My Funny Valentine


  • Bellefleur, Alexandria
    Written in the stars : a novel
    Summary:With nods to Bridget Jones and Pride & Prejudice, this debut is a delightful #ownvoices queer rom-com about a free-spirited social media astrologer who agrees to fake a relationship with an uptight actuary until New Year’s Eve—with results not even the stars could predict! After a disastrous blind date, Darcy Lowell is desperate to stop her well-meaning brother from playing matchmaker ever again. Love—and the inevitable heartbreak—is the last thing she wants. So she fibs and says her latest set up was a success. Darcy doesn’t expect her lie to bite her in the ass. Elle Jones, one of the astrologers behind the popular Twitter account Oh My Stars, dreams of finding her soul mate. But she knows it is most assuredly not Darcy… a no-nonsense stick-in-the-mud, who is way too analytical, punctual, and skeptical for someone as free-spirited as Elle. When Darcy’s brother—and Elle’s new business partner—expresses how happy he is that they hit it off, Elle is baffled. Was Darcy on the same date? Because… awkward. Darcy begs Elle to play along and she agrees to pretend they’re dating. But with a few conditions: Darcy must help Elle navigate her own overbearing family during the holidays and their arrangement expires on New Year’s Eve. The last thing they expect is to develop real feelings during a faux relationship. But maybe opposites can attract when true love is written in the stars?


  • Adams, Lyssa Kay
    Crazy stupid bromance
    Summary:"Alexis Carlisle and her cat café, ToeBeans, have shot to fame after she came forward as a victim of a celebrity chef’s sexual harassment. When a new customer approaches to confide in her, the last thing Alexis expects is for the woman to claim they’re sisters. Unsure what to do, Alexis turns to the only man she trusts-her best friend, Noah Logan. Computer genius Noah left his rebellious teenage hacker past behind to become a computer security expert. Now he only uses his old skills for the right cause. But Noah’s got a secret: He’s madly in love with Alexis. When she asks for his help, he wonders if the timing will ever be right to confess his crush. Noah’s pals in the Bromance Book Club are more than willing to share their beloved "manuals" to help him go from bud to boyfriend. But he must decide if telling the truth is worth risking the best friendship he’s ever had."


  • Burroughs, Brooke
    The marriage code : a novel
    Summary:Emma has always lived her life according to a plan. But after turning down her boyfriend’s proposal, everything starts to crumble. In an effort to save the one thing she cares about – her job – she must recruit her colleague, Rishi, to be on her development team…only she may or may not have received the position he was promised. (She did.) Rishi cannot believe that he got passed over for promotion. To make matters worse, not only does his job require him to return home to Bangalore with his nemesis, Emma, but his parents now expect him to choose a bride and get married. So, when Emma makes him an offer – join her team, and she’ll write an algorithm to find him the perfect bride – he reluctantly accepts. Neither of them expect her marriage code to work so well – or to fall for one another – which leads Emma and Rishi to wonder if leaving fate up to formulas is really an equation for lasting love.


  • Pishiris, Christina
    Love songs for skeptics
    Summary:"Zoë Frixos is a successful music magazine editor, intent on restoring her paper to its former glory…despite those pesky closure rumors flitting about. Zoë decides to land the coup of the century, securing an interview with her notoriously elusive rock idol. But when faced with the arrogant publicist Nick Jones, a man who seems determined to ruin her career, Zoë wonders how she’s ever going to save the paper she loves. That’s when she hears the news that upends everything: Simon has come back to town. Simon, her best friend and boy next door, the one who Zoë fell in love with at thirteen, who she’s never quite moved on from. And now, she’s finally determined to tell him how she feels. As Zoë barters for a career-saving interview, she must decide who is worth fighting for, changing everything Zoë thought she knew about love, music, and the power of second chances."


  • Igharo, Jane
    Ties that tether
    Summary:"When a Nigerian woman falls for a man she knows will break her mother’s heart, she must choose between love and her family. At twelve years old, Azere promised her dying father she would marry a Nigerian man and preserve her culture, even after immigrating to Canada. Her mother has been vigilant about helping-well, forcing-her to stay within the Nigerian dating pool ever since. But when another match-made-by-mom goes wrong, Azere ends up at a bar, enjoying the company and later sharing the bed of Rafael Castellano, a man who is tall, handsome, and . . . white. When their one-night stand unexpectedly evolves into something serious, Azere is caught between her feelings for Rafael and the compulsive need to please her mother. Soon, Azere can’t help wondering if loving Rafael makes her any less of a Nigerian. Can she be with him without compromising her identity? The answer will either cause Azere to be audacious and fight for her happiness, or continue to be the compliant daughter."


