Difficult Discussions

“What Momma Left Me” by Renée Watson

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What Momma Left Me

by Renée Watson

Genre: Teen & YA/African-American/Growing Up & Facts of Life/Difficult Discussions/Multi-generational

4.92 at time of posting!

Rediscover New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor- and Coretta Scott King Author Award-winning author Renée Watson’s heart-rending debut, about one girl’s journey to reconnect to joy.

Serenity is good at keeping secrets, and she’s got a whole lifetime’s worth of them. Her mother is dead, her father is gone, and starting life over at her grandparents’ house is strange. Luckily, certain things seem to hold promise: a new friend who makes her feel connected, and a boy who makes her feel seen. But when her brother starts making poor choices, her friend is keeping her own dangerous secret, and her grandparents put all of their trust in a faith that Serenity isn’t sure she understands, it is the power of love that will repair her heart and keep her sure of just who she is.

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“June Peters, You Will Change the World One Day” by Alika Turner

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June Peters, You Will Change the World One Day

by Alika Turner, Naafi Nr ( Illustrator)

Genre: Growing Up/Facts of Life/Difficult Discussions

1.99 at time of posting!

June Peters, You Will Change the World One Day aims to encourage young children by teaching them the value of giving back to others. Through this book, children will learn that at any age they can make a difference in the world around them. June, is a natural-born giver always putting the needs of others before her own. This book is thought-provoking and exciting, parents and children will both enjoy reading it.

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He believes his mother has been deported. “The Sky at Our Feet” by Nadia Hashimi

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The Sky at Our Feet

by Nadia Hashimi

Genre: Middle Grades/Growing Up & Facts of Life/Multigenerational/Runaways

This #ownvoices novel by bestselling author Nadia Hashimi tells the affecting story of an Afghan-American boy who believes his mother has been deported. For fans of Inside Out and Back Again and Counting by 7s.

Jason has just learned that his Afghan mother has been living illegally in the United States since his father was killed in Afghanistan. Although Jason was born in the US, it’s hard to feel American now when he’s terrified that his mother will be discovered—and that they will be separated.

When he sees his mother being escorted from her workplace by two officers, Jason feels completely alone. He boards a train with the hope of finding his aunt in New York City, but as soon as he arrives in Penn Station, the bustling city makes him wonder if he’s overestimated what he can do.

After an accident lands him in the hospital, Jason finds an unlikely ally in a fellow patient. Max, a whip-smart girl who wants nothing more than to explore the world on her own terms, joins Jason in planning a daring escape out of the hospital and into the skyscraper jungle—even though they both know that no matter how big New York City is, they won’t be able to run forever.

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“Gone Crazy in Alabama” by Rita Williams-Garcia

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Gone Crazy in Alabama

by Rita Williams-Garcia

Genre: Children’s Book/Growing Up & Facts of Life/Multi-Generational/Difficult Discussions

1.99 at time of posting!

Coretta Scott King Award winner * ALA Notable Book * School Library Journal Best Book of the Year * Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year * ALA BooklistEditors’ Choice * Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year * Washington Post Best Books of the Year * TheBulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Book * Three starred reviews * CCBC Choice * New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing * Amazon Best Book of the Year

The Coretta Scott King Award–winning Gone Crazy in Alabama by Newbery Honor and New York Timesbestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of the Gaither sisters as they travel from the streets of Brooklyn to the rural South for the summer of a lifetime.

Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are off to Alabama to visit their grandmother Big Ma and her mother, Ma Charles. Across the way lives Ma Charles’s half sister, Miss Trotter. The two half sisters haven’t spoken in years. As Delphine hears about her family history, she uncovers the surprising truth that’s been keeping the sisters apart. But when tragedy strikes, Delphine discovers that the bonds of family run deeper than she ever knew possible.

Powerful and humorous, this companion to the award-winning One Crazy Summer and P.S. Be Eleven will be enjoyed by fans of the first two books, as well as by readers meeting these memorable sisters for the first time.

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“Henry’s Freedom Box” by Ellen Levine

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Henry’s Freedom Box (A True Story from the Underground Railroad)

by Ellen Levine, Kadir Nelson (Illustrator)

Genre: Children’s Books/Historical/Difficult Discussions/African-American

A stirring, dramatic story of a slave who mails himself to freedom by a Jane Addams Peace Award-winning author and a Coretta Scott King Award-winning artist.Henry Brown doesn’t know how old he is. Nobody keeps records of slaves’ birthdays. All the time he dreams about freedom, but that dream seems farther away than ever when he is torn from his family and put to work in a warehouse. Henry grows up and marries, but he is again devastated when his family is sold at the slave market. Then one day, as he lifts a crate at the warehouse, he knows exactly what he must do: He will mail himself to the North. After an arduous journey in the crate, Henry finally has a birthday — his first day of freedom.

