that all circles have in common is that they form a boundary between what is inside and what is outside.  And that boundary marks a distinction: everything inside the circle shares something in common that is not shared by what is outside the circle.  Socially, this can look like belonging to a group with a common interest like cycling or knitting where everyone in the group participates in that activity and has a sense of belonging to that group.  People outside the group may, or may not, also enjoy that activity, but for many possible reasons, they do not share a sense of belonging to that particular group.  They are not part of that circle.  

However, it can be hard to reconcile the tension between enjoying the belonging and comfort found within a group, and the growth and excitement that comes from widening our circles and letting the outside in.  How do you attend to your own growth and development, and participate in and nurture your circles, while also cultivating the curiosity and openness that allows you and your groups to grow and evolve?  How do groups foster the trust within that allows them to grow, while simultaneously welcoming newcomers?  

It’s also important to be aware of the difference between firm and porous boundaries, and to question who is involved in forming and maintaining a circle or group.  Who is in, who is out, and why?  Firm boundaries can become overly insulating as well as exclusionary, making it difficult to recognize and honor all people as worthy of being held within a circle of love and worth.  In addition, many people have been, and still are, excluded from circles, not because of lack of affinity, but because of discrimination and prejudice.  Remembering to consider who is, and who isn’t, forming, maintaining, joining and participating in a circle, and whether the group’s boundaries are fixed or movable, helps create circles that can be widened and maintain a society that is welcoming, inviting, inclusive and just.   

This month, we make our way together towards wider circles by sharing books that offer tools and inspiration for:

• widening our self acceptance,

• widening our love,

• widening our understanding of history, and

• widening our commitment to community free from racism and oppression.  

The books in the curated list below, all written by or about people with identities and/or from communities that are under-published and under-represented in literature, each draw upon these themes.  These, and hundreds more, are available for loan to our library patrons.  Click “Borrow A Book” to learn how to bring these and other books home.  If you’re not local to our lending program, please refer to these suggestions when looking for books.  May this list help you and yours widen your circles. 

*Monthly themes adapted from the work of Soul Matters Sharing Circle https://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com

Widening Our Self Acceptance

Picture Books

• Sulwe written by Nyong’o Lupita, illustrations by Vashti Harrison

• Big Hair, Don’t Care - Crystal Swain-Bates author; Megan Bair, illustrator

• Tough Guys Have Feelings Too written and illustrated by Keith Negley

• Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, author, and Luisa Uribe, illustrator

• Bodies are Cool by Tyler Feder

• Beautifully Me by Nabela Noor

• You Matter - Christian Robinson author and illustrator

Juvenile & Up

• Love Your Body by Jessica Sanders

• Zoe in Wonderland by Brenda Woods

Middle Grades

• Unsettled written by Reem Faruqi, illustrated by Soumbal Qureshi

• Zoe in Wonderland by Brenda Woods

• Other Boys written and illustrated by Damian Alexander

Teen & Up

• All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson

• Girls Write Now: Two Decades of True Stories from Young Female Writers - Girls Write Now contributors

• I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

• Special Topics in Being a Human: A Queer and Tender Guide to Things I’ve Learned the Hard Way about Caring for People, Including Myself - S. Bear Bergman, author; Saul Freedman-Lawson, illustrator

Adult

• All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson

Widening Our Love

Board Book

• Love Makes A Family by Sophie Beer

• Good Night Families (Good Night Our World) - Adam Gamble, author; Kelly Cooper, illustrator

• Mommy, Mama, and Me by Leslea Newman

• Hugs of Three: My Daddies and Me by Dr. Stacey Bromberg

• And Tango Makes Three - Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, authors; Henry Cole, illustrator

• Nibi is Water by Joanne Robertson

Picture Book

• Grandma Comes to Stay (First Experiences) by Ifeoma Onyefulu

• A Friend for Henry - Jenn Bailey, author; Mika Song, illustrator 

• I Am Love: A Book of Compassion - Susan Verde, author; Peter H. Reynolds, illustrator

• You Matter - Christian Robinson author and illustrator

• A Manual for Marco: Living, Learning and Laughing with an Autistic Sibling by Shaila Abdullah, author, and Iman Tejpar, illustrator

Juvenile & Up

• Why Are You Looking At Me?  I Just Have Down Syndrome written by Lisa Tompkins and illustrated by Ryan Eubanks

Middle Grades

• Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

Teen and Up

• Special Topics in Being a Human: A Queer and Tender Guide to Things I’ve Learned the Hard Way about Caring for People, Including Myself - S. Bear Bergman, author; Saul Freedman-Lawson, illustrator

Adult

• The Gender Creative Child: Pathways for Nurturing and Supporting Children Who Live Outside Gender Boxes - Diane Ehrensaft, author.

• Unconditional: A Guide to Loving and Supporting Your LGBTQ Child by Telaina Eriksen

Widening Our History by Expanding What We Tell & How We Tell It

Board Book

• This Little Trailblazer: A Girl Power Primer written by Joan Holub and illustrated by Daniel Roode

• Cradle Me (Navajo and English Edition) by Debby Slier

Picture Book

• The People Remember with words by Ibi Zoboi and pictures by Loveis Wise

• The 1619 Project: Born on the Water words by Nikole Hannah-Jones & Renee Watson, pictures by Nikkolas Smith’

• All Around Us by Xelena Gonzalez

• When We Were Alone written by David Alexander Robertson and illustrated by Julie Flett

• Enough: 20 Protesters Who Changed America - Emily Easton, author; Ziyue Chen, illustrator 

Juvenile & Up

• I Am Not a Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis

• We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorell

• Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World by Cynthia Chin-Lee

• The People Remember by Ibi Zoboi, author, and Loveis Wise, illustrator

• Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Middle Grades

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz

• Show Me A Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte

• 1621: A New look at Thanksgiving by Catherine O’Neill Grace 

Teen

• Freedom’s A-Callin Me - Ntozange Shange, author; Rod Brown, illustrator 

• Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History - Blair Imani, author; Monique Le, illustrator; Tegan and Sara, Foreword.

• Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation by Monique Gray Smith

• Lies My Teacher Told Me: Young Readers Edition: Everything American History Textbooks Get Wrong by James W. Loewen, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff 

Adult

• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

• Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen

• The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Widening Our Commitment to Building the Beloved Community, Free from Racism and Oppression

Boardbooks

• A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara

Picture Book

• A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara

• The People Remember by Ibi Zoboi, author, and Loveis Wise, illustrator

• Sofia Valdez, Future Prez written by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts

• She’s My Dad!: A Story for Children Who Have a Transgender Parent or Relative written by Sarah Savage, illustrated by Joules Garcia

• V is for Voting - Kate Farrell, author; Caitlin Kuhwald, illustrator

• All Because You Matter - author, Tamil Charles; illustrator Bryan Collier

• Young Water Protectors: A Story About Standing Rock by Aslan and Kelly Tudor

Juvenile

• We Shall Overcome - Bryan Collier, illustrator

• Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester

• Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness - written and illustrated by Anastasia Higginbotham

• When A Bully is President: Truth and Creativity for Oppressive TImes by Maya Gonzalez

Middle Grades & Up

• Girl Warriors: How 25 Young Activists are Saving the Earth by Rachel Sarah  

• This Book is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Tiffany Jewel 

Teen

• All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson

• Wake, Rise, Resist: The Progressive Teen’s Guide to Fighting Tyrants and A*holes - Joanna Spathis and Kerri Kennedy, authors.

adult

• All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson

• Antiracist Baby - words by Ibram X. Kendi, illustrations by Ashley Lukashevsky

• Trans Allyship Workbook: Building Skills to Support Trans People in our Lives - Davey Shlasko, author; Kai Hofius, illustrator

• Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving

• Raising Antiracist Kids by Nicole C. Lee, Esq.

