New books this year related to cultural diversity have provided multiple perspectives on topics in history and social issues. They have suggested the increasing interest in shedding light on new, little-explored topics and in sharing the stories of individuals whose stories have not been told.
Ages 4–8
Crane Boy. Diana Cohn. Ill. Youme. 2015. Cinco Punto.
Kinga lives in Bhutan and watches out of the school windows every fall for the return of the black-necked cranes, much beloved by the people of the valley who have revered them for centuries and preserved the wetlands so they have a habitat. He is concerned about the dwindling number of cranes so he sets about recruiting students, families, and monks to host a crane festival to raise money for the protection of the cranes. During the festival, the people have archery contests and monks perform traditional dances. The children observe and draw the cranes in preparation for their own dance performance. The back matter, richly illustrated with photographs including a double-page spread of the cranes, gives an account of experiences of the author and illustrator when they traveled in Bhutan and provides information on the Phobjika Valley where the story is set, the festival, and the process of counting the cranes.
—SW
Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation. Edwidge Danticat. Ill. Leslie Staub. 2015. Penguin/Dial.
Saya’s Mama is being held at Sunshine Correctional, “a prison for women without papers.” On Saya’s weekly visits to the immigration detention center, Mama tells her Haitian stories about a wosiyòl, a nightingale. Mama sends Saya a cassette on which she tells a bedtime story she made up about a mommy nightingale who has gone on a very long journey and is looking for a rainbow so she can return home to her baby nightingale. As more cassettes arrive weekly and Papa continues writing letters appealing for Mama’s release, Saya decides to write her own story. Papa sends the story to a newspaper reporter, and it is published. With the spread of Saya’s story in the media, Mama is given a hearing. The judge rules that she can come home while waiting for her papers. Staub’s oil paintings in a richly colored, folk art style convey the sadness of separation and the joy of reunion of this hopeful immigration story.
—CA
Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton. Don Tate. 2015. Peachtree.
In this picture book biography of George Moses Horton (1798–approximately 1883), Tate’s rich narrative and softly colored, cartoon-like mixed media illustrations tell the life story of a slave in North Carolina who taught himself to read, composed verses that he memorized and recited before he learned how to write them down, and became a published poet—all before becoming a free man, at the age of 66, when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Leaving North Carolina, George continued writing about his life experiences. “George’s love of words had taken him on a great journey. Words made him strong. Words allowed him to dream. Words loosened the chains of bondage long before his last day as a slave” (n.p.). In an author’s note, Tate provides a historical context for the book and states his goal in creating for today’s young readers this biography of George Moses Horton—“a person with talents and hopes and dreams, and a desire to be free. Just like them.”
—CA
Ages 9–11
Dolls of Hope. Shirley Parenteau. 2015. Candlewick.
When Chiyo’s sister becomes engaged, her fiancé vows to pay for Chiyo’s education at a girls’ school, far from her rural village, so she will become a polished and modest young woman who brings honor to her family. Chiyo feels out of place at the school and is belittled by Hoshi, a general’s daughter, who is first in everything. When Chiyo becomes first singer in the singing club, Hoshi redoubles her efforts to make life miserable for Chiyo. The novel, a companion to Ship of Dolls (2014), is set in 1926 Japan during the time of the Dolls of Hope project in which the United States sent thousands of Friendship Dolls to Japan. Chiyo’s school singing club is one of those selected to perform in the national festivities related to the dolls’ arrival in Tokyo, and the school becomes the keeper of one of the dolls with Chiyo as its protector. Hoshi’s acts of retribution escalate, putting girls in danger. Chiyo must make decisions to protect the doll and to honor her family’s vision for her.
—SW
Full Cicada Moon. Marilyn Hilton. 2015. Penguin/Dial.
When 12-year-old Mimi Yoshiko Oliver moves from culturally diverse Berkeley, CA, to mostly white Hillsborough, VT, in 1969, she doesn’t fit in the boxes people expect. Mimi’s mother is Japanese and her father is black. What should she check on the ethnicity part of the school admission form that says Check only one? Other doesn’t fit. “I am half Mama, half papa, and all me.” When her new classmates are confused by her responses to their questions about where she comes from and her nationality and laugh when she says she wants to be an astronaut, Mimi realizes that the question she must answer is not What am I? but Who am I? Hilton’s verse novel takes readers along on Mimi’s journey of self discovery as she struggles to to make friends and fit in while courageously testing gender-based barriers by entering a serious astronomy project in the science fair and protesting the rule that girls take home economics and boys take shop.
