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We Wait for the Sun by Dovey Johnson Roundtree and Katie McCabe (2021)

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We Wait for the Sun by Dovey Johnson Roundtree and Katie McCabe (2021)

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Roundtree, Dovey Johnson, et al. We Wait for the Sun. Roaring Book Press, 2021.

We Wait for the Sun is a memory from activist Dovey Johnson Roundtree's childhood where she goes blackberry picking with her Grandmother. They wake before the sun rises and make their way deep into the forest, following the birds to find the sweetest and ripest blackberries. While Dovey Mae is afraid of the dark, Grandma Rachel is always at her side and turns their hunt for blackberries into a magical adventure. As they watch the sun rise, Grandma Rachel and Dovery Mae return home from their magical adventure together. This book was a nominee for the Coretta Scott King Book Award in 2022 and was written by Dovey Johnson Roundtree herself.

This book would be a great addition to your libraries picture book collection. Not only has it won awards, it is also newly published (2021). This book would serve as a great mentor text for when your students are writing about themselves and/or a memory. This book was also written by Dovey Johnson Roundtree who is a Black woman and features people of color in the book.

Purchase at:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/we-wait-for-the-sun-katie-mccabe/1136619280?ean=9781250229021

Additional resources:
https://www.doveyjohnsonroundtree.com/

https://www.katiemccabeauthor.com/

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/dovey-johnson-roundtree/we-wait-for-the-sun/

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Inside out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai (2011)

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Inside out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai (2011)

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Lai, Thanhha. HaperCollins , 2011.

Inside out & Back Again the winner of the National Book Award, Newberry Honor Award, and a Notable Children’s Book Award in 2012. This novel is based on the author Thanhha Lai and her first year in America as a ten-year-old girl who spoke no English in the year 1975. She and her family fled Vietnam at the end of the war. Similarly, the main character in the book fled with her family during the fall of Saigon. The book details the character's struggles to assimilate into the deep South without losing herself and her culture. She deals with active racism and religious discrimination from her peers and adults in the community.

This book would be a great addition to your library for your higher level reading students who are in the accelerated program. This book is the recipient of many awards and was written by a Vietnamese author and focuses on a Vietnamese girl. This book is also written completely in free verse poetry and would be a great new book format for your students!

Purchase at:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/inside-out-and-back-again-thanhha-lai/1100198085?ean=9780061962790

Additional Resources:
https://www.thanhhalai.com/u

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/thanhha-lai/inside-out-and-back-againh/

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Grandad's Camper by Harry Woodgate (2022)

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Grandad's Camper by Harry Woodgate (2022)

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Woodgate, Harry. Grandad's Camper. Andersen Press Ltd, 2022.

This realistic fiction picture book focuses on a granddaughter and her Grandad as she spends part of her summer at his house by the sea. She talks about how much she loves her Grandad's cottage and all that she gets to do with him but that her favorite thing is snuggling on the sofa while Grandad tells stories of the places him and Gramps used to go. Since Gramps, his partner, passed away Grandad has not wanted to go on any adventures until his granddaughter suggests they clean up Gramps old camper and go to the seaside like Grandad and Gramps used to do. The author of Grandad's Camper, Harry Woodgate (they/them) is apart of the LGBTQ+ community which I appreciate since they are apart of the community they are writing about.

This book would serve as a great picture book in your library. Not only does it focus on a rainbow family, but it also was written by an author in the LGBTQ+ community.

Purchase at :
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/grandads-camper-harry-woodgate/1137252115?ean=9781499811933

Additional Resources:
https://www.harrywoodgate.com/
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/harry-woodgate/grandads-camper/

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Gino, Alex. Melissa. Scholastic Press, 2015.

Melissa by Alex Gino is the winner of Lambda Literary Award, Stonewall Award, Children’s Choice Book Awards and Juvenile California Book Award. This book is about a child whose given name is George. Throughout the story, the main character gives the reader insight to the secret she’s been keeping from family and friends, that her true identity is a girl named Melissa. As we were reading, we were rooting for acceptance from Melissa’s family, friends and teachers. Melissa longs for the role of Charlotte in her school play, where her true identity can be revealed and accepted by those around her. Her teacher was unwilling to let “George” have the lead female role of the play. With the help of her best friend, Kelly, they devise a plan that will allow Melissa to become Charlotte and show her school and family her true self. This book provides an insider perspective, the author, Alex Gino, went through similar experiences as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and wished that there were books about transgender youth when they were younger. The audible version included a Q&A section with the author which provided more insight regarding their writing process and other specific questions the readers had. Alex mentioned in the Q&A that the title of the book changed from George to Melissa after publication due to respect for the main character, Melissa's true identity.

This book would be a great addition to your library for your higher level reading students who are in the accelerated program. This book is the recipient of many awards and was written by an author in the LGBTQ+ community author and focuses on a transgender girl finding her true identity.

