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Kids start THE GREAT BANNED-BOOKS BAKE SALE to get their books back! by Aya Khalil & Anait Semirdzhyan (Picturebook review)

Oct3
book cover of The Great Banned-Books Bake Sale, by Aya Khalil; art by Anait Semirdzhyan. Tilbury House Publishers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Our favorite books!
So many different faces!
Where have they gone?

Kanzi is excited to lead her class to the school library, remembering how they welcomed her from Egypt.

But they are dismayed to find their favorite shelves of diverse books… empty!

Those beautiful books about many different types of people have been banned – why? Ms. Jackson, the librarian, says “Some books are so powerful that they intimidate people.”

Now Kanzi can’t find any books with words in Arabic to share at home, and other classmates don’t see any books with kids who look like them either.

During discussion time, Kareem asks if they could raise money to buy those books to donate to Little Free Libraries around town, and the class decides on a bake sale and protest!

After school on Friday, they set out the treats featured in their beloved books and quickly sell them all.

It’s time to protest! Students hold signs asking for diverse books, teachers and parents join the chant “No banned books!” and here comes the TV reporter!

Can they convince the school district to bring back the books they love?

Unfortunately this book is based on a real incident, as Kanzi’s first story, An Arabic Quilt, is among books being removed from school libraries in the US.

During Banned Books Week (and every week), seek out books that feature characters from outside the dominant culture and hear voices often suppressed!
**kmm

Book info: The Great Banned-Books Bake Sale / Aya Khalil; art by Anait Semirdzhyan. Tilbury House Publishers, 2023. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy, sample pages, and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

pages from The Great Banned-Books Bake Sale, showing children & adults in group, saying No Banned Books. Student hands holding her poem "Books are for everyone. Am I not important? Am I invisible? Books make us think. Books make us imagine. Books make us compassionate. Books make us creative. Books make us LOVE. You have banned important books, but you can't ban my words. Books are for EVERYONE."
(c) Tilbury House Publishing

Get THE JUMP on invading oil company! by Brittney Morris (YA book review)

Aug16
book cover of The Jump, by Brittney Morris. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

They know Seattle, street by street, edge to edge, even belowground. No one is better at digital scavenger-hunting than Team JERICHO.

Jax, cryptologist, Black vegan – why should the community garden his parents founded be replaced by an Roundworld oil refinery?

Yas, parkourist, gay hijabi – her father’s Pakistani-American convenience store is losing business to Roundworld’s HQ cafeteria.

Spider, tech-whiz, social justice warrior – thankful that Mom and her Korean restaurant staff support his transitioning.

Han, cartographer, autistic – brother working for Roundworld, Dad’s livelihood threatened by its pipeline.

When “The Order” posts a puzzle whose prize is “power” during protests against Roundworld, JERICHO decides to accept the challenge!

Can they solve The Order’s puzzle before Team Royal?
Will it allow the teens to stop Roundworld from placing an oil refinery in their neighborhood?
What does “the game is anarchy” in The Order’s first clue really mean?

The four long-time friends take turns telling this complex tale of clues, loyalties, greed, and consequences.

By the author of The Cost of Knowing, recommended here.

How are you reacting against injustice near you?
**kmm

Book info: The Jump / Brittney Morris. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2023. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

ONCE THERE WAS…some magic, a monster, a miracle? by Kiyash Monsef (YA book review)

Aug15
book cover of Once There Was, by Kiyash Monsef. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Her best friends try to help, but Marjan is sleepwalking through life since Dad was killed by who-knows-what recently in their California home. She’s trying to juggle sophomore classes and Dad’s struggling vet practice and her anger and grief.

Wait, her Pakistani father didn’t just treat dogs, cats, and birds – he was a veterinarian for creatures out of myth and legend?! And “the work” is Marjan’s now, because she’s inherited his gift of knowing precisely how to care for them, wherever in the world they are.

People who live with these amazing creatures contact Marjan through the secretive Tea Shop group. Off she goes to see a griffon in England reaching the end of its very long life, an incontinent house gnome a few hours from home.

