Tomatoes in My Lunchbox by Costantia Manoli; illus. by Magdalena MoraPrimary Roaring Brook 32 pp. g6/22 978-1-250-76312-9 $18.99“There is a whole world in my name. I carry it with me. It’s heavy carrying your whole world around with you all the time.” After the young narrator leaves home for life...
One Wish: Fatima al-Fihri and the World’s Oldest University by M. O. Yuksel; illus. by Mariam QuraishiPrimary, Intermediate Harper/HarperCollins 40 pp. g2/22 978-0-06-303291-0 $18.99In a text rich with imagery, Yuksel (In My Mosque) tells the true story of Fatima al-Fihri, whose one wish was to build a school for all....
The Monster in the Bathhouse by Sina Merabian; illus. by the authorPreschool, Primary Simon 32 pp. g2/22 978-1-5344-9682-8 $17.99e-book ed. 978-1-5344-9683-5 $10.99Nowruz is a celebration of the end of winter and the start of a new year. For the three boys and their fathers in this story, a visit to...
Perfectly Imperfect Mira by Faith Pray; illus. by the authorPreschool Little, Brown 40 pp. g4/22 978-0-316-54116-9 $17.99Mira has lots of first days attempting new activities, but fear of failure prevents many second days. Take gymnastics, for example, a sport full of terrible what-if? scenarios for an anxious mind: “What if...
Nour’s Secret Library by Wafa’ Tarnowska; illus. by Vali MintziPrimary, Intermediate Barefoot 32 pp. g3/22 978-1-64686-291-7 $17.99Paper ed. 978-1-64686-292-4 $9.99Nour and her cousin Amir are busy making plans for a secret society (with code word and handshake, natch) when war erupts in their neighborhood. It’s the early days of the...
Regardless of your politics, for those of us invested in children's literature, watching Ted Cruz’s questioning of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson earlier this week was a bit surreal. I mean, children’s books make their way into culture-wars debates all the time, but that usually happens in the once-sleepy...
Where Butterflies Fill the Sky: A Story of Immigration, Family, and Finding Home by Zahra Marwan; illus. by the author Primary Bloomsbury 48 pp. g 3/22 978-1-5476-0651-1 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5476-0783-9 $13.29 Sometimes the concept of home is complicated. The author presents her own story of emigrating from Kuwait as...
Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca Middle School Quill Tree/HarperCollins 224 pp. g 2/21 978-0-06-304742-6 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-304744-0 $9.99 It’s 1983, and thirteen-year-old Reha feels she has “two lives.” In one, she’s a serious student who tries to make her Indian immigrant parents proud but is seen as...
The Cat Man of Aleppo by Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-Basha; illus. by Yuko Shimizu Primary, Intermediate Putnam 32 pp. g 4/20 978-1-9848-1378-7 $17.99 In 2012, civil war comes to Aleppo, then the largest city in Syria. Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel is an ambulance driver who remains behind while many of his neighbors...