Monthly Giving: ACLU

June 14, 2017 |

Monday was the fiftieth anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the landmark Supreme Court case that struck down laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Almost fifty years later, in 2015, the Supreme Court cited this case, among others, in its Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which struck down laws prohibiting same sex marriage. The Lovings’ story continues to reverberate.

Kelly and I have given to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) jointly before, but I’ve never given to them as part of my Monthly Giving campaign here at Stacked. They represented the Lovings in their case before the Supreme Court, and they continue to fight for our civil rights today. In the wake of the November 2016 presidential election, membership in the ACLU spiked dramatically, and donations continue to pour in. There are many worthy organizations out there, but few are so broad in scope and so effective in results as the ACLU.

The book list below is a combination of titles about Loving v. Virginia and titles about kids and teens fighting censorship and for their right to free speech – the initial reason the ACLU was founded in 1920. Descriptions are from Goodreads.

The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage by Selina Alko

This is the story of one brave family: Mildred Loving, Richard Perry Loving, and their three children. It is the story of how Mildred and Richard fell in love and got married in Washington, D.C. But when they moved back to their hometown in Virginia, they were arrested (in dramatic fashion) for violating that state’s laws against interracial marriage. The Lovings refused to allow their children to get the message that their parents’ love was wrong and so they fought the unfair law, taking their case all the way to the Supreme Court – and won!

Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case by Patricia Hruby Powell

From acclaimed author Patricia Hruby Powell comes the story of a landmark civil rights case, told in spare and gorgeous verse. In 1955, in Caroline County, Virginia, amidst segregation and prejudice, injustice and cruelty, two teenagers fell in love. Their life together broke the law, but their determination would change it. Richard and Mildred Loving were at the heart of a Supreme Court case that legalized marriage between races, and a story of the devoted couple who faced discrimination, fought it, and won.

The Lovings: An Intimate Portrait by Grey Villet and Barbara Villet

Mildred, a woman of African American and Native American descent and Richard, a white man, were arrested in July 1958 for the crime of interracial marriage, prohibited under Virginia state law. Exiled to Washington, DC, they fought to bring their case to the US Supreme Court. Knowledge of their struggle spread across the nation, and in the spring of 1965, the Life magazine photojournalist Villet spent a few weeks documenting the Lovings and their family and friends as they went about their lives in the midst of their trial.

The Lovings presents Grey Villet’s stunning photo-essay in its entirety for the first time and reveals with striking intensity and clarity the powerful bond of a couple that helped change history.

The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher

Billy, recently deceased, keeps an eye on his best friend, fourteen-year-old Eddie, who has added to his home and school problems by becoming mute, and helps him stand up to a conservative minister and English teacher who is orchestrating a censorship challenge.

Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein

Welcome, boys and girls, readers of all ages, to the first-ever Library Olympiad! Kyle and his teammates are back, and the world-famous game maker, Luigi Lemoncello, is at it again!

This time Mr. Lemoncello has invited teams from all across America to compete in the first ever LIBRARY OLYMPICS. Will it be fun? Like the commercials say. . . HELLO? It’s a Lemoncello! But something suspicious is going on . . . books are missing from Mr. Lemoncello’s library. Is someone trying to CENSOR what the kids are reading?! In between figuring out mind-boggling challenges, the kids will have to band together to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Now it’s not just a game—can Mr. Lemoncello find the real defenders of books and champions of libraries?

Ban This Book by Alan Gratz

It all started the day Amy Anne Ollinger tried to check out her favorite book in the whole world, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, from the school library. That’s when Mrs. Jones, the librarian, told her the bad news: her favorite book was banned! All because a classmate’s mom thought the book wasn’t appropriate for kids to read.

Amy Anne decides to fight back by starting a secret banned books library out of her locker. Soon, she finds herself on the front line of an unexpected battle over book banning, censorship, and who has the right to decide what she and her fellow students can read.

