In this poignant picture book about family and belonging, the child of a Jewish mother and a South Asian father hears stories about her family history. Sometimes she doesn’t feel Jewish enough or South Asian enough, but comes to realize you can feel–and be–many things at once.Based on the author’s own family history, here is a moving story about a young girl from two different backgrounds. The girl’s mother tells her stories about her mother, a Jewish seamstress in Brooklyn, New York. She lived in a tiny two-bedroom apartment and sewed wedding dresses shimmering in satin and lace.Her father tells stories of his mother, the girl’s other grandmother, who liked to cook bubbling dal on a coal stove in Pakistan. They tell stories about how both sides came to America, and how, eventually, her parents met on a warm summer evening in Poughkeepsie.The girl sometimes feels as if she’s the “only one like me.” One day, when she spots a butterfly in her yard, she realizes it’s okay to be different—no two butterflies are alike, after all. It’s okay to feel alone sometimes, but also happy and proud. It’s okay to feel– and be– many things at once.
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Space For Everyone
This lyrical and heartwarming picture book follows a Nigerian girl who worries about her family’s upcoming move. But she soon realizes that no matter where they go, there will always be room at their kitchen table for her community to gather around.When Zainab runs down the stairs in the morning, she knows what she’ll find: Papa cooking at the stove, Mama pouring tea, and then everyone gathering around the family table. Neighbors stop by, and there’s plenty of room for them, too. There are so many beloved rituals that happen at the table: homework and crafts, aunties coming to plait hair, and festive gatherings with neighbors and relatives. But soon boxes start piling up around the house, and Zainab worries about the move—will the rituals feel the same in her new home?In the new house, the family table still feels cozy to sit around. And soon, old neighbors and new friends stop by, and everyone is welcome at the table. Meg Medina’s Evelyn Del Ray is Moving Away meets Peter H. Reynolds’s Our Table in this heartwarming story about how difficult it is to move, but how connecting with community makes everything better.
The Jade Bracelet
When the girls at school show off their shiny new bracelets, newly arrived immigrant Tien is embarrassed by the plain jade bracelet she wears as a symbol of her Vietnamese heritage.Although Tien loves the Vietnamese traditions her family celebrates, more than anything she wants to fit in at school and be just like her classmates. So, when all the girls start wearing brand-new sparkly bracelets, Tien tries to hide the simple jade bangle her mother gave her in memory of her grandmother. Now her bracelet looks like an old green thing and an embarrassed Tien runs home crying, flinging it on the floor. Her sympathetic mama understands and takes Tien to the shop to buy the popular bracelet. But at the last minute, Tien remembers her grandmother’s love and decides to wear her jade bracelet proudly.The Jade Bracelet is based on the author’s own experience of being the new kid at school and wanting to blend in. Now an elementary teacher, Hà Dinh encourages her immigrant students to share and honor their family’s traditions.
The Bird Whisperer
An enigmatic young woman roams the streets of Paris on her bicycle every day. Immersed in her work, she goes to her studio relentlessly. Only the meows of her beloved Max can bring a smile to her face every evening. A very special narrator has taken notice of her, unable to resist following her footsteps and noticing what unfolds until one day, something will happen that changes everything.
When I Visited Grandma
Maya is excited to be in India visiting Grandma, but their time together isn’t quite what she expected.
The Footprint
A strong and intense friendship that carries us along on a river of fun and well-being and that both Sobrino and Luzón manage to make us feel between the pages of this beautiful album. Companionship can be one of the most beautiful experiences to be discovered in childhood, but it can also be one of the most painful when it breaks down. That’s why this story isn’t just about how good it is to have a great friend. Sometimes things go wrong; paths diverge, and, without expecting it, lives that were once one become separated forever.
Abuela, Don’t Forget Me
Abuela, Don’t Forget Me is a lyrical portrait of the transformative and towering woman who believed in Rex even when he didn’t yet know how to believe in himself.
Can You Hear The Plants Speak?
Mountain, river, wind, tree. Come, take a walk with me. What do we learn from plants when we listen to them speaking? Indigenous plantsman Nicholas Hummingbird calls on the legacy of his great grandparents to remember how one drop of rain, one seed, one plant can renew a cycle of hope and connection for him and for each of us.
Walking Together
This innovative picture book introduces readers to the concept of Etuaptmumk or Two Eyed Seeing, the gift of multiple perspectives in the Mi’kmaw language as we follow a group of young children connecting to nature as their teacher
Stand Like A Cedar
When you go for a walk in nature, who do you see? What do you hear?