• Brown: The Last Discovery of America by Richard Rodriguez

• 3 Keys to Defeating Unconscious Bias: Watch, Think, Act by Sondra Thienderman

• How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance by Akiba Solomon

• How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Opening to Joy and Celebrating Light - Books for December 2021

On the surface, December may seem to be one of the most, if not the most, joyful months of the year.  In fact, if you live in North America, you can hardly avoid the frequent reminders that it is in fact “the most wonderful time of the year” (sorry for the ear worm).  No matter where you live, you likely encounter frequent reminders that this is a time of celebration, of family and social gathering, of connection, of plentiful and decadent food, and of warmth.  

Yet, for many people, finding joy at this time of year, or any time of year, takes work.  In fact, we might even consider that opening to joy is the work -- not just of this season, but of all our seasons; those on the calendar, and those we experience internally and as societies.

If opening to joy can be viewed as work, our collective work to keep ourselves whole and vibrant, then creating joy, sharing joy, finding joy in tough times and celebrating light are the means by which we accomplish this.  

This month we share books that explore Opening to Joy and Celebrating Light through creating, sharing, and finding joy, even amidst challenges, and by celebrating light wherever we find it whether that be in the sun, in evergreen plants and trees, in candle flames or in metaphor.  

The books in the curated list below, all written by or about people with identities and/or from communities that are under published and under represented in literature, each draw upon these 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 how we can open to joy and celebrate light.  May they help you and yours open to joy and celebrate light.

*Monthly themes adapted from the work of Soul Matters Sharing Circle https://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com

Creating Joy

Picture Books and up

• Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown

• What If . . . , Samantha Berger author with Mike Curato illustrator

• My Family Plays Music, Judy Cox author, Elbrite Brown illustrator

• White Flour, David LaMotte author and Jenn Hales illustrator

Middle Grades

• The Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell

Sharing Joy

Board Books

• Little You by Richard Van Camp and Julie Flett

Picture Books, Juvenile, and up

• Saltypie: A Choctaw Journey from Darkness Into Light written by Tim Tingle, illustrated by Karen Clarkson

• Because Amelia Smiled by David Ezra Stein

• Saturday by Oge Mora

• The Book Rescuer: How a Mensch from Massachusetts Saved Yiddish Literature written by Sue Macy, illustrated by Stacy Innerst

• When we Love Someone We Sing to Them: Cuando Amamos Cantamos by Ernesto Javier Martinez author, Maya Christina Gonzalez illustrator and Jorge Gabriel Martinez Feliciano translator

Middle Grades & up

• Once Upon an Eid: Stories of Hope and Joy by 15 Muslim Voices, Aisha Saeed Editor, Sara Alfageeh illustrator

Adult

• Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books, Aaron Lansky

Opening to the Joy In and Around Us 

Boardbooks

• My Heart Fills With Happiness, Monique Gray Smith

Picture Books &  Up

• Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration, Samara Cole Doyon author, Kaylani Juanita illustrator

• I Am Perfectly Designed written by Karamo and Jason Brown, illustrated by Anoosha Syed

• Because Amelia Smiled by David Ezra Stein

• Layla’s Happiness, Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie author, Ashleigh Corrin illustrator

Finding Joy Amidst Challenge

Picture Books, Juvenile &  up

• We Shall Overcome, Bryan Collier illustrator

• The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones author, Renee Watson author and Nikkolas Smith illustrator 

• Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown

• Saturday by Oge Mora

Middle Grades & up

• Stella by Starlight, Sharon M. Draper

• Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood by James Baldwin with illustrations by Cazac

• Emmy in the Key of Code by Aimee Lucido

adult

• Raising my Rainbow: Adventures in Raising a Fabulous, Gender Creative Son by Lori Duron

• The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love with Me, Keah Brown

Opening to Joy and Celebrating Light

Board Books

• Diwali (Celebrate the World) by Hannah Eliot and Archana Sreenivasan

• Hanukkah Lights written by David Martin, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

• My First Kwanzaa (My First Holiday) by Karen Katz

• Hanukkah: A Counting Book by Emily Sper

picture books

• Winter Candle written by Jeron Ashford, illustrated by Stacey Schuett

• The Ninth Night of Hanukkah, Erica S. Perl and Shahar Kober

• A Dog Named Haku: A Holiday Story from Nepal, Amish Karanjit, Margarita Engle, Ruth Jeyaveeran and Nicole Karanjit

• The Shortest Day, Susan Cooper author, Carson Ellis illustrator 

• The Trees of the Dancing Goats by Patricia Polacco 

• Elijah’s Angell: A Story for Chanukah and Christmas by Michael J. Rosen 

• Oskar and the Eight Blessings by Tanya Simon, Mark Siegel illustrator

• Shante Keys and the New Year’s Peas by Gail Piernas-Davenport (author) and Marion Eldridge (illustrator)

• Lights of Winter: Winter Celebrations Around the World by Heather Conrad

• Daddy Christmas & Hanukkah Mama by Selina Alko

• I Got the Christmas Spirit by Connie Schofield-Morrison, illustrated by Frank Morrison

• A Solstice Tree for Jenny by Karen Shragg

Juvenile Fiction

• The Power of Light: Eight Stories for Hanukkah by Isaac Bashevis Singer 

• Hanukkah Moon by Deborah da Costa

Middle Grades

• The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice by Carolyn McVickar Edwards

• Aisha’s Moonlight Walk: Stories and Celebrations for the Pagan Year by Anika Stafford

Cultivating Relationship: Books for October 2021

This month, we share books that demonstrate the many ways in which we cultivate relationships, and the skills and tools we use to do so.

We humans are a social species.  Even the most introverted among us needs others to engage with, to feel recognized, seen and heard.  Our relationships are fundamental to our health; as individuals, as families, as communities, and as one global community.  It is often only from within relationships, whether with self, others or the universe, that we are able to grow and change.   Furthermore, pandemic time has revealed, possibly to an even greater extent than we may have realized before, cultivating relationships is important. But how do we do that?  What does it take to nurture and sustain relationships?  How do we ensure our relationships are vibrant, healthy and just?  What tools and skills do we need for success?

As we explore this theme, we examine how we cultivate relationships

• with ourselves,

• with our family and friends; ,

• with the communities of which we are a part, 

• and with our global community (human and non-human);  

and some of the skills we can use to ensure our relationships are vibrant, just and healthy:

• making and living up to agreements, promises and covenants, 

• listening, communicating and truth telling, 

• atoning, forgiving, repairing and rebuilding,

• practicing empathy and being true to yourself.

This month’s book list includes books that focus both on who we cultivate relationships with, as well as how we cultivate them. Some books naturally fall into both multiple categories.

Who we cultivate relationships with:

With self:

picture books

• Listening with My Heart: A story of kindness and self-compassion by Gabi Garcia and Ying Hui Tan (Illustrator)

• It’s Okay To Be Different, Todd Parr

• Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration written by Samara Coyle Doyon and illustrated by Kaylani Juanita

  I Can Do Hard Things: Mindful Affirmations for Kids written by Gabi Garcia, illustrated by Charity Russell

With family and friends:

Board Book

• Love Makes a Family, Sophie Beer 

• Cradle Me (Navajo/English) by Debby Slier and various photographers

• Mommy, Mama, and Me / Daddy, Papa, and Me by Leslea Newman

• Hugs of Three: My Daddies and Me / Hugs of Three: My Mommies and Me by Stacey Bromberg and Joe Taravella

• The More We Are Together by Tanya Roitman

• Good Night Families by Adam Gamble

• Welcome, Precious by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by Bryan Collier

Picture book

• Yo! Yes?, Chris Raschka

• The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, Nikole Hannah-Jones (author) and Renee Watson (illustrator)

Juvenile

• Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco

Middle Grades

• How I Became a Ghost - A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story (Book 1 in the How I Became a Ghost Series) by Tim Tingle

• When a Ghost Talks, Listen (Book 2 in the How I Became A Ghost series) by Tim Tingle

• The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Verra Hiranandani

Teen

• Darius the Great is Not Okay, Adib Khorram

• Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet by Laekan Zea Kemp

With community/ies:

Board book

• Counting on Community by Innosanto Nagara

• One Love by Cedella Marley and Vanessa Brantley-Newton

picture book

• Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood by F. Isabel Campoy

• The Cot in the Living Room by Hilda Eunice Burgos and illustrated by Gaby D’Alessandro