  • Marsh, Nicola
    The boy toy : a novel
    Summary:"For almost a decade, successful thirty-seven-year-old Samira Broderick has used her bustling Los Angeles practice as an excuse to avoid a trip home to Australia. She still resents her meddling Indian mother for arranging her marriage to a man who didn’t stick around when the going got tough, but now with a new job Down Under, she’s finally ready to reconnect with her. And while she’s there, a
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    Remembering Sharon Kay Penman


  • Penman, Sharon Kay.
    The sunne in splendour : a novel of Richard III
    Summary:A fictional account of the life and times of Richard III captures the pageantry, passion, intrigue, and, above all, tragedy of the War of the Roses, in the story of the last Plantagenet ruler of England.


  • Penman, Sharon Kay.
    Here be dragonsSummary:England’s power-hungry King John arranges a marriage between his youngest daughter, Joanna, and his rival, Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, a young leader who intends to unite all of Wales, in a saga set against the vivid backdrop of thirteenth-century Wales.


  • Penman, Sharon Kay.
    Lionheart
    Summary:A tale inspired by the life and reign of Richard I traces how a second surviving son of Henry Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine inherits the throne from his brother before embarking on the Third Crusade and a war against the Saracens, a conflict that is complicated by the schemes of his usurping brother, John.


  • Penman, Sharon Kay
    The land beyond the sea
    Summary:The Christian ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem following the First Crusade, Baudouin IV, struggles to hold his throne despite political intrigue, personal health risks, and the growing threat of Saladin and his army.


  • Penman, Sharon Kay
    A king’s ransom
    Summary:"From the New York Times-bestselling author of Lionheart comes the dramatic sequel, telling of the last dangerous years of Richard, Couer de Lion’s life. This long-anticipated sequel to the national bestseller Lionheart is a vivid and heart-wrenching story of the last event-filled years in the life of Richard, Coeur de Lion. Taken captive by the Holy Roman Emperor while en route home–in violation of the papal decree protecting all crusaders–he was to spend fifteen months imprisoned, much of it in the notorious fortress at Trefils, from which few men ever left alive, while Eleanor of Aquitaine moved heaven and earth to raise the exorbitant ransom. For the five years remaining to him, betrayals, intrigues, wars, and illness were ever present. So were his infidelities, perhaps a pattern set by his father’s faithlessness to Eleanor. But the courage, compassion, and intelligence of this warrior king became the stuff of legend, and A King’s Ransom brings the man and his world fully and powerfully alive."–


  • Penman, Sharon Kay.
    Devil’s brood
    Summary:A third installment in a trilogy based on the lives of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine traces the collapse of his family in the aftermath of Thomas Becket’s murder and Henry’s self-imposed exile to Ireland, a period during which Eleanor and Henry’s three eldest sons enter into a rebellion against him.


  • Penman, Sharon Kay.
    Dragon’s lair : a medieval mystery
    Summary:When her beloved son Richard is imprisoned and held for ransom in an Austrian dungeon and the hated Prince John plots with King Phillippe of France to prevent Richard’s return, Queen Eleanor sends Justin de Quincy into Wales to recover a ransom payment that has gone missing.


  • Penman, Sharon Kay.
    Falls the shadow
    Summary:In thirteenth-century England, King Henry III’s sister Nell breaks tradition and marries the charismatic Simon de Montfort, an outspoken nobleman who risks death in battle to preserve honor, in a passionate historical saga set against the colorful backdrop of medieval England and Wales.


  • Penman, Sharon Kay.
    When Christ and his saints slept
    Summary:A novel depicting a dark period in English history follows the story of Maude, daughter of Henry I and England’s uncrowned queen, and her cousin Stephen, as their battles for the crown of England lead to twenty years of anarchy.

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    Black History Month : Children’s Biographies


  • Pinkney, Andrea Davis.
    Let it shine : stories of Black women freedom fighters
    Summary:Tells the stories of ten African-American women freedom fighters.


