In this poignant, empowering picture book debut, a girl and her beloved abuelita lean on each other as they contend with racism while running errands in the city.
Author: Book Importer
Coming Up Cuban: Rising Past Castro’s Shadow
“Examines the impact of the 1959 Cuban Revolution on four children from very different walks of life. In the wake of a new regime in Cuba, Ana, Miguel, Zulema, and Juan learn to find a place for themselves in a world forever changed. In a tumultuous moment of history, we see the lasting effects of a revolution in Havana, the countryside, Miami, and New York. Their separate narratives build, overlap, and entwine to creat one inspiring story–an adventure that spans towns, cities, nations, and worlds. Through these stories, we are reminded that regardless of any tumultuous times, we are all forever connected in our humanity”–Adapted from publisher
Onyeka And The Rise Of The Rebels
The epic second book in the action-packed and empowering middle-grade superhero series. Perfect for 8+ fans of Percy Jackson, Amari and the Night Brothers, and Black Panther. Soon to be a feature film with a major streamer!
Power bursts through my body, and I gasp as my hair shoots out like an avenging sword. It slashes a line through the wooden decking of the walkway. With a deafening crack, the wood breaks apart, splintering with the force of the impact.
Having uncovered head teacher Dr. Dòyìnbó’s hidden agenda behind the Academy of the Sun, Onyeka and her friends are on the run. But they’ve got bigger problems to worry about—they desperately need to find a cure for the Solari disease that comes with using their Ike power and they need to locate Onyeka’s missing parents.
When their last safe house is uncovered, Onyeka turns to the only potential allies they have left; the Rogues, a group of rebels that have been trying to expose Dr. Dòyìnbó’s lies for years. Joining forces, will the two groups be able to defeat their shared nemesis, or is there a new danger on the horizon for the Solari?
Questions Asked
Follows a little boy traveling alone in an open landscape, asking questions about loss, love, friendship, language, magic, and what it means to be a human being.
Adrift
The resilience of two cousins is tested when one of them is lost at sea and washes up on a deserted island while the other remains at home, holding on to the belief that her beloved cousin is still alive.
Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy
Two families flee extreme weather in India and come together on a mountaintop.
The Melancholy Of Summer
After seventeen year old Summer’s parents go on the run, she is placed in the care of Olu, a cousin she barely knows, but with Olu and friends’ efforts, stoic Summer eventually learns to open up.
A Hunger Of Thorns
When Maud hit puberty she lost her wild magic and her best friend, Odette, rejected her but now Odette has disappeared, her magic leading her down dark paths, and Maud knows that to rescue her former friend she will have to tread the same paths into a wild, dangerous world.
Doodles From The Boogie Down
A young Dominican girl navigates middle school, her strict mother, shifting friendships, and her dream of being an artist.
Dounia And The Magic Seeds
Dounia is the story of a little girl who loves her home city of Aleppo, Syria, and its many smells, sights, and traditions. But when war breaks out, Dounia and her grandparents must flee Aleppo to find safety. Before they go, their neighbour reads their future in a cup of coffee, she sees a long difficult journey ahead of the family and a blue house awaiting them at the end. Taking only a bird carved from Aleppo soap and four little barake seeds in her pocket, Dounia faces dangerous waters, a camp surrounded by barbed wire, and unfriendly soldiers, and she wonders where she and her family belong in the world. Remembering the ancient knowledge that barake seeds ward off evil, she pulls one from her pocket to use for each of the threats they face. Magically, the seeds from their faraway home help them along their way, until they finally find the blue house at the end of their journey.
In her new home, Dounia plants her final seed in a pot so it can grow and offer more seeds, while also keeping a piece of Aleppo with her. The baraké seeds represent the Syrian culture. Although Dounia is fleeing her country, she carries with her the strength of her people. It is by tapping into her roots, represented by the seeds, that she finds her own strength and resilience. The magical moments brought about by the baraké seeds can be interpreted as Dounia’s imagination it’s a way of seeing the war and the migration from a six year old’s perspective. Dounia does not understand everything that is going on, but she is not a powerless victim. By using the seeds, she feels she is taking an active part in her own destiny. In the end, whether it is magic or Dounia’s imagination at play, it’s a story about obstacles faced by migrants and about the courage they have in facing these obstacles. As Marya puts it in her article for TBI Magazine, it reverses the common narrative in North American media that Syria is synonymous with devastation and destruction, and that Syrian refugees can only be victims of their circumstance, rather than brave, vibrant heroes who can take charge of their own stories.