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This is a story about a boy named Josh, his twin brother Jordan, and their parents.  Josh and Jordan were close to each other and the game of basketball.  The book takes you on an emotional journey through Jordan getting a girlfriend and Josh becoming lonely and needing to deal with his new life without his brother always being his second half.  The story is told through rhymes like poetry, and there is also a focus on their father.  Their father used to be a big time basketball player who said he wasn’t playing anymore because he was focused on taking care of the family.  Throughout the story, we learn that dad quit basketball because of his fear of doctors.  He needed a knee surgery, and ultimately decided to quit the game instead of going through with it.  As the story progresses suspicions of dads declining health become apparent.  At the end of the story, TEARS FALL as you learn that their father died from a heart condition after passing out during one of their games.  The story ends with Jordan’s girlfriend calling to give Josh her condolences during the family gathering after the funeral and inviting him to go to a basketball game with her and Jordan.  Then Josh was shooting hoops to try to beat his dads record and when he did his brother came out and gave him his dads championship ring.  It ends with a hopeful moment of rekindling their brotherly bond.

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In this story, Frida is represented in a series of scenes where she is creatively expressing herself through laughter, love, dream, and play.  She is shown with her monkey, bird, and husband.  The beautiful pictures show her wearing traditional Mexican clothing and even playing with a day of the dead inspired skeleton puppet.  I love that this book is written in both English and Spanish, with the Spanish font being even bigger and more beautiful than the English font, which shows it is the focal point.

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This is a true story about a slave who escaped to freedom in the 1800’s .  Henry grew up in slavery.  He had a nice slave owner and then was given away to his son, who was not good to Henry.  Henry fell in love, got married, and had two children.  They were fortunate to live together, until one day when his wife and kids were sold.  He watched them be taken away in wagons and was determined to escape.  A doctor who did not agree with slavery helped him by mailing him in a crate to his friends in Philadelphia where there was no slavery.  After a long brutal journey over 24 hours he arrived safely.  Henry was free, but never did see his wife and children again.  I like that this book is a way to teach even young children about the brutal reality of life as a slave and the complexity of even not being able to sing or know your birthday.  It also provides hope to those in even the worst of situations.

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This story is about a boy named CJ and his grandmother, who are on their weekly routine from church to their soup kitchen across town.  At first CJ complains and keeps asking his grandmother questions about why they don’t have a car, cant get a radio, and have to go to the dirty side of town and his friends don’t.  Grandma always answers and acts to help him see the beauty in their travels, city, and people around them.  She gets him to experience the music, people, and scenery along their journey where he ends up appreciating it.  I chose this book because it represented a more culturally rich and economically poor lifestyle that is representative of much of our country.  Instead of the story searching for a “solution” to not having a car, it highlights the beauty in that way of life and portrays it in a positive light.  The book also features a man with tattoos on the bus, a blind man, and a man in a wheelchair, which is more representative of our population than is usually featured in books.

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This story is about the young Crazy Horse, known as Curly.  Curly was a brave leader who was ahead of his years.  When White settlers brought trouble and violence to his tribe, all he wanted to do was protect them.  So Curly went off to seek a vision, even though he did not follow the traditional way to do so or enlist the help of his elders.  He saw a vision, but his father was so upset that he went off to do it on his own he did not tell him about it.  A few years later, his dad asked about the vision.  He realized he was mature enough to step up into that protector role for his tribe and named him Crazy Horse.  I chose this book because it represents an important part of our history and culture, Native Americans, that are too often under represented and/or portrayed in a way where the whites were not guilty of horrible crimes.

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This story is about a boy and his dog who spend the quiet nights delivering newspapers together.  While everyone else is sleeping, they enjoy the stars and routine.  It is like their own little world.  The dog is his companion and knows the route as well as he does.  I chose this book because it represents a young African American boy just living his life.  My goal was to find books who represent diverse ethnicities without the story being focused on race or social issues.

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This story is about a young girl who lives in a grey, drab dessert.  In the story though, she seeks to find the beautiful colors of the world.  She finds beauty in the pink sunsets and purple in the flowers that she decorates her mud pies with.  I chose this book because it represents a young Latino girl in the story and pictures, as well as has each page written in English and Spanish.  What I like about the way this book incorporates Spanish writing is that it is not smaller or sprinkled in.  Every page is equally written in Spanish and English.

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This story is about a young boy who waked up to a beautiful scene with tons of snow outside.  He was curious and explored, making different sounds and imprints in the snow and made a snowman.  The reason I chose this book was it accomplishes what we discussed in class is a major discrepancy in literature featuring diverse populations, that there are people of color are PEOPLE.  So there is no mention of the boy being African American and no hardship or underlying theme, just a boy enjoying a snowy day.

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C/M: Guy- The laid-back, creative, class clown who doesn’t want to be class president, but is in the running anyway.

Clint- The new, wheel-chair bound kid with integrity who stands up to Tank and runs Guy’s campaign, but he won’t run for office himself.

Tank- The class bully who uses force to try and become the class president.

P: Guy is running for class president even though he doesn’t know what to do and doesn’t want to, but he doesn’t want Tank the bully to win the election.  Clint takes over his campaign to help him win.

S: The day of the election, Guy learns that Clint isn’t running because he is worried that people won’t vote for him because his wheelchair makes him different, so Guy nominates him to run in his final speech. Clint wins by a large margin and becomes class president.

L: It is important to face your fears.

You should stand up for what you believe in.