Purchase at :
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/melissa-alex-gino/1140439460?ean=9781338843415

Additional Resources:
http://www.alexgino.com/books/melissa/

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DiPucchio, Kelly. Katherine Tegen Books, 2021.

In the story the main character, Oona, and her otter friend, Otto, love to look for treasure all over the under water world but instead of treasure, they mostly just find trouble. One treasure Oona and Otto cannot seem to figure a way to obtain is a crown tightly wedged into a deep, dark rift. They try three different times to get the crown but can never seem to find a way to obtain it. Oona gives up on treasure hunting all together until a new idea pops into her head on how to get the crown. Oona creates goggles to help her see in the rift and realizes that sometimes the best treasure are made, not found.

This picture book would be a great option in your library for your lower level readers. It has many easily decoded words and not many sentences per pages. This will also interest many of your students since Black mermaids are not common in books. With the new live action of The Little Mermaid, many people are wanting characters of color to be in main character roles that used to only show white people.

Purchase at:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/oona-kelly-dipucchio/1136850187?ean=9780062982247

Additional Resources:
https://www.kellydipucchio.com/home.html

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kelly-dipucchio/oona-dipucchio/

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Hundred Years of Happiness by Thanhha Lai Illustrated by Phung Nguyen Quang and Huynh Kim Lien (2022)

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Hundred Years of Happiness by Thanhha Lai Illustrated by Phung Nguyen Quang and Huynh Kim Lien (2022)

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Lai, Thanhha, et al. Hundred Years of Happiness. HarperCollins, 2022.

This wonderful story about memories is from a respective author (who also wrote Inside Out & Back Again which I recommended above for your higher level readers). It was recently publish in 2022 so it has not received any awards yet, but be on the look out in 2023! This story centers around An, her grandmother, Bà, and her grandfather, Ông. Bà often gets caught in these cloudy memories so An and Ông come up with a plan to bring her back to a happy memory. The happy memory they want her to remember is about growing fruit in Vietnam and making her favorite food from her wedding with those fruits. Together, An and Ông work in the garden planting seeds and waiting for fruit to grow to give Bà the happy memory back.

This book was written and illustrated by people in the Asian community and centers around Vietnamese culture and heritage. This would be a great book to add to your library to showcase diversity in characters, authors and abilities. Not only does this book focus on a Vietnamese family, it also focuses on Bà having memory issues which many of our students grandparents or other family members also struggle with.

Purchase at:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hundred-years-of-happiness-thanhh-lai/1139799016?ean=9780063026926

Additional Resources:
https://www.thanhhalai.com/hundred-years-of-happiness

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Duncan, Alice Faye. Yellow Dog Blues. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2022.

Yellow Dog Blues is lyrical book that about a boy named Bo Willie who discovers his doghouse empty and Yellow Dog is gone. Bo Willie goes all over town looking for Yellow Dog asking the people in town if anyone has seen Yellow Dog. Aunt Jessie eventually finds him in her pink Cadillac and their search for the missing pup eventually leads them to a juke joint and a tamale stand but they still cannot find the missing dog.

This book is suggested on the Social Justice Book website for early elementary students which would be a great choice for your lower readers. This book also features characters of different races and ethnicities and is written by a Black woman. Something interesting about this book is the lyrical free verse style it has with its words and the stunning hand-stitched art featured throughout the book. These would great to show your students as a mentor text for using free verse or showing them different ways they can make illustrations in their own stories.

Purchase at:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/yellow-dog-blues-alice-faye-duncan/1141047355?ean=9780802855534

Additional Resources:
https://alicefayeduncan.com/

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/alice-faye-duncan/yellow-dog-blues/

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Papa, Daddy, & Riley by Seamus Kirst (2020)

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Papa, Daddy, & Riley by Seamus Kirst (2020)

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Kirst, Seamus. Papa, Daddy, & Riley. Magination Press, 2020.

When Riley starts school, her classmate, Olive, asks who the men dropping her off are. Riley explains to Olive that those are her parents, Papa and Daddy. Olive tells Riley that families cannot have two dads, only one mom and one dad. Riley does not want to have to choose and spends the rest of her day worry about which of her dads she will keep. When she gets home, Papa and Daddy instantly know that something is wrong and Riley tells them about what Olive said. Papa and Daddy then explain to Riley that every family is different, some have one parent, some have two, some have one mom and one dad, and some have two moms. Some even have stepparents and some have grandparents or aunts and uncles. They then tell Riley that though neither of them gave birth to her, they carried her in their hearts and were meant to be together as a family.

This would be a great addition in your library to highlight the different family dynamics in your classroom. It might highlight some mirrors for your students who share similar feelings as Riley in the story or some windows for your students who have a mom and dad at home. This book was an ALA's 2021 Rainbow Book List Selection, NCSS-CBC 2021 Notable Social Studies Trade Book, and One of Bank Street's 2021 Best Children's Books of the Year.