Into Dad’s vet office comes a young woman named Malloryn, a self-taught witch whose grey fox is ill. She’ll stay with Marjan for the mythic nine-tailed fox‘s lengthy treatment, maybe disperse the house’s gloom and bad aura.

Um, this ultra-rich Horatio guy isn’t collecting mythic creatures to appreciate them, like Malloryn loves Zorro or cute Sebastian’s family loves the griffon who chose his family generations ago. There’s something dark about Horatio, and Marjan wants to stay far away from his underground menagerie of faerie and stone giant and deadly manticore – every Persian tale her father told her, come to life.

Tea Shop believes that magical creatures’ contentment influences the overall good for humanity. As many creatures have disappeared lately, things are worsening in the world – and they want to find the missing.

Horatio keeps requesting her help with his creatures – can she safely stay away?
Dad was preparing for a trip to Ithaca, New York, when he was killed – will Marjan find any answers there about his death?
Sebastian wants to help her – what can two teenagers do against age-old problems?

“Once there was, once there was not…” Tales told by her father punctuate the action and peril – read the first chapter here free on the publisher’s website.

What’s your favorite mythic creature?
**kmm

Book info: Once There Was / Kiyash Monsef. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2023. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Siku and the Zambezi River, connected forever, until the KARIBA dam! by Daniel & James Clarke (Graphic novel review)

Aug2
book cover of Kariba, by Daniel & James Clarke. Published by Catalyst Press | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Great river spirit Nyaminyami dies and is reborn every epoch; this rebalancing time of Rumuko is near.

But Zimbabwe’s cities need electricity, so the giant Kariba Dam will block the Zambezi River soon. That is, if the Italian engineer and her team can get past the problems created as a greedy British manager tries secretly to trap Nyaminyami!

Siku lives with her father and auntie on the river and feels at home under its waters. Her dreams of flood and disaster and a giant snake get stronger – Baba says she must resist them, especially as he goes to work at Kariba.

The 11 year old doesn’t know that when she was a baby, Baba found her in an ancient place behind a waterfall and has continued to ignore the supernatural beings calling for Siku’s help with Rumuko.

River pirates attack Siku’s home just as a floatplane taking the engineer’s son to Kariba stops for fuel! The two young people escape in the plane, following Siku’s beloved river toward the dam, and her visions increase.

Of course, the pirates pursue – even on land! What do they want with Siku?

Evidence of Nyaminyami’s presence behind the near-complete dam is undeniable – can it truly be captured?

The Shonga people will be displaced when the lake begins rising behind the completed dam – can Siku help them stay in their homeland?

Happy book birthday this week to Kariba, another stellar addition to Catalyst Press’ catalog of African books published for North American readers.

What stories are told of the river spirits near you?
**kmm

Book info: Kariba / Daniel & James Clarke. Catalyst Press, 2023 [author & illustrator interview] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

You know you can LEAN ON ME! by Bill Withers & Rachel Moss (Picturebook review)

Aug1
book cover of Lean On Me / Bill Withers; illustrated by Rachel Moss. Published by LyricPop/ Akashic Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Four young friends in a seaside town help each other through good times and bad in this brand-new picturebook version of Bill Withers‘ classic song.

“Sometimes in our lives
We all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there’s
Always tomorrow”

From bike mishaps and fort-building fails in elementary school to growing up through family problems to their graduation day, each verse of the song underscores how these friends care for one another.

“Lean on me
When you’re not strong
And I’ll be your friend
I’ll help you carry on…”

Whether grownups and kiddos sing along through this upbeat book or read it using Withers’ inimitable rhythms, Lean On Me will become a family read-aloud favorite!

Happy book birthday to the newest LyricPop picturebook in the series introducing classic pop songs to a new generation, like Dream Weaver (recommended here) and Good Times Roll (more here).

Who can you lean on?
**kmm

Book info: Lean On Me / Bill Withers; illustrated by Rachel Moss. LyricPop/ Akashic Books, 2023. [illustrator site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Experience our Black History when you read with your ears! (audiobook recommendations)

Jul28

Our AudioSYNC 2023 summer season ends with two outstanding audiobooks celebrating Black history of recent and earlier times.