Americus by MK Reed and Jonathan Hill

Neal Barton just wants to read in peace. Unluckily for him, some local Christian activists are trying to get his favorite fantasy series banned from the Americus public library on grounds of immoral content and heresy. Something has to be done, and it looks like quiet, shy Neal is going to have to do it. With youth services librarian Charlotte Murphy at his back, Neal finds himself leading the charge to defend the mega-bestselling fantasy series that makes his life worth living.

Let the Students Speak!: A History of the Fight for Free Expression in American Schools by David L. Hudson Jr.

Let the Students Speak! details the rich history and growth of the First Amendment in public schools, from the early nineteenth-century’s failed student free-expression claims to the development of protection for students by the U.S. Supreme Court. David Hudson brings this history vividly alive by drawing from interviews with key student litigants in famous cases, including John Tinker of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District and Joe Frederick of the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case, Morse v. Frederick.

He goes on to discuss the raging free-speech controversies in public schools today, including dress codes and uniforms, cyberbullying, and the regulation of any violent-themed expression in a post-Columbine and Virginia Tech environment.

Library Wars: Love & War by Kiiro Yumi

In the near future, the federal government creates a committee to rid society of books it deems unsuitable. The libraries vow to protect their collections, and with the help of local governments, form a military group to defend themselves–the Library Forces!

Iku Kasahara has dreamed of joining the Library Defense Force ever since one of its soldiers stepped in to protect her favorite book from being confiscated in a bookstore when she was younger. But now that she’s finally a recruit, she’s finding her dream job to be a bit of a nightmare. Especially since her hard-hearted drill instructor seems to have it in for her!

Monthly Giving: The Innocence Project

May 17, 2017 |

Our justice system is broken in a lot of ways. It disproportionately targets and incarcerates people of color, giving them longer and harsher sentences and funneling them into the school to prison pipeline early. It favors the wealthy and leaves the poor with substandard representation, often leaving them in jail simply because they are poor. It relies on flawed evidence often obtained illegally or unethically and sentences innocent people to life sentences and even death.

The Innocence Project tackles this last facet. Their mission is to “free the staggering number of innocent people who remain incarcerated, and to bring reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment.” They do this mainly through DNA testing, helping to free people wrongly convicted through a procedure not available at the time of their conviction. Since 1989, 350 people have been exonerated through DNA evidence. Twenty of these served time on death row. 217 of these – 62% – were African American. The Innocence Project started their work in 1992 and have been instrumental in helping 183 of those wrongly convicted get justice. If you haven’t yet donated to an organization this month and have the means to do so, I urge you to join me in supporting their cause.

For this month’s book list, I’ve focused on novels and nonfiction featuring kids and teens in prison or kids and teens whose parents or other loves ones are in prison. If you know of any I’m missing, please let me know in the comments. Also be sure to check out the In the Margins book list, curated each year by Library Services for Youth in Custody. It focuses on recommended books for teens “living in poverty, on the streets, in custody – or a cycle of all three.”

Fiction – Picture Books

Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me by Daniel Beaty

A boy wakes up one morning to find his father gone. At first, he feels lost. But his father has left him a letter filled with advice to guide him through the times he cannot be there.

Far Apart, Close in Heart: Being a Family When a Loved One is Incarcerated by Becky Birtha

Children who have a parent in prison express their feelings of sadness, anger, worry, and embarrassment and suggest that talking to others and keeping in contact with the missing parent helps them deal with the situation.

Visiting Day by Jacqueline Woodson

A young girl and her grandmother visit the girl’s father in prison.

Fiction – Middle Grade

Ruby on the Outside by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Eleven-year-old Ruby Danes is about to start middle school, yet no one in her life, except her aunt, knows her secret–her mother is in prison. Then Margalit Tipps moves into Ruby’s condo complex, and the two immediately hit it off. Ruby thinks she’s found her first true-blue friend. Is she ready to tell Margalit the truth? When Margalit’s family history seems to tie in too closely to the very event that put her mother in prison, Ruby fears she may lose everything–but she may learn the true meaning of friendship, honesty, and love along the way.