  • Rockliff, Mara
    Born to swing : Lil Hardin Armstrong’s life in jazz
    Summary:Ever since she was a young girl, Lil Hardin played music with a beat. She jammed at home, at church, and even at her first job in a music store. At a time when women’s only place in jazz was at the microphone, Lil earned a spot playing piano in Chicago’s hottest band.


  • Harrison, Vashti
    Little leaders : bold women in black history
    Summary:Features female figures of black history, including abolitionist Sojourner Truth, pilot Bessie Coleman, chemist Alice Ball, politician Shirley Chisholm, mathematician Katherine Johnson, poet Maya Angelou, and filmmaker Julie Dash.


  • Hearth, Amy Hill
    Streetcar to justice : how Elizabeth Jennings won the right to ride in New York
    Summary:"Amy Hill Hearth uncovers the story of a little-known figure in U.S. history in this fascinating biography. In 1854, a young African American woman named Elizabeth Jennings won a major victory against a New York City streetcar company, a first step in the process of desegregating public transportation in Manhattan. This illuminating and important piece of the history of the fight for equal rights, illustrated with photographs and archival material from the period, will engage fans of Phillip Hoose’s Claudette Colvin and Steve Sheinkin’s Most Dangerous. One hundred years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, Elizabeth Jennings’s refusal to leave a segregated streetcar in the Five Points neighborhood of Manhattan set into motion a major court case in New York City."–Provided by publisher.


  • Bolden, Tonya
    Facing Frederick : the life of Frederick Douglass, a monumental American man
    Summary:Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) is best known for the telling of his own emancipation. But there is much more to Douglass’s story than his time spent enslaved and his famous autobiography. Facing Frederick captures the whole complicated, and at times perplexing, person that he was. Statesman, suffragist, writer, and newspaperman, this book focuses on Douglass the man rather than the historical icon.


  • Petry, Ann
    Harriet Tubman : conductor on the Underground Railroad
    Summary:Harriet Tubman was born a slave and dreamed of being free. She was willing to risk everything including her own life to see that dream come true. After her daring escape, Harriet became a conductor on the secret Underground Railroad, helping more than three hundred other slaves make the dangerous journey to freedom.


  • Weatherford, Carole Boston
    Voice of freedom : Fannie Lou Hamer, spirit of the civil rights movement
    Summary:Presents a collage-illustrated treasury of poems and spirituals inspired by the life and work of civil rights advocate Fannie Lou Hamer.


  • Hudson, Cheryl Willis
    Brave. Black. First. : 50+ African American women who changed the world
    Summary:Profiles notable African American women in various fields from Phillis Wheatley, Harriet Tubman, and Ida B. Wells to Condoleeza Rice, Beyoncé, and the founders of Black Lives Matter.

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    Black History Month


  • Berry, Daina Ramey
    A black women’s history of the United States
    Summary:"A Black Women’s History of the United States is a critical survey of black women’s complicated legacy in America, as it takes into account their exploitation and victimization as well as their undeniable and substantial contributions to the country since its inception."


  • Black ink : literary legends on the peril, power, and pleasure of reading and writing
    Summary:"Spanning 250 years, this carefully-curated collection of 25 essays features the earliest Black authors who wrote as means of resistance in a time when their literacy was illegal and the brilliant writers who have continued their legacy–utilizing the power of the written word to create change, insert a diversity of experience into the "mainstream," and make a profound impact on our communities and the world."


  • Twitty, Michael
    The cooking gene : a journey through African-American culinary history in the Old South
    Summary:"First Amistad hardcover published 2017","A memoir of Southern cuisine and food culture that traces the paths of the author’s ancestors (black and white) through the crucible of slavery to show its effects on our food today."


  • Four hundred souls : a community history of African America, 1619-2019
    Summary:"A "choral history" of African Americans covering 400 years of history in the voices of 80 writers, edited by the bestselling, National Book Award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain. Last year marked the four hundredth anniversary of the first African presence in the Americas–and also launched the Four Hundred Souls project, spearheaded by Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Antiracism Institute of American University, and Keisha Blain, editor of The North Star. They’ve gathered together eighty black writers from all disciplines — historians and artists, journalists and novelists–each of whom has contributed an entry about one five-year period to create a dynamic multivoiced single-volume history of black people in America."


