Description
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes
A Chair For My Mother by Vera B. Williams
A 1983 Caldecott Honor Book
Acclaimed author/illustrator Vera Williams tells of a young girl, who along with her waitress mother, saves coins in a big jar in hopes that they can someday buy a big, new, comfortable chair for their apartment, the kind of chair her mother deserves after being on her feet all day in the Blue Tile Diner. Into the jar also goes the money Grandma saves whenever she gets a bargain at the market.
There hasn’t been a comfortable place to sit in the apartment since a fire in their previous apartment burned everything to “charcoal and ashes.” Friends and neighbors brought furniture to their new apartment downstairs, but no one brought anything big or soft or comfortable. Finally the jar is full, the coins are rolled, and in the book’s crowning moment mother, daughter, and Grandma search four different furniture stores, and after carefully trying several chairs, like Goldilocks, they find the chair they’ve been dreaming of at last.
Vera Williams enhances this heartwarming story about the values of saving and working together towards a common goal, with her own pleasant, folk-art inspired paintings. Each illustration is bordered with natty patterning, foreshadowing the family’s eventual acquisition of their new, magnificent chair.
I Walk with Vanessa: A Story About a Simple Act of Kindness by Kerascoet
Named by Parents Magazine as the “Best Book that Champions Kindness”
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
This simple yet powerful picture book–from a New York Times bestselling husband-and-wife team–tells the story of one girl who inspires a community to stand up to bullying. Inspired by real events, I Walk with Vanessa explores the feelings of helplessness and anger that arise in the wake of seeing a classmate treated badly, and shows how a single act of kindness can lead to an entire community joining in to help. By choosing only pictures to tell their story, the creators underscore the idea that someone can be an ally without having to say a word. With themes of acceptance, kindness, and strength in numbers, this timeless and profound feel-good story will resonate with readers young and old.
Nino Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales
Pura Belpré Illustrator Award Winner
A Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year
ALSC Notable Children’s Book
A Mamiverse.com Top 50 Latino Children’s Books You Should Know
Señoras y señores, put your hands together for the fantastic, spectacular, one of a kind . . . Niño!
Fwap! Slish! Bloop! Krunch! He takes down his competition in a single move!
No opponent is too big a challenge for the cunning skills of Niño—popsicle eater, toy lover, somersault expert, and world champion lucha libre competitor!
Niño Wrestles the World is in English with Spanish vocabulary, and is a fun, colorful story about a boy wrestling with imaginary monsters (including an Olmec Head and La Llorona) and adversaries like his younger sisters. This is a joyful picture book about imagination, play, and siblings.
Award-winning author and illustrator Yuyi Morales is the author of Caldecott Honor and Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Medal-winning Viva Frida, stunning bilingual bedtime story Little Night/Nochecita, Rudas: Niño’s Horrendous Hermanitas, Pura Belpré Honor Book (Narrative) Just In Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book, and other picture books for young readers. She also illustrated Thunder Boy Jr., written by Sherman Alexie, and Pura Belpré (Illustration) Medal and Pura Belpré (Narrative) Honor book Los Gatos Black on Halloween, written by Marisa Montes.
I Love My Hair! By Natasha Anastasia Tarpley
A Black Caucus American Library Association Top Recommended Book
Every night before she goes to bed, Keyana’s mother combs her hair. Though Mama is always gentle, sometimes getting her hair combed still hurts! To soothe her hurting places, Mama tells Keyana why she’s so lucky to have her head of hair and explores with her all the wonderful styles that she can wear. This imaginative story is a celebration of the special relationship between mother and daughter, as well as the qualities that make each of us unique and beautiful. Available in a board book edition.
