Diverse Characters
Birdsong
Julie Flett
jE Flett
Read Woke, Diverse Characters, Picture Books
"When a young girl moves from the country to a small town, she feels lonely and out of place. But soon she meets an elderly woman next door, who shares her love of [nature and art]. Can the girl navigate the changing seasons and failing health of her new friend?"--Publisher marketing.
This is our house
Hyewon Yum
jE Yum
Read Woke, Diverse Characters, Picture Books
Follows a family through seasons and generations as the house to which their immigrant grandparents came is transformed into a home.
This is a title I love sharing at storytime. Not only are the illustrations and message beautiful, but the house as a character here is truly wonderful. Read this one in a quiet moment together. -Casey
Juana & Lucas
Juana Medina
jFICTION Medina, Juana
Read Woke, Diverse Characters, Early Chapter Books
A spunky young girl from Colombia loves playing with her canine best friend and resists boring school activities, especially learning English, until her family tells her that a special trip is planned to an English-speaking place.
Juana Medina's early chapter book series is delightful. Funny and realistic, this is a series not to miss. -Casey
Yaffa and Fatima : shalom, salaam
Fawzia Gilani-Williams
jE Gilani-Williams
Read Woke, Diverse Characters, Picture Books
"Yaffa and Fatima live on neighboring date farms. When very little rain leads to a poor harvest, both women go to extra measures to make sure that their neighbor doesn't go hungry"--
Added by Casey
The most beautiful thing
Kao Kalia Yang
ON ORDER BOOK
Read Woke, Diverse Characters, Picture Books
"Drawn from Kao Kalia Yang's childhood experiences as a Hmong refugee, this heartfelt picture book offers a window into the life of a family with little money and a great deal of love"--
I cannot wait to see this one when it gets in! -Casey
We are water protectors
Carole Lindstrom
jE Lindstro
Read Woke, Diverse Characters, Picture Books
Water is the first medicine. It affects and connects us all... When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth and poison her people's water, one young water protector takes a stand to defend Earth's most sacred resource. Inspired by the many indigenous-led movements across North America, this bold and lyrical picture book issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth's water from harm and corruption.
Wow. Images and text combine here to give a wonderfully powerful message, I could gush for days about how beautiful and important this book is. Read it already! -Casey
Shanyaak'utlaa̲x
jE Salmon
Read Woke, Diverse Characters, Early Chapter Books
"After a Tlingit mother gives her son a dried piece of salmon with mold on the end, he flings it away in disgust, committing a taboo. This offends the Salmon People, who sweep him into the water and into their world, where they name him Shanyaak'utlaa̲x or Salmon Boy. Find out what happens to Shanyaak'utlaa̲x in this ancient Tlingit story"--Dust jacket.
Added by Casey
Like the moon loves the sky
Hena Khan
jE Khan
Read Woke, Diverse Characters, Picture Books
Illustrations and prose inspired by the Quran celebrate a mother's love and hopes for her child.
This incredible picture book was inspired by the Quran, and celebrates the love between mothers and daughters. -Casey
The book of lost friends : a novel
Lisa Wingate
FICTION Wingate Lisa
Diverse Characters, Historical Fiction
"Louisiana, 1875: In the tumultuous aftermath of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now-destitute plantation; Juneau Jane, her illegitimate free-born Creole half-sister; and Hannie, Lavinia's former slave. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following dangerous roads rife with ruthless vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and eight siblings before slavery's end, the pilgrimage westward reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the seemingly limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope. Louisiana, 1987: For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt--until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, seems suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled live oaks and run-down plantation homes lies the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything"--
Added by Mari
The Vanishing Half
Brit Bennett
FICTION Bennett Brit
Historical Fiction, Diverse Characters
"The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect? Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins. As with her New York Times-bestselling debut The Mothers, Brit Bennett offers an engrossing page-turner about family and relationships that is immersive and provocative, compassionate and wise"--
My favorite fiction read of the summer. I read Nella Larsen's Passing in college, and it illuminated my white privilege in a historical context that I have never forgotten. This intriguing story follows a set of twin girls who were raised in a light-skinned black community, who ran away as teenagers to forge their own way in the world. One twin returns with a dark black child and the other is never heard from again, and it is revealed that she is passing, hiding her family history for the remainder of her life. By the next generation, the cousins paths are so very different, but by a twist of fate their paths cross and the mystery comes out. Such a great read that will stay in my mind for a long time. -Mari
Added by Casey