  • Tinsley, Omise’eke Natasha
    Beyoncé in formation : remixing black feminism
    Summary:Making headlines when it was launched in 2015, Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley’s undergraduate course "Beyonce Feminism, Rihanna Womanism" has inspired students from all walks of life. In Beyonce in Formation, Tinsley now takes her rich observations beyond the classroom, using the blockbuster album and video Lemonade as a soundtrack for vital next-millennium narratives.0Woven with candid observations about her life as a feminist scholar of African studies and a cisgender femme married to a trans spouse, Tinsley’s "Femme-onade" mixtape explores myriad facets of black women’s sexuality and gender. Turning to Beyonce’s "Don’t Hurt Yourself," Tinsley assesses black feminist critiques of marriage and then considers the models of motherhood offered in "Daddy Lessons," interspersing these passages with memories from Tinsley’s multiracial family history. Her chapters on nontraditional bonds culminate in a discussion of contemporary LGBT politics through the lens of the internet-breaking video "Formation," underscoring why Beyonce’s black femme-inism isn’t only for ciswomen. From pleasure politics and the struggle for black women’s reproductive justice to the subtext of blues and country music traditions, the landscape in this tour is populated by activists and artists (including Loretta Lynn) and infused with vibrant interpretations of Queen Bey’s provocative, peerless imagery and lyrics.0In the tradition of Roxanne Gay’s Bad Feminist and Jill Lepore’s bestselling cultural histories, Beyonce in Formation is the work of a daring intellectual who is poised to spark a new conversation about freedom and identity in America.


  • Whitaker, Mark
    Smoketown : the untold story of the other great Black Renaissance
    Summary:Chronicles the African American renaissance in Pittsburgh from the 1920s through the 1950s, assessing how it rivaled Harlem and Chicago as a site of black culture and influence.


  • Blight, David W.
    Frederick Douglass : prophet of freedom
    Summary:"An acclaimed historian’s definitive biography of the most important African-American figure of the 19th century, Frederick Douglass, who was to his century what Martin Luther King, Jr. was to the 20th century."


  • Sorin, Gretchen Sullivan
    Driving while black : African American travel and the road to civil rights
    Summary:"How the automobile fundamentally changed African American life–the true history beyond the Best Picture-winning movie. The ultimate symbol of independence and possibility, the automobile has shaped this country from the moment the first Model T rolled off Henry Ford’s assembly line. Yet cars have always held distinct importance for African Americans, allowing black families to evade the many dangers presented by an entrenched racist society and to enjoy, in some measure, the freedom of the open road. Gretchen Sorin recovers a forgotten history of black motorists, and recounts their creation of a parallel, unseen world of travel guides, black only hotels, and informal communications networks that kept black drivers safe. At the heart of this story is Victor and Alma Green’s famous Green Book, begun in 1936, which made possible that most basic American right, the family vacation, and encouraged a new method of resisting oppression. Enlivened by Sorin’s personal history, Driving While Black opens an entirely new view onto the African American experience, and shows why travel was so central to the Civil Rights movement."


  • Rosenberg, Rosalind
    Jane Crow : the life of Pauli Murray
    Summary:"Throughout her prodigious life, activist and lawyer Pauli Murray systematically fought against all arbitrary distinctions in society, channeling her outrage at the discrimination she faced to make America a more democratic country. In this definitive biography, Rosalind Rosenberg offers a poignant portrait of a figure who played pivotal roles in both the modern civil rights and women’s movements. A mixed-race orphan, Murray grew up in segregated North Carolina before escaping to New York, where she attended Hunter College and became a labor activist in the 1930s. When she applied to graduate school at the University of North Carolina, where her white great-great-grandfather had been a trustee, she was rejected because of her race. She went on to graduate first in her class at Howard Law School, only to be rejected for graduate study again at Harvard University this time on account of her sex. Undaunted, Murray forged a singular career in the law.
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    Coretta Scott King Award 2021


  • Woodson, Jacqueline
    Before the ever after
    Summary:ZJ’s friends Ollie, Darry and Daniel help him cope when his father, a beloved professional football player, suffers severe headaches and memory loss that spell the end of his career.


