School Library Journal Archives - Page 3 of 6

Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, adapted by Sonja Cherry-Paul [in School Library Journal]

12 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Black/African American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW First came Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning, awarded the 2016 National Book Award. Then Jason Reynolds with Kendi presented (and narrated) “ A Remix” with 2020’s Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You for young adults. Middle grade audiences get their own version, distilled by...

The Racers: How an Outcast Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Challenged Hitler’s Best by Neal Bascomb [in School Library Journal]

10 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, European, French, German, Jewish, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

History alchemized through the Neal Bascomb lens – Russian battleship Potemkin, WWI prison camp, Nazi Germany – is a guaranteed thrill-ride; his latest takes readers into the speediest cars of the 1930s. Adapting Faster for younger audiences, Bascomb details a prominent Nazi upset played out...

The Story of More (Adapted for Young Adults): How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here by Hope Jahren [in School Library Journal]

08 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Award-winning scientist Hope Jahren continues her auspicious author/narrator streak, especially ideal for the adaptation of her lauded 2020 original: her chatty, friendly presentation is an immediate invitation to listen to “what happened to my world, to your world – to our world.” Even more compelling...

We’re Better Than This: Young Readers’ Edition: My Fight for the Future of Our Democracy by Elijah Cummings and Hilary Beard [in School Library Journal]

07 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Black/African American, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

The adults got (mostly) Laurence Fishburne, but Adam Lazarre-White is distinctly the softer, better choice for younger listeners to get to know the late congressman in his own words. Elijah Cummings was born to South Carolina sharecroppers who moved to Baltimore “looking for a better life.”...

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson [in School Library Journal]

04 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Nonfiction, Repost

Nikole Hannah-Jones’s seminal The 1619 Project becomes a 24-minute lyrical gift for youngest readers, rendered with Newbery Honoree Renée Watson. Hannah-Jones voices the affecting verses: gentle through the horror, solemn to encourage empowerment, inviting to share the joy. A Black girl’s school assignment to “trace your...

Timeless Tales: APA Creators Draw on Myth and Folklore to Craft Personal, yet Universal Stories [in School Library Journal]

09 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hawaiian, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Southeast Asian American, Translation, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

Welcome to one of the more hope-filled, albeit cautious, Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Months in recent history. Plenty remains unsettled, challenging, and tragic, but a glass-half-full outlook extols the news that the world is finally, excitedly opening up from the last two-plus years of...

A Taste for Love by Jennifer Yen [in School Library Journal]

25 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Repost, Taiwanese American, Young Adult Readers

Her model – yep, as in runway – older sister Jeannie couldn’t be more perfect, leaving Liza all too familiar with their Taiwanese immigrant mother’s disappointment and frustration. Despite Mom’s “no dating while you’re in school” rule, she ironically can’t get over Liza’s lack of...

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson [in School Library Journal]

24 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Poetry, Repost, Verse Novel/Nonfiction

*STARRED REVIEW The “Before” was when ZJ’s football-playing father was “everybody’s … next great hero,” but to ZJ, world-famous “Zachariah 44!” was “just my dad … which means / he’s my every single thing.” For most of 12-year-old ZJ’s life, Daddy was the very best parent,...

If I Tell You the Truth by Jasmin Kaur [in School Library Journal]

22 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Indian American, Poetry, Repost, South Asian American, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

Introduced in Jasmin Kaur’s debut, When You Ask Me Where I’m Going, mother Kiran and daughter Sahaara return in this timely hybrid prose/verse novel that deftly addresses the perils of being undocumented and surviving sexual assault. Kiran enters Canada from India on a student visa, already...

Zara Hossain Is Here by Sabina Khan [in School Library Journal]

21 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Pakistani American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

Making her solo audiobook debut, Richa Moorjani affectingly channels Zara Hossain, a Corpus Christi, TX, high school senior who stands up to Tyler Benson, the school’s football star who’s also a racist bully. After Zara refuses to stay silent while Tyler and his cronies hassle...

