Josefina

Every day, Angelina tells her mother she wants to go home. Not to their new city home, cold and gray and unfamiliar — but their old island home in Jamaica, sunny and colorful and filled with rainbow-colored fruits and birds. Angelina believes she’ll never feel at home in this new place, until her mother finds a wonderful surprise in the newspaper. A beautiful tribute to the traditions of the West Indies, Carnival, and the longing for home that young immigrants will recognize immediately.

Luis loves to read, but soon his house in Colombia is so full of books there’s barely room for the family. What to do? Then he comes up with the perfect solution — a traveling library! He buys two donkeys — Alfa and Beto — and travels with them throughout the land, bringing books and reading to the children in faraway villages.

Don Pedro and his family make skeletons for el Día de los Muertos celebration in Mexico City. When the papier-mache Calaveras go to market on fiesta day, each skeleton acts out a letter of the alphabet. Richly toned illustrations in an appealing folk art style introduce the alphabet — from ángel to zapatero. This handsome book concludes with an alphabet glossary and a brief explanation of the Spanish alphabet.

“When I was twelve years old, I knew what I wanted — to be an artist.” So begins this lovely picture-book portrait of American artist Georgia O’Keeffe.

Young Nasreen has not spoken a word to anyone since her parents disappeared. In despair, her grandmother risks everything to enroll Nasreen in a secret school for girls. Will a devoted teacher, a new friend, and the worlds she discovers in books be enough to draw Nasreen out of her shell of sadness? Based on a true story from Afghanistan, this inspiring book will touch readers deeply as it affirms both the life-changing power of education and the healing power of love.

In spite of looming war, librarian Alia Muhammed Baker was able to save the books from the library of Basra by moving them to safety. Simple forms and deep colors in a naïve style evoke the war without being explicit. The bravery and action of one person celebrates both everyday heroism and books as a unifying force.

Residents of the New York City apartment were divided when a red-tail hawk took up residence atop their building and started a family. Based on real events, the illustrated story of the hawk nicknamed Pale Male will inform and perhaps inspire urban dwellers to look up – and share space.

Jane watched animals. Her ability to quietly observe allowed her to learn about animals up close, from childhood to her adult life as a respected scientist watching chimpanzees in the wild. Brief text and textured illustrations chronicle Goodall’s work which “opened a window for us to the world of chimpanzees.”

“Wangari lives under an umbrella of green trees in the shadow of Mount Kenya in Africa.” So begins this tribute to Wangari Maathai, a young woman who saw deforestation turn the lush lands of Kenya into a barren desert. Wangari began to plant seedlings and encouraged the women around her to do the same. By 2004, 30 million trees had been planted and Wangari won the Nobel Peace Prize.