Several of the listed books are Middle Grade novels, they hold a special place in my heart, and, although they take a bit longer to read, they do invite engagement, connection and empathy in a way that picture books simply cannot achieve.
I Hear a Búho by Raquel MacKay (Author) Armando Fonseca (Illustrator)
Climb on my lap. We’re under the moon. We might hear some animales soon.
This is a short rhymed bilingual book that happily mixes Spanish and English in true Spanglish form, intermixing words within the English rhyme from Spanish, toying with the idea of putting a baby girl to sleep by the simple method of listening to all the soothing sounds that surround her and his mom.
As mother and daughter snuggle together on their porch, they get busy listening to the sounds of the night. When the girl makes animal calls, her mother responds sweetly. Soon a búho, a real owl, will come sweeping across the sky to say goodnight.
I Hear a Búho is on sale since May 07, 2024
Publisher: Scribble Us
Pages: 32 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9781957363653
Up next, this is a special book for AAPI Month:
An Asian American A to Z: A Children’s Guide to Our History by Cathy Linh Che (Author) Kyle Lucia Wu (Author) Kavita Ramchandran (Illustrator)
This celebratory book is about people from different cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. What they all have in common is that they have arrived in the United States from their Asian and Pacific home countries seeking a better future and have contributed to the American way of life. I wouldn’t say it is a linear story nor is it meant for first readers, despite the sparse wording.
Aimed at simplicity (a short blurb inspired by a word, presented in alphabetical order) the book does not shy away from difficult topics such as the Third World Liberation Front, the Muslim Ban, and Japanese American incarceration camps.
It also focuses on extraordinary people such as Padma Lakshmi, Rashida Tlaib, Sunisa Lee, and Bruno Mars, to name a few.
Written by the directors of Kundiman–an organization dedicated to nurturing Asian American writers—the proposal is to fill a gap and be useful both at home and in the classroom, to introduce different topics about Asian American heritage.
An Asian American A to Z: A Children’s Guide to Our History is on sale since May 02, 2023
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Pages: 40 / Hardcover
ISBN 9781642599459
Up next, a lovely book about coming home:
Being Home by Traci Sorell (Author) Michaela Goade (Illustrator)
In such a vast landscape as is the US, sometimes where you live during school time does not feel like home, and where you gather in the summer is your true place.
A young Cherokee girl is so ready for family time! As she says goodbye to familiar things and hops on a vehicle, she is confident about what lies ahead, better in a different sort of way: a feast with her extended family, cousins to play with, and a brand new rhythm.
Being Home is on sale since May 07, 2024
Published by Kokila
Hardcover | Pages: 32
ISBN: 9781984816030
The next title is about friendship:
Built to Last by Minh Lê (Author) Dan Santat (Illustrator)
When you meet with a friend and have a chance to build together, perhaps imaginary worlds (gorgeously drawn by Dan Santat) is just the excuse for something much more important: companionship. A friendship can be built, brick by brick, and can last more than tumbling blocks and engineering failures.
For these two kids, every time a creation of theirs falls apart, they pick up the pieces and keep building bigger and better.
But what if it’s a big fail? Will their friendship be a stake? The subject matter of the illustrated book is a bit deep, and children might not get it at first, I think this is a book to chew over the metaphors and to be amazed at the wonderful illustrations, especially the dragons!
Built to Last is on sale since April 30, 2024
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Hardcover | Pages: 40
ISBN: 9780593569177
Two more amazing board books before we move on to Middle Grade:
Heatwave by Lauren Redniss (Author)
This is a picture book without many words but with an interesting display of imagery around sweltering heat and the rain that finally brings respite to the day.
A kid and his mom are at the beach, trying to feel relief under the relentless heat of a city that looks a lot like New York.
The book has beautiful images and is made by the artist and writer Lauren Redniss. A recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant”, her previous books for adults include Radioactive, a finalist for the National Book Award, and Thunder & Lightning, winner of the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.
Heatwave is on sale since May 21 2024
Publisher: Random House Studio
Pages: 40/ Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9780593645949
An homage to a real person is our last board book:
Amazing Abe: How Abraham Cahan’s Newspaper Gave a Voice to Jewish Immigrants by Norman H. Finkelstein (Author) Vesper Stamper (Illustrator)
I like illustrated biographies. This is the re-telling of the life of Abraham Cahan, the founder and longtime editor of the Yiddish language newspaper the Forverts (the Forward).
When so many Jews from different parts of impoverished Europe arrived in droves in New York City, they found it hard to communicate, and Cahan offered something comforting, a newspaper in their language, that would feature stories by the beloved Isaac Bashevis Singer, news about migrants and Europe (homeland) and would help people find housing and jobs. It also explained to the recently arrived Jews how to play baseball!
The author was personally connected with the Forverts, and the life of Abe deserves to be celebrated.