You must download either or both audiobooks into your Sora shelf by Wednesday August 2nd! Get all the details here.

Huge thanks to Audiofile magazine and the many audiobook publishers who provided these great selections to us free!

CD cover of Freedom: The Story of the Black Panther Party,by Jetta Grace Martin, Joshua Bloom, Waldo E. Martin Jr. | Read by Dion Graham. Published by Recorded Books

Freedom: The Story of the Black Panther Party (free Sora download 7/27 -8/2/23)
by Jetta Grace Martin, Joshua Bloom, Waldo E. Martin Jr. | Read by Dion Graham
Published by Recorded Books

The history of the Black Panther Party comes to life, from its founders and their stories to its work supporting African American families in crisis to its collapse and next steps of key members.

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/208263/freedom!-by-jetta-grace-martin-joshua-bloom-waldo-e-martin-jr-read-by-dion-graham/

swirling lines clipart http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/mondays-throughout-the-day-17164159
CD cover of Not Without Laughter, by Langston Hughes | Read by Jaime Lincoln Smith. Published by Tantor Media

Not Without Laughter (free Sora download 7/27 -8/2/23)
by Langston Hughes | Read by Jaime Lincoln Smith
Published by Tantor Media

A Black family’s struggles and challenges include racially charged encounters as son Sandy grows up in 1930s Kansas.

A classic Harlem Renaissance novel, narrated to perfection.

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/225993/not-without-laughter-by-langston-hughes-read-by-jaime-lincoln-smith/

What was your favorite AudioSYNC summer audiobook this year?
**kmm

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Lady Liberty is A LIGHT FOR ALL! by Margarita Engle & Raul Colon (Picturebook recommendation)

Jul4
book cover of Light For All, by Margarita Engle; illustrated by Raul Colon. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Light, hope, freedom!

The Statue of Liberty‘s welcoming presence weaves throughout this uplifting and reflective picturebook.

Children’s hopes, dreams, and memories of their birth-lands fill these pages showing the many reasons that people come to the United States.

The text also acknowledges the Native Americans who lived here first and the Africans forcibly brought here in slavery, as well as recent immigrants’ struggles to be accepted by those whose families also arrived as immigrants in past generations.

By the author of many novels in verse that carry forward the voices of non-dominant cultures, several recommended on BooksYALove here.

The illustrator uses varied color palettes to portray disaster and turmoil, community and reunion, friendship and hope.

Also available in Spanish : Luz Para Todos.

Have you visited the Statue of Liberty?
**kmm

Book info: Light For All / Margarita Engle; illustrated by Raul Colon. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2021. [author site] [illustrator interview] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

PIGSKINS TO PAINTBRUSHES: football-playing artist Ernie Barnes, by Don Tate (Picturebook review)

Jun27
book cover of Pigskins to Paintbrushes: the Story of Football-Playing Artist Ernie Barnes, by Don Tate. Published by Abrams Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

His pencil never stopped drawing,
his heart was filled with music and images,
some day he would show the world!

On the sidelines as he played professional football, Ernie kept drawing. After all, art had long been his escape from bullies as he grew up in segregated North Carolina.

In high school, Ernie was a big guy, so his mother convinced the football coach to let him play – and Ernie hated it! Only when the weight-lifting coach encouraged him to get stronger did the young Black man find his rhythm on the field and on the track team, leading to college scholarship offers

Oh, how Ernie loved the art studio at his all-Black college, learning oil painting and perspective and art history. His professor encouraged him to use his own experiences as inspiration for his work, and Ernie began painting about football as he kept playing.

His NFL career cut short by injury, Ernie proposed that the American Football League hire him as their official artist. He painted for the New York Jets, exhibiting 30 vibrant and exciting works to great acclaim in the mid-1960s.

Ernie’s paintings of Black Americans reflected joy and community, and his art career came full circle when they were exhibited in 1979 at the North Carolina Museum of Art, where he wasn’t allowed to enter as a child during segregation.

Movement, muscle, memory, and heart made Ernie Banks an art superstar. Watch the book trailer here!

