Category Archives: diversity

OASL New, Notable and Diverse books

What a treat to spend the weekend with Oregon’s school librarians. And then hearing keynote speakers R. Gregory Christie and Mitali Perkins was just the icing on the cake.

For those who came to my presentation, here are the books I talked about in my session. A selection of new books that are notable in quality and diverse.

Picture Books
Shanyaak’utlaax Salmon Boy from Baby Raven Reads (Tlingit)
The Woman Carried Away by Killer Whales from Baby Raven Reads (Haida)
Picking Berries by Hannah Lindoff from Baby Raven Reads (Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian)
Raven Brings Us Fire, Raven and the Box of Daylight, Origins of Rivers and Streams: a raven story by Pauline Kookesh Duncan from Baby Raven Reads (Tlingit)
On our Street: our first talk about poverty, and On the News: our first talk about tragedy by Dr. Jillian Roberts
You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith (Cree & English) Canadian Reconciliation
Speaking our Truth a journey of reconciliation by Monique Gray Smith Canadian Reconciliation
How Raven got His Crooked Nose an Alaskan Dena’ina Fable by Barbara J Atwater (Athabaskan)
Whisper of the East: tales from Arabia by Franziska Meiners -glossary plus activities
The Atlas Obscura: Explorers Guide for the  worlds most adventurous kid  by Dylan Thuras & Rosemanry Masco
Mapping Sam by Joyce Hesselberth —STEM
The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld —empathy
Me and my Fear by  Franscesca Sanna
Drawn Together by Dan Santat multi-lingual family
We are Grateful Otsaliheligaby Traci Sorell (Cherokee)
Chapter Books
Baby Monkey Private Eye by Brian Selznick
Digging Deep by Jake Maddox—a hijabi athlete
You Choose Books Sleeping Beauty by Jessica Gunderson—a female fairytale choose your own adventure.
Meet Yasmin by Saadia Faruqui
Lucy’s Lab by Michelle Houts
Jasmine Taguchi Super Sleuth  by Debbi Michiko Florence (series)
Pocket Pirates: The Great Cheese Robbery by Chris Mould (series)
The Questioners Rosie Revere and the raucous riveters by Andrea Beaty maker mystery
MG novels
The Journey of Little Charlie by Christopher Paul Curtis – About a boy who engages in slave catching and has a change of heart. tangential to Elijah of Buxton
Running on the Roof of the World by Jess Butterworth
    About buddhist refugees from Tibet to India. Yaks!
Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish by Pablo Caraya—extra tall 8th grader goes home to Puerto Rico for the 1st time
Tight by Torrey Maldonado— urban, black, about the hard choices in MS friendship, older MG
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed contemporary Pakistan, indentured servitude
Charlie Hernández the league of shadows by Ryan Calejo fantasy adventure based in central American mythology
Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina contemporary coming-of-age multigenerational household
The Crossroads bu Alexandra Diaz contemporary migrant from Guatemala adjusts to life in the US
Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José historical fantasy civil war with dinosaurs
Non-fiction
The Faithful Spy: a true story! Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the plot to kill Hitler by John Hendrix
    highly illustrated but not a GN it tackles the question: how do I resist evil without doing/becoming evil
Shout: the true story of a survivor who refused to be silenced by Laurie Halse Anderson —a tale of resilience
Unbroken: 13 stories starring Disabled Teens ed by Marieke Nijkamp
Don’t Call Me Crazy: 33 voices start the conversation about mental health ed. by Kelly Jensen
Just Breathe: meditation, mindfulness, movement, and more Malik’s Chopra—one of many mindfulness/yoga/meditation titles this year.
Putting Peace First: 7 commitments to change the world by Eric David Dawson —in a season crowded w/ social justice this one is detailed, practical, do-able by youth.
Short Stories
Flying Lessons and other stories ed by Ellen Oh of WNDB
Funny Girl ed by Betsy Bird
Graphic Novels
Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol
    An ethnic twist on the summer camp story. an artful look at social isolation
The Dragon Slayer: Folk tales from Latin America by Jaime Hernandez
Illegal by Eoin Colfer migration from Africa across the Sahara and Mediterranean Sea
Oregon Authors
D-day:the WWII invasion the changed history  and Under the Bodhi Tree a story of Buddha by Deborah Hopkinson
Where the Watermelons Grow by Cindy Baldwin
Avalanche Dog Heroes: Piper and Friends learn to search the snow by Elizabeth Rusch
Tigers and Tea with Top by Barbara Kerley
The Turning by Emily Whitman
Journey of the Pale Bear by Susan Fletcher
What do they do with all that Poo by Jane Kurtz
Quiet Please Owen McPhee by Trudy Ludwig
A Boy A Mouse A Spider by Barbara Herkert

Celebrating Indigenous Authors: Roy Henry Vickers & Robert Budd

Teachers are always looking for books to pair with required units of study. Most students in the 3rd or 4th grade study the indigenous cultures of their region. Quality picture books by indigenous creators are few and far between so I was thrilled to find  Peace Dancer and Orca Chief by Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd.

Both books are traditional stories from the village of Kitkatla in British Columbia. This is the home town of the authors. Roy Henry Vickers is an artist and writer and Robert Budd is a historian. Roy holds a leadership position within his tribe. They belong to the Gitxaala Nation which is part of the larger language group known as the Tsimshian. Kitkatla is on the coast of British Columbia  just east of the Islands of Haida Gwaii.

