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We Need New Names

NoViolet Bulawayo

Audience:

Adult

Ten-year-old Darling and her friends navigate their shantytown with the exuberance and mischievous spirit of children everywhere. But they are shadowed by memories of Before -- before their homes were destroyed by paramilitary policemen, before the schools closed, before their fathers left for dangerous jobs abroad. When Darling escapes to suburban America, she finds that—far from the comforts of her childhood community—America’s abundance is hard to reach, and she reckons alone with the sacrifices and mixed rewards of assimilating. Channeling the rhythm and vibrancy of the storytellers who raised her in Zimbabwe, Bulawayo tells a potent story of displacement and arrival, at once disarmingly playful and devastatingly candid, with a power all its own.

The Book of Unknown Americans

Cristina Henríquez

Audience:

Adult

Arturo Rivera was the owner of a construction company in Pátzcuaro, México. One day, as his beautiful 15-year-old daughter, Maribel, is helping him at a work site, she sustains an injury that casts doubt on whether she’ll ever be the same again. And so, leaving all they have behind, the Riveras come to America with a single dream: that in this country of great opportunity and resources, Maribel can get better. When Mayor Toro, whose family is from Panamà, sees Maribel in a Dollar Tree store, it is love at first sight. It’s also the beginning of a friendship between the Rivera and Toro families, whose web of guilt and love and responsibility is at this novel’s core. Woven into their stories are the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Central and Latin America. Their journeys and their voices will inspire you, surprise you, and break your heart. Suspenseful, funny and warm, rich in spirit and humanity, The Book of Unknown Americans is a new American classic.

Stealing Buddha's Dinner: A Memoir

Bich Minh Nguyen

Audience:

Adult

As a Vietnamese girl coming of age in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Nguyen is filled with a rapacious hunger for American identity, and in the pre-PC-era Midwest (where the Jennifers and Tiffanys reign supreme), the desire to belong transmutes into a passion for American food. More exotic- seeming than her Buddhist grandmother's traditional specialties, the campy, preservative-filled "delicacies" of mainstream America capture her imagination. In Stealing Buddha's Dinner, the glossy branded allure of Pringles, Kit Kats, and Toll House Cookies becomes an ingenious metaphor for Nguyen's struggle to become a "real" American, a distinction that brings with it the dream of the perfect school lunch, burgers and Jell- O for dinner, and a visit from the Kool-Aid man. Vivid and viscerally powerful, this remarkable memoir about growing up in the 1980s introduces an original new literary voice and an entirely new spin on the classic assimilation story.

My Name Is Yoon

Helen Recorvits

Audience:

Ages 4 - 8

Her name is Yoon and she came from Korea, a country far away. Yoon's name means Shining Wisdom, and when she writes it in Korean, it looks happy -- like dancing figures. But her father tells her that she must learn to write it in English. In English all the lines and circles stand alone, which is just how Yoon feels in the United States. Yoon isn’t sure she wants to be Y-O-O-N. At her new school, she tries out different names – maybe CAT or BIRD. Maybe CUPCAKE! My Name Is Yoon is a spare and inspiring story about a little girl finding her place in a new country.

Dancing Home

Alma Flor Ada and Gabriel Zubizaretta

Audience:

Ages 8 - 12

In this timely tale of immigration, two cousins learn the importance of family and friendship. Mexico may be her parents’ home, but it’s certainly not Margie’s. She has finally convinced the other kids at school she is 100% American—just like them. But when her Mexican cousin Lupe visits, the image she’s created for herself crumbles. Things aren’t easy for Lupe, either. Mexico hadn’t felt like home since her father went North to find work. Lupe’s hope of seeing him in the United States comforts her some, but learning a new language in a new school is tough. Lupe, as much as Margie, is in need of a friend. Little by little, the girls’ individual steps find the rhythm of one shared dance, and they learn what “home” really means. In the tradition of My Name is Maria Isabel—and simultaneously published in English and in Spanish—Alma Flor Ada and her son Gabriel M. Zubizarreta offer an honest story of family, friendship, and the classic immigrant experience: becoming part of something new, while straying true to who you are.

Something About America

Maria Testa

Audience:

Ages 12+

Inspired by actual events, this story written in free verse starts 10 years after the narrator’s family fled the fires of ethnic hatred in Kosova, Yugoslavia – long enough for the narrator to have transformed herself into a typical American schoolgirl. Her parents continue to feel like foreigners, and she grows impatient with what she perceives as their refusal to assimilate. Then an ugly incident in a nearby town changes everything, forcing each member of this refugee family to consider what being an American truly means. The book has received many awards, including: * New York Public Library Best Books for the Teen Age * International Reading Association Young Adult Choices * Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year * Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) Poetry Pick * Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights Outstanding Book Awards, Honorable Mention * Boston Authors Club, Julia Ward Howe Award Finalist * Maine Literary Award

The Peace Book

Todd Parr

Audience:

Ages 2 - 5

The Peace Book delivers positive and hopeful messages of peace in an accessible, child-friendly format featuring Todd Parr's trademark bold, bright colors and silly scenes. Perfect for the youngest readers, this book delivers a timely and timeless message about the importance of friendship, caring, and acceptance.

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