Tag: Collection Development

Discussion Guide: Gone Wolf by Amber McBride

Discussion Guide: Gone Wolf by Amber McBride

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Gone Wolf
By Amber McBride
Ages 10-14
On Sale 10/03/23!

In middle-grade debut, Gone Wolf, award-winning author Amber McBride lays bare the fears of being young and Black in America.

In the future, a Black girl known only as Inmate Eleven is kept confined — to be used as a biological match for the president’s son, should he fall ill. She is called a Blue — the color of sadness. She lives in a small-small room with her dog, who is going wolf more often – he’s pacing and imagining he’s free. Inmate Eleven wants to go wolf too—she wants to know why she feels so Blue and what is beyond her small-small room.

In the present, Imogen lives outside of Washington DC. The pandemic has distanced her from everyone but her mother and her therapist. Imogen has intense phobias and nightmares of confinement. Her two older brothers used to help her, but now she’s on her own, until a college student helps her see the difference between being Blue and sad, and Black and empowered.

In this symphony of a novel, award-winning author Amber McBride lays bare the fears of being young and Black in America, and empowers readers to remember their voices and stories are important, especially when they feel the need to go wolf.

DOWNLOAD THE Gone Wolf DISCUSSION GUIDE HERE →

Falling for Food: Picture Books and more!

Falling for Food: Picture Books and more!

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As children gain early learning skills, the power of reading can help them learn more about the social world around them. Reading books about food and cultures around the world establishes empathy and allows kids to embrace and share their cultural differences. 

Early exposure to different cuisines can also be beneficial in establishing a healthy relationship with nutrition (reference). In their formative years, picture books about food can be a valuable tool for children to establish a healthy connection to food as they gain more familiarity with various foods. One way children can incorporate food acceptance through picture books is by learning cooking practices and step-by-step recipes that they can cook alongside their family.

We hope that by sharing our wonderful picture books that celebrate different cuisines, recipes, and themes, we can leave young readers some food for thought.

Discover THIS SELECTION OF Food Picture books →

Educator’s Guide: Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater

Educator’s Guide: Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater

Picture True Story of a Racist Social

Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed
By Dashka Slater
Ages 12-18
On Sale Now!

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The 57 Bus comes Accountable, a propulsive and thought-provoking true story about the revelation of a racist social media account that changes everything for a group of high school students and begs the question: What does it mean to be held accountable for harm that takes place behind a screen?

When a high school student started a private Instagram account that used racist and sexist memes to make his friends laugh, he thought of it as “edgy” humor. Over time, the edge got sharper. Then a few other kids found out about the account. Pretty soon, everyone knew. Ultimately no one in the small town of Albany, California, was safe from the repercussions of the account’s discovery. Not the girls targeted by the posts. Not the boy who created the account. Not the group of kids who followed it. Not the adults—educators and parents—whose attempts to fix things too often made them worse.

In the end, no one was laughing. And everyone was left asking: Where does accountability end for online speech that harms? And what does accountability even mean? In Accountable, award-winning and New York Times–bestselling author Dashka Slater has written a must-read book for our era that explores the real-world consequences of online choices.

Download the educator’s guide for Accountable here!
DOWNLOAD THE ACCOUNTABLE EDUCATORS GUIDE HERE →

Educator’s Guide: My Selma: a Southern Childhood at the Height of the Civil Rights Movement by Willie Mae Brown

Educator’s Guide: My Selma: a Southern Childhood at the Height of the Civil Rights Movement by Willie Mae Brown

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My Selma: True Stories of a Southern Childhood at the Height of the Civil Rights Movement
By Willie Mae Brown
Ages 10-14
On Sale Now!

Combining family stories of the everyday and the extraordinary as seen through the eyes of her twelve-year-old self, Willie Mae Brown gives readers an unforgettable portrayal of her coming of age in a town at the crossroads of history.

As the civil rights movement and the fight for voter rights unfold in Selma, Alabama, many things happen inside and outside the Brown family’s home that do not have anything to do with the landmark 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Yet the famous outrages which unfold on that span form an inescapable backdrop in this collection of stories. In one, Willie Mae takes it upon herself to offer summer babysitting services to a glamorous single white mother—a secret she keeps from her parents that unravels with shocking results. In another, Willie Mae reluctantly joins her mother at a church rally, and is forever changed after hearing Martin Luther King Jr. deliver a defiant speech in spite of a court injunction.

Infused with the vernacular of her Southern upbringing, My Selma captures the voice and vision of a fascinating young person—perspicacious, impetuous, resourceful, and even mystical in her ways of seeing the world around her—who gifts us with a loving portrayal of her hometown while also delivering a no-holds-barred indictment of the time and place.

Download the educator’s guide for My Selma here!
DOWNLOAD MY SELMA eDUCATORS GUIDE HERE→

MacKids Spotlight: Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass

MacKids Spotlight: Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass

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This month’s Author Spotlight highlights Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass, co-authors of The Lost Library, a middle-grade novel that follows three characters—an eleven-year old boy named Evan, a fluffy orange cat named Mortimer who guards a little free library, and a ghost librarian named Al—in one small town, all mysteriously linked by an unfortunate event that happened years prior.

Discover More about The Lost Library