The Last Last-Day-of-Summer, by Lamar Giles

I read The Last Last-Day-of-Summer out loud to my son in the days leading up to his first day of 1st grade.  We both loved it.  Some of the jokes and references were over his head, but he was generally able to follow the plot and was beginning to continue reading at the end of each chapter.  

The two main characters are Otto and Sheed Alston, Black cousins famous for their otherworldly adventures in their unusual town.  They are extremely close and both live with their grandmother (why this is or where their parents are goes unmentioned) and their main competitors are two Black sisters - one a wizard at robotics and the other nicknamed "Wiki" for the vast amount of knowledge she carries around in her head.  There's a nice aside at one point where Otto recalls his grandmother's reminder never to touch anyone without their permission - even if their body is frozen in time - and asks Wiki if he can touch her arm to unfreeze her.  

The book is a long and engaging read full of adventure, traps, "manuevers" to escape tricky situations, complex relationships, and richly drawn characters.  We're already eagerly waiting for the next book, and though we borrowed this from the library it may be one of the few we purchase to keep on the bookshelf for years to come.  

BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library)

Another Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown

It's been a while since I've read or recommended a book for infants, but we stumbled across Another Important Book at the library and picked it up because we adore the author Margaret Wise Brown (her book Little Fur Family was an early favorite of ours).  My 6 year old was, of course, way too old but listened gamely (and I was a huge fan).  The illustrations are of tumbling, crying, dancing, giggling babies of all different colors, and I'm positive the lyrical and repetitive text would have appealed to my son if he had been a few years younger.  I'm sad we stumbled onto this book too late to add it to our bedtime collection, but perhaps it isn't too late for you!

BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library!)

Silent Night, by Lara Hawthorne

This book combines the words to Silent Night with beautifully illustrated pictures of the Nativity, a Nativity scene full of people with black and brown skin.  I was thrilled when we came across this book at the library, and given that Silent Night is one of our favorite lullabies to sign at bedtime it's already been read repeatedly.  A simple, lovely Christmas story.

BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library!)

The Christmas Coat, by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve

My annual search for Christmas books that feature diverse kids continues!  We picked up The Christmas Coat at the library and it was a solid story - Virginia (a Native American girl) needs a new winter coat.  A Theast box (a box of donations from the East Coast) arrives with a beautiful new coast that she covets, but she isn't allowed first pick as her father is the priest and other children need new coats more than she does.  However, Virginia's reluctant generosity and patience pays off and she is gifted a lovely red coat for Christmas. 

My son was entertained throughout but didn't want to read again.  The story is lovely and rings true - the author grew up on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota.  However, my son understandably gravitates toward more generically happy books for Christmas.  Given the dearth of diverse Christmas stories out there this is a good one to check out.

BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library!)

Amazing Grace, by Mary Hoffman

Sometimes I shy away from checking out classics from the library, they frequently tend to be dated or dull.  That was not the case with Amazing Grace.  When Grace's class decides to put on the play Peter Pan she announces that she'll play the lead, but is told by her classmates that she can't because she is neither white nor a boy.  Grace's mom and grandmother discuss with her, and when Grace auditions the class unanimously agrees that she's the perfect Peter!

It's a straightforward, realistic story is easily applicable to the current political climate - just look at what happened when Disney announced Halle Bailey (a Black woman) would play Ariel.  The story is easy to follow and doesn't condescend to children. 

BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library!)

Sergio Sees the Good, by Linda Ryden

I don't know how it's possible we hadn't come across this book previously - I love it, my son loves it, and it teaches an amazing lesson - it really should be a classic.  Sergio comes home fuming about his awful day at school, but his mom proposes a test of sorts - why don't they take a scale and put marbles on the 'good' and 'bad' sides representing everything that happened to him during his day.  The details are ones that will engage kids, such as mean kids stealing a basketball at the playground.  Sergio takes his mom through his day and realizes that maaaybe things weren't so bad after all.  There's a bit of an over-explanation of the concept of 'negativity bias' at the end of the book that I rush through as my son's eyes glaze over, but maybe an older child would be more into the concept - which is nicely illustrated through the story.

A couple times when we've read this book my son has enthusiastically tested out his own day - stacking magnatiles to represent 'good' and 'bad' things that happened to him and marveling at how much taller the good pile is!  This would be an especially good book if you happen to have a 'glass half full' type of kid.  

BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library!)

Mary Wears What She Wants, by Keith Negley

I wasn't going to write about this book, primarily because there are countless children's books out there either explicitly about feminism or with main characters who are brave, smart girls.  And we're lucky that at an age when many children start to segregate themselves by gender, my son still has many female friends.  He remains gobsmacked by the idea that any of these hilarious, interesting, fun girls he knows would ever be treated differently than a boy; the best player on his basketball team is a girl and in his eyes Serena Williams is the "best tennis player in the world!"  However, there was something about this book - my son won't let me return it to the library and at a time when he mostly wants to read chapter books he keeps picking this off the shelf at night.

The story itself is simple.  Mary and the other girls are all expected to wear skirts, all the time.  My son found this so outrageously shocking the first time we read the story that he actually stared at me with his mouth hanging open!  However, one day Mary wears pants, only to be met with outrage.  After a talk with her dad, she wears them again the next day, but happily discovers that some of the the other girls are now wearing pants as well.

There is a page in the back discussing Mary Edwards Walker, who the story is based on.  I think that this is part of the appeal, how grounded the story is in reality and how clear cut the disparate treatment is.  His favorite part was discussing how Dr. Walker was a surgeon in the Civil War and was captured by the Confederates (but still lived to tell the tale).

BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library!)

Edited to recommend a similar book, Born to Ride by Larissa Theule.  I'm not going to do a separate post because both my son and I far preferred Mary Wears What She Wants, but this is also a historically accurate story about how girls were initially discouraged from riding bikes because of the risk of "bicycle face" - essentially, that the strain of riding a bicycle could potentially disfigure a girl's face.  We checked this out of the library and read it several times, and if your child is into the history of feminism this is a worthwhile and entertaining book.