After a bad school day, Sofi is transported from a New York City community garden to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and helps composer Juan Luis and artist Guerlande.
Sofi Paints Her Dreams
Americas
Materials from the Americas
My Papi Has A Motorcycle
When Daisy Ramona zooms around her neighborhood with her papi on his motorcycle, she sees the people and places she’s always known. She also sees a community that is rapidly changing around her.
Featured in Volume XIII, Issue 2 of WOW Review.
Hey, Wall
Armed with pencils, paints, dreams, and Grandma Addy’s memories of how beautiful the neighborhood once was, a boy and his neighbors paint the big wall that had been cold, empty, and cheerless.
Steve Goes To Carnival
At the city zoo in Rio lives a gorilla named Steve. Steve loves listening to music on the radio with his best friend, Antonio, the zookeeper. When Antonio leaves for the day, Steve feels the quiet of the night and lifts up the latch of his cage to escape and look for his friend. Luckily, he finds a big yellow hat at the tram stop to wear as the perfect disguise. But his adventure turns out to be bigger than he planned, because it’s Carnival time in Rio! Fireworks and dancers, drums and tambourines, samba whistles and trombones.
Seven Pablos
Seven vignettes of seven young boys named Pablo living throughout the world.
Pelé: The King Of Soccer
A biography in graphic novel format of Brazilian soccer star Pele.
One Is A Pinata
In rhyming text, Hispanic children count the things, like pinatas and maracas, that can be seen in their neighborhood.
My Year In The Middle
It is 1970 in Red Grove, Alabama, and at Lu Olivera’s school the white kids and black kids sit on different sides of the classroom. Six-grader Lu just wants to get along with everyone, but growing racial tensions will not let Lu stay neutral about the racial divide in school. Her old friends have been changing lately–acting boy crazy and making snide remarks about Lu’s newfound talent for running track. Lu’s secret hope for a new friend is fellow runner Belinda Gresham, but blacks and whites don’t mix. Will Lu find the gumption to stand up for what’s right? And find friends who will stand with her?
Mallko and Dad
A father, Gusti, expounds upon life with his son Mallko, who has Down syndrome.
Me, Toma and the Concrete Garden
Bestselling author Andrew Larsen brings a light touch and gentle humor to this picture book story about several kinds of growth — of the boys and their friendship, the flowers in the newly thriving lot, and the community that comes together around it. Award-winning artist Anne Villeneuve’s illustrations add a visual layer to the storytelling as they show the transformation from mostly gray to vibrant color, both literally, in the blossoming garden, and figuratively, in the now engaged neighborhood. This book highlights the value of connecting to nature, even in urban areas, and the sense of community that comes from civic engagement. It’s an excellent choice for character education lessons on kindness, generosity and citizenship.