Picture Book / Juvenile

• Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco

• When You Look Out the Window: How Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin Built A Community by Gayle E. Pitman

Juvenile

• When a Bully is President: Truth and Creativity for Oppressive Times by Maya Gonzalez

• The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth, and Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Middle Grades

• Sharing our Homeland: Palestinian and Jewish Children at Summer Peace Camp by Trish Marx and illustrator Cindy Karp

• Take Back the Block by Chrystal D. Giles

Middle Grades / Teen

• Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Adult

• Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky

With the world (human and non-human):

Board Book

• Nibi is Water by Joanne Robertson

Picture Book

• Birrarung Wilam: A Story from Aboriginal Australia by Aunty Joy Murphy

• Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem by Amanda Gorman and illustrated by Loren Long

• Because Amelia Smiled, written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein

• Outside In by Deborah Underwood

Teen

• When They Call You A Terrorist (Young Adult Edition): A Story of Black Lives Matter and the Power to Change the World by asha bandele and Patrisse Khan-Cullors, adapted by Benee Knauer

Adult

• Road Map for Revolutionaries: Resistance, Activism, and Advocacy for All by Elisa Camahort Page

How we cultivate relationships:

Making and living up to agreements, promises, covenants:

Picture Books

• You Hold Me Up / Ki Kihceyimin Mana by Monique Gray Smith

Juvenile

• The Promise, author Nicola Davies  and illustrator Laura Carlin

Middle Grades

• This 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 by asha bandele and Patrisse Khan-Cullors, adapted by Benee Knauer

Adult

• Unconditional: A Guide to Loving and Supporting Your LGBTQ Child by Telaina Eriksen

Listening, communicating and truth telling:

Picture Books

• 47,000 Beads by Koja Adeyoha

• Yo! Yes? By Chris Raschka

• Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano 

Juvenile

• We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorell and Frane Lessac (illustrator)

Juvenile & Middle Grades

• I Can Make this Promise by Christine Day

• Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre written by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Middle Grades

• Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai

• How I Became a Ghost - A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story (Book 1 in the How I Became a Ghost Series) by Tim Tingle

• When a Ghost Talks, Listen (Book 2 in the How I Became A Ghost series) by Tim Tingle

Teen

• Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation, Monique Gray Smith

• They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, illustrated by Harmony Becker

Practicing empathy and being true to yourself:

Board Book

• Calm-Down Time written by Elizabeth Verdick, illustrated by Marieka Heinlen

• Clive and His Babies (All About Clive) by Jessica Spanyol

Picture Book

• The Boy & the Bindi written by Vivek Shraya, illustrated by Rajni Perera

• Bunnybear by Andrea J. Loney, illustrated by Carmen Saldana

• When We Were Alone, written by David Alexander Robertson and illustrated by Julie Flett

Juvenile

• Cinderella Liberator by Rebecca Solnit (author) and Arthur Rackham (illustrator)

Teen

• Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, Susan Kuklin

Adult

• Becoming Nicole: The inspiring story of transgender actor-activist Nicole Maines and her extraordinary family, written by Amy Ellis Nutt

• A Clown in Cobwebs by Walt Nelson

Atoning, forgiving, repairing and rebuilding:

Picture Book / Juvenile

• Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco

• Golden Threads by Suzanne Del Rizzo

Middle Grades

• Sunshine by Marion Dane Bauer

Teen

• Lies My Teacher Told Me: Young Readers’ Edition: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Lowewen, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff

• Just Mercy: A True Story of the Fight for Justice (Adapted for Young Adults), by Bryan Stevenson

• We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices, edited by Wade Hudson

Adult

• Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

• Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

• The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education: Fostering Responsibility, Healing, and Hope in Schools (Justice and Peacebuilding) by Katherine Evans

A community Sourced Book & Media List Created for the Zinn Education Project #TeachTruth Pledge "Days of Action"

In response to state lawmakers passing bills asking teachers to remain silent or lie about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and oppression through US history, last week, we, along with our partners Center for Children's and Young Adult Literature, thebottomknox, Tennessee Association of School Librarians, participated in the ZinnEducationProject's "Days of Action" to "Teach the Truth" campaign August 27 - 29, 2021.  Visit TeachTruthPledge.org to learn more.  

We invited teachers, educators, parents and others to share titles that have helped them, or the young readers’ in their lives, understand our nation's full history particularly from the perspective(s) of minoritized fictional or real-life people.  With thanks to all who submitted titles of books and other resources, we’ve curated the following list of our favorite suggestions.  All the books on this list can be borrowed from the CDJLibrary by following the directions on our Borrow A Book page except those marked with an asterisk*.  Asterisked* books are not yet available in our collection and can be donated.  Visit our Get Involved page to learn how.    

We hope these suggestions and the words contributor’s shared about their impact in their lives, shared on the CDJL facebook page, help you continue to #TeachTruth, read truth, learn truth and share truth.

Picture Books

• Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins, by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Jerome Legarrigue Legarrigue

• We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade

• *The Teachers March!: How Selma’s Teachers Changed History by Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, illustrated by Charly Palmer

Juvenile

• Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine

• Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

• Front Desk, by Kelly Yang

• *Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968, by Alice Faye Duncan, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

• *As Good as Anybody: Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Amazing March Toward Freedom, by Richard Michelson, illustrated by Raul Colon.

Middle Grades

• Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford

• One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, adapted by Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza

• This Book is Anti-racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work, by Tiffany Jewell, illustrations by Aurelia Durand.

• *I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition) by Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick

• *Stamped (for kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, illustrated by Rachelle Baker, and adapted by Sonja Cherry-Paul

Teen

• March, Books One - Three, by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated by Nate Powell. All three books are owned and loaned by the Children’s Diversity & Justice Library, only book one is listed here.

• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

• The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros

• They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei, illustrated by Harmony Becker

• Beyond the Gender Binary, by Alok Vaid-Menon

adults

• We Want to do More than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom, by Bettina Love

• Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, by James W. Loewen

• Caste: The Origins of our Discontent, by Isabel Wilkerson

• How to be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi

• *Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, by Cathy Park Hong

• *Postcolonial Love Poem, by Natalie Diaz

• *There There, by Tommy Orange

• *The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin

• *The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein

• *A Little Devil in America: notes in Praise of Black Performance, by Hanif Addurraquib

• *A People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn

• *A Raisin in the Sun (a play) by Lorraine Hansberry

• *all about love: New Visions by bell hooks

• *Beloved, by Toni Morrison

• *Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

• *Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown

• *We Will Not Cancel Us by Adrienne Maree Brown

• *Faces at the Bottom of the Well, by Derrick Bell

• *Heads of the Colored People, by Nafissa Thompson-Spires

Other Media

In addition to the titles above, several people recommended additional media sources including,

• Roots Miniseries by Alex Haley

• American Indians in Children’s Literature blog

• I am Not Your Negro (documentary) directed by Raoul Peck and based on the writings of James Baldwin

• Legacy of Exiled NDNZ, a short film by Navajo filmmaker Pamela J. Peters

• Seeing White Scene on Radio podcast by John Biewan

• The 1619 Project (New York Times)

• When They See Us (a film in four parts), 13th, and other films by Ava DuVernay

• #TeachTruth 1
• AAPI 1
• Agreements 1
• Anti-racism 3
• Asian Asian-American and Pacific Islander 1
• Banned Books 1
• Becoming 1
• Beloved Community 2
• Book Packs 1
• Canadian Truth and Reconciliation 1
• Catalogue 1
• Change 1
• Christmas 2
• Comfort 1
• Committment 2
• Community 4
• Compassion 2
• Connectedness 1
• Conscience 1
• Courage 1
• Curiousity 1
• December 1
• Diversity 1
• Earthday 1
• Equity 1
• Family 2
• February 1
• First Nations 2
• GENDER 1
• Gratitude 1
• Hanukkah 2
• Healing 1
• Heterosexism 1
• Holidays 2
• Identity 1
• Imagination 1
• Inclusion 1
• Inner Voice 1
• Kindle Hope / Welcome Light 2
• Kwanzaa 2
• LGBTQIA 1
• Letting Go & Letting In 1
• Listening 1
• Mindfulness 1
• Native American Boarding Schools 1
• Native Americans 4
• Native Nations and Indigenous Peoples 3
• New Year 1
• Oppression 1
• Parenting 1

Residential, and Native American, Boarding Schools: Books & Resources to Help All Ages Understand

Residential Schools (Canada), and Native American boarding schools (United States), have been in the news more recently, as thousands of unmarked graves of child attendees are being discovered or reported.  Many non-indigenous people are learning about these “schools” for the first time, are only vaguely familiar with their purpose, history, and cultural devastation and/or have only been exposed to white/European interpretations of this history and its meaning for the present and future.  The purpose of this blog post is not to explain the meaning of this history or how this story is interwoven with all of our lives.  It is not our story to tell.  Our purpose is to provide a list of resources you can use to help yourself, and the young people you know and love, learn about and understand this topic with an emphasis on resources created by Native Americans and First Nations members.  As always, in approaching this topic and ingesting information, especially any resources not from this curated list or not written by Indigenous authors (in North America: Native American, First Nations, Metis, Inuit), we urge you to consider the following questions:

• Who is telling this story?

