​(This is a book for mature readers as it addresses issues of homophobia, child abuse, hate crimes, Islamophobia and sexual abuse).
Rukhsana loves the laws of physics and plans to become an engineer.  In a few months she will be attending Caltech on a scholarship. With her girlfriend Ariana. Only her parents who are conservative Muslims living in the Bengali community of Seattle would probably disown her if they found out about her relationship.  When she and Ariana are caught kissing by her mother, events spiral into a terrifying path.
Falsely told that her grandmother in Bangladesh is gravely ill, Rukhsana and parents catch the next plane.  The truth is soon apparent that they are there to force her into an arranged marriage. Her parents are convinced that their lives would be over if the truth about her sexuality came out. 
Rukhsana learns some secrets of her own mother’s past when her grandmother gifts her the diary of her early life, marriage and motherhood. Gathering strength from her grandmother who encourages her to fight for her freedom of choice, she also gains sympathy for her mother's dark childhood. Cousins and other family members are allies and memorable characters adding to the cultural experience of a large Bengali family
One of the proposed marriage partners turns out to be gay and the two form a friendship and eventually a plan to help them both escape back to the states. Rukhsana must find the courage to fight for her love and her freedom and hopefully keep the culture and family she loves.

Tessa's picks, 8th summer 2019, Character driven, Contemporary fiction, Family life, Global perspectives, Issues fiction, People of color.

The backdrop for this novel is the 2015 Syrian crisis and the November 13th Paris nightclub attack that lead to a manhunt in Brussels, followed by the bombing of the Brussels airport. Thirteen-year old Max and his family have moved from America so his father can be a defense consultant to NATO. They now live in an upscale neighborhood in Brussels and while sister Claire attends The American School, Max is enrolled in a Belgian school where classes are taught in a language he barely understands.  He is bullied and feels stupid in class.
Fourteen-year old Syrian refugee Ahmed has lost his entire family in the Syrian War and during their escape to Europe.  He finds himself stranded in Brussels after having lost his last family member, his father, and his money and cell phone to an unscrupulous smuggler. He takes refuge behind an unlocked door to the unused wine cellar in Max’s townhouse.
The boys meet and bond and so begins the dangerous story of hiding Ahmed from the authorities and finding a place for him to thrive.
They make some friends and together learn about a historical parallel that took place in the same residential block seventy-three years earlier. During WW II someone hid an orphan Jewish refugee from the holocaust.  He was turned in by neighbors who were Nazi collaborators.  The boys are determined that this will not happen to Ahmed but as the police search for terrorists the danger escalates. 
 
"A resistance novel for our time." - The New York Times
"A hopeful story about recovery, empathy, and the bravery of young people." - Booklist 
"This well-crafted and suspenseful novel touches on the topics of refugees and immigrant integration, terrorism, Islam, Islamophobia, and the Syrian war with sensitivity and grace." - Kirkus, Starred Review

Tessa's Picks, 5-8th grade, Character Driven, Fast paced, Global perspectives, Historical Fiction.
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Darius Kellner, a half-Persian and half-American teenager tries to find his place in the world or at least school where he is bullied and has one sort of good friend.  He doesn’t connect to his Persian side; he has only met his grandparents via computer. His little sister Laleh speaks Farsi but Darius never learned as his mother wanted her first born to be all American.  When the whole family travels to Iran to visit the grandparents, he bonds with his Persian family and makes an extraordinary friend. Sohrab.  The friendship between these two is tender and deep.
 The thing is, I never had a friend like Sohrab before. One who understood me without even trying. Who knew what it was like to be stuck on the outside because of one little thing that set you apart.”
Darius and his father take medication for depression but this is not a bond between them. Dad is ever critical of Darius and keeps his emotions under strict control. The warmth and acceptance Darius feels in Iran is a revelation. I love what a reviewer on Goodreads said:
“This is where I fell in love with Yazd, with Persepolis, with Persian food and culture. We need diverse books because they help us discover a world that is more than just our own four walls. We need diverse books because they teach us tolerance, acceptance and love. I needed this book, because I had never before read a story set in Iran. I never knew that I wanted to taste Quottab, a deep-fried, almond-filled pastry, or Faludeh, a sorbet-like dessert served with rose water syrup. I want to go visit Yazd, I want to see Persepolis and learn about the historic Darius the Great. I loved how elegantly the author teaches the reader about Persian culture and life in Iran.” This from a review by  Kai on Goodreads.
Read this heartfelt and tender book about friendship and belonging.
“Everyone wants you here. We have a saying in Farsi. It translates ‘your place was empty.’ We say it when we miss somebody."

Tessa's Picks, 6th-8th grade, Character driven, Contemporary fiction, Family life, Issues fictin, Global perspectives, Mental illness.