Amazing Abe is on sale since February 20, 2024.
Publisher: Holiday House
Pages: 40 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9780823451647
Now we can focus on the Middle Grade novels!
And Then Boom! by Lisa Flipps (Author)
This is an amazing book, I read it in one sitting, and all I could do was root for this courageous kid who behaves like an adult and is clear-headed enough to appreciate the help and kindness he is given and the mess he is in.
Joe Oak lives with his English grandmother, on just one paycheck and food stamps, and knows what hunger is—hunger for food, certainty, and a different reality. Love holds him and his grandmother together, but it will not be enough, and when everything crashes around him with a big BOOM! Joe will rely on his friends and the kindness of strangers to survive until there is nothing else to fall back on.
There are such appropriate comparisons in the book for the helplessness Joe experiences. Written in verse by Lisa Flips (award-winning author of Starfish), the book is the most heartfelt account I’ve had the opportunity to read about what it means to go to sleep hungry, a thing that happens more and more in America.
As Joe says, perhaps if we all did something about it, there wouldn’t be hungry kids in our schools and communities.
Lisa writes from experience and has this to say about hope:
“When bad things happen that leave your mind, heart, and soul shattered, you learn from and then discard the dreadful pieces, and then you can puzzle the good back together just the way you want them to create the life you’ve always dreamed of. Broken things and people are beautiful”.
And Then Boom! is on sale since May 07, 2024.
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Pages: 256 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9780593406328
The next book warmed my heart:
Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller (Author)
I know that many of the coming-of-age novels about Asian kids in America feature laundry shops or laundromats. Maybe it is a tiring trope, but Magnolia enjoys hanging out at the shop and has invented countless games to while away the hours while her mom is busy folding clothes after cleaning them.
In her tiny corner of New York City, Magnolia Wu sits and plays. She is intrigued by the lost socks and has made a lost sock board, hoping that customers will return to retrieve them.
However, a new friend, Iris, proposes to her something different, going out to find the owners of the socks as true Sock detectives! SOC…
The city depicted here is a safe one to walk, Magnolia can get out and about and say hi to different store owners, go to the park, and talk with adults feeling safe, something that I hope is true! They even get into the subway, going from delis to plant stores and pizzerias, meeting people finding the sock owners, and learning a bit more about each one in the process.
Magnolia and Iris are really enjoying their summer being detectives!
Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All is on sale since April 23, 2024.
Publisher: Philomel Books
Pages: 160 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9780593624524
The next novel closes a journey that started almost 12 years ago:
The One and Only Family by Katherine Applegate (Author)
I didn’t read the two prior stories before this one, but Applegate makes swift work of telling you the basics. I truly loved Ivan and his story, and his art-making, and I am more than glad that he found a mate. This leads us to his great new adventure, being a father!
Her friend Ruby lives next door in the elephant enclosure, and his dog friend Bob comes often to visit, soon, Kinyayi and he will welcome twins, twins! How to be a father when they ripped you from your family so long ago? Who will teach him to be a silverback, and in turn help him set the example for his kids?
The challenges will be met, but his memories about his childhood in the jungle, and the memories of his own twin will come rushing back as well.
Applegate has such an enthralling style with her prose, you just want to keep on reading, each chapter leads you to the next and all the emotions are there, ready to swell your heart
The One and Only Family is on sale since May 07, 2024.
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 272 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9780063221123
Now this is a sort of fascinating autobiography:
Born Naughty: My Childhood in China by Jin Wang (Author) Tony Johnston (Author) Anisi Baigude (Illustrator)
Jin Wang was born in Inner Mongolia, a faraway place where most people live in huts and build their shoes out of hide. There is not much water in their place, and one of her first memories will be going on a motorcycle with his dad to fill up her water jugs and see the well.
Jin Wang was a girl with a lot of curiosity and energy and sometimes she wouldn’t listen to her Ma. Jin and her family did not have much, but she found her supply of fun (and mischief) by climbing trees, digging for mushrooms, and, maybe, looking for wolves!
I love a good novel about a life that is different from my own, seeing what unites us despite the differences, how her experiences shape her, and how sometimes mischief is not that all bad.
Born Naughty: My Childhood in China is on sale since May 07, 2024.
Publisher: Anne Schwartz Books
Pages: 112/ Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9780593563618
And to finish:
The Secret Language of Birds by Lynne Kelly (Author)
This is a lovely story about finding compassion in the plight of two cranes that need help.
Nina is not very happy about summer camp and feels ignored by her large family.
When she encounters two beautiful birds building a nest on the march, she wants to help, since she thinks that they haven’t nested in Texas for over a hundred years.
Wildlife officials are contacted, and more questions arise. They have to find what kind of species the bird is, and perhaps, in the process, she will find friendship and new wings.
The Secret Language of Birds is on sale since April 09, 2024.
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 240 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9781524770273