• Who benefits from the story as told?

• Whose story is missing?

These words from David A. Robertson, a Cree author based in Winnipeg whose grandmother attended Norway House Indian Residential School, explain the purpose in providing such resources better than we ever could.  We highly encourage you to read the entirety of Mr. Robertson’s thoughts in curating his list of “48 books by Indigenous writers to read to understand residential schools”, and share this excerpt here:

It can no longer be disputed that the residential school system was genocide, and the question now is: What are you going to do about it? Because outrage, thoughts and prayers, retweets and likes, are not enough.

I think the answer starts with stories. Stories have been, and always will be, the best way to educate ourselves about the truth. You have to recognize that you have the power to be the authors of reconciliation if you read as much as you can, listen as much as you can, learn as much as you can, and then take meaningful, informed action.

I don't know your role, but I know that youth are inherently better positioned than anybody to create the sort of change we need to see, and so we need to focus on them. Stories reveal the world to kids — the world that was, the world that is and the world that can be. What kind of future do you want to have?

Here are some books by Indigenous authors to get you started on your learning journey. Please keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list. There are more stories out there.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Below you will find:

• “Books We Own and Lend” -- a list of the books we own and lend that address the residential school experience.  All are written by authors who self identify with a community indigenous to North America.  To learn how to borrow these books see Borrow A Book on our menu.  

• “Recommended Titles We Would Like to Own And Lend” -- the list of recommended books dealing with the residential school experience that are not yet in our collection with the sources of their recommendation noted.  All are written by authors who self identify with a community indigenous to North America.  We will gladly accept donations of any of these titles so that we may make them more accessible to the community.  Learn how to donate here!  

• “Additional Resources” -- a list of additional resources and their sources of recommendation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Books We Own and Lend*

*To borrow these books 

Picture Books

• When We Were Alone by David Alexander Robertson 

• Instructional guide for Cultural & Linguistic Responsiveness from Responsive Reads

• When I Was Eight by Christy Jordan - Fenton 

Juvenile

• I Am Not a Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis

• I Can Make This Promise - Christine Day

Middle Grades & Teen

• Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation by Monique Gray Smith

• Two Roads by Joseph Bruchac

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People (ReVisioning History for Young People) by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Debbie Reese, adapted by Jean Mendoza

Recommended Titles* We Would Like to Own and Lend**

*Taken from “48 books by Indigenous writers to read to understand residential schools” posted by CBC Books June 10, 2021.  The list was developed by David A. Robertson, a Cree author based in Winnipeg whose grandmother attended NOrway House Indian Residential School. Mr. Robertson’s list was not organized by reading level as we typically do.  Relying on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Books reviews linked in the original article and Kirkus Reviews, we have made every effort to accurately reflect the recommended reading levels for each book on the list. **To donate these books

Picture Books & Juvenile

• The Train by Jodie Callaghan, illustrated by Georgia Lesley (ages 4 - 8)

• Phyllis’s Orange Shirt by  Phyllis Webstad, illustrated by Brock Nicol (adaptation of The Orange Shirt Story for ages 4 - 6)

• Stolen Words by Melanie Florence, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard (ages 4 - 8)

• The Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad, illustrated by Brock Nicol (ages 7 - 10)

• Shi-shi-etko by NIcola I. Campbell, illustrated by Kim LaFave (ages 6 - 8)

• Shin-chi’s Canoe by by NIcola I. Campbell, illustrated by Kim LaFave (ages 6 - 10)

• Not My Girl by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard (ages 5 - 9)’

• I Lost My Talk by Rita Joe, illustrated by Pauline Young (ages 4 - 9)

• I’m Finding My Talk by Rebecca Thomas, illustrated by Pauline Young (ages 4 - 9)

• Amik Loves School: A Story of Wisdom by Katherena Vermette and Irene Kuziw illustrator (ages 4 - 8)

Juvenile & Middle Grades

• As Long as the Rivers Flow by Larry Loyie. With Constance Brissenden, illustrated by Heather Holmlund

• Fatty Legs: A True Story by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, illustrated by Liz Amini-Holmes (ages 8 - 12)

• A Stranger at  Home: A True Story  by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, illustrated by Liz Amini-Holmes (ages 8 - 12)

• The Land is Our Storybook (“series of ten books for children about the diverse lands and cultures of Canada's Northwest Territories”) by Julie-Ann Andre and Mindy Willett 

 Middle Grades

• My Name is Seepeetza by Shirley Sterling (10 - 12 years)

• Dear Canada: These Are My Words: The Residential School Diary of Violet Pesheens by Ruby Slipperjack (ages 9 - 12)

• The Journey Forward by Richard Van Camp and Monique Gray Smith

 Teen and up

• Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

• In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Mosionier (ages 15 and up)

• The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (14 and up)

• Sugar Falls by David A. Robertson, illustrated by Scott B. Henderson (14 and up)

• 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga by David A. Robertson, graphic illustrations by Scott B. Henderson (grades 9 - 12) (graphic novel)

• Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools by Theodore Fontaine (an “approved curriculum resource for grade 9 - 12 students in British Columbia and Manitoba)

• Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story by David A. Robertson, illustrated by Scott B. Henderson (graphic novel, grades 9 - 12)

Adult

• Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga

• Porcupines and China Dolls by Robert Arthur Alexie

• Five Little Indians by Michelle Good

• One Story, One Song by Richard Wagamese

• The Red Files by Lisa Bird-Wilson

• The Education of Augie Merasty by Joseph Auguste Merasty with David Carpenter

• They Called Me Number One by Bev Sellars

• Up Ghost River: A Chief’s Journey Through the Turbulent Waters of Native History by Edmund Metatawabin with Alexandra Shimo

• In My Own Moccasins by Helen Knott 

• The Reason You Walk by Wab Kinew

Additional Resources*

*Based on a list compiled by Jessica O’Neill, “a Canadian writer, traveler and historian”

• “Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: ‘Calls to Action’. Report. 2015.

• The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in six volumes. 2015.

  • Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015.

• Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. 2019. (Includes “Calls for Justice” document)

• Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. “Warning: The website deals with topics that may cause trauma invoked by memories of past abuse. . . “

• “Background” and “Quick Facts on Residential Schools” from Reconciliation Canada.

• List of institutions “requested to be added to the list of Indian residential schools recognized by the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement”. 2013.

• Tk'emlúps (Kamloops Indian Band) Press Release. May 27, 2021.

• An Overview of the Indian Residential School System written by the Union of Ontario Indians based on research compiled by Karen Restoule. 2013. (Content warning for possible crisis or distress).

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Index of Missing Children and Unmarked Burials. 2016.

• “Foster care replaced residential schools for Indigenous children, advocates say.” Christy Somos for CTVNews.ca. June 7, 2021

• “The horrors of St. Anne’s: Ontario Provincial Police files obtained by CBC News reveal the history of abuse at the notorious residential school that built its own electric chair.” Jorge Barrera for CBC News. March 29, 2018.