Purchase at:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/papa-daddy-and-riley-seamus-kirst/1135040986?ean=9781433832390

Additional Resources:
Seamus Kirst does not have a website, but he is on GoodReads if you would like to take a look at his other children's book.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16374028.Seamus_Kirst

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/seamus-kirst/papa-daddy-and-riley/

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Red Riding Hood by James Marshall (1993)

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Red Riding Hood by James Marshall (1993)

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Marshall, James. Red Riding Hood. Lakeshore Learning Materials, 1993.

In this adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood, Red Riding Hood's grandmother is not feeling well so her mother sends her off to Grandmothers house to deliver custard. Mother warned her to go straight there and not to speak to anyone. While in the dark forest a wolf appears and offers to escort Red Riding Hood to Grandmothers since the woods are not safe. On their walk, Red Riding Hood stops to pick some flowers and the wolf runs ahead to Grandmothers house and gobbles her up. He then dressed up as Grandmother and gobbles up Red Riding Hood. Luckily a hunter is walking by and jumps through the window, cutting open the wolf and lets Grandmother and Red Riding Hood free from the wolf!

This would be a great traditional story to add to your collection, there are many other versions of Red Riding Hood that you could also add to your collection, this would be great for your students to see the difference between folktales and how authors write their own versions of the same story. James Marshall has also written his version of other traditional stories which would be neat to add to your collection too!

Purchase at:
https://www.amazon.com/Riding-Hood-retold-James-Marshall/dp/0140546936

Additional Resources:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/43692/james-marshall/

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Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China by Ai-Ling Louie (1996)

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Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China by Ai-Ling Louie (1996)

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Louie, Ai-Ling. Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China. Paperstar, 1996.

This story is based on a Chinese folktale and is written and illustrated by Chinese Americans, Ai-Ling Louie and Ed Young. It was an ALA Notable Children’s Book and IRA, CBC Children’s Choice Book. The book has many similarities to the European Cinderella that many people know. Yeh-Shen grows up with her stepmother and stepsisters but instead of fairy Godmother, Yeh-Shen has spiritual fish bones from her pet fish her stepmother killed out of cruelty.  The fish bones grant her wishes when she is in need. When the spring festival comes around, Yeh-Shen is not allowed to go so she asked her fish bones to create an outfit suitable for her to go to the festival. Yeh-Shen is also given golden shoes with her new beautiful dress. At the festival, Yeh-Shen loses one of her golden shoes while fleeing. The King finds her shoe and wants to meet the owner of such a beautiful shoe. In the end, Yeh-Shen marries the King and her stepmother and stepsisters must live in a cave and are crushed by rocks.

There are many different versions of Cinderella but adding this one to your classroom would be great since it showcases how the traditional story has been changed and adapted over the years and between countries.

Purchase at:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/yeh-shen-ai-ling-louie/1100182099?ean=9780698113886

Additional Resources:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/247964/ai-ling-louie/

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Pilkey, Dav. Cat Kid Comic Club. Scholastic, Inc., 2020.

While this series of books has not won any awards yet, this series is written by Dav Pilkey who is the well known author of Captain Underpants, Dog Man, and Super Diaper Baby. The nice part about this series is that it is recommended for lower elementary students! This would be a great graphic novel to add to your collection for your lower reading level students. The series is about animals who are in a comic club together! These graphic novels show the adventures the animals do in class and on paper and all of the silly mischief they get into

Purchase at:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cat-kid-comic-club-dav-pilkey/1136771388?ean=9781338712773

Additional Resources:
https://pilkey.com/

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/dav-pilkey/cat-kid-comic-club/

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When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed (2020)

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When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed (2020)

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Jamieson, Victoria, and Omar Mohamed. When Stars Are Scattered. Penguin Young Readers Group, 2020.

Omar and his brother Hassan have spent most of their lives in a refugee camp in Kenya. Life in the camp is difficult, they struggle to get enough food and to get medical care. Hassan is nonverbal and Omar knows that his brother needs more medical care than he is able to get in the camp. When Omar has the chance to go to school, he knows that it is his chance to change his and his brother future. Only issue is that going to school means leaving his brother, his only family member left.

When Stars Are Scattered is a true story about the author, Omar Mohamed who was a Somali refugee. The book was a National Book Award Finalist and Omar Mohamed is a Newbery Honor winning creator for his other book, Roller Girl. The book is also a New York Times Bestseller, a 2021 Walter Award Winner, and a 2021 Schneider Family Book Award Honor. This would be a great addition to your classroom library since it is a true story and I know your students are struggling to read nonficiton texts. Although your students do not like nonficiton, they love graphic novels and this would encourage them to read more nonficiton books. This book would also serve as a window into other peoples lives since it takes place in Kenya and features those who are refugees.

Purchase at:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/when-stars-are-scattered-victoria-jamieson/1132493422?ean=9780525553908#

Additional Resources:
https://www.nationalbook.org/people/omar-mohamed/

https://www.victoriajamieson.com/

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/victoria-jamieson/when-stars-are-scattered/