Allie Is a straight A student with a loving family, good friends and is dating the sweet Wells Henderson.  The book opens with a scene on an airplane where Allie’s father is targeted by the man next to him when he hears him speaking Arabic.  Islamophobic comments bring the steward over and Allie stands up for her father showing on her phone that he is a professor at Northwestern.  Allie smooths over the incident but is tired of bearing the burden of other peoples’ ignorance.
Her parents do not practice Islam (although her father’s extended family do) and advise Allie, who does not appear Muslim, to not acknowledge her heritage.  Feeling spiritually lost, Allie finds herself drawn to Islam and joins a young woman’s study group where they discuss religion. Supported by these strong feminist women, Allie feels proud to be an out Muslim and begins to learn Arabic so that she can speak with her grandmother.
When she finds out that Well’s father in none other than Jack Henderson infamous Islamophobic talk show shock jock, Allie is faced with some hard choices. Will there budding romance survive this news?
I loved the diverse characters in Allie’s family and how she finds her path and has the courage to follow it. I came away with so much empathy for what it means to be Muslim in America.

​Tessa's picks,6th-8th grade, Character driven, Contemporary fiction, Family life, Global perspectives, Issues fiction.

​Years ago, Abdi’s older brother was kidnapped by the jihadi group Al Shabaab , brainwashed, and turned into a child soldier. Now the rest of his family is kidnapped by the supposed good guys. They beat Abdi and threaten his family unless he agrees to go undercover in Al Shabaab and report back to them. If Al Shabaab discovers he’s a spy, he’ll be tortured until he longs for death. But if he refuses, his whole family will be killed.

This fast-paced story will keep you on the edge of your seat and immerse you in a different world. The book alternates between Abdi’s time after escaping Al Shabaab and flashbacks to his time with them. It keeps you guessing as you try to piece together the pieces of what happened in the past.

Erica's Picks
Let's Go Swimming On Doomsday by Natalie C. Anderson
8th Grade
​Tags: 

"There is an Arabic proverb that says:
She makes you feel
like a loaf of freshly
baked bread
It is said about
the nicest
kindest people
The type of people
who help you rise."
This story in verse is about Jude, a young Syrian who has fled her country with her pregnant mother. Suddenly she finds herself labeled “Middle-Eastern” and struggles to fit in yet keep her identity.  Can a girl who wears hijab star in the school play? You will love Jude’s voice as she tells her story with grace and heart.


Tessa's Picks, 5-7th grade, Character driven, Contemporary fiction, Global perspectives, Issues fiction, Novels in verse

Teaching for Black Lives grows directly out of the movement for Black lives. We recognize that anti-Black racism constructs Black people, and Blackness generally, as not counting as human life. Throughout this book, we provide resources and demonstrate how teachers connect curriculum to young people's lives and root their concerns and daily experiences in what is taught and how classrooms are set up. We also highlight the hope and beauty of student activism and collective action. ​

The indispensable resource for social justice elementary educators in six parts:
Part 1: Building Classroom Community
Part 2: Reading and Writing Toward a More Just World
Part 3: Minding Media
Part 4: Math is More than Numbers
 Part 5: Laboratory for Justice: Science Across the Curriculum
 Part 6: The Classroom, The School, The World

Tessa"s Picks. Social Justice, People of Color, Global Perspectives, History

This picture book tells the story of a young student in Bangladesh who has to make a project for his science fair. He notices that his mother has a cough from cooking indoors during the rainy season, and he analyzes the needs of his user and does some research to come up with a solution. A great tie-in for units on inventors. The book takes place during Ramadan and they use his new oven to make a feast for Eid al-Fitr, so there could be a tie in there as well. 

The book has a large format and the warm colored pencil illustrations make it perfect for sharing in a classroom setting. Additional backmatter includes more information about clean cookstoves and information on how to make one yourself.

Erica's Picks
Iqbal and his Ingenious Idea by Elizabeth Suneby and Rebecca Green

Tags: global perspectives, people of color, picture books

​(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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