• “It’s time to bring our children home from the residential schools.” Tanya Talaka, Tk’emlups Te Secwepemc First Nation, Opinion in The Globe and Mail, published May 31, 2021, Updated June 1, 2021.

Story: Books for May 2021

Stories are powerful.  They help tell us who we are.  They tell others who we are.  And they tell what we believe.  

More importantly, the stories we tell about, and to, ourselves, reveal what we believe about ourselves, and demonstrate what it is that we want known. 

As much as we shape them, our stories also shape us.  What we tell ourselves about who we are becomes what we learn and teach about who we are.  Becomes what we believe about who we are.  Becomes what we know about who we are.  

This month’s theme of story is particularly relevant to the CDJL as our mission is to share and make more widely accessible the stories of people and communities who have been under published and under represented in literature, as well as to use a justice lens in the honest telling of history and calls for change.  

As we highlight the power of story, storytelling, and how stories shape us, we also focus on what stories remind us about:

• who we are

• who we are as family

• who we are as anti-racists

• who we are as living and interconnected beings

• and who we are as people of courage

As always, we remind ourselves, and you, to pay keen attention to who is telling the story, who benefits from the story, and whose story is missing.

*Monthly themes adapted from the work of Soul Matters Sharing Circle https://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com

The power of story, storytelling and how stories shape us:

Picture Books

• I Am A Story, Dan Yaccarino

• I, Too, Am America,words by Langston Hughes with art by Bryan Collier 

• Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré, Anika Aldamuy Denise author, Paulo Escobar illustrator 

• Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation, Edwidge Danticat author, Leslie Staub illustrator

Juvenile & Middle Grades 

• I Am An American: A True Story of Japanese Internment, Jerry Stanley 

• Dia’s Story Cloth, Dia Cha author, Chile Thao Cha and Nhia Thao Cha illustrators 

• The Story that Cannot be Told, J. Jasper Kramer

• How I Became A Ghost, - A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story (Book 1 in the How I Became A Ghost Series), Tim Tingle

• I Can Make This Promise, Christine Day

• 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving, National Geographic Children’s Books 

• We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know, Traci Sorell author, Frane Lessac illustrator 

Teen

• Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real About Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America by Amy Reed

• We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World by Malala Yousafzai

• Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation, Monique Gray Smith

• An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People ReVisioning American History for Young People) by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Debbie Reese (Adapter), Jean Mendoza (Adapter)

• Lies My Teacher Told Me: Young Readers’ Edition: Everything American History Textbooks Get Wrong by Rebecca Stefoff (Adapter) and James W. Loewen (author)

Adult

• Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates

• Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen

Stories remind us who we are:

Picture Books

• This Is Me: A Story of Who We Are and Where We Came From, Jamie Lee Curtis (author) and Laura Cornell (Illustrator)

• The Girl and the Wolf, author Katherena Vermette and illustrator Julie Flet

• When We Were Alone, David Alexander Robertson 

• Love is in the Hair, Marcus Ware

• Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration, author Samara Coyle Doyon and illustrator Kaylani Juanita

Juvenile & Middle Grades

• I Am Not a Number, Jenny Kay Dupuis

• Dia’s Story Cloth, Dia Cha author, Chile Thao Cha and Nhia Thao Cha illustrators 

• Little Man, Little Man, James Baldwin

• I Can Make This Promise, Christine Day

• Apple in the Middle, Dawn Quigley

Adult

• Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption, Jane Jeong Trenka, Sun Yung Shin, Julia Chinyere Oparah (editors)

Stories remind us who we are as family:

Board Book

• Mommy, Mama and Me, Leslea Newman

• Daddy, Papa and Me, Leslea Newman

• Hugs of Three: My Daddies and Me, Stacey Bromberg

• Hugs of Three: My Mommies and Me, Stacey Bromberg and Joe Taravella

• Good Night Families, Adam Gamble

• Welcome, Precious, Nikki Grimes

Picture Books

• Catherine’s Story, Genevieve Moore and Karin Littlewood. 

• Lullaby (For a Black Mother), words of Langston Hughes, art by Sean Qualls

• Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation, Edwidge Danticat author, Leslie Staub illustrator

• Just Like A Mama, author - Alice Faye Duncan, Charnelle Pinkney Barlow illustrator

• Night Shift Daddy, Eileen Spinellei

• The Best Family In the World, Susana Lopez and Ulises Wensell (Illustrator)

• Just Add One Chinese Sister: An Adoption Story, Patricia McMahon (author), Karen Jerome illustrator 

• Stella Brings the Family, Miriam B. Schiffer author, Holly Clifton-Brown illustrator 

• Bridge of Flowers, author Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Syrus Marcus Ware illustrator 

• The Zero Dads Club, Angel Adeyoha 

• Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, Kevin Noble Maillard author and Juana Martinez-Neal illustrator 

• We Sang You Home / Ka Kîweh Nikâmôstamâtinân (Cree and English Edition), Richard Van Kamp author, Julie Flett illustrator, Mary Cardinal Collins translator

Juvenile

• I Am Not a Number, Jenny Kay Dupuis

• Dia’s Story Cloth, Dia Cha author, Chile Thao Cha and Nhia Thao Cha illustrators 

Middle Grades

• I Can Make This Promise, Christine Day

Teen

• My Family Divided: One Girl's Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope, Diane Guerrero

Adult

• Raised by Unicorns: Stories from People with LGBTQ Parents, Frank Lowe editor

• Raising Ryland: Our Story of Parenting a Transgender Child with No Strings Attached by Hillary Whittington

• Becoming Nicole: The inspiring story of transgender actor-activist Nicole Maines and her extraordinary family by Amy Ellis Nutt

Stories remind us who are as anti-racists:

Board Book

• Anti-racist Baby, Ibram X. Kendi author and Ashley Lukashevsky illustrator

Picture Book

• Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness (Ordinary Terrible Things) by Anastasia Higginbotham

• Why Are They Kneeling? by Damon Wyatt Thornton, Bryan Brown (Illustrator)

• Something Happened in Our Town: A Child's Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano

• Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins, author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Jerome Lagarrigue Lagarrigue

Juvenile

• Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters, Andrea Davis Pinckney

• Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, Andrea Davis Pinckney

• She Persisted: Harriet Tubman, Andrea Davis Pinckney

Middle Grades

• This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy

• The Girl from the Tar Paper School: Barbara Rose Johns and the Advent of the Civil Rights Movement, Teri Kanefield

Teen

• When They Call You a Terrorist (Young Adult Edition): A Story of Black Lives Matter and the Power to Change the World by Benee Knauer (Adapter) and authors asha bandele and Patrisse Khan-Cullors

• Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation, Monique Gray Smith

• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds and bram X. Kendi

Adult

• Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race, Debby Irving

• Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America, Jennifer Harvey

• How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance by Akiba Solomon

• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

• Raising Antiracist Kids by Nicole C. Lee Esq.

• Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy by Chris Crass

• Southern Witness: Unitarians and Universalists in the Civil Rights Era by Gordon D. Gibson

Stories remind us who we are as living and interconnected beings:

Picture Books

• I Am Human: A Book of Empathy, Susan Verde and Peter H. Reynolds

• Raven and the Spiders: A Story of Unconditional Love, Constance Stoner

• Here and Now, Julia Denos author, E. B. Goodale illustrator 

• All Around Us, Xelena Gonzalez

• Sila and the Land, Shelby Agalik, Ariana Roundpoint, Lindsay Dupre

• Outside In, by Deborah Underwood (author) and Cindy Derby (illustrator)

Stories remind us who we are as people of courage:

Picture Book

• Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution, Rob Sanders author, Jamey Christoph illustrator 

• Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most  Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating and Marta Álvarez Miguéns (illustrator)

• The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist by Cynthia Levinson and Vanessa Brantley-Newton (Illustrator)

• Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music, Margarita Engle (author) and Rafael Lopez (illustrator)

• The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage, Selina Alko

• White Flour, David LaMotte author and Jenn Hales illustrator

• The Whispering Town, Jennifer Elvgren author, Fabio Santomauro illustrator 

• A Princess of Great Daring, by Tobi Hill-Meyer

• The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do, Ashley Spires

Juvenile & Middle Grades 

• Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters, Andrea Davis Pinckney

• Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan by Mary Williams and Gregory Christie (Illustrator)

• The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust by Karen Gray Ruelle

• What You Don’t Know: A Story of Liberated Childhood, Anasthasia Higginbotham

• This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy

Teen

• I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban, Malala Yousafzai

• We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices, Wade Hudson editor

• Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation, Monique Gray Smith

• Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings

• Coming Out to Play, Robbie Rogers

Adult

• Becoming Nicole: The inspiring story of transgender actor-activist Nicole Maines and her extraordinary family by Amy Ellis Nutt

• Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas

• Fight Like a Mother: How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World by Shannon Watts

Becoming: Books for April 2021

People are always in a state of transition, whether we recognize it or not, whether we welcome it or not. Just as the earth is currently transitioning from winter to summer, or summer to winter, depending on where you are, we are all likely in some process of moving from one way of being to another. How do we do that? How have we become who we are now, and how do we become something, or someone, new or different?

