On a school trip to Honolulu’s Bishop Museum, Manu and his classmates are excited to see an ancient skirt made with a million yellow feathers from the ‘ō‘ō, a bird native to Hawai‘i that had gone extinct long ago. Manu knew his full name, Manu‘ō‘ōmauloa, meant “May the ‘ō‘ō bird live on” but never understood: Why was he named after a native forest bird that no longer existed?
Americas
Materials from the Americas
We Are Not From Here
“Teens from Guatelama escape through Mexico and attempt to reach the U.S. border”–
We Are Not From Here has been discussed in My Take/Your Take for April 2021.
Story Boat
When you have to leave behind almost everything you know, where can you call home? Sometimes home is simply where we are: here. A imaginative, lyrical, unforgettable picture book about the migrant experience through a child’s eyes
Mañanaland
Twelve-year-old Max, who loves the legend Buelo tells him about a mythical gatekeeper who can guide brave travelers on a journey into tomorrow, sets out on a dangerous quest to discover if he is true of heart and what the future holds, armed with a treasured compass, a mysterious stone rubbing, and Buelo’s legend as his only guides.
A New Home
Moving to a new city can be exciting. But what if your new home isn’t anything at all like your old home? Will you make friends? What will you eat? Where will you play? In a shared voice, a boy moving from New York City to Mexico City and a girl moving from Mexico City to New York City express their fears about leaving home to live in a new and unfamiliar place. Tania de Regil offers a heart-warming story about finding home wherever you go.
Story Boat
When a little girl and her younger brother are forced along with their family to flee the home they’ve always known, they must learn to make a new home for themselves — wherever they are. And sometimes the smallest things — a cup, a blanket, a lamp, a flower, a story — can become a port of hope in a terrible storm. As the refugees travel onward toward an uncertain future, they are buoyed up by their hopes, dreams and the stories they tell — a story that will carry them perpetually forward.
This timely, sensitively told story, written by multiple award–winner Kyo Maclear and illustrated by Sendak Fellowship recipient Rashin Kheiriyeh, introduces very young readers in a gentle, non-frightening and ultimately hopeful way to the current refugee crisis.
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story
Told in lively and powerful verse by debut author Kevin Noble Maillard, Fry Bread is an evocative depiction of a modern Native American family, vibrantly illustrated by Pura Belpré Award winner and Caldecott Honoree Juana Martinez-Neal.
Please watch WOW’s Imagination Friday with the author and illustrator of Fry Bread.
This book is featured in WOW Currents: Big Events, Strong Emotions – Anxiety.
Featured in WOW Review, Volume XV, Issue 4.
Awards:
Winner of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
2020 American Indian Youth Literature Picture Book Honor Winner
National Public Radio (NPR) Best Book of 2019
NCTE Notable Poetry Book
2020 NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
2020 ALA Notable Children’s Book
2020 ILA Notable Book for a Global Society
A Different Pond
A Different Pond is an unforgettable story about a simple event – a long-ago fishing trip. Graphic novelist Thi Bui and poet Bao Phi deliver a powerful, honest glimpse into a relationship between father and son – and between cultures, old and new. As a young boy, Bao and his father awoke early, hours before his father’s long workday began, to fish on the shores of a small pond in Minneapolis. Unlike many other anglers, Bao and his father fished for food, not recreation. A successful catch meant a fed family. Between hope-filled casts, Bao’s father told him about a different pond in their homeland of Vietnam.
Read two takes on A Different Pond in June 2019’s My Take/Your Take.
Fox On The Ice
One winter afternoon, Joe and Cody went ice fishing with their papa, their mama, and Cody’s little black dog, Ootsie. It was the perfect day to fish. The sky was clear, and the sun made the snow sparkle like diamonds.Brothers Joe and Cody are spending a chilly winter afternoon ice fishing with their parents. Cody is helping Papa fish, while Mama and Joe doze in the sled. Suddenly the sled dogs sit up and sniff. A fox is across the lake, her fur as bright as flames. The sled dogs give chase, pulling Mama and Joe along on a wild ride.Written in both English and Cree, Fox on the Ice is a wonderful, lyrical story of celebration from award-winning author Tomson Highway, capturing a passing way of life for future generations. Illustrator Brian Deines has created an evocative masterpiece of shimmering oils depicting the beauty of northern Manitoba.
Into The Tall, Tall Grass
Yolanda sets out with family and friends to help her grandmother and discovers long-buried secrets about a family curse and the healing power of the magic surrounding her.