A Tale of Highly Unusual Magic
A Tale of Highly Unusual Magic By Lisa Papademetriou Published by HarperCollins Publishers ISBN-13: 9780062371065 Age Range: 8+ Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound| B&N | Worldcat “With magic and humor, this is an excellent addition to middle grade collections.” —School Library Journal Description Bestseller and author of the popular middle grade series Confectionately Yours Lisa Papademetriou is back with a magical, page-turning adventure for readers of all ages—a touching tale about destiny and the invisible threads that link us all, ultimately, to one another. Kai and...
Read MoreThe Night Diary
The Night Diary By Veera Hiranandani Published by Penguin Young Readers Group Age Range: 8+ Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N | Worldcat “This rich, compelling story, which speaks to the turbulence surrounding India’s independence and to the plight of refugees, should be in all libraries serving middle grade readers.” —School Library Journal Description It’s 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries: Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands...
Read MoreA Refugee’s Journey from Afghanistan
A Refugee’s Journey from Afghanistan By Helen Mason Published by Crabtree Publishing Age Range: 8+ Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N | Worldcat “…[an] effort that reveals the plight of children affected by the horrors of war…” —School Library Journal Description Sonita was born in a refugee camp in Pakistan after her family fled Afghanistan during the war in the early 2000s. Unwelcome in Pakistan, her family returns to Afghanistan, where Sonita and her family face new challenges. Interspersed with facts about Afghanistan and its people, this narrative...
Read MoreThe Secret Kingdom: Nek Chand, a Changing India, and a Hidden World of Art
The Secret Kingdom: Nek Chand, a Changing India, and a Hidden World of Art By Barb Rosenstock Illustrated by Claire A. Nivola Published by Candlewick Press Age Range: 7+ Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N | Worldcat “Rosenstock’s gratifying story conveys how art has the capacity to revitalize and restore.” —Publishers Weekly Description After the partition of India in 1947, Nek Chand Saini settled in the city of Chandigarh, with nothing but stories brought from his homeland. Dismayed at his stark new surroundings, Nek began collecting river rocks, broken glass, and...
Read MoreThe Secret Kingdom: Refugee’s Art Inspires Lessons Exploring Home
THE SECRET KINGDOM Art Lessons for Exploring Home Best Users: Art Educators, Classroom Teachers, ELL Educators, Librarians Best Audience: Children Grades 03-07 THE BACKGROUND Kirsten Cappy of I’m Your Neighbor and author Barb Rosenstock presented her picture book The Secret Kingdom: Nek Chand, a Changing India, and a Hidden World of Art illustrated by Claire A. Nivola (Candlewick Press) to a group of MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching) Teacher Candidates at Maine College of Art (MECA). Nek Chand, a refugee from the partition of India, recreated the village he left behind in a...
Read MoreMalala’s Magic Pencil
Malala’s Magic Pencil By Malala Yousafzai Illustrated by Kerascoet Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Age Range: 4+ Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N | Worldcat “This is an excellent book to begin conversations about world injustice with children.” —NYT Book Review Description Malala’s first picture book will inspire young readers everywhere to find the magic all around them. As a child in Pakistan, Malala made a wish for a magic pencil. She would use it to make everyone happy, to erase the smell of garbage from her city, to sleep an extra...
Read MoreA Long Pitch Home
A Long Pitch Home By Natalie Dias Lorenzi Published by Charlesbridge Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N | Worldcat Description Ten-year-old Bilal liked his life back home in Pakistan. He was a star on his cricket team. But when his father suddenly sends the family to live with their aunt and uncle in America, nothing is familiar. While Bilal tries to keep up with his cousin Jalaal by joining a baseball league and practicing his English, he wonders when his father will join the family in Virginia. Maybe if Bilal can prove himself on the pitcher’s mound, his father will make it to...
Read MoreWritten in the Stars
Written in the Stars By Aisha Saeed Published by Penguin/Nancy Paulsen Books Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N “Movingly conveys the intense cultural pressure that motivates Naila’s parents and the heartbreaking betrayal Naila feels as she is deprived of her rights, cut off from the outside world, and threatened with shame and death. Saeed includes resources for those who, like Saif’s family, wish to help real-life Nailas, in this wrenching but hopeful story.” —Publisher’s Weekly Description This heart-wrenching novel explores what it is like to be thrust...
Read MoreMahtab’s Story
Mahtab’s Story By Libby Gleeson Published by Allen and Unwin “Gleeson has created a protagonist with the strength of a woman yet the naïveté of a child. Her writing style is fluid, and it captures readers’ attention from the very beginning.” –School Library Journal Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description Mahtab was hollow. Empty, as if her flesh and blood, her energy, that kept her breathing and running, thinking and talking, was gone. Nothing was in its place. She was hungry. Hungry for water, for her father, for her grandmother, her...
Read MoreIqbal
Iqbal By Francesco D’Adamo Translated by Anne Leonoir Published by Aladdin “An eye-opening, genuinely touching novel.” —Publishers Weekly “Iqbal’s life was not in vain; the accounts here of children who were liberated through his and activist adults’ efforts will move readers for years to come.” —Kirkus Reviews Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description When young Iqbal is sold into slavery at a carpet factory, his arrival changes everything for the other overworked and abused children there. It is Iqbal who explains to them that...
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