Becoming  is both the process of coming to be a certain way (or thing), and the process of passing into a certain state of being.  To do this, to let in or discover new ways of being, we let go or release prior ways.  Becoming is also a process of discovery, particularly self discovery.  Who do we want to be?  How do we want to be?  Growing into these answers isn’t always easy.  To become, we need to find our true selves.  And as much as we might like to, we can’t know where we’ll wind up.  The best we can do is maintain hope, and trust the process.  

 This month, using diverse perspectives found within our collection, we explore Becoming as:

• letting go and letting in, 

• self discovery, and 

• maintaining hope while trusting the process.

In addition, in honor and recognition of Earth Day on April 22, 2021, and our collective need to become people of, for and with the earth, rather than people on the earth, we share a collection of books honoring our mother earth, our connection with her and efforts to help her heal.  

 The books in the curated list below, are all written by or about people, identities and communities that are under published and under represented in literature.  These books, 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 Becoming.  And if you want to support our efforts, visit https://cdjlibrary.org/support to learn how you can do that.

*Monthly themes adapted from the work of Soul Matters Sharing Circle https://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com

Becoming as a Process of Letting Go and Letting In

Picture Books

• Perfect, Nicola Davies

• The Garden of Hope, Isabel Otter and Katie Rewse

• Rescue and Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship by Jessica Kennedy

• Golden Threads, Suzanne Del Rizzo

• Dreamers, Yuyi Morales

• The Journey, Francesca Sanna

MIDDLE GRADES

• Hope in the Holler, Lisa Lewis Tyre

• Lucky Broken Girl, Ruth Behar

Teen

• This Side of Home, Renee Watson

• You Bring the Distant Near, Mitali Perkins

Becoming as a Process of True-Self Discovery

picture books

• The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do - Ashley Spires

• My Story, My Dance: Robert Battle’s Journey to Alvin Ailey, Lesa Cline-Ransome, James E. Ransome, Robert Battle

Juvenile

• The Real Boy, Anne Ursu and Erin McGuire

Middle grades

• Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and off the Court, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld

Teen

• Finding Miracles, Julia Alvarez’

• I am J, Cris Beam

• Tilly: A story of hope and resilience, Monique Gray Smith

• Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, Kirstin Cronn-Mills

Adult

• Becoming Nicole: The inspiring story of transgender actor-activist Nicole Maines and her extraordinary family, Amy Ellis Nutt

Becoming as Maintaining Hope and Trusting the Process

picture books

• Johnny’s Pheasant, by Cheryl Minnema and Julie Flett

• Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, Laurie Ann Thompson and Sean Qualls

Juvenile / Middle grades

• Brothers in Hope: The story of the lost boys of Sudan by Mary Williams and Gregory Christie

Middle Grades

• The Promise of Change: one girl’s story in the fight for school equality, Jo Ann Allen Boyce, Debbie Levy

• The Science of Breakable Things, Tae Keller and Alexandria Neonakis

Books in Honor of Earth Day (Becoming a people of, for and with the earth)

board books

• Nibi is Water by Joanne Robertson

picture books

• Moondragon in the Mosque Garden by El-Farouk Khaki and Troy Jackson

• Greta and the Giants: inspired by Greta Thunberg’s stand to save the world by Zoe Tucker

• Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa, Jeanette Winter

• Dear Children of the Earth, Schim Schimmel

• One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the recycling women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul and Elizabeth Zunon

• The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson

• We Are Water Protectors, Carole Lindstrom and Michaela Goade

• Young Water Protectors: A Story About Standing Rock by Aslan Tudor

• My Mother Talks to Trees by Doris Gove

• City Green, DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan

• Birrarung Wilam: A story from aboriginal Australia, Aunty Joy Murphy, Andrew Kelly, Lisa Kennedy

• Dolphin SOS by Roy Miki

• Raven and the Spiders: A Story of Unconditional Love by Constance Stoner
  

Exploring Commitment: Books for March 2021

This month, we are exploring commitment, and what that means for each of us as we move through the world from each of our unique vantage points.  

For us, we are a library rooted in equity, justice and compassion, empowering young people to celebrate diversity and use their voices for social change.  We provide books, and programming featuring books, written by or about people, identities and communities that are under published and under represented in literature.  Our commitments include commitments to curiosity, change, conscience, and compassion.  

Curiosity includes having an open mind, asking questions, and valuing other perspectives.  As a library, we value learning and growing.  As a diversity library, we are committed to providing books that offer windows to perspectives that may differ from your own.  This cultivates compassion.  

Learning and growing means changing, whether that's self growth or changing the world.   We’re committed to continually reflecting on our own practices including the language we use, the ways we organize our collection, and the resources we provide.  We're also committed to providing books that showcase growth and the work of justice; change that’s needed in the world, change we can see in the world, change we can be in the world, change we can make in the world.  

Our commitment to justice requires a commitment to conscience, to listening for an inner voice of what is right, speaking up and working to make what is right accessible and available to everyone.  

These are some of our commitments, and our book list this month is built around them.  We invite you to explore these four types of commitment through the examples and stories in this reading list. 

What does it mean to be committed to . . . 

• . . . being curious, open minded and asking questions?

• . . . changing yourself and the world?

• . . . using your conscience?

• . . . compassion?

The books in the curated list below, all written by or about people, identities and communities that are under published and under represented in literature, each demonstrate commitment to curiosity, change, conscience and compassion. These books, 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 Beloved Community. And if you want to support our efforts, visit https://cdjlibrary.org/support to learn how you can do that.

We invite you to think about your own commitments.  What are you committed to?  How do your commitments align with your values? 

*Monthly themes adapted from the work of Soul Matters Sharing Circle https://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com

Commitment to curiosity (open minds, learning and growing, valuing other perspectives).

board books

• Let’s Go the Library, Scholastic Inc.

Picture Books

• Ezra’s Big Shabbat Question, Aviva L. Brown and Anastasia Kanavaliuk

• Is Nothing Something:: Kid’s Questions and Zen Answers About Life, Death, Family, Friendship, and Everything in Between, Thich Nhat Hanh and Jessica McClure

• Who is Ben?, Charlotte Zolotow and Kathryn Jacobs

• Why are they kneeling?, Lauren J Coleman

• Ada Twist, Scientist, Andrea Beaty 

Middle Grades

• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Calpurnia Tate, 1), Jacqueline Kelly

• The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate (Calpurnia Tate 2), Jacqueline Kelly 

Teen

• Finding Miracles, Julia Alvarez

• Lies My Teacher Told Me (Young Readers Edition) - Everything American History Textbooks Get Wrong, James W. Lowen, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff

Adult

• Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?: And other conversations about race, Beverly Daniel Tatum

• Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, James W. Lowen

Commitment to Change (growth of self, change the world, justice)

Picture Books

• The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read, Rita Lorraine Hubbard, Oge Mora

• Drum Dream Girl, Margarita Engle and Rafael Lopez

• Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation, Duncan Tonatiuh

• Harlem Grown: How One Big Idea Transformed a Neighborhood, Tony Hillery and Jessie Hartland

