Tag: Diversity in Literature

by Emma Ruggiero

Esperanza’s life could not be more perfect. She has a loving family, a beautiful home, and all the dolls and dresses she could want. But when a terrible misfortune upends her life, Esperanza must learn to take care of herself and her mother. After escaping to California, Esperanza discovers the challenges and hardships of farm labor during the Great Depression, and she must learn how to be humble and accepting towards a new life and new people. Filled with bright imagery and compelling characters, Esperanza Rising is a book that all ages can enjoy. 

Jacket Description:

“Esperanza Ortega possesses all the treasures a girl could want: dresses; a home filled with servants in Mexico; and the promise of one day presiding over El Rancho de las Rosas. But a tragedy shatters that dream, forcing Esperanza and her mother to flee to Arvin, California and settle in a farm camp. There, they confront the challenges of work, acceptance, and economic difficulties brought on by the Great Depression.”

Reading Level: 8+

Age Range: 8 – 14

Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction

Length: 259 pages

Awards: 

• Pura Belpré Medal
• Jane Addams Award
• Willa Cather Award
• Judy Lopez Award 
• Arizona YA Book Award

About the Author: Pam Muñoz Ryan

From her website:

“Pam Muñoz Ryan is an American author. She is half Mexican with Basque, Italian, and Oklahoman cultural influences. She has written over forty books for young people—picture books, early readers, and middle grade and young adult novels. She the author recipient of the NEA’s Human and Civil Rights Award, the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, and the Ludington Award for body of work. Her novel, Esperanza Rising, was commissioned as a play by the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre and has been performed in many venues around the U.S. including The Goodman in Chicago, and the Majestic Cutler Theater, in Boston.

“Born Pamela Jeanne Banducci in Bakersfield, California, on December 25, 1951, her last name was changed before she attended school to match the name of her parents, Hope Bell and the man she considered her real father, Donald Bell. As Pamela Bell, she attended McKinley Elementary, Longfellow Elementary, Washington Jr. High, Bakersfield High School, and Bakersfield Community College. She then attended San Diego State University where she received a bachelor’s degree. She married James Ryan in 1975. An early childhood teacher, she worked for the Escondido, California, school district for three years before starting her family. After her four children were born, she became the director of an early childhood program and went back to school to get her master’s degree in Post-secondary Education with the intention of teaching Children’s Literature in college. When she finished her graduate program, she became interested in writing, and at the encouragement of her agent, Kendra Marcus, included her family name, Muñoz, to her signature, to reflect her Mexican heritage.”

Find out more about Pam on her website at pammunozryan.com 

by Emma Ruggiero

In her debut novel, author and activist Angie Thomas brings forth a compelling look into the life of a black teenage girl named Starr, who witnesses the murder of her friend at the hands of a white police officer. Starr’s life is one filled with challenges and loss as she learns to find her voice and stand up for herself, her friend, and her community. Angie Thomas has created a compelling story that is both honest and deeply moving, and Starr’s character comes through powerfully and shines a light on the challenges of being black.

Jacket Description: 

“Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

“Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

“But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.”

Reading Level: 14+

Age Range: 14+

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Length: 444 pages

Awards:

• Goodreads Choice Awards Best Young Adult Fiction
• Goodreads Choice Awards Best Debut Goodreads Author
• National Book Awards Longlist
• William C. Morris Award
• Michael L. Printz Honor Book
• Coretta Scott King Honor Book
• British Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year Shortlist
• Goodreads Choice Awards Best of the Best
• Carnegie Medal Shortlist
• Edgar Award Nominee for Best Young Adult
• Indies Choice Award for Young Adult Book of the Year
• Boston Globe Horn Book Award

About the Author: Angie Thomas

From her website:

“Angie Thomas was born, raised, and still resides in Jackson, Mississippi, as indicated by her accent. She is a former teen rapper whose greatest accomplishment was an article about her in Right-On Magazine. She holds a BFA in Creative Writing from Belhaven University and an unofficial degree in Hip Hop. She can also still rap if needed.

“Angie is an inaugural winner of the Walter Dean Myers Grant 2015, awarded by We Need Diverse Books. Her debut novel, THE HATE U GIVE, started as a senior project in college. It was later acquired by the Balzer+Bray imprint of HarperCollins Publishers in a 13-publisher auction and debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, winning the ALA’s William C. Morris Debut Award and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award (USA), the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize (UK), and the Deutscher Jugendliterapreis (Germany). THE HATE U GIVE was adapted into a critically acclaimed film from Fox 2000, starring Amandla Stenberg and directed by George Tillman, Jr.

“Angie’s second novel, ON THE COME UP, is a #1 New York Times bestseller as well, and a film is in development with Paramount Pictures with Angie acting as a producer. In 2020, Angie released FIND YOUR VOICE: A Guided Journal to Writing Your Truth as a tool to help aspiring writers tell their stories. In 2021, Angie returned to the world of Garden Heights with CONCRETE ROSE, a prequel to THE HATE U GIVE focused on seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter that debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.”