  • Weatherford, Carole Boston
    Respect : Aretha Franklin, the queen of soul
    Summary:"Aretha Franklin was born to sing. The daughter of a pastor and a gospel singer, her musical talent was clear from her earliest days in her father’s Detroit church. Aretha sang with a soaring voice that spanned more than three octaves. Her incredible talent and string of hit songs earned her the title "the Queen of Soul." This Queen was a multi-Grammy winner and the first female inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And there was even more to Aretha than being a singer, songwriter, and pianist: she was an activist, too. Her song "Respect" was an anthem for people fighting for civil rights and women’s rights. With words that sing and art that shines, this vibrant portrait of Aretha Franklin pays her the R-E-S-P-E-C-T this Queen of Soul deserves."


  • Taylor, Mildred D.
    All the days past, all the days to come
    Summary:"Cassie Logan, first met in Song of the Trees and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, is a young woman now, searching for her place in the world, a journey that takes her from Toledo to California, to law school in Boston, and, ultimately, in the 60s, home to Mississippi to participate in voter registration. She is witness to the now-historic events of the century: the Great Migration north, the rise of the civil rights movement, preceded and precipitated by the racist society of America, and the often violent confrontations that brought about change. Rich, compelling storytelling is Ms. Taylor’s hallmark, and she fulfills expectations as she brings to a close the stirring family story that has absorbed her for over forty years. It is a story she was born to tell."–Goodreads.com


  • Callender, Kacen
    King and the dragonflies
    Summary:"In a small but turbulent Louisiana town, one boy’s grief takes him beyond the bayous of his backyard, to learn that there is no right way to be yourself."


  • Dionne, Evette
    Lifting as we climb : Black women’s battle for the ballot box
    Summary:"For African American women, the fight for the right to vote was only one battle. An eye-opening book that tells the important, overlooked story of Black women as a force in the suffrage movement–when fellow suffragists did not accept them as equal partners in the struggle."–Publisher’s description.,When the epic story of the suffrage movement in the United States is told, the most familiar leaders, speakers at meetings, and participants in marches written about or pictured are generally white. Dionne shows that the real story isn’t monochromatic. Women of color, especially African American women, were fighting for their right to vote and to be treated as full, equal citizens of the United States. They had to overcome deep, exclusionary racial prejudices that were rife in the American suffrage movement. Dionne draws an important historical line from abolition to suffrage to civil rights to contemporary young activists, and in doing so fills in the blanks of the American suffrage story. — adapted from jacket and Goodreads info


  • Doyon, Samara Cole
    Magnificent homespun brown : a celebration
    Summary:Joyful young narrators celebrate feeling at home in one’s own skin.


  • Slade, Suzanne
    Exquisite : the poetry and life of Gwendolyn Brooks
    Summary:Introduces the life and work of Gwendolyn Brooks, from her early love of poetry and her first published poems as a girl in Chicago through her financial struggles as an adult during the Depression to winning the Pulitzer Prize for her second book.


  • Cabrera, Cozbi A.
    Me & Mama
    Summary:For a little girl on a rainy day, the best place to be is with Mama.

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    Printz Award 2021


  • Nayeri, Daniel
    Everything sad is untrue : (a true story)
    Summary:At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny; who makes things up and talks about poop too much. But Khosrou’s stories, stretching back years, and decades, and centuries, are beautiful, and terrifying, from the moment his family fled Iran in the middle of the night with the secret police moments behind them, back to the sad, cement refugee camps of Italy.and further back to the fields near the river Aras, where rain-soaked flowers bled red like the yolk of sunset burst over everything, and further back still to the Jasmine-scented city of Isfahan. Like Scheherazade in a hostile classroom, Daniel weaves a tale to save his own life: to stake his claim to the truth. And it is (a true story).


  • Gansworth, Eric L.
    Apple skin to the core : a memoir in words and pictures
    Summary:"The term "Apple" is a slur in Native communities across the country. It’s for someone supposedly "red on the outside, white on the inside." Eric Gansworth is telling his story in Apple (Skin to the Core). The story of his family, of Onondaga among Tuscaroras, of Native folks everywhere. From the horrible legacy of the government boarding schools, to a boy watching his siblings leave and return and leave again, to a young man fighting to be an artist who balances multiple worlds. Eric shatters that slur and reclaims it in verse and prose and imagery that truly lives up to the word heartbreaking."–Amazon


  • Yang, Gene Luen
    Dragon hoops
    Summary:Gene understands stories – comic book stories, in particular. Big action. Bigger thrills. And the hero always wins. But Gene doesn’t get sports. As a kid, his friends called him "Stick" and every basketball game he played ended in pain. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it’s all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships. Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he’s seen on a comic book page. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. What he doesn’t know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons’s lives, but his own life as well.


