When a young teacher sets out to the remote community of Las Delicias in the Amazon rain forest, she is eager to share her knowledge of science, math and geography. While the town’s children love the books she brings, they still keep repeating the legend about a great and dangerous serpent. While in disbelief that her young students could still care about the nonsense of folk tales, the river begins to rise, and suddenly the stories don’t seem to be nonsense after all. Perhaps there are other ways to learn wisdom of past generations besides in books.
Americas
Materials from the Americas
On The Edge Of The World (Stories From Latin America)
Veera and her family live in Russia on what feels like the edge of the world on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Veera spends her time devouring fantasy books, playing fetch with her dog, and longing for a friend she can share her treasures with that she keeps hidden underneath the alder bush. Lucas and his family live on the coast of Chile, which also feels like the edge of the world. Lucas spends his days looking for fossils, playing solo games of soccer, and wishing for a friend to read with him on his favorite tree branch. Written and illustrated by acclaimed author-illustrator Anna Desnitskaya, On the Edge of the World is a playful and perceptive book that illuminates the mirroring lives of two separate children in two separate places, yet share strikingly similar settings and interests.
Colorful Mondays: A Bookmobile Spreads Hope In Honduras (Stories From Latin America)
Monday is Luis’s favorite day of the week, the day the bookmobile comes to his neighborhood in Villa Nueva. You see, in Villa Nueva, sad stories gather like dark clouds, but when the bookmobile arrives, light and color burst through with laughter, stories, and maybe even a puppet show! Inspired by the JustWorld International’s bookmobile program in Tegucigalpa, Colororful Mondays celebrates the ways in which books and learning can bring joy to communities.
Letters In Charcoal
A young narrator recounts learning to read with the help of Señor Velandia, the owner of the village shop, so she can unlock the messages her older sister, Gina, receives from a young doctor each month. In doing so, she will change her life, as well as the lives of every child in the pueblo of Palenque Colombia. Inspired by stories told to the author by Colombian women, Letters in Charcoal celebrates the freedom to read and the joy reading can bring by adding light for a brighter future.
Of All Tribes: American Indians And Alcatraz
On the night of November 20, 1969, the end of one of the most tumultuous decades in American history eighty-nine young Native American activists crossed the San Francisco Bay under cover of darkness, calling themselves the “Indians of All Tribes.” Their objective? To claim the former prison island of Alcatraz, basing their actions on an 1868 treaty that said abandoned federal land could be returned to Indigenous peoples.
Taking a stand on an island reclaimed as “Indian Land,” these peaceful protestors brought worldwide attention to the issues facing present day Native Americans, as well as the centuries of unjust federal Indian policy.
Rez Ball
Debut novelist, Byron Gtaves, tells the story of Tre Brun who finds solace and purpose on the basketball court of the Red Lake Reservation high school team, despite grappling with the persistent ache of losing his older brother, Jaxon, to tragedy. When Jaxon’s former teammates extend a hand of camaraderie, Tre views this opportunity as a chance to honor his Ojibwe heritage and pursue his ambition of leading his team to their inaugural state championship.
Winner of the American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Award and the William C. Morris Debut Award from the American Library Association.
Love, Lah Lah
On the vibrant morning of Carnival, Lah Lah eagerly embraces the excitement of the day, bursting with energy as she prepares to immerse herself in the colorful festivities through the streets of Trinidad and Tobago. Accompanied by her beloved papa, they revel in the spectacle of the Carnival parade, cheering enthusiastically as they witness the majestic procession of the King and Queen, adorned in resplendent costumes that dazzle the eye. Join Lah Lah and her papa as they conclude the celebration with a grand performance on stage!
We Still Belong
Wesley’s hopeful plans for Indigenous Peoples’ Day (and asking her crush to the dance) go all wrong-until she finds herself surrounded by the love of her Indigenous family and community at the intertribal powwow.
Saints Of The Household
Bribri American brothers, Max and Jay, have always depended on each other for their survival. Growing up with a physically abusive father, they have learned that the only way to protect themselves, as well as their mother, is to keep their heads down and adhere to a strict schedule. But after intervening when a classmate gets into a fist fight, resulting in the school’s star soccer player being beat to a pulp by both brothers’ hands, they must grapple with the realization that they may be more like their father than they thought. In order to move forward, they will have to reach back to their Bribri roots.
Mira And Baku
With the help of a magical friend, a young girl searches for her missing father in this poignant story set during Japanese internment in World War II.