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor

Eleven-year-old Perry was born and raised by his mom at the Blue River Co-ed Correctional Facility in tiny Surprise, Nebraska. His mom is a resident on Cell Block C, and so far Warden Daugherty has made it possible for them to be together. That is, until a new district attorney discovers the truth–and Perry is removed from the facility and forced into a foster home. When Perry moves to the “outside” world, he feels trapped. Desperate to be reunited with his mom, Perry goes on a quest for answers about her past crime. As he gets closer to the truth, he will discover that love makes people resilient no matter where they come from .. but can he find a way to tell everyone what home truly means?

Pieces of Why by K. L. Going

Twelve-year-old Tia lives in a white slum in New Orleans with her mother, and her whole world revolves around singing in the gospel choir with her best friend, Keisha–but when practice is interrupted by a shooting outside the church, and a baby is killed, Tia finds that she cannot sing, and she is forced to confront her feelings about her incarcerated father who killed a girl in a failed robbery years before.

Fiction – Young Adult

Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin

Teen rocker Ritchie Sudden is pretty sure his life just jumped the shark. Except he hates being called a teen, his band doesn’t play rock, and “jumping the shark” is yet another dumb cliché. Part of Ritchie wants to drop everything and walk away. Especially the part that’s serving ninety days in a juvenile detention center. Telling the story of the year leading up to his arrest, Ritchie grabs readers by the throat before (politely) inviting them along for the (max-speed) ride.

Holding Smoke by Elle Cosimano

John “Smoke” Conlan risks everything to clear his name of the two murders he did not commit while he cultivates his supernatural ability of travelling freely outside the concrete walls of the dangerous juvenile rehabilitation center known as the Y, helping himself and his fellow inmates have a chance at redemption.

Something Like Hope by Shawn Goodman

Shavonne, a fierce, desperate seventeen year-old in juvenile lockup, wants to turn her life around before her eighteenth birthday, but corrupt guards, out-of-control girls, and shadows from her past make her task seem impossible.

The Row by J. R. Johansson

After visiting her father on death row for twelve years, seventeen-year-old Riley is determined to find out if he is guilty or not before he is either executed or retried and, perhaps, released.

Locked Out (series) by Patrick Jones

Explores the complex ways that parental incarceration affects teens, from physical absence to family histories of crime to stigmas and emotional health.

Criminal by Terra Elan McVoy

Eighteen-year-old Nikki’s unconditional love for Dee helps her escape from her problems, but when he involves her in a murder Nikki winds up in prison, confronted with hard facts that challenge whether Dee ever loved her, and she can only save herself by telling the truth about Dee.

Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers

Teenage Reese, who is serving time at a juvenile detention facility, gets a lesson in making it through hard times from an unlikely friend with a harrowing past.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

A handless teen escapes from a cult, finds herself in juvenile detention, and is suspected of knowing who murdered her cult leader. | Kimberly’s review | Kelly’s review

The Knife and the Butterfly by Ashley Hope Perez

After a brawl with a rival gang, sixteen-year-old Azael, a member of Houston’s MS-13 gang and the son of illegal Salvadoran immigrants, wakes up in an unusual juvenile detention center where he is forced to observe another inmate through a one-way mirror. | Kelly’s review

Burning by Danielle Rollins

After three years in juvenile detention, Angela is just months shy of release, but then ten-year-old Jessica arrives in shackles and is placed in segregation, and while no one knows what she did to end up there, creepy things begin to happen and it becomes clear that Jessica and her possible supernatural powers are more dangerous than anyone expected.

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

Orianna and Violet are ballet dancers and best friends, but when the ballerinas who have been harassing Violet are murdered, Orianna is accused of the crime and sent to a juvenile detention center where she meets Amber and they experience supernatural events linking the girls together. | Kimberly’s review

Nonfiction

Caught Up: Girls, Surveillance, and Wraparound Incarceration by Jerry Flores

From home, to school, to juvenile detention center, and back again. This book follows the lives of fifty Latina girls living forty miles outside of Los Angeles, California, as they are inadvertently caught up in the school-to-prison pipeline.

