Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
TIn Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir by Pedro Martin (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2023), the author shares a pivotal time from his childhood, specifically when he traveled to Mexico to retrieve his ailing grandfather and return with him to the United States. Pedro, who is also called Peter, feels conflicted by his half-American, half-Mexican identity,
Courage Like Kate: The True Story of a Girl Lighthouse Keeper by Anna Crowley Redding (illustrated by Emily Sutton; Random House 2022) is based on the true story of Kate Moore, the first official female lighthouse keeper. In order to help her father, young Kate takes care of the lighthouse for him. Illustrations are created
Evergreen by Matthew Cordell (Feiwel & Friends, February 2023) features a highly loveable but timid and scared squirrel sent on a journey to take Granny Oak an acorn full of soup. With this “Little Red Riding Hood”-esque story and Matthew Cordell’s striking ink and watercolor illustrations, Evergreen becomes a truly delightful story to read as
Using the metaphor of a braid, or trenza, as a reminder of love for self and others, the picture book Only a Trenza Away: A Tale of Trust and Strength by Nadine Fonseca and illustrated by Camilla Carrossine (Shadow Mountain, August 2023) gives a tender lesson between a father and a daughter, emphasizing the importance
As in his other photographic history books (Abraham Lincoln being the most well known to me), in We Will Not Be Silent, Russell Freedman tells a true story with the added addition of photographs to give the characters life. In this case, he shares about the brave students in Germany who stood up to Hitler,
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park (Clarion Books, 2011) is a fictionalized version of two related stories in the recent history of Sudan. It tells two parallel stories, one in the 1980s and the other just a few years ago. In the early story, a young boy is caught in the crossfires of the Southern
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafsai (Little, Brown and Company, 2013) is a powerful story of a girl’s courage to stand up against wrong and demand an education in the Taliban-controlled regions of Pakistan. The work done by Malala, who still is a teenager, is so remarkable that she became the youngest receipt of the Nobel Peace
A six-year-old must walk across a large field and near woods to get to her school bus stop, and in Singing Away the Dark by Caroline Woodward and Julie Morstad (Simply Read Books, 2011), she pushes away her fears by singing as loudly as she can. Although my four-year-old son was a bit concerned that she was by
Poor Sam the giraffe is a painfully shy young student, but in Too Shy for Show-and-Tell by Beth Bracken and illustrated by Jennifer Bell (Picture Window Books, August 2011), he finds the courage to speak up and share some of his favorite things. Although the thought of talking to his class makes his stomach hurt in the beginning,
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