—CA
Ages 12–14
Everything, Everything. Nicola Yoon. Ill. David Yoon. 2015. Delacorte.
Madeline Whittier, a biracial 18-year-old, has spent her life in a sterile home under the watchful protection of her widowed mother, a physician. Her father and brother were killed in an accident when she was an infant. As Madeline explains it, she is allergic to the world and must live on “SCID row” because of a rare form of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (known familiarly as “bubble baby disease”) that almost killed her as an infant. When her curiosity about the new neighbor, Olly, begins to move toward a relationship with the unlikely prospect of turning romantic, everything about her life becomes complicated. She wants to experience life outside, and she wants to do it with Olly. Nicola Yoon’s telling of this special love story is heartwarming and balanced with humor added by the inclusion of Madeline’s diary entries, handwritten lists, spoiler reviews about books she has read, e-mail exchanges with Olly, and David Yoon’s line drawings. The book ends with a twist that is both heartwarming and heartrending.
—CA
The Inker’s Shadow. Allen Say. 2015. Scholastic.
When he is 12 years old, Allen is apprenticed to a famous cartoonist in Japan. He pursues his childhood dream of becoming a cartoonist, using a new name the master has given him, Kyusuke, an alter ego who undertakes adventure, gets into trouble, and sees the fun and possibility in everything he encounters. Kyusuke becomes the character of a series, but he also comes with Allen when he and his family move to the United States. Allen has a scholarship to attend a military academyfounded by his father’s friend in Glendora, CA. In this autobiography, a sequel to Say’s Drawing From Memory (2011), Say shares the challenges, anxieties, and adventure of his experiences as a student in California, with the alter ego Kyusuke depicted in many of the illustrations. Say illustrates events, scenes, and individuals in his life in pencil, pen and ink, and watercolors. The back matter contains additional remarks and archival photographs of places Say lived and people he knew.
—SW
Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People. S.D. Nelson. 2015. Abrams.
Lakota Chief Sitting Bull narrates the account of his life from the time when he was a teenager and proved himself brave and strong to his protection of his people in face of the advance of people and technology that moved across the prairie to settle or exploit the land and its resources. His life spans the wars between the U.S. government and the Hunkpapa people from the 1860s to 1890. Sitting Bull and a band of his people traveled to Canada, but he returned in face of the destitution of his people and surrendered to the U.S. government in North Dakota. Apprehensive that the Native Americans might mount resistance, the cavalry arrested Sitting Bull, who was then shot while in police custody (ironically, by a Lakota officer). The book includes archival photographs, an extensive timeline detailing the history of the Lakota, source notes, and historical information in the author’s note. The note includes information on the history and craft of Nelson’s ledger art featured throughout the book.
—SW
Ages 15+
All American Boys. Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely. 2015. Atheneum/A Caitlyn Dlouhy Book.
“Mistakes were made./Rashad was beaten./Paul beat Rashad.” Rashad, an African American teen, is in a convenience store buying potato chips. Paul, a white police officer, thinks he is stealing the chips and handcuffs Rashad, removes him the store, and beats him. Quinn, a white teen who Paul has mentored since Quinn’s father was killed in Afghanistan, witnesses the beating and the whole event is caught on camera. As Rashad remains in the hospital, students take sides after a graffiti tag—RASHAD IS ABSENT AGAIN TODAY—is sprayed on the front stairs of Springfield Central High. The story is told alternating the voices of Rashad and Quinn. As a protest is organized against racism and police brutality, these two boys, one black and one white, both Americans, must decide whether they will stand on the sidelines or march.
—CA
Sandip Wilson serves as associate professor at in the College of Health and Education of Husson University in Bangor, ME. Carolyn Angus is former Director of George G. Stone Center for Children's Books, Claremont Graduate University, CA.
These reviews are submitted by members of the International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) and are published weekly on Literacy Daily.