Runaway Thoughts and Ghetto By the Sea edited by Amy Friedman

In 2013, students at Venice High School in Los Angeles formed the first P.O.P.S. (Pain of the Prison System) club, a club for those whose lives have been touched by prison. Many have parents, friends, siblings, uncles and aunts inside; some have had their own brushes with the law. All have stories to tell. These anthologies offer the stories, artwork and essays of those whose voices we too seldom hear.

Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos

The author explains how, as a young adult, he became a drug user and smuggler, was arrested, did time in prison, and eventually got out and went to college, all the while hoping to become a writer.

No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row by Susan Kuklin

This compelling work takes readers inside America’s prisons and allows inmates sentenced to death as teenagers to speak for themselves. In their own voices–raw and uncensored–they talk about their lives in prison and share their thoughts and feelings about how they ended up there.

Girls in Justice by Richard Ross

Reveals the world of incarceration of America’s young girls in detention. A rare, multi-dimensional look at these girls’ vulnerable lives, this book speaks to the unique issues they face with essays, images, and the life stories shared by girls in custody.

Juvenile in Justice by Richard Ross

The photographs in Juvenile in Justice open our eyes to the world of the incarceration of American youths. The nearly 150 images in this book were made over 5 years of visiting more than 1,000 youth confined in more than 200 juvenile detention institutions in 31 states. These riveting photographs, accompanied by the life stories that these young people in custody shared with Ross, give voice to imprisoned children from families that have no resources in communities that have no power.

Let Me Live: Voices of Youth Incarcerated edited by Save the Kids

This anthology collects the work of incarcerated youth worldwide. The poems and autobiographical sketches featured remind readers that incarcerated youth are thinking and feeling individuals with the same aspirations and goals as other children, not merely statistics to analyze or incorrigible people to forget and discard. As a creative outlet and space for expression, the book provides a means for the poets to empower themselves and resist victimization by the supposed criminal justice system.

Real Justice (series) published by Lorimer

True stories of wrongfully convicted young people in Canada, including Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and David Milgaard.

What Will Happen to Me? by Howard Zehr and Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz

Pairs portraits of children whose parents are incarcerated with the reflections of grandparents who are caring for them and includes resources for caregivers and advice on dealing with the unique emotions of these children.

Monthly Giving: ProPublica

April 26, 2017 |

The Pulitzer Prizes were announced earlier this month, and ProPublica won the Pulitzer Gold Medal for Public Service for their work with the New York Daily News “uncovering, primarily through the work of reporter Sarah Ryley, widespread abuse of eviction rules by the [New York] police to oust hundreds of people, most of them poor minorities.” If you haven’t dug through the series highlighted on the Pulitzer Prize website, I highly recommend it. It’s an example of the ongoing importance of investigative journalism – when it’s done right. This is ProPublica’s fourth Pulitzer Prize.

Journalism is rapidly changing, and many of us have become disillusioned with the traditional news sources, particularly with the way the presidential campaign was covered. ProPublica is a bit different from the rest: they’re non-profit and independent, focusing solely on “investigative journalism in the public interest…stories with ‘moral force.'”

I donated to ProPublica this month, and if you haven’t yet given anything this month and are able, I encourage you to do so as well. With “alternative facts” proliferating, it’s more and more important that we support high-quality journalism in any way we can.

In honor of the Pulitzer prizes and ProPublica, the book list for this month features kids and teens who are journalists (aspiring or otherwise) themselves – kids and teens who may grow up to work for an organization like ProPublica one day. I’ve also highlighted a few nonfiction titles about real-world journalists. If there are any additional titles you’d like to recommend, please let me know in the comments.

Young Adult Fiction

Fallout by Gwenda Bond

Lois Lane is the new girl at East Metropolis High, and her instinct to ask questions brings her and her online friend, Smallville Guy, into conflict with some bullying video gamers called the Warheads, who are being used in a dangerous virtual reality experiment. | Sequel: Triple Threat

Payback Time by Carl Deuker

Overweight, somewhat timid Mitch reluctantly agrees to be the sports reporter for the Lincoln High newspaper because he’s determined to be a writer, but he senses a real story in Angel, a talented football player who refuses to stand out on the field–or to discuss his past.