What sport-related artwork is your favorite?
**kmm

Book info: Pigskins to Paintbrushes: the Story of Football-Playing Artist Ernie Barnes / Don Tate. Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2021. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Celebrate the rainbow spectrum – read with your ears! (audiobook recommendations)

Jun22

For Pride Month, AudioSYNC brings us real-life and fictional accounts of teens across the rainbow of gender and sexuality.

You have until Wednesday 28 June 2023 to download either or both of these professionally produced audiobooks into your Sora shelf. Get all the details here.

The Audiofile review page for each audiobook include a link to their podcast discussion of the book!

Get ready to read with your ears!

CD cover of Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin | Read by Tanya Eby, Nick Podehl, Todd Haberkorn, Roxanne Hernandez, Janina Edwards, Nancy Wu, Marisol Ramirez. Published by Brilliance Audio/Candlewick

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out (free Sora download 6/22-6/28/23)
by Susan Kuklin | Read by Tanya Eby, Nick Podehl, Todd Haberkorn, Roxanne Hernandez, Janina Edwards, Nancy Wu, Marisol Ramirez
Published by Brilliance Audio/Candlewick

Two trans feminine, two trans masculine, and two nonbinary young people spoke candidly with Susan Kuklin about their struggles to be accepted.

These real interview transcripts of gender non-conforming teens also include some family members; all narrated by professional voice actors with emotion and empathy.

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/225998/beyond-magenta-by-susan-kuklin-read-by-tanya-eby-nick-podehl/

swirling lines clipart http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/mondays-throughout-the-day-17164159
CD cover of Loveless, by Alice Oseman | Read by Billie Fulford-Brown, Elizabeth Schenk, Imogen Church. Published by Scholastic Audiobooks

Loveless (free Sora download 6/22-6/28/23)
by Alice Oseman | Read by Billie Fulford-Brown, Elizabeth Schenk, Imogen Church
Published by Scholastic Audiobooks

Surely her first year of college will be when Georgia finally has a crush, gets kissed, falls in love…right?

New friends and old help the British teen find her true self and claim her identity as asexual/aromantic.

I recommended Loveless here on BooksYALove.

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/206271/loveless-by-alice-oseman-read-by-billie-fulford-brown-elizabeth-schenk/

What’s your favorite story with gender-nonconforming characters?
**kmm

divider clipart http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/mondays-throughout-the-day-17164159

SIDE EFFECTS of meds worse than her anxiety? by Ted Anderson, Tara O’Connor, Dave Sharpe (Graphic Novel review)

Jun21
book cover of Side Effects, by Ted Anderson; art & color - Tara O'Connor; lettering - Dave Sharpe. Published by Seismic Press | recommended on BooksYALove.com

First time living away from home,
her anxiety skyrockets…
she can’t get through college like this.

Hannah has always been worried and anxious, but everything new at college is just so overwhelming. After a deep depressive episode, her roommate helps her connect with a therapist on campus.

Dr. Jacobs is calm and reassuring, offering medication if Hannah wants to try it and cautioning her to watch for unusual side effects before her next appointment. Her brother Levi is supportive and wishes their mom would work on her own anxiety.

Oh, wow, what side effects! Such headaches, and she zaps anything she touches with electric shocks – even co-worker Jay at the library notices, yet still invites her to a very quiet, low-key party at his dorm.

Wow, Hannah is brave enough to go to the party and meet new people, including lovely Iz!

A new medication that won’t cause the terrible headaches makes Hannah disassociate from her body – is she really seeing through walls and reading people’s minds?

Her movie and dinner date with Iz is perfect! Then… crickets, no answer when Hannah texts her – what went wrong?

As freshman year rolls on, Hannah keeps trying to help herself and allows others to help her, too.

This graphic novel begins with a content warning about the mental and emotional distresses depicted and concludes with notes from the author and a mental health professional.

For help, call or text the free and confidential Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 9-8-8 any time, any hour.

In a new place or situation, what do you think about first?
**kmm

Book info: Side Effects / written by Ted Anderson; art & color by Tara O’Connor; lettering by Dave Sharpe. Seismic Press, 2022. [publisher site & interviews] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.