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

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
• 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
• Earthday 1
• Family 2
• February 1
• First Nations 2
• GENDER 1
• Gratitude 1
• Hanukkah 2
• Healing 1
• Heterosexism 1
• Holidays 2
• Identity 1
• Imagination 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 3
• Native Nations and Indigenous Peoples 2
• New Year 1
• Oppression 1
• Parenting 1
• Possibilities 1
• Pride 1
• Primary Diversity Elements 1
• Promises 1

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