• Grace for President, Kelly DiPucchio

Juvenile

• I can make a difference: a treasury to inspire our children, Marian Wright Edelman

• Start Now!: You Can Make A Difference, Chelsea Clinton

• Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, Andrea Davis Pinkney

• Rad American Women A - Z: Rebels, Trailblazers and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future, Kate Schatz

• We are the Change: Words of Inspiration from Civil Rights Leaders, Harry Belafonte (introduction), produced by the American Civil Liberties Union

Middle Grades

• The Misfits, James Howe (Vol. 1 in The Misfits series)

• Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights of Movement, Carole Boston Weatherford

Teen

• No One is Too Small to Make a Difference, Greta Thunberg

• Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History, Kate Schatz

Adult

• Road Map for Revolutionaries: Resistance, Activism, and Advocacy for All, Elisa Camahort Page, Carolyn Gerin, Jamia Wilson

Commitment to Conscience (listening to our inner voice, speaking up for what is right)

Picture Books

• Say Something, Peter Reynolds

• Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights, Rob Sanders

• The Whispering Town, Jennifer Elvgren, Fabio Santomauro

• Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins, Carole Boston Weatherford

Juvenile

• Cinderella Liberator, Rebecca Solnit and Arthur Rackham

• The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews Suring the Holocaust, Karen Gray Ruelle

• Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, Andrea Davis Pinkney

• Gloria Takes a Stand, Jess Rinker and Daria Peoples-Riley

Middle Grades

• The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, Pablo Cartaya

• Nelson Mandela South African Revolutionary, Beatrice Gormley

Teen

• When They Call You a Terrorist (Young Adult Edition): A Story of Black Lives Matter and the Power to Change the World, Benee Knauer (adapter), asha bandele (author), Patrisse Khan-Cullors (author)

• Coming Out to Play, Robbie Rogers

Adult

• The Immortal LIfe of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot

Commitment to Compassion (love for others, self-compassion, value of community)

Board Book

• We Sang You Home, Richard Van Camp, Julie Flett

Picture Books

• Listening with my Heart: A story of kindness and self compassion, Gabi Garcia

• The Journey, Francesca Sanna

• Birdsong, Julie Flett

Juvenile

• My Beautiful Birds, Suzanne Del Rizzo

• Front Desk, Kelly Yang 

Middle Grades

• Kira-Kira, Cynthia Kadohata

• We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices, Wade Hudson (Editor)

Teen

• The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism, Naoki Higashida, David Mitchell and KA Yoshida

• Darius The Great is Not Okay (Vol 1 Darius The Great Series), Adib Khorram

Adults

• A Clown in Cobwebs, Walt Nelson
  
  

Beloved Community: Books for February 2021

Beloved Community is a term coined by philosopher Josiah Royce and popularized by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..  Dr. King imagined Beloved Community as a society based on justice, equity, peace and love of others.  He deepened and broadened the meaning of Beloved Community to refer to “a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth” (thekingcenter.org).  It is a vision where the inevitability of human conflict is recognized, but a pervasive commitment to and skillfulness with nonviolence means that no conflict would lead to inequality, discrimination, or harm.  

 This month, we explore four themes within the richness of Beloved Community.  These themes demonstrate and encourage ways we can be, live in and work towards creating communities in which all people are honored, loved, healed, celebrated and working towards justice.  

 Beloved Community is a special kind of community.  It is a community where . . . .  

1. . . . black leaders are honored 

2. . . . love grows beyond bounds

3. . . . wounds are healed 

4. . . . we keep working when things get difficult, uncomfortable or we make mistakes. 

The books in the curated list below, all written by or about people, communities and identities under represented in published literature, each draw upon these Beloved Community themes.  These books, 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 Beloved Community.  And if you want to support our efforts, visit https://cdjlibrary.org/support to learn how you can do that.

 How are you creating Beloved Community?  

*Monthly themes adapted from the work of Soul Matters Sharing Circle https://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com

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Beloved Community is a community where . . . black leaders are honored.

Board Books

• Dream Big, Little One - Vashti Harrison

Picture Books

• Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - Doreen Rappaport, Bryan Collier

• Rosa - Nikki Giovanni and Bryan Collier

• Preaching to the Chickens: the Story of Young John Lewis - Jabari Asim and E. B. Lewis

• The Youngest Marcher: the story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a young civil rights activist - Cynthia Levinson and Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Juvenile

• Let it shine: Stories of Black women freedom fighters - Andrea Davis Pinkney and Stephen Alcorn

• Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History - Vashti Harrison

• She Persisted: Harriet Tubman - Andrea Davis Pinkney, Chelsea Clinton, Alexandra Boiger and Gillian Flint

Middle Grades

• Zora Neale Hurston: I Have Been in Sorrow’s Kitchen - Laura Baskes Litwin

• Marley Dias Gets It done: And So Can You! - Marley Dias

• One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance - Nikki Grimes

• The Girl from the Tar Paper School: Barbara Rose Johns and the Advent of the Civil Rights Movement - Teri Kanefield

Teen

• X: A Novel - Ilyasah Shabazz

• We Shall Not Be Moved - Velma Maia Thomas

• When They Call You a Terrorist (Young Adult Edition): A Story of Black Lives Matter and the Power to Change the World - Benee Knauer, asha bandele, Patrisse Khan-Cullors

• March: Book One, March: Book Two, and March: Book Three by John Lewis

• The Rebellious LIfe of Mrs. Rosa Parks (Young Readers Edition) - Jeanne Theoharis and Brandy Colbert

Adult

• When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir - Patrisse Khan-Cullors

Beloved Community is a community . . . . where love grows beyond bounds 

Board Book

• One Love - Cedella Marley

• Counting on Community - Innosanto Nagara

PIcture Book

• When You Look Out the Window: How Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin Built a Community - Gayle E. Pitman and Christopher Lyles

• A Church for All - Gayle E. Pitman and Laure Fournier

• All are Welcome - Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman

Juvenile/Middle Grades

• The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Mulsims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust - Karen Gray Ruelle and Deborah Durland Desaix

Middle Grades & Teen

• Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice - Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo, Olivia Gatwood, THeodore Taylor III

Adult

Widening the Circle: The Power of Inclusive Classrooms - Mara Sapon-Shevin

Beloved Community is a community . . . . where wounds are healed

Board Book

• An ABC of Equality by Chana Ginelle Ewing and Paulina Morgan

• Antiracist Baby - Ibram X. Kendi

Picture Book

• The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage - Selina Alko

• All the Way to the Top: How One Girl’s Fight for Americans with Disabilities Changed Everything - Annette Bay Pimental

• Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins - Carole Boston Weatherford and Jerome Lagarrigue

Juvenile

• Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down - Andrea Davis Pinkney

Middle Grades

• We are Power: How Nonviolent Activism Changes the World - Todd Hasak-Lowy

• Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation - Monique Gray Smith 

Teen

• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and you: A remix of the national book award-winning Stamped from the Beginning - Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People (ReVisioning American History for Young People) - Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Debbie Reese, Jean Mendoza

Beloved Community is a community where . . . . we keep working when things get difficult, uncomfortable or we make mistakes.

Picture Book

• Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of race, mistakes and friendship - Irene Latham, Charles Waters, Sean Qualls, Selina Alko

• Not My Idea: a book about whiteness (ordinary terrible things) - Anastasia Higginbotham

• The Water Walker - Joanne Robertson

Juvenile or Middle Grades

• A Good Kind of Trouble - Lisa Moore Ramee 

Middle Grades

• Proud (Young Readers Edition): Living My American Dream - Ibtihaj Muhammad

• Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

• This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality - Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy

Teen

• We Shall Not Be Moved - Velma Maia Thomas 

• Nevertheless, We Persisted: 48 Voices of Defiance, Strength and Courage - Edited by In This Together

Adult

• Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race - Debby Irving
  
  

Engaging Imagination: Books for January 2021

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.

1. Imagining who you can become (what possibilities exist in you?)

2. Imagining what is beyond now and here (what possibilities exist for us?)

3. Imagining new and other worlds (the value of escape / what are the possibilities?)

4. 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?)

