“America, the Brave. America, the Bold. / America to Have. America to Hold.” A picture book in which the opening lines suggest the celebratory and devotional goes on to asks unflinching, essential questions in a second-person narrative addressing America in the voice of individual Black and brown children.
Starred Review of the Week
Sorry for Your Loss
Evie is teased by other middle school girls at her Jewish private school because of her parents’ work–they run a funeral parlor; work that Evie is interested in pursuing someday.
Rosa Loves Cars / A Rosa le encantan los carros
Brown-skinned, glasses-wearing, curly dark-haired Rosa engages in active and imaginative play on her own and with friends in these bilingual (English/Spanish) board books.
Too Bright to See
Bug and Bug’s mom are grieving Bug’s Uncle Roderick, who lived with them and recently passed away after a long illness. It was Uncle Roderick who taught Bug about ghosts, so when spooky things start happening–doors open and close, objects moved around–Bug suspects it’s Uncle Roderick, trying to communicate something important.
Blackout
Six stories by six different contributors are set during a citywide blackout in New York that begins on a hot summer day and extends into the night, ending at a Brooklyn block party where all the characters converge.
Sona Sharma: Very Best Big Sister?
Sona lives in India with her parents, Amma and Appa; her paternal grandparents, Paati and Thatha; and her “talking” stuffed elephant. Her maternal grandmother, whom everyone calls The President, lives nearby.
Wishes
“The night wished it was quieter.” A series of arresting poetic “wish” statements together with the illustrations each is paired with create a powerful, poignant story following the journey of a refugee family.
Temple Alley Summer
In the dead of night, Kazu spies a girl in white emerging from his family’s altar room in Masuda, Japan. The next day, Kazu is bewildered when his classmates act as though the girl, Akari, has been a member of their class for years.
Healer of the Water Monster
Nathan, 11, is spending a few summer weeks with his paternal grandmother, Nali, who lives in a mobile home on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico.
The Cot in the Living Room
A young Dominican American girl is jealous of each child who stays overnight with her family while their adult caregiver works, not only because they get to sleep on the cot in the living room, but because they get her parents’ attention, special privileges (she thinks), and a view of the George Washington Bridge through the window.