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http://mppl.org/services/youth-department/good-books/?category=current%20events&list=Best%20Books%202021%20%20All%20Ages

List: Best Books 2021 All Ages


A photo of Thao

Thao

""Thao" seems like a simple enough name. Only four letters--all of them belonging to many other names! And yet Thao had been called everything from "Tail" to "Theo" to "Towel." At one point, completely fed up, she decided it was time to try another name. Something "easy." Something like "Jennifer." But trying to be someone else only works for so long. And eventually "Jennifer" is swayed back to being herself when she opens her lunchbox and finds her mother has packed her Gỏi cuốn (also known as Vietnamese spring rolls)! Thao's favourite! Her name is pronounced "Tow" like the English word "how." While simple on the surface, this story of cultural assimilation and celebration of cultural pride runs deep. It is a personal one for Thao. And it will strike a chord with readers who have struggled to fit within a mainstream mold--then realized it was just more comfortable to be themselves. Visually, this book will also be a personal reflection of Thao in that she will be incorporating childhood photos into her usual cut-paper collage style! She has also opted to minimize the number of illustrations and instead play with type and typography as a way to highlight her name--and the many variations of it that appear in the book!"--

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A photo of What are your words? : a book about pronouns

What are your words? : a book about pronouns

Ari knows a lot of words for neighbors, including the pronouns each prefers, and with help from Uncle Lior, who always asks "What are your words," figures out which pronouns--and other words--fit best today.

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A photo of Zonia's rain forest

Zonia's rain forest

Enjoying days spent with animal friends near her home in the Amazon, young Zonia wonders what to do on a day when the rainforest calls out to her for help, in a lushly illustrated story that is complemented by back matter about the Asháninka community.

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A photo of What happened to you?

What happened to you?

Imagine you were asked the same question again and again throughout your life... Imagine if it was a question that didn't bring about the happiest of memories... This is the experience of one-legged Joe, a child who just wants to have fun in the playground... Constantly seen first for his disability, Joe is fed up of only ever being asked about his leg. All he wants to do is play Pirates. But as usual, one after the other, all the children ask him the same question they always ask, What happened to you? Understandably Joe gets increasingly cross! Until finally the penny drops and the children realise that it's a question Joe just doesn't want to answer... and that Joe is playing a rather good game... one that they can join in with if they can stop fixating on his missing leg... Because children are children, after all.

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A photo of Jump at the sun : the true life tale of unstoppable storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston

Jump at the sun : the true life tale of unstoppable storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston

Zora was a girl who hankered for tales like bees for honey. Now, her mama always told her that if she wanted something, "to jump at de sun", because even though you might not land quite that high, at least you'd get off the ground. So Zora jumped from place to place, from the porch of the general store where she listened to folktales, to Howard University, to Harlem. And everywhere she jumped, she shined sunlight on the tales most people hadn't been bothered to listen to until Zora. The tales no one had written down until Zora. Tales on a whole culture of literature overlooked...until Zora. Until Zora jumped.--

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A photo of Over the shop

Over the shop

"A lonely little girl and her grandparent need to fill the run-down apartment in their building. But taking over the quarters above their store will mean major renovations for the new occupants, and none of the potential renters can envision the possibilities of the space--until one special couple shows up. With their ingenuity, the little girl's big heart, and heaps of hard work, the desperate fixer-upper begins to change in lovely and surprising ways"--

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A photo of The me I choose to be

The me I choose to be

"The possibilities are endless in this uplifting ode to the power of potential. With lyrical text by bestselling author Natasha Anastasia Tarpley and images by Regis and Kahran Bethencourt -- the team behind CreativeSoul Photography -- each page of The Me I Choose To Be is an immersive call for self-love that highlights the inherent beauty of all Black and brown children. "--

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A photo of Follow that frog

Follow that frog

"Aunt Josephine tells her niece Sadie the tale of her lifelong pursuit of a man-eating frog"--

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