Find out more about Angie on her website at angiethomas.com and her Instagram @angiethomas

by Lucie Ruggiero

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller is a lovely novel about the power of stories to connect with one’s past and the power of letting a little magic into your life. This book won the 2021 Newbery Medal and is a great middle-grade book. Keller opens a star jar of stories that will delight and immerse readers.

Jacket Description:

“When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni’s Korean folktales arrives, prompting Lily to unravel a secret family history. Long, long ago, Halmoni stole something from the tigers. Now, the tigers want it back. And when one of those tigers approaches Lily with a deal—return what Halmoni stole in exchange for Halmoni’s health—Lily is tempted to accept. But deals with tigers are never what they seem! With the help of her sister and her new friend Ricky, Lily must find her voice… and the courage to face a tiger.”

Reading Level: 8+ years

Age Range: 6+ years

Genre: Middle-Grade Fiction, Fantasy

Length: 304 pages

Awards: Newbery Medal (2021), Asian/Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature

Tae Keller’s Bio (from author’s website):

“Tae Keller grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, where she subsisted on kimchi, purple rice, and stories. Now, she writes about biracial girls trying to find their voices, and lives in Seattle with her husband and a multitude of books.”

by Lucie Ruggiero

Both personal and universal, Brown Girl Dreaming is full of the bright happiness of childhood memories. Jacqueline Woodson’s poetic memoir is rich and layered like a buttered biscuit, melting on the tongue. Through the poetic eyes of young Jacqueline, we smell Dixie Peach Hair Grease on a Saturday night, taste Maria’s mother’s pasteles, and see the light of captured fireflies. Woodson’s poems display the little beauties and big sorrows of life, but are always infused with hope. 

Jacket Description:

“Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.”

Reading Level: 10+ years

Age Range: 10+ years

Genre: Middle-Grade Poetry, Autobiography, Memoir

Length: 368 pages

Awards: Newbery Honor, National Book Award, NAACP Image Award, Coretta Scott King Award, Sibert Honor Award

Jacqueline Woodson’s Bio (from the back of the book):

“Jacqueline Woodson is the 2014 National Book Award Winner for her New York Times bestselling memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor Award, the NAACP Image Award, and Sibert Honor Award. Woodson was recently named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She is the author of more than two dozen award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a three-time National Book Award finalist, and a two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include The Other Side; Each Kindness; the Caldecott Honor Book Coming on Home Soon; the Newbery Honor winners Feathers, Show Way, and After Tupac and D Foster; and Miracle’s Boys, which received the LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award and was adapted into a miniseries directed by Spike Lee. Jacqueline is also the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature, and the winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and was the 2013 United States nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.”

Jacqueline Woodson can be found on her website and @jacqueline_woodson on Instagram.

Watch Jacqueline Woodson’s TED Talk What reading slowly taught me about writing on YouTube.

by Lucie Ruggiero

Editors note: This review is the first in a series that showcases the work of authors of color.

A story entwined within a story, in a world where the tales of Jade Dragon and the Old Man on the Moon may not just be myths. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is about a girl on a journey to change her family’s fortune. This beautiful and heartwarming novel won a Newbery Honor in 2010. Grace Lin’s rich, interwoven world of magic and myth, accompanied by her glowing illustrations, makes this book both compelling and entertaining.

Jacket Description:

“In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man on the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life’s questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man on the Moon to ask him how she can change her family’s fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest for the ultimate answer.”

Reading Level: 8+ years

Age Range: 6+ years

Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy Fiction

Length: 278 pages

Awards: Newbery Honor, Mythopoeic Fantasy Award

Grace Lin’s Bio (excerpt from Grace Lin’s website):

“Before Grace Lin was an award-winning and NY Times bestselling author/illustrator of picturebooks, early readers and middle grade novels, she was the only Asian girl (except for her sisters) going to her elementary school in Upstate NY. That experience, good and bad, has influenced her books—including her Newbery Honor Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, her Geisel Honor Ling & Ting, her National Book Finalist When the Sea Turned to Silver and her Caldecott Honor A Big Mooncake for Little Star. But, it also causes Grace to persevere for diversity as an occasional New England Public Radio commentator and when she gave her TEDx talk “The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf,” as well as her PBSNewHour video essay “What to do when you realize classic books from your childhood are racist?.” She continued this mission with a hundred episodes of the podcast kidlitwomen and now currently hosts two other podcasts: Book Friends Forever and Kids Ask Authors. In 2016, Grace’s art was displayed at the White House and Grace, herself, was recognized by President Obama’s office as a Champion of Change for Asian American and Pacific Islander Art and Storytelling.” 

Grace Lin can also be found on her Instagram: @pacylin