  • Iloh, Candice.
    Every body looking
    Summary:When Ada leaves home for her freshman year at a Historically Black College, it’s the first time she’s ever been so far from her family—and the first time that she’s been able to make her own choices and to seek her place in this new world. As she stumbles deeper into the world of dance and explores her sexuality, she also begins to wrestle with her past—her mother’s struggle with addiction, her Nigerian father’s attempts to make a home for her. Ultimately, Ada discovers she needs to brush off the destiny others have chosen for her and claim full ownership of her body and her future.


  • Chee, Traci
    We are not free
    Summary:For fourteen-year-old budding artist Minoru Ito, her two brothers, her friends, and the other members of the Japanese-American community in southern California, the three months since Pearl Harbor was attacked have become a waking nightmare: attacked, spat on, and abused with no way to retaliate–and now things are about to get worse, their lives forever changed by the mass incarcerations in the relocation camps.

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    Pura Belpre Award 2021


  • Cisneros, Ernesto
    Efrén divided : a novel
    Summary:While his father works two jobs, seventh-grader Efrén Nava must take care of his twin siblings, kindergartners Max and Mia, after their mother is deported to Mexico. Includes glossary of Spanish words.


  • Raúl the Third
    ¡Vamos! : let’s go eat
    Summary:"Little Lobo, a Mexican American, and Bernabé, his dog, gather tacos, frutas picadas, cuernos, and more and deliver them to los luchadores preparing for Lucha Libre 5000."–Provided by publisher.


  • Méndez, Yamile Saied
    Furia
    Summary:Seventeen-year-old Camila Hassan, a rising soccer star in Rosario, Argentina, dreams of playing professionally, in defiance of her fathers’ wishes and at the risk of her budding romance with Diego.


  • Cuevas, Adrianna.
    The total eclipse of Nestor Lopez
    Summary:"All Nestor Lopez wants is to live in one place for more than a few months and have dinner with his dad. When he and his mother move to a new town to live with his grandmother after his dad’s latest deployment, Nestor plans to lay low. He definitely doesn’t want to anyone find out his deepest secret: that he can talk to animals. But when the animals in his new town start disappearing, Nestor’s grandmother becomes the prime suspect after she is spotted in the woods where they were last seen. As Nestor investigates the source of the disappearances, he learns that they are being seized by a tule vieja–a witch who can absorb an animal’s powers by biting it during a solar eclipse. And the next eclipse is just around the corner… Now it’s up to Nestor’s extraordinary ability and his new friends to catch the tule vieja–and save a place he might just call home."–Amazon.


  • Higuera, Donna Barba
    Lupe Wong won’t dance
    Summary:"Lupe Wong is going to be the first female pitcher in the Major Leagues. She’s also championed causes her whole young life. Some worthy … like expanding the options for race on school tests beyond just a few bubbles. And some not so much…like complaining to the BBC about the length between Doctor Who seasons. Lupe needs an A in all her classes in order to meet her favorite pitcher, Fu Li Hernandez, who’s Chinacan/Mexinese just like her. So when the horror that is square dancing rears its head in gym? Obviously she’s not gonna let that slide."–Provided by publisher


  • Brown, Monica
    Sharuko : Peruvian archaeologist Julio C. Tello = El arqueólogo Peruano Julio C. Tello
    Summary:"A picture biography of Julio C. Tello, considered to be the founder of modern Peruvian archaeology, that traces his life from an early interest in Peru’s ancient cultures to his rise as the most distinguished Indigenous social scientist of the twentieth century. A map and an afterword with additional information, photograph, and source list are included."


  • Rivera, Lilliam
    Never look back
    Summary:A modern retelling of the myth, Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Eury leaves Puerto Rico for the Bronx, haunted by losing all to Hurricane Maria and by evil spirit Ato, and meets a bachata-singing charmer, Pheus.


  • Torres Sanchez, Jenny
    We are not from here
    Summary:Pulga has his dreams. Chico has his grief. Pequeña has her pride. And these three teens have one another. But, none of them have illusions about the town they’ve grown up in and the dangers that surround them. Even with the love of family, threats lurk around every corner. And when those threats become all too real, the trio knows they have no choice but to run: from their country, from their families, from their beloved home. Crossing from Guatemala through Mexico, they follow the route of La Bestia, the perilous train system that might deliver them to a better life — if they are lucky enough to survive the journey. With nothing but the bags on their backs and desperation drumming through their hearts, Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña know there is no turning back, despite the unknown that awaits them. And the darkness that seems to follow wherever they go.

