The Sun Is Also a Star - Nicola Yoon
Delacorte Press (November 1, 2016)
A 2016 National Book Award Finalist
Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.
Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.
The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?
A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of The Snowy Day - Andrea Davis Pinkney
Viking Books for Young Readers (November 1, 2016)
For more than two decades, Ezra had kept pinned to his wall a series of photographs of an adorable African American child. In Keats’s hands, the boy morphed into Peter, a boy in a red snowsuit, out enjoying the pristine snow; the book became The Snowy Day, winner of the Caldecott Medal, the first mainstream book to feature an African American child. It was also the first of many books featuring Peter and the children of his — and Keats’s — neighborhood.
Melena's Jubilee - Zetta Elliott
Tilbury House Publishers (November 8, 2016)
After being sent to bed early the previous night, Melena wakes up to a new day with a song in her heart. At breakfast she learns she has been given a “fresh start,” and she decides to celebrate by doing things differently for the rest of the day. Melena chooses not to fight with her brother, and shares the money she has rather than demanding to be repaid by a less fortunate friend. This story introduces children to the concept of jubilee, which stresses the important principles of debt relief, generosity, and forgiveness. Aaron Boyd’s mixed-media illustrations are as bright and vivid as a sun-washed day.
How to Find a Fox - Nilah Magruder
Feiwel & Friends (November 15, 2016)
Equipped with a camera and determination, a little girl sets out to track down an elusive red fox. But foxes are sneaky, and it proves more difficult than she thought. Nilah Magruder's debut picture book charmingly tells the story of what it means to not give up and how sometimes what you're looking for is closer than you think.
The Golden Girls of Rio - Nikkolas Smith
Sky Pony Press (November 15, 2016)
The women athletes of the 2016 Summer Olympics captivated the world…Their accomplishments amazed us, as did their personal stories of persistence and hard work. The Golden Girls of Rio focuses on the paths to glory for these women athletes, how they got their start and rose to meteoric heights in the Rio games…An inspiring story, bursting with color and action and life, that will make you smile to see these champion athletes as little girls, and to revisit their triumphs in achieving Olympic gold.
Hidden Figures, Young Readers' Edition - Margot Lee Shetterly
Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. This book brings to life the stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, four African-American women who lived through the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the movement for gender equality, and whose work forever changed the face of NASA and the country.