Peace Dancer is a traditional tale about the fate that befalls the people when children fail to respect a crow. It’s a flood narrative, which is interesting because so many ancient cultures have some kind of flood story. It gives the explanation for why a peace dancer is so important in a potlatch ceremony. In the author note, Roy Henry Vickers explains that he is the peace dancer for his community.

Orca Chief is also a story about the importance of respect for the natural world. In this story a group of disrespectful fishermen are taken under the sea to visit the Chief of the Orcas. After the fishermen apologize the Orca Chief forgives them and shows them ways to find many good things to eat–herrings, oolichan, and crabs.

Both books have stunning illustrations, combining a mainstream modern painting style with traditional formline art to represent the fish, birds and animals. They are vividly colored and brilliantly produced on the highest quality paper. If Vickers and Budd were Americans and therefore eligible, they would be contenders for the Caldecott with each of these books.

This week is small press week and it’s worth noting that these books are published by Harbour Publishing, a small independent publisher in British Columbia. They have been publishing the work of Vickers and Budd for many years. The pair has a new board book out this year called Hello Humpback.

When you are looking for diverse titles–especially by indigenous writers and artists–don’t forget the small presses.

Celebrating Indigenous Authors–Red: a Haida manga by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

One of the things I love about PNBA is the opportunity to meet small press publishers  and see work by emerging artists and and Indigenous story tellers. By far the most distinctive work I saw this year was a graphic novel called Red: a Haida Manga by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas. He is a visual artist and storyteller from Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands)

The story is done in graphic novel format but it’s totally unique in using the formline art style to create a variety of curvilinear panels. The formline style of art is what you typically see on totem poles in the pacific northwest. The unusual shapes give the narrative a uniquely flowing character which suits the story well as it shifts across time and space following the character of Red and his sister who begin the story as orphans taken in by a village on Haida Gwaii. Raiders come to the village and take Red’s sister away. Years later when Red is the leader of his community, he hears news of his lost sister and hatches a rescue and revenge plot that goes horribly awry. The story is based on Haida oral tradition and conveys important cultural values around the futility of anger and revenge.

The other thing that makes this book unique is that the pages work in codex form but they can also be taken out of the book and put together in a large mural in which the curved borders of the manga panels join together to form a large cohesive work of art. A photograph of the joined panels is in the back of the book so that you can see how to assemble it.

If you are a comics fan you’ll be intrigued by this story. If you are school librarian you should know that the panels include a few images of nude males. The images aren’t sexual in nature and are completely appropriate in the context of the story. If you are looking to increase the diversity of your graphic novel collection RED a Haida Manga is a great choice.

My new favorite illustrator

One of my favorite things about being a bookseller is seeing hundreds of new picture books every year. There is so much talent in the picture book field and such creativity, I find it very inspiring. I’ve had my eye on one illustrator though who’s work I first saw in a modest little book called Fox’s Garden two years ago, and again in the stunning wordless book The Snow Rabbit last year. The artist is Camilee Garoche and she has a such a unique style it catches my eye every time.

She works in cut paper which is a style I’ve loved ever since my first glimpse of Nikki McClure’s work. But Garoche goes so much further. She cuts a paper scene, embellishes the scene with additional drawing and coloring. Then she lights the scene adding the element of shine and shadow, and then photographs the whole thing. The overall effect is completely enchanting with a depth I haven’t seen in other work.

She’s got a new picture book this year illustrating a song by Laurie Berkner. It’s called Pillowland and I can’t wait to introduce it to families at Annie Blooms Books who are looking for a unique bedtime story.

First Nations Picture Books–Stolen Words by Melanie Florence

Writing about the ravages of colonial control over First Nations in the United States and Canada is difficult enough when addressing adults. It’s even more challenging when presenting material to the youngest readers. How to convey the seriousness and depth of pain without crushing the spirit of the child reader–it’s a huge challenge, and I admire any author who even attempts to take it on. Few come out with such a successful result as author Melanie Florence in her picture book Stolen Words about her grandfather’s forced enrollment in boarding school and the loss of his mother tongue. Ms. Florence tells the story of a young girl who innocently asks her grandfather how to say grandpa in Cree. He tells her about being taken away from home and punished at the boarding school for speaking his Cree language. Illustrator Gabrielle Grimard captures this beautifully representing the Cree language as a blackbird captured in a cage and locked away. It’s an image that conveys the sadness and brutality of the Canadian boarding school without presenting images too heart-breaking for young readers. The girl finds a Cree dictionary in her own school and brings it to her grandfather and the words on the page, again symbolically, take the form of blackbirds and fly free. It’s a simple tale–too simple for older readers certainly who need much more substance and a less tidy resolution. But for the youngest readers this is an important story of native language denied and ultimately regained, and a book well worth celebrating.

Stolen Words is published by Second Story Press out of Toronto, Ontario. It will be available in September of 2017. I wrote this review from an Advanced Reader Copy which I obtained at the independent bookstore where I work. If you are looking for more context as an adult reader I highly recommend They Called Me Number One by Bev Sellars, and acclaimed author from British Columbia. She is a chief of the Xat’sull and her book is about her own experiences in boarding school. It’s not a read for the tenderhearted but it is very useful in understanding the depth of wrong that was done in Indian boarding schools across the Unites States and Canada.