Tag: diverse

cover of The First State of Being
Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

The First State of Being

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

The First State of Being (Greenwillow Books, 2024) by Erin Entrada Kelly is a fun mix of historical fiction—Y2K—and time travel.

It’s 1999 and 11-year-old Michael is hoarding food that he’s stolen for when the world shuts down on January 1, 2000. (He has to help his single Mom who is struggling making ends meet. And she loves peaches, right?) And then he and the apartment maintenance man meet a weird teenager, who appears to be half Filipino like Michael. Ridge doesn’t even know what year it is and is dressed oddly. Something’s off about that kid. Despite all of Michael’s worries, he decides to help Ridge obtain his desire of going to a mall.

This is a story of hope and has great reminders of deciding how we want to be. The book came out in March.

Erin is a Newbery medalist and a NY Times bestselling author. Read about her and check out all her books here.

cover of Can Make This Promise
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

I Can Make this Promise

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

To start out the year I have the wonderful I Can Make this Promise (Heartdrum, 2019) by Christine Day. I was hooked right from the beginning. Plus I learned some horrible practices that happened in the past.

12-year-old Edie always gets questions such as “What are you? Where are you from?” She has no good answer. She knows her mother is Native American but due to an adoption by a white family doesn’t know from where or what tribe. And her father’s white American. One day Edie and her friends find a box hidden in the attic that has an old photo of a woman who looks just like Edie. There are letters too. Why have her parents been keeping her ancestry a secret?

This book is an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book and has been chosen for a number of lists. It was also the author’s debut novel.

Read about Christine here and check out her other books here.

cover of The Red Pencil
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

The Red Pencil

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

The Red Pencil (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2015) by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Shane W. Evans is a book I missed reading, but am glad to have caught up with. Told in verse and with line drawings, it’s heartbreaking, yet hopeful.

In Darfur, Sudan, twelve-year-old Amira, wants the impossible–to go to school and learn to read and write. But her mother says her life will be farming and marriage so there is no need. After the Janjaweed attack her village, the family makes their way to a refugee camp. There a gift of a red pencil gives Amira hope.

Check out the awards and more info on the book here.

Read about Andrea and her other books here and Shane and his books here.

cover of So Loud!
Posted in PB, So Many Good Books

So Loud!

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Perfect Picture Book Friday

So Loud! (Annick Press, April 2024) by Sahar Golshan and illustrated by Shiva Delsooz is a book to be put on your to be read list for next spring. (I read an ARC.) It’s funny, charming, and especially important story for little girls who have been told to they’re too loud. (And even for the adult women who were told the same thing.)

Rudabeh, Rudy for short, is too loud. At least that’s what all the adults tell her. But when Rudy turns her volume down like the water in a tap, she doesn’t feel like herself. Rudy’s especially worried that the grandmother she’s meeting for the first time will think she’s too loud like everyone else does.

I love this character so much.

So Loud! is Sahar’s debut picture book. Read about her here and about her other writing here.

Read about Shiva here and check out her portfolio here.

cover of out of my heart
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

out of my heart

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

out of my heart by Sharon M. Draper (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2021) is an amazing book that I wish EVERYONE would read! Such a satisfying story about persistence and friendship. Can you tell I loved it?

Twelve-year-old Melody can’t walk, talk, or feed herself, but she’s smart and she wants to go to camp. She researches and finds a camp for kids with special needs and convinces her parents to let her go. It’s scary–she’s not been away from her parents for so long–and they are going to have her swim and go horseback riding. Can she do all that?!

It’s a sequel to out of my mind, but it’s been so long since I read that book, I didn’t remember much, so this book definitely stands alone. Readers kept asking to know what else happened to Melody in the first book, that Sharon wrote a sequel. Both book promote so much understanding about those who are differently abled. out of my heart was a CCBC Choice (Cooperative Children’s Book Council).

Sharon is an award winning author and teacher. Read about her here. Check out her books here.