Last Shot by John Feinstein

After winning a basketball reporting contest, eighth graders Stevie and Susan are sent to cover the Final Four tournament, where they discover that a talented player is being blackmailed into throwing the final game. | Sequels: Vanishing Act, Cover-Up, Change-Up, The Rivalry, Rush for the Gold

Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson

In 1919, seventeen-year-old Hattie leaves the Montana prairie–and her sweetheart Charlie–to become a female reporter in San Francisco. | Sequel to Hattie Big Sky

The Secrets of Tree Taylor by Dandi Daley Mackall

In small-town Missouri in tumultuous 1963, Tree Taylor, thirteen, wants to write an important story to secure a spot on the high school newspaper staff, but when a neighbor is shot, she investigates and learns that some secrets should be kept.

Keeper by Mal Peet

In an interview with a young journalist, World Cup hero, El Gato, describes his youth in the Brazilian rain forest and the events, experiences, and people that helped make him a great goalkeeper and renowned soccer star. | Sequels: The Penalty, Exposure

The Intern by Gabrielle Tozer

Josie Browning dreams of having it all. A perfect academic record, an amazing journalism career – and for her crush to realise she exists. The only problem? Josie can’t stop embarrassing her little sister or her best friend, let alone herself. Josie’s luck changes when she lands an internship at Sash magazine. A coveted columnist job is up for grabs, but Josie quickly learns making her mark will be far from easy, especially under the reign of editor Rae Swanson. From the lows of photocopying and coffee-fetching, to the highs of celebrities, beauty products and by-lines, this is one internship Josie will never forget. | Sequel: Faking It

Middle Grade Fiction

Isabel Feeney, Star Reporter by Beth Fantaskey

In the 1920s, a ten-year-old newsgirl who aspires to be a reporter at the Chicago Tribune investigates the murder of a gangster.

Emma is on the Air: Big News! by Ida Siegal

Traces young Emma Perez’s journey into journalism, mystery solving, and fame when she investigates a worm found in a friend’s hamburger. | Sequels: Party Drama!, Showtime!, Undercover!

Meet Kit: An American Girl, 1934 by Valerie Tripp

Kit longs for a big story to write in her daily newspaper for her Dad—that is, until she’s faced with news that’s really bad. When Mother’s friends lose their house and come to stay with her family, it’s nothing but trouble for Kit. Then Kit’s dad loses his business, and things go from bad to worse. Will life ever be the same again? | Sequels: Kit Learns a Lesson, Kit’s Surprise, Happy Birthday Kit, Kit Saves the Day, Changes for Kit

Uncertain Glory by Lea Wait

Joe Wood has big dreams. He wants to be a newspaperman, and though he’s only thirteen, he’s already borrowed money for the equipment to start his own press. But it’s April 1861, and the young nation is teetering on the brink of a civil war. He has to help Owen, his young assistant, deal with the challenges of being black in a white world torn apart by color. He needs to talk his best friend, Charlie, out of enlisting. He wants to help a young spiritualist, Nell, whose uncle claims can she speak to the dead. And when Owen disappears, it’s up to Joe to save him.

Nonfiction

Yours for Justice, Ida B. Wells: The Daring Life of a Crusading Journalist by Philip Dray

Biography of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a journalist and teacher who wrote about and spoke against the injustices suffered by African-Americans.

Reporting Under Fire: 16 Daring Women War Correspondents and Photojournalists by Kerrie Logan Hollihan

A profile of 16 courageous women, Reporting Under Fire tells the story of journalists who risked their lives to bring back scoops from the front lines. Each woman experiences her own journey, both personally and professionally, and each draws her own conclusions. Yet without exception, these war correspondents share a singular ambition: to answer an inner call driving them to witness war firsthand, and to share what they learn via words or images.

Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business – and Won! by Emily Arnold McCully

Biography of Ida Minerva Tarbell, arguably one of the first journalists to regularly write exposés, and through them exposed the shady business practices of businessman John D. Rockefeller.

Ten Days a Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original “Girl” Reporter, Nellie Bly by Deborah Noyes

A biography of Nellie Bly, the pioneering journalist whose showy but substantive stunts skyrocketed her to fame.

