Diverse Reads in Children's and YA Literature

  Summary Efren looks up to his parents who work hard to provide for him and his younger siblings , Max and Mia. Although Efren and his siblings are American-born, he constantly worries about his parents who are undocumented. Then his greatest fear comes true when his mother is deported and sent across the border to Tijuana, Mexico. At this point, the burden lays heavily upon Efren to be strong for his younger siblings as his father takes on an extra job to earn the money necessary to help get his mother back in the United States. He also shoulders the responsibility of navigating through school as if things are normal while supporting his best friend's campaign to run for school president.  Justification  My justification for selecting this book is because it was the winner of  Pura Belpre Medal Award in 2020, the Poppy Award in MG in 2021, two International Latino Book Award, and an SCBWI Crystal Kite Award in 2021.  This book was also reviewed favorably in Ki...

  Summary Ronit, an Israeli girl and Jamil, a Palestinian boy are separated by a barrier fence that  divides Israel and Gaza. Generations of conflict provide even more distance between them. Tensions rising between their fathers further complicate matters as the two teenagers fall deep into a forbidden love. Knowing that their love could create a rift between their families, Ronit and Jamil go to great lengths to keep their romance a secret. The story, told in novel in verse, mirrors the Shakespearean love story, Romeo and Juliet with a modern and duo-cultural lens. Justification I selected this book because it provides poetry, historical and cultural context in one text. Young readers (particularly those in 7th grades and up) could gain a great sense of culture from reading this book. Although it is short and written in verse format, readers can get a sense of how stories may be told in different ways. How much does the text agree or clash with the readers' views of the wor...

      Summary    Equipped with its own school system, libraries, churches, restaurants, post offices, and movie theaters among other businesses, an African-American community named Greenwood set in Tulsa, Oklahoma was thriving and full of promise and opportunity.   Then, on May 31 and June 1, 1921, Greenwood was attacked by a mob of armed white supremacists. This led to the looting and destruction of many of the black businesses within the community and the deaths of more than 300 African-Americans. Other African-American families fled the community and many were left homeless.   Justification for this text   I chose this text because of the multiple awards that the book has won (i.e., Coretta Scott King Award, Caldecott Honor, and Sibert Honor). As a future school librarian, it is important to read, review, and analyze books that are award winners in order to be able to provide a clear justification as to why it should be recommended to young re...