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“Rosetta, Rosetta, Sit By Me!” by Linda Walvoord

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Rosetta, Rosetta, Sit By Me!

by Linda Walvoord

Genre: Children’s Books/African-American/Difficult Discussions/Racism & Prejudice

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Frederick Douglass’s daughter tells her own story of segregation and triumph.

“Rosetta, Rosetta, Sit by me!” That’s what the white girls at Miss Tracy’s Female Seminary yell when Rosetta, Frederick Douglass’s nine-year-old daughter, shows up on the first day of school. But things don’t turn out the way she expects. Not only does she have to study in a classroom all by herself, but she’s also kept apart at recess. Told in Rosetta’s voice, and illustrated throughout, this remarkable chapter book includes a biographical endnote; a time line; reproductions of a letter from Rosetta to her father and Frederick Douglass’s newspaper, the North Star; and source notes.

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“Out of Bounds: Seven Stories of Conflict and Hope” by Beverley Naidoo

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Out of Bounds: Seven Stories of Conflict and Hope

by Beverley Naidoo

Genre: Middle Grades/Explore the World/Difficult Discussions/Africa

1.99 at time of posting!

We are the young people,
We will not be broken!
We demand freedom
And say
“Away with slavery
In our land of Africa!”

For almost fifty years apartheid forced the young people of South Africa to live apart as Blacks, Whites, Indians, and “Coloreds.” This unique and dramatic collection of stories — by native South African and Carnegie Medalist Beverley Naidoo — is about young people’s choices in a beautiful country made ugly by injustice.

Each story is set in a different decade during the last half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, and features fictional characters caught up in very real events. Included is a Timeline Across Apartheid, which recounts some of the restrictive laws passed during this era, the events leading up to South Africa’s first free democratic elections, and the establishment of a new “rainbow government” that leads the country today.

A Junior Library Guild Selection

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2018 Newbery Winner | Children’s Literature

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Hello, Universe (2018 Newbery Winner Children’s Literature)

by Erin Entrada Kelly

Genre: Growing Up & Facts of Life/Difficult Discussions/Bullies

 

Winner of the Newbery Medal

“A charming, intriguingly plotted novel.”—Washington Post

Newbery Medalist Erin Entrada Kelly’s Hello, Universe is a funny and poignant neighborhood story about unexpected friendships.

Told from four intertwining points of view—two boys and two girls—the novel celebrates bravery, being different, and finding your inner bayani (hero). “Readers will be instantly engrossed in this relatable neighborhood adventure and its eclectic cast of misfits.”—Booklist

In one day, four lives weave together in unexpected ways. Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted and feels out of place in his crazy-about-sports family. Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, is smart, brave, and secretly lonely, and she loves everything about nature. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic, whose little sister, Gen, is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just stop being so different so he can concentrate on basketball.

They aren’t friends, at least not until Chet pulls a prank that traps Virgil and his pet guinea pig at the bottom of a well. This disaster leads Kaori, Gen, and Valencia on an epic quest to find missing Virgil. Through luck, smarts, bravery, and a little help from the universe, a rescue is performed, a bully is put in his place, and friendship blooms.

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“The Boy Who Painted the World” by Melody J. Bremen

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#FREE August 13th Only!

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“The Boy Who Painted the World“

Author: Melody J. Bremen

Genre: Growing Up & Facts of Life/Family Life/Adoption

Release Date: July 11, 2017

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Indigo is a boy with a dream. He spends his mornings in a refrigerator box, his afternoons shoveling snow, and his nights in the basement of a homeless shelter. But during every free moment, he draws and dreams of becoming a famous artist.
His best friend Jade looks after him, but she is arrested for shoplifting and he’s left all alone. With his box of pencils under his arm, he sets out on a quest to search for Jade and discovers a whole new world… full of the art he loves.
His journey brings him friendship, family, and the courage to hold onto his dreams.

Melody J. Bremen writes books for middle grade and young adult readers. She lives on a distant planet where all they do is write and read books. (Sometimes they eat jelly beans.) She has a faithful computer named Oswald.
Visit her website at http://www.melodyjbremen.com.
Sign up for Melody’s newsletter and get the first 8 chapters of The Boy Who Painted the World free: http://www.subscribepage.com/newsletter-sign-up