Reporter in Disguise: The Intrepid Vic Steinberg by Christine Welldon

Over 100 years ago, Vic Steinberg was breaking ground. She was one of the New Women, a bachelor girl who pursued a career in investigative journalism–hardly the type of lifestyle for an upper-middle class young lady. But she had to be stealthy, secretive, and cunning if she wanted her scoop.

Monthly Giving: International Refugee Assistance Project

March 15, 2017 |

This month, in the wake of the Muslim Ban 2.0, I decided to give to the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). IRAP “organizes law students and lawyers to develop and enforce a set of legal and human rights for refugees and displaced persons.” Along with the ACLU, CAIR, and other organizations, IRAP has been “on the front lines of the fight against the discriminatory executive order” and continues to fight it in its new iteration. They also make available a valuable document, Know Your Rights, for those affected by either of these travel bans. If you haven’t yet made a charitable contribution this month and can afford to do so, I urge you to consider IRAP.

For reading material about refugees, first head over to Kelly’s post from late 2015 featuring middle grade and YA fiction about refugees. Because Kelly did such an excellent and thorough job in that post, the book list here will be a bit shorter and highlight nonfiction, picture books, and new middle grade/YA fiction. Links lead to Goodreads and synopses are from WorldCat.

Nonfiction

The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H. A. Rey by Louise Borden

In 1940, Hans and Margret Rey fled their Paris home as the German army advanced. They began their harrowing journey on bicycles, pedaling to Southern France with children’s book manuscripts, including what would become the international sensation “Curious George,” among their few possessions. This is their dramatic story.

Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees by Deborah Ellis

Provides interviews with twenty-three young Iraqi children who have moved away from their homeland and tells of their fears, challenges, and struggles to rebuild their lives in foreign lands as refugees of war.

Adrift at Sea: A Vietnamese Boy’s Story of Survival by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch with Tuan Ho, art by Brian Deines

Tuan and his family survive bullets, a broken motor, and a leaking boat in the long days they spend at sea after fleeing Vietnam. A true story as told to the author by Tuan Ho. Includes family photographs and a historical note about the Vietnamese refugee crisis.

Next Round: A Young Athlete’s Journey to Gold by John Spray

Arthur Biyarslanov’s journey to competitive boxing has been full of obstacles. As a young Muslim refugee, he fled with his family from Chechnya and eventually landed in Toronto where he became the “Chechen Wolf,” a school-aged soccer star. A broken leg interrupted his soccer career and he took up boxing, only to find that it was his greatest love. Now a gold medal winner at the 2015 Pan Am Games, the talented boxer will be on a quest for the ultimate gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Outcasts United: The Story of a Refugee Soccer Team That Changed a Town by Warren St. John

Shares the inspirational story of a youth soccer team comprised of refugees from around the world who, under the guidance of a formidable female coach, helped to transform their Georgia community.

Picture Books

My Beautiful Birds by Suzanne Del Rizzo

Behind Sami, the Syrian skyline is full of smoke. The boy follows his family and all his neighbors in a long line, as they trudge through the sands and hills to escape the bombs that have destroyed their homes. But all Sami can think of is his pet pigeons–will they escape too?

Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family’s Journey by Margriet Ruurs, artwork by Nizar Ali Badr

A girl called Rama describes how life changed as conditions got worse in her small town in Syria, and how she and her family finally escaped, undergoing many hardships along the way.

The Journey by Francesca Sanna

What is it like to have to leave everything behind and travel many miles to somewhere unfamiliar and strange? A mother and her two children set out on such a journey; one filled with fear of the unknown, but also great hope. Based on her interactions with people forced to seek a new home, and told from the perspective of a young child, Francesca Sanna has created a beautiful and sensitive book that is full of significance for our time.

Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan by Mary Williams, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

Eight-year-old Garang, orphaned by a civil war in Sudan, finds the inner strength to help lead other boys as they trek thousands of miles seeking safety in Ethiopia, then Kenya, and finally in the United States.

