race

Beautiful You, Beautiful Me

“A simple story exploring the feelings of a mixed heritage child who begins to notice the physical differences between her mother’s features and her own. One day, Izzy notices that her skin looks different from her mama’s. “Mama,” exclaims Izzy. “We don’t match! You’re sand, and I’m chocolate.” Then Izzy realizes that her hair has big swirls and curls that jump out from her braids, while her mama’s hair is smooth and straight with a braid that hangs right down the middle of her back. At first, Izzy is sad that she looks so different from her mama. She only sees the beauty in her mother’s features, and not in her own. But using a gentle refrain, her mama lovingly tells her You’re part of me, and I’m part of you. I’m beautiful like me, and you’re beautiful like you. And with time and encouragement, Izzy comes to realize that beauty and belonging come in all shapes and sizes”–

Andreo’s Race

Just as sixteen-year-old Andreo, skilled in death-defying ironman events in wilderness regions, is about to compete in rugged Bolivia, he and his friend Raul (another Bolivian adoptee) begin to suspect that their adoptive parents have unwittingly acquired them illegally. Plotting to use the upcoming race to pursue the truth, they veer on an epic journey to locate Andreo’s birth parents, only to find themselves hazardously entangled with a gang of baby traffickers. Never suspecting that attempting to bring down the ring would endanger their very lives, the boys plunge ahead.

My Family Tree And Me

This one-of-a-kind picture book provides a beautifully simple introduction to the concept of family ancestry. It uses two stories in one to explore a small boy’s family tree: the boy tells the family story of his father’s side starting from the front of the book, and that of his mother’s side starting from the back of the book.

Join the discussion of My Family Tree and Me as well as other books centered around relocation on our My Take/Your Take page.

God Loves Hair

Vivek Shraya’s first book is a collection of twenty-one short stories following a tender, intellectual, and curious child as he navigates the complex realms of sexuality, gender, racial politics, religion, and belonging.

Around The World

As the nineteenth century wound down, a public inspired by Jules Verne’s novel Around the world in Eighty Days clamored for intrepid adventure.  The challenge of circumnavigating the globe as no one ever had before attracted toe fearless in droves.  Three hardy spirits stayed the course.  In 1884, former miner Thomas Stevens made the journey on a bicycle…the kind with a big front wheel.  In 1889, pioneer reporter Nellie Bly embarked on a global race against time that assumed the heights of spectacle.  And in 1895, retired sea captain Joshua Slocum quietly set sail on a thirty-six-foot sloop named the Spray, braving pirates and treacherous seas to become the first person to sail around the world alone.

With cinematic pacing and deft, expressive art., acclaimed graphic novelist Matt Phelan weaves a trio of epic journeys into a single bold tale of three visionaries who set their sights on nothing short of the world.

Waiting For The Rain (Laurel Leaf Books)

Tengo is the 10-year-old son of workers on Oom Koos’s large farm in the Transvaal. He longs to go to school like his friend Frikkie, who visits his uncle’s farm on holidays. But Tengo’s family is too poor to pay for the education that comes free to whites. He finally gets his wish at age 14. Tengo goes to live with his cousin in a squalid township outside Johannesburg and studies furiously. After three years, he is almost ready for college, but a year-long school boycott ruins his chances and he is drawn into the fight against apartheid. When he and Frikkie meet in a violent confrontation, Tengo realizes that he will carry on the struggle for freedom as a scholar, not a soldier. The writing here is powerful, evoking in minute detail daily life and the broad landscapes of the country.

Ball Don’t Lie

Sticky is a beat-around-the-head foster kid with nowhere to call home but the street, and an outer shell so tough that no one will take him in. He started out life so far behind the pack that the finish line seems nearly unreachable. He’s a white boy living and playing in a world where he doesn’t seem to belong. But Sticky can ball. And basketball might just be his ticket out . . . if he can only realize that he doesn’t have to be the person everyone else expects him to be. A breakout urban masterpiece by newcomer Matt de la Peña, Ball Don’t Lie takes place where the street and the court meet and where a boy can be anything if he puts his mind to it.

Maniac Magee

When Jeffrey Lionel Magee, a twelve-year-old kid, wanders into Two Mills, Pennsylvania, a legend is in the making. Before too long, the stories begin to circulate about how fast and how far he can run, about how he knocks the world’s first ever “frogball” for an inside-the-park-home run bunt, and more stories that earn him the nickname “Maniac”.