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    Caldecott Medal 2021


  • Lindstrom, Carole
    We are water protectors
    Summary:"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."–Jacket flap.

  • Elliott, Zetta
    A place inside of me : a poem to heal the heart
    Summary:From award-winning author Zetta Elliott and rising star illustrator Noa Denmon comes a beautiful #OwnVoices poetic picture book about a brown child discovering and accepting their emotional landscape.


  • Latham, Irene
    The cat man of Aleppo
    Summary:Alaa loves Aleppo, but when war comes his neighbors flee to safety, leaving their many pets behind. Alaa decides to stay — he can make a difference by driving an ambulance, carrying the sick and wounded to safety. One day he hears hungry cats calling out to him on his way home. They are lonely and scared, just like him. He feeds and pets them to let them know they are loved. The next day more cats come, and then even more! There are too many for Alaa to take care of on his own. Alaa has a big heart, but he will need help from others if he wants to keep all of his new friends safe. (The true story of Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel, founder of animal sanctuary Ernesto’s House in Aleppo.)


  • Cabrera, Cozbi A.
    Me & Mama
    Summary:For a little girl on a rainy day, the best place to be is with Mama.


  • Underwood, Deborah
    Outside in
    Summary:Illustrations and easy-to-read text reveal ways nature affects our everyday lives, such as providing food and clothing, and showing when to go to bed and when to get up.

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    Newbery Medal 2021


  • Keller, Tae
    When you trap a tiger
    Summary:When Lily, her sister Sam, and their mother move in with her sick grandmother, Lily traps a tiger and makes a deal with him to heal Halmoni.


  • Soontornvat, Christina
    All thirteen : the incredible cave resuce of the Thai boys’ soccer team
    Summary:"On June 23, 2018, twelve young players of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach enter a cave in northern Thailand seeking an afternoon’s adventure. But when they turn to leave, rising floodwaters block their path out. The boys are trapped! Before long, news of the missing team spreads, launching a seventeen-day rescue operation involving thousands of rescuers from around the globe. Combining firsthand interviews of rescue workers with in-depth science and details of the region’s culture and religion, [the author]…masterfully shows how both the complex engineering operation above ground and the mental struggles of the thirteen young people below proved critical in the life-or-death mission."


  • Weatherford, Carole Boston
    Box : Henry Brown mails himself to freedom
    Summary:What have I to fear? My master broke every promise to me. I lost my beloved wife and our dear children. All, sold South. Neither my time nor my body is mine. The breath of life is all I have to lose. And bondage is suffocating me. Henry Brown wrote that long before he came to be known as Box, he “entered the world a slave.” He was put to work as a child and passed down from one generation to the next — as property. When he was an adult, his wife and children were sold away from him out of spite. Henry Brown watched as his family left bound in chains, headed to the deeper South. What more could be taken from him? But then hope — and help — came in the form of the Underground Railroad. Escape! In stanzas of six lines each, each line representing one side of a box, celebrated poet Carole Boston Weatherford powerfully narrates Henry Brown’s story of how he came to send himself in a box from slavery to freedom. Strikingly illustrated in rich hues and patterns by artist Michele Wood, Box is augmented with historical records and an introductory excerpt from Henry’s own writing as well as a time line, notes from the author and illustrator, and a bibliography.


  • Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker
    Fighting words
    Summary:Depending on an older sister who protected her when their mother went to prison and their mother’s boyfriend committed a terrible act, 10-year-old Della tries to figure out what to do when her older sister attempts suicide.,"Ten-year-old Della can rely on her older sister, Suki, for anything, but when Suki attempts suicide, Della must seek help and speak out about the sexual abuse they’ve both suffered at the hands of their mother’s boyfriend"– Provided by publisher.