Middle Grade Fiction

The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Two refugee brothers from Mongolia are determined to fit in with their Liverpool schoolmates, but bring so much of Mongolia to Bootle that their new friend and guide, Julie, is hard-pressed to know truth from fantasy as she recollects a wonderful friendship that was abruptly ended when Chingis and his family were forced to return to Mongolia.

The Only Road by Alexandra Diaz

Twelve-year-old Jaime makes the treacherous journey from his home in Guatemala to his older brother in New Mexico after his cousin is murdered by a drug cartel.

The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon

Subhi’s contained world as a refugee in an Australian permanent detention center rapidly expands when Jimmie arrives on the other side of the fence and asks him to read her late mother’s stories to her.

Young Adult Fiction

The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah (May 9)

Michael’s parents are leaders of a new anti-immigrant political party called Aussie Values which is trying to halt the flood of refugees from the Middle East; Mina fled Afghanistan with her family ten years ago, and just wants to concentrate on fitting in and getting into college–but the mutual attraction they feel demands that they come to terms with their family’s concerns and decide where they stand in the ugly anti-Muslim politics of the time.

City of Saints and Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson

Sixteen-year-old Tina and two friends leave Kenya and slip into the Congo, from where she and her mother fled years before, seeking revenge for her mother’s murder but uncovering startling secrets.

Lost Girl Found by Leah Bassoff and Laura DeLuca

For Poni, life in her small village in southern Sudan is simple and complicated at the same time. But then the war comes and there is only one thing for Poni to do. Run. Run for her life. Driven by the sheer will to survive and the hope that she can somehow make it to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, Poni sets out on a long, dusty trek across the east African countryside with thousands of refugees.

Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba by Margarita Engle

Escaping from Nazi Germany to Cuba in 1939, a young Jewish refugee dreams of finding his parents again, befriends a local girl with painful secrets of her own, and discovers that the Nazi darkness is never far away.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

As World War II draws to a close, refugees try to escape the war’s final dangers, only to find themselves aboard a ship with a target on its hull.

Hold Tight, Don’t Let Go by Laura Rose Wagner

Magdalie’s entire life changes in an instant. One minute, she’s an ordinary fifteen-year-old schoolgirl who lives with her aunt and cousin, Nadine, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The next minute – after the earthquake hits – her aunt, her home, and her plans for school are all gone.

Out of the Dragon’s Mouth by Joyce Burns Zeiss

After the fall of South Vietnam, fourteen-year-old Mai is forced to flee to a refugee camp on an island off the coast of Malaysia, where she must navigate numerous hardships while waiting to be sponsored for entry into America.

Monthly Giving: Council on American-Islamic Relations

February 1, 2017 |

Today, February 1, is World Hijab Day. According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), today is the day “set aside to reaffirm a Muslim’s woman’s right to wear the religious garb.” Yesterday was also Texas Muslim Capitol Day, a day for Muslim Texans to visit the Capitol to learn about the Texas political process and to advocate for themselves. This day is usually met with protests; this year, the small protests were drowned out by a human shield of mostly non-Muslim supporters. It’s in that spirit of celebration that I donated to CAIR this month.

Of course, those aren’t the only reasons. Not only must Muslim women in this country fight for the basic right to wear what they want, Muslims (and others caught in the cross-hairs of the executive order) are now faced with a fight to simply be in the United States – green card holders, refugees, brothers and sisters and parents and children. The ACLU has a powerful piece covering “some of the human misery” that has occurred as a result of this unlawful, unconstitutional executive order.

Perhaps more than anything else that has happened since inauguration day, this feels most like a betrayal of American principles. Things like this have happened before, but we always, always hope that they will never happen again. We hope that we will be ones to stop it from happening again. To live in such times where they do is heartbreaking – and a call to action.

CAIR has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the executive order. I hope my donation goes a small way toward helping them to victory. If you have the means and haven’t yet made a donation for February, I urge you to donate to CAIR.

Below are a few recommended books featuring Muslim kids and teens. Now would be a great time for a display. Kelly’s piece on refugees from 2015 is also worth revisiting. Descriptions are from WorldCat and links lead to our reviews or Goodreads.