Year: 2024

Set in the same community
as Firekeeper’s Daughter, and featuring many of the same characters, Warrior Girl Unearthed is the story of an Ojibwe teen who discovers a plot to profit off robbed Indigenous graves. With the help of a ragtag group of friends, takes matters into her own hands to protect her community, and bring her ancestors home where they belong, while staring down challenges including generational grudges, bureaucratic subterfuge, unnerving stories of missing women, family secrets, and
painful realities about the legacy of colonialism. A thrilling heist gives way to a complexand compelling mystery, effortlessly exploring themes of identity, family, and reclamation in a Native community. Source: Publisher.

Angelien Boulley

Warrior Girl Unearthed Information Sheet

On August 28, 1963, a quarter of a million activists and demonstrators from every corner of the United States convened for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was there and then that they raised their voices in unison to call for racial and economic justice for all Black Americans, to call out inequities, and ultimately to advance the Civil Rights Movement.

Every movement has its unsung heroes: individuals who work in the background without praise or accolades, who toil and struggle without notice. One of those unsung heroes was at the center of some of the most important decisions and events of the Civil Rights Movement.

That hero was a quiet man, a gay African American man. He was Bayard Rustin. Carole Boston Weatherford and Rob Sanders’s A Song for the Unsung, featuring illustrations from artist Byron McCray, is an inspiring story that answers one of our nation’s greatest calls to action by honoring one of the men who made it happen. Source: Publisher

Carole Boston Weatherford and Rob Sanders

A Song for the Unsung Information Sheet

In this fresh, sensitive, diary-style graphic novel, 12-year-old Tuva’s questions about becoming a teenager are confusing—so when her first crush turns out to be on another girl, it feels absolutely wonderful–so why does it become so complicated?

Tuva is starting seventh grade, and her checklist of goals includes: writing out a diary, getting a trendy look, building the best fort in the woods with her BFFs, and much more. But when she starts school, nothing is how she hoped it would be.

Seventh grade has split her friends into rival factions: TEAM LINNEA and the girls who fall in love and TEAM BAO and the girls who NEVER fall in love. Linnea has a BOYFRIEND, Bao hates everything related to love. Worst of all, Linnea and Bao expect Tuva to choose a side!

In this delightfully hand-lettered coming-of-age graphic diary, Tuva gets caught between feeling like a kid and wanting to know HOW to become a teenager. Then Miriam shows up and suddenly Tuva feels as if she’s met her soulmate. Can you fall in love with a girl, keep it from your friends, and survive? For Tuva, it may be possible, but it’s definitely not easy. Source: Publisher

Nora Dåsnes

Cross My Heart and Never Lie Information Sheet

All it takes is a loving teacher to help a boy get control of his sizzling superpowers, in this vibrant picture book by bestselling author Derrick Barnes.

Bobby Beacon’s got fire flowing through his veins. And now he’s psyched to attend a new school that’ll help him get a better grip on his powers. But right off the bat, his new teacher is not too welcoming. That causes Bobby’s hot temper to land him in the principal’s office. It ain’t easy to stay calm when people don’t seem to understand you and are always pushing you to the edge. Good thing Bobby gets moved to a class with an understanding teacher who clues him in on ways to calm himself and shows him that caring for others is its own kind of superpower. With her help—and some cool new friends—he just might be on his way to becoming the best version of himself possible. Source: Publisher.

Derrick Barnes

Like Lava In My Veins Information Sheet

Acclaimed as the Children’s Book of the Year, a captivating take that cultivates empathy, nurtures self-confidence, and inspires an attitude of appreciation in young minds.
Meet the children who learned to dance in the rain. Sophie gets bored quickly and won’t even eat her food without looking at her tablet. She’s thrilled to hear of her family’s upcoming trip to a magical place called India, a land she’s only heard of in stories. Once there, she quickly realizes that the underprivileged children living in the mud colony possess a joy and contentment she can’t explain. Sophie sets out on a journey of discovery, but what she finds may change her world forever. This tale about the true meaning of happiness and the power of gratitude is based on true events.

Susan Justice

Children Who Dance in the Rain Information Sheet

It’s summer in the city, and this hot dog has had enough! Enough of sizzling sidewalks, enough of wailing sirens, enough of people’s feet right in his face. When he plops down in the middle of a crosswalk, his owner endeavors to get him the breath of fresh air he needs. She hails a taxi, hops a train, and ferries out to the beach.
Here, a pup can run!
With fluid art and lyrical text that have the soothing effect of waves on sand, Hot Dog shows us how to find calm and carry it back with us so we can appreciate the small joys in a day. Source: Doug Salati. Fortunately, the dog’s devoted owner understands. She breaks off her round of errands mid-crosswalk, picks up her dog, and takes a taxi, then a train, and finally a ferry to an island, “wild and long and low,” where the pair enjoys an idyllic beach day. The dog runs and runs, chases waves, delivers shells and stones to its owner, digs holes; the woman relaxes under an umbrella. Restored, they return to the city in the evening, now able to cherish its many pleasures—­skateboarders in the park, street pretzels, a fruit stand. Source: The Horn Book

Doug Salati

Hot Dog Information Sheet

This biography of basketball superstar Jeremy Lin is an anthem of Asian American pride that speaks to any child who feels underestimated or misunderstood. If Lin can, you can! Have you ever been told that you CAN’T? Growing up in the Bay Area, Jeremy Lin heard that over and over again. People made fun of his size and his race and wouldn’t give him a chance. But Jeremy persevered until he became the first Taiwanese American to play in the NBA. And when his big moment came, he seized it. Jeremy’s meteoric rise, dubbed “Linsanity,” inspired the world and a whole generation of young Asian Americans. As author Richard Ho puts it, “Jeremy’s struggles were our struggles, so his triumphs were our triumphs. He made us believe that if he could succeed, so could we.” This biography of basketball superstar Jeremy Lin is an anthem of Asian American pride that speaks to any child who feels underestimated or misunderstood. This biography of basketball superstar Jeremy Lin is an anthem of Asian American pride that speaks to any child who feels underestimated or misunderstood. If Lin can, you can!
Have you ever been told that you CAN’T? Growing up in the Bay Area, Jeremy Lin heard that over and over again. People made fun of his size and his race and wouldn’t give him a chance. But Jeremy persevered until he became the first Taiwanese American to play in the NBA. And when his big moment came, he seized it!
Jeremy’s meteoric rise, dubbed “Linsanity,” inspired the world and a whole generation of young Asian Americans. As author Richard Ho puts it, “Jeremy’s struggles were our struggles, so his triumphs were our triumphs. He made us believe that if he could succeed, so could we.”

Source: Publisher.

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Richard Ho

If Lin Can Information Sheet

The Eyes and the Impossible is the story of a dog named Johannes. Johannes is a free dog, a fast dog—such a fast dog! He lives in an urban park by the sea, and every day, he runs through the park, seeing all, missing nothing, and reporting what he sees to the park’s three ancient Bison, the Keepers of the Equilibrium. But the Equilibrium has been disrupted. Mysterious rectangles are hypnotizing Johannes, humans are erecting a strange new building, and an entirely new kind of animal has arrived in the park—and there are hundreds of them. Johannes must run faster, see better, and ultimately do more than run and see—he must liberate those he loves. Gorgeously illustrated throughout by Shawn Harris (author of Have You Ever Seen a Flower? and illustrator of Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers, among many others), Dave Eggers’s The Eyes and the Impossible is a lyrical, soulful book full of wit and passion—a timeless story for readers of all ages. Source: McSweeney’s.

Dave Eggers

The Eyes and the Impossible Information Sheet