While learning to make tortillas on her seventh birthday, Magda tries to make perfectly round ones like those made by her grandmother but instead creates a variety of wonderful shapes.
Magda’s Tortillas / Las tortillas de Magda
Realistic Fiction
Realistic Fiction genre
Walking to School
When the path to eight-year-old Allison’s Catholic school goes through hostile Protestant territory in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Allison finds she is not alone in her loathing of the situation.
This book has been included in WOW’s Kids Taking Action Booklist. For our current list, visit our Boolist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
Bamboo People
This coming-of-age novel takes place against the political and military backdrop of modern-day Burma. Narrated by two teenaged boys on opposing sides of the conflict between the Burmese government and the Karenni, one of the many ethnic minorities in Burma, Bamboo People explores the nature of violence, power, and prejudice as seen through the eyes of child soldiers.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 1
A Step From Heaven
A young Korean girl and her family find it difficult to learn English and adjust to life in America.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 1
This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
Noodle Pie
It’s Andy’s first trip on an airplane when he and his dad travel to Vietnam to meet all his relatives. Talk about culture shock! Everyone calls him by his Vietnamese name instead of Andy and he is stunned to discover the family restaurant. For Andy and his dad, a former refugee returning for the first time, Vietnam is full of surprises. Somehow though, it also becomes the place for learning how to see things in a whole new way.
A Distant Enemy
Joseph, a fourteen-year-old boy struggling with the reality that his white father left him and his Yup’ik mother when he was born, lashes out at others in many ways, but when he is saved by one of his supposed “”enemies,”” he begins to view things differently.
Wolf Run: A Caribou Eskimo Tale
When the caribou herds fail to return in the spring, famine becomes so acute that a young Eskimo boy sets out alone in search of food.
A Distant Enemy
Joseph just wants to continue the traditions of the Yup’ik people. So when outside officials restrict fishing in his Alaskan village, he commits an anonymous act of vandalism in protest. But his new teacher finds out his secret. To make things worse, Joseph’s father, who left years ago, wants to see him again. Joseph isn’t sure who he can trust, but if he doesn’t trust someone, he’s headed for disaster. “Vanasse creates a vivid portrait of modern Eskimo lifestyles, conflicts and fears while rendering a sensitive account of one teenager’s coming of age.” — Publishers Weekly
Adventure On Thunder Island (Blue Kite Series)
In this book, children of the Ojibwa First Nation learn the stories of their culture by living them.Jessica takes a ride on her brother’s raft and is washed ashore on Thunder Island. Jack Waboose meets a troll in Colony Creek and trades a golden walnut for a Frisbee. Troy accepts a dare to catch birds on Pidgeon Bridge and gets trapped. Milton Whitehawk takes a walk in Ebony Forest and meets a mysterious girl who says that she’s his sister.These are the stories that you will read about in Adventure on Thunder Island, tales in which the supernatural is everywhere, and exciting events happen every day.
My Kokum Called Today
A telephone call from her grandmother has a young native girl in the city looking forward to visiting the reserve. In gentle, joyous ways we see how women — especially grandmothers — are often the spiritual glue when families are separated by long miles.