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Do not be put off by the gross stuff in the beginning. This book is hilarious and an amazing exploration of what it is like to grow up between cultures. 
Taiwanese-American Mei is at MIT pursuing her parents’ dream for her to become a doctor, marry an ivy-league Taiwanese boy and have lots of babies.  But she is germophobic times 100, falls for a Japanese boy and forget babies. There are so many ways her traditional parents think differently from her. She has to deal with the internalized obedience and guilt she feels for not doing what they want.  And the lies she has to tell! 
I listened to this audiobook and was laughing out loud.  This was a window book for me and I delighted in learning so many details about the culture and traditions of Mei’s family.  It is touching how much they love her and maddening how much control they use.
Mei’s growth as she struggles to be her own person will have you cheering.  She even persuades her mother to stand up to the father when it comes to seeing Mei’s brother who had been disowned for marrying a woman they disapproved of.
So laugh and become a little wiser at the same time!

Tessa's Picks

7th-8th grade, Contemporary fiction, Character driven, Family life, Humor, Issues fiction, Global perspectives, People of color.

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A historical novel and a sports story!  Set in 1945, World War II is raging and racism and prejudice are felt on the home front.  Highlighting a little know situation in California that affected immigrants, we learn that an influx of men from India who came to Yuba City where not allowed to marry women of different races. Single Indian women did not immigrate, so these men frequently married Mexican women as they were seen as belonging to the same race---“brown.”
Nine-year-old Maria Singh has an Indian father and a Mexican mother and home life is an interesting mix of both cultures.  Maria longs to play softball and is desperate to convince her conservative Sikh father to let her join the first ever girls’ softball league.  The family has bigger problems when the owner of the farm they work suddenly decides to sell. Papi is not allowed to become a US citizen and therefore can’t buy land.  Prejudice and discrimination confront them while Maria is determined to follow her dream. She takes a risk and asks the school board for a playing field for all kids, boys and girls. 
Feisty Maria is an ace ball player and this book is a homerun!

Tessa's Picks

4th-5th grade, Character driven, Family life, Historical fiction, Global perspectives, Issues fiction, People of color
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A city of millions cut off from the rest of the world and left to starve. People killing for ration cards, which provide a mere 125 grams of bread made with sawdust mixed in to the flour. Desperate people resorting to cannibalizing the plentiful corpses lining the street. It sounds like the premise for a YA dystopian novel, but it really happened. In 1941 Nazi forces blockaded the city of Leningrad in a siege that would last two and a half years and result in the deaths of over a million people. One of the people trapped in the city was composer Dmitri Shostakovitch. When he escaped the city, he wrote a symphony that would commemorate those lost and give hope to those still trapped. This is his true story.

This thick, nonfiction tome should have taken me ages to slog through, but instead I tore through it like it was the latest sci-fi thriller. The story is at turns moving, disturbing, and triumphant. It is a prime example of the power of narrative nonfiction.

Symphony for the City of the Dead by M.T. Anderson

Erica's Picks
8th & up
​Tags: biography, dystopian, global perspectives, history, nonfiction

Tessa's​​Written as journal entries to her dead mother, Nishna’s story takes us to India in 1947 when that country is being liberated from British rule and partitioned into Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India.
Nishna’s father is Hindu, her mother was Muslim and although their marriage was not usual or accepted by all, they had lived peacefully.  As Hindus they must now leave Pakistan as differences threaten to turn violent.  Their beloved servant Kazi, who taught her to cook and is practically a father to her, is Muslim and must stay behind.  Nishna and her family become refugees and embark on the dangerous and harrowing journey to find a new home.  Nishna’s is the voice of a child, simply recounting the sights, sounds and experiences that mark their sojourn to safety in Jodhpur.  The family has survived but she has seen many who did not.  Nishna’s  search for home and identity look for a hopeful future.
In the author’s note Ms Hiranandani offers  “Remembering the mistakes of the past will hopefully create a more enlightened, tolerant, and peaceful future. Accepting differences has always been a great challenge for humanity played out in thousands of ways. This was one way.”


Tessa's Picks, 3-6th grade, 3rd & 4th summer 2018, 6th summer 2018, Diaries, Historical fiction, Global perspectives, People of color.

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Set in modern day Afganistan, Obayda’s story is a window into the culture of a rural village.  Forced to leave Kabul after her father is injured, Obayda’s family is supported by their relatives while their father struggles with depression.  Gender roles are more clearly divided and she has much less freedom in the village so when her aunt suggests that Obayda become Obayd, a bacha posh, she is shocked.  A bacha posh is a preteen girl who takes on the role of a boy in order to bring luck and happiness to her family.
Initially Obayd is uncomfortable with the change that allows her to explore, climb trees, play sports, avoid chores and act with bravado.  She is not accepted by the boys until she meets Rahim, another bacha posh, and learns some tips on “how to be a boy.”  The two become fast friends and even make a crutch so that Odayd’s father can re-enter his life. 
This transformation cannot last forever and eventually they must take up their lives as female. The experience of male freedom and privilege will shape who they become.  
According to her aunt, Obayda will “…be able to do what no other girl can do.  You’re lucky to have this chance. Girls would kill to take your place.”
“It won’t be forever.”
 
Tessa's picks, 5th-7th grade, Global Perspectives, 5th Summer 2018, Contemporary fiction.