October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month where we acknowledge domestic violence survivors and recognize stories that offer opportunities to discuss complex topics. Browse the books below for titles you can confidently recommend to young readers on this sensitive subject. For more resources on this topic, please visit the Domestic Violence Awareness Hotline or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline 800-799-7233.
Looking for books that will send a chill down your spine? Or a sweet Halloween treat for young readers? Whatever floats your ghost, this book list will get readers in the Halloween spirit!
Discover more spooky stories →
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 →
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 ACCOUNTABLE EDUCATORS GUIDE HERE →
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 MY SELMA eDUCATORS GUIDE HERE→
Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of ‘The Children’s Ship’ by Deborah Heiligman
From award-winning author Deborah Heiligman comes Torpedoed, a true account of the attack and sinking of the passenger ship SS City of Benares, which was evacuating children from England during WWII.
Amid the constant rain of German bombs and the escalating violence of World War II, British parents by the thousands chose to send their children out of the country: the wealthy, independently; the poor, through a government relocation program called CORB. In September 1940, passenger liner SS City of Benares set sail for Canada with one hundred children on board.
When the war ships escorting the Benares departed, a German submarine torpedoed what became known as the Children’s Ship. Out of tragedy, ordinary people became heroes. This is their story.
DOWNLOAD THE TEACHER’S GUIDE HERE →
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives
By Dashka Slater
Ages 12-18
On Sale Now!
Dashka Slater’s The 57 Bus, a riveting nonfiction book for teens about race, class, gender, crime, and punishment, tells the true story of an agender teen who was set on fire by another teen while riding a bus in Oakland, California.
A New York Times Bestseller
Stonewall Book Award Winner—Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist
One teenager in a skirt.
One teenager with a lighter.
One moment that changes both of their lives forever.
If it weren’t for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued flatlands and attended a large public one.
Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight.
Download The 57 Bus educator’s guide here →In 1979 President Jimmy Carter created Black Music Appreciation Month. June is set aside to appreciate the contributions of African-American musicians, composers, singers, and songwriters in American culture. Celebrate Black Music Appreciation Month with us by checking out these amazing titles filled with outstanding artists!
President George W. Bush proclaimed June as National Caribbean-American Heritage Month, making it a national holiday in 2006. However, this holiday was founded by Dr. Claire Nelson and celebrated by the Institute of Caribbean Studies in 2000. Find a list of books about celebrating the history, contributions, and culture of Caribbean-American people below!
The Sun Does Shine (Young Readers Edition)
By Anthony Ray Hinton
with Lara Love Hardin and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Ages 10 to 14
On Sale Now!
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
The Sun Does Shine is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times, now adapted for younger readers, with a revised foreword by Just Mercy author Bryan Stevenson.
In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only 29 years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free.
But with a criminal justice system with the cards stacked against Black men, Hinton was sentenced to death . He spent his first three years on Death Row in despairing silence angry and full of hatred for all those who had sent an innocent man to his death. But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row. For the next twenty-seven years he was a beacon transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates. With the help of civil rights attorney and bestselling author of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015.
With themes both timely and timeless, Hinton’s memoir tells his dramatic 30-year journey and shows how you can take away a man’s freedom, but you can’t take away his imagination, humor, or joy.
DOWNLOAD THE SUN DOES SHINE EDUCATORS GUIDE HERE→