The One Thing You’d Save by Linda Sue Park [in School Library Journal]

19 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Korean American, Poetry, Repost, Verse Novel/Nonfiction

*STARRED REVIEW “Imagine that your home is on fire. You’re allowed to save one thing. / Your family and pets are safe … / Your Most Important Thing. Any size.” With that, Ms. Chang challenges her class to name their Most Important Things. “For once we...

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas [in School Library Journal]

18 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Sure, reading is rewarding, but here you’ll want to listen in to share the delighted wonder of narrator Avi Roque and writer Aiden Thomas discussing their affirming #OwnVoices debuts as trans Latinx creators, a bonus at recording’s end. Deservedly lauded and awarded all over the...

Starfish by Lisa Fipps [in School Library Journal]

17 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Poetry, Repost, Verse Novel/Nonfiction

Eleven-year-old Ellie has been bullied most of her life for being fat. The mean girls are bad enough, but her weight-obsessed mother might unintentionally be her worst enemy – what mother pushes bariatric surgery on her tween? Ellie’s best friend is moving away, which means that...

Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia and Anna-Marie McLemore [in School Library Journal]

16 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Once upon a time, Lita “turned from star-stuff thrown off a meteor into a girl” and became “to everyone around” the daughter of the local curandera Bruja Lupe. That meteor gave the New Mexico town its name – yes, Meteor – as well as the...

Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca [in School Library Journal]

11 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Middle Grade Readers, Poetry, Repost, South Asian American, Verse Novel/Nonfiction

“I have two lives. / One that is Indian, / one that is not,” 13-year-old Reha introduces herself. During the week, she “swim[s] in a river of white skin” at school; “on weekends / [she] “float[s] in a sea of brown skin and black hair...

Asian American #OwnVoices: Artfully Narrated Middle Grade, YA, and Crossover Audiobooks [in School Library Journal]

17 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Chinese American, Fiction, Filipina/o American, Hapa/Mixed-race, Indian American, Iranian American, Japanese American, Korean American, Lists, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Pakistani American, Persian American, Repost, South Asian American, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

Welcome to Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Month. The year remains somber, as the APA community combats dramatically increasing anti-Asian violence around the country and continues to mourn the eight people, including six women of Asian descent, killed in a Georgia mass shooting. Despite a U.S....

Eleven Diverse Audiobooks in Verse [in School Library Journal]

01 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Arab American, Audio, Black/African American, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Filipina/o American, Indian American, Korean American, Latina/o/x, Lists, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, South Asian American, Syrian American, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

April is National Poetry Month. Of course, reading, writing, and performing poetry can and should be done any time of the year, but April encourages newbies and doubters to give verses a try. Audiobooks are a particularly effective medium for poetry, with well-chosen narrators enhancing and...

Illegal: A Disappeared Novel by Francisco X. Stork [in School Library Journal]

17 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Mexican, Mexican American, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Narrators Roxana Ortega and Christian Barillas resume the high-octane energy of the Zapata siblings introduced in Francisco X. Stork’s heart-thumping Disappeared. Separated after surviving the treacherous crossing over the U.S. border, former journalist Sara remains imprisoned in the Fort Stockton Detention Center, while teen Emiliano...

Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia [in School Library Journal]

16 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Repost

Following the success of her lauded “We Set the Dark on Fire” duology, Tehlor Kay Mejia makes her middle grade debut, proving mothers are always right, ghosts exist, and La Llorona is legit. From 12 to eternal, desperate parent to dismissive cop, madwoman to murderer,...

Tigers, Not Daughters by Samantha Mabry [in School Library Journal]

16 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW A year has passed since the oldest Torres daughter, Ana, fatally fell (jumped?) from her bedroom window. Her sisters have endured their loss behind rigid defenses: Jessica assumed Ana's life, including claiming Ana's boyfriend; Iridian assuages her loneliness with Ana's books and writing; Rosa...

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