  • Kelly, Erin Entrada
    We dream of space
    Summary:Cash, Fitch, and Bird Thomas are three siblings in seventh grade together in Park, Delaware. In 1986, as the country waits expectantly for the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger, they each struggle with their own personal anxieties. Cash, who loves basketball but has a newly broken wrist, is in danger of failing seventh grade for the second time. Fitch spends every afternoon playing Major Havoc at the arcade on Main. And Bird, his twelve-year-old twin, dreams of being NASA’s first female shuttle commander. The Thomas children exist in their own orbits, circling a tense and unpredictable household, with little in common except an enthusiastic science teacher named Ms. Salonga. As the launch of the Challenger approaches, Ms. Salonga gives her students a project; they are separated into spacecraft crews and must create and complete a mission. When the fated day finally arrives, it changes all of their lives and brings them together in unexpected ways.


  • Soontornvat, Christina
    A wish in the dark
    Summary:A boy on the run. A girl determined to find him. A compelling fantasy looks at issues of privilege, protest, and justice. All light in Chattana is created by one man–the Governor, who appeared after the Great Fire to bring peace and order to the city. For Pong, who was born in Namwon Prison, the magical lights represent freedom, and he dreams of the day he will be able to walk among them. But when Pong escapes from prison, he realizes that the world outside is no fairer than the one behind bars. The wealthy dine and dance under bright orb light, while the poor toil away in darkness. Worst of all, Pong’s prison tattoo marks him as a fugitive who can never be truly free. Nok, the prison warden’s perfect daughter, is bent on tracking Pong down and restoring her family’s good name. But as Nok hunts Pong through the alleys and canals of Chattana, she uncovers secrets that make her question the truths she has always held dear. Set in a Thai-inspired fantasy world, Christina Soontornvat’s twist on Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is a dazzling, fast-paced adventure that explores the difference between law and justice–and asks whether one child can shine a light in the dark.

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    Holocaust Remembrance Day : Young Adult Books


  • Leyson, Leon
    The boy on the wooden box : how the impossible became possible…on Schindler’s list
    Summary:The biography of Leon Leyson, the only memoir published by a former Schindler’s List child.


  • Freedman, Russell
    We will not be silent : the White Rose student resistance movement that defied Adolf Hitler
    Summary:"In his signature eloquent prose, backed up by thorough research, Russell Freedman tells the story of Austrian-born Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie. They belonged to Hitler Youth as young children, but began to doubt the Nazi regime. As older students, the Scholls and a few friends formed the White Rose, a campaign of active resistance to Hitler and the Nazis. Risking imprisonment or even execution, the White Rose members distributed leaflets urging Germans to defy the Nazi government. Their belief that freedom was worth dying for will inspire young readers to stand up for what they believe in. Archival photographs and prints, source notes, bibliography, index. "–,"The true story of the White Rose, a group of students in Nazi Germany who were active undercover agents of the resistance movement against Hitler and his regime."


  • Hoose, Phillip M.
    The boys who challenged Hitler : Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club
    Summary:"At the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation’s leaders, fifteen-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not. Naming their secret club after the fiery British leader, the young patriots in the Churchill Club committed countless acts of sabotage, infuriating the Germans, who eventually had the boys tracked down and arrested. But their efforts were not in vain: the boys’ exploits and eventual imprisonment helped spark a full-blown Danish resistance. Interweaving his own narrative with the recollections of Knud himself, here is Phil Hoose’s inspiring story of these young war heroes."


  • Atwood, Kathryn J.
    Women heroes of World War II : 26 stories of espionage, sabotage, resistance, and rescue
    Summary:Overview: A 2012 VOYA Nonfiction Honor List selection. Noor Inayat Khan was the first female radio operator sent into occupied France and transferred crucial messages. Johtje Vos, a Dutch housewife, hid Jews in her home and repeatedly outsmarted the Gestapo. Law student Hannie Schaft became involved in the most dangerous resistance work–sabotage, weapons transference, and assassinations. In these pages, young readers will meet these and many other similarly courageous women and girls who risked their lives to help defeat the Nazis.

  • Savit, Gavriel
    Anna and the Swallow Man
    Summary:When her university professor father is sent by the Gestapo to a concentration camp, seven-year-old Anna travels the Polish countryside with the mysterious Swallow Man during World War II.


  • DeWoskin, Rachel
    Someday we will fly
    Summary:Lillia, fifteen, flees Warsaw with her father and baby sister in 1940 to try to make a new start in Shanghai, China, but the conflict grows more intense as America and Japan become involved.


  • Opdyke, Irene Gut
    In my hands : memories of a holocaust rescuer
    Summary:Recounts the experiences of the author who, as a young Polish girl, hid and saved Jews during the Holocaust.


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