5. 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

Books Exploring the Stillness of the Season: December 2020

This month we explore Stillness with invitations to step away from the busyness, quiet ourselves, listen for our inner voices and kindle hope by welcoming light.*  December can be a time of beauty, peace and quiet. Unfortunately, our culture often turns it into a time of commercialism and stress. It takes effort to step away from the media message that buying things and busily planning and attending events will make us happy. We can step away from busyness by stopping, even if but for a moment, to observe peace, beauty and stillness.  When we are still, ideas, inner voices and insights are given opportunity to enter.  What is calling us to pay attention?  In the northern hemisphere, during long dark winter nights, we have many opportunities to kindle hope by welcoming light.  What hope and light are you welcoming this month?  

The books in the curated list below, all written by or about people, communities and identities under represented in literature, each draw upon these themes of stillness.  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 stillness.  May they help you and yours keep hope alive, welcome the light and find your inner quiet happy place this season.  

*Monthly themes adapted from the work of Soul Matters Sharing Circle https://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com

Step Away from the Busyness (& observe peace, beauty and stillness)

• Board Books

  • Global Baby Bedtimes (Global Fund for Children Books) by Maya Ajmera

• PICTURE BOOKS

• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats by Ezra Jack Keats

• Here and Now by Julia Denos

• Lullaby (For a Black Mother) by Langston Hughes

• Rocket Says Look Up! By Nathan Bryon

• JUVENILE / EARLY READERS

  • Here and Now by Julia Denos

• MIDDLE GRADES

  • Zoe in Wonderland by Brenda Woods 

  • The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

• ADULT

  • Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls by Lisa Damour Ph.D.

Quiet Ourselves and Listen for Our Inner Voice 

• BOARD BOOKS

• Calm-Down Time written by Elizabeth Verdick, illustrated by Marieka Heinlen

• PICTURE BOOKS

  • Charlotte and the Quiet Place by Deboarah Sosin (author) and Sara Woolley (illustrator)

  • The Quiet Place by Sarah Stewart

  • The Girl and the Wolf words by Katherena Vermette, illustrations by Julie Flett

  • Lubaya’s Quiet Roar by Marilyn Nelson (author) and Philemona Williamson (illustrator)

• MIDDLE GRADES

  • Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan

• TEEN

  • The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida

Kindle Hope by Welcoming Light 

• BOARD BOOK

• Hanukkah Lights written by David Martin, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

• Hanukkah: A Counting Book by Emily Sper

• PICTURE BOOKS

  • My First Kwanzaa (My First Holiday) by Karen Katz

  • The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper, Carson Ellis illustrator

  • The Trees of the Dancing Goats by Patricia Polacco 

  • Elijah’s Angell: A Story for Chanukah and Christmas by Michael J. Rosen 

  • Oskar and the Eight Blessings by Tanya Simon, Mark Siegel illustrator

  • Latkes and Applesauce: A Hanukkah Story words by Fran Manushkin, illustrations by Robin Spowart

  • Shante Keys and the New Year’s Peas by Gail Piernas-Davenport (author) and Marion Eldridge (illustrator)

• JUVENILE FICTION

  • The Power of Light: Eight Stories for Hanukkah by Isaac Bashevis Singer 

• MIDDLE GRADES

  • The Return of the Light:  Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice by Carolyn McVickar Edwards

Books for Exploring Healing: November 2020

This month we’re exploring Healing and using books that raise up justice and are written by, or prominently include, identities under represented in children’s and adult literature to help us. 

Healing can be hard work, especially when we work to untangle knots of hurt.  One way we can help untangle such knots is by telling the truth.  As we enter November, the month in which many of us celebrate Thanksgiving, we are including an extended section on healing by telling the truth of Thanksgiving and the colonization of North America.  Emphasizing gratitude can be a way to heal, as can finding ways to comfort ourselves such as by engaging in comforting rituals, spending time with loved ones, talking about our feelings, and learning tools we can use to bring ourselves to a place of comfort and healing.  Naturally, many of us want to help others heal when they are hurting, especially if we feel we ourselves have caused hurt.  This is a wonderful aspect of our humanity.  However, it’s important to remember to listen to those we wish to help before we try to help so that we ensure we are treating others as they would like to be treated and not as we believe they would like to be.  

We have curated a list of books, board book through adult, that each reflect these themes of Healing*:

• the hard work of healing

• let gratitude heal you

• listen before you try to help and heal others 

• heal by telling the truth . . . . of Thanksgiving

• find ways to comfort yourself

All of the books listed below - and more - are in our Children’s Diversity & Justice Library collection and available for checkout by 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 that focus on healing.  How might these stories and books help you engage with healing this month?

*Monthly themes adapted from the work of Soul Matters Sharing Circle https://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com

The hard work of healing (untangling and healing knots of hurt)

• Board Books

  • Antiracist Baby written by Ibram X. Kendi

• Picture Books & Juvenile 

  • Rescue and Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship by Jessica Kensky 

  • Hot Day on Abbott Avenue written by Karen English

  • All the Way to the Top:  How One Girl’s Fight for Americans with Disabilities Changed Everything written by Annette Bay Pimental

  • You Hold Me Up / Ki Kîhcêyimin Mâna by Monique Gray Smith, Danielle Daniel (illustrator) and Mary Cardinal Collins (Translator)

• Middle Grades

  • Sharing Our Homeland: Palestinian and Jewish Chikdren at Summer Peace Camp by Trish Marx and Cindy Karp

• Teen

  • The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

  • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National BGook Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds 

• Adult

• The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education: Fostering Responsibility, Healing, and Hope in Schools (Justice and Peacebuilding) by Katherine Evans

• Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Let Gratitude Heal You

• Picture Book

  • We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell 

  • Thanks A Million by Nikki Grimes 

  • Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message (Reading Rainbow Book) by Chief Jake Swamp, illustrated by Erwin Printup 

• Middle Grades

  • Refugee by Alan Gratz

  • A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

• Teen

  • The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe

  • Nevertheless, We Persisted: 48 Voices of Defiance, Strength, and Courage; Edited by In This Together Media

  • Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation by Anne Frank with Ari Folman adapter and David Polonsky illustrator 

• Adult 

• The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui

Listen Before You Try to Help and Heal Others (Do unto others as they would want done to them)

• Picture Books

  • Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You by Sonia Sotomayor, illustrated by Rafael Lopez

  • I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings

• Middle Grades

  • I Am Not a Label: 34 artists, thinkers, athletes and activists with disabilities from past and present by Cerrie Burnell 

• Teen

  • #NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women by Charleyboy

  • Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

• Adult

  • American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures by America Ferrara

 Heal by Telling the Truth...of Thanksgiving

• Picture Books & Juvenile 

  • When We Were Alone by David Alexander Robertson (Picture Book)

  • I Am Not a Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis (Juvenile, 7 - 11 years)

  • When I Was Eight by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard (PIcture Book 6 - 9 years)

• Middle Grades

  • 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving (National Geographic) - By Catherine O’Neill Grace

  • How I Became A Ghost - A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story (Book 1 in the How I Became a Ghost Series) by Time Tingle

  • When a Ghost Talks, Listen (Book 2, How I Became a Ghost series) by Time Tingle

• Teen

  • This Place: 150 Years Retold (graphic novel)

  • An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People (ReVisioning American History for Young People) by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza

Find Ways to Comfort Yourself (the ways we can comfort ourselves are as diverse and universal as we are) 

• Board Book 

  • Calm Down Time by Elizabeth Verdick

  • Hugs of Three: My Mommies and Me by Dr. Stacey Bromberg and Dr. Joe Taravella / Hugs of Three: My Daddies and Me by Dr. Stacey Bromberg

  • My Heart Fills with Happiness by Monique Gray Smith  

• Picture Book & Juvenile

  • Me and My Fear by Francesca Sanna

  • The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh by Supriya Kelkar

  • B is for Breathe: The ABCs of Coping with Fussy and Frustrating Feelings by Dr. Melissa Munro Boyd

  • The Princess and the Fog: A Story for Children with Depression by Lloyd Jones

• Teen

  • Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram