Veena and the Red Roti: A Story of Hope During Partition by Namita Moolani Mehra

Veena loves to be in the kitchen when the women are making roti. Veena practices making the roti and finally gets the hang of it. Then her world changes and the Partition of India occurs and her family leaves their home. They end up in a migrant shelter, where she is given a roti that was like nothing she had tasted before, it was red and hard to swallow. Veena decides that she needs to do something to help at the kitchen and makes red roti.

The end of the story includes a glossary, an author’s note and historical context. The story is inspired by the author’s grandparents’ journey during the Partition of India. The historical context explains what the partition was and is important for those who may not know this piece of history.

I Worked Hard on That

After seeing a beautiful web, Kiara is inspired to make her own web. It was not as easy as it seemed and her first webs were not works of art. Finally she created a masterpiece when a squirrel ran through her web, destroying her work. Each web Kiara created were ruined by others not paying attention. Kiara meets another spider, Orb, and they work together to create something beautiful until Orb gets hungry and eats the web. Frustrated Kiara runs away destroying Paws, the squirrel’s, sculpture. Kiara helps Paws and learns that creating is just as important, if not more than the finished product.

The digitally created illustrations feature expressive characters, intricate webs, and designs to demonstrate varying textures.

This book would be great for discussing frustration when creating something and for how to respond when you accidentally ruin someone’s creation.

Careers in STEM: Aerospace Engineer

Aerospace engineers use math and physics to design airplanes and spacecraft.

This book is a Blastoff Reader from the Careers in STEM series. There are 2-3 sentences per page and uses many text features such as bold words, table of contents, photographs and captions. The glossary is needed as there are many words that will be new to readers, such as internships and physics. This book explains what an aerospace engineer is, does, and how to become an aerospace engineer. The books in this series introduce readers to careers they may not be familiar with.

Careers in STEM: Mechanical Engineer

This book is a Blastoff Reader from the Careers in STEM series.This series for beginning readers focuses on jobs in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields. There are 2-3 sentences per page and uses many text features such as bold words, table of contents, glossary, photographs and captions. Information about a famous mechanical engineer is included.This book explains what a mechanical engineer is, does, and how to become a mechanical engineer. The books in this series introduce readers to careers they may not be familiar with.

A Boy and His Mirror

Chris gets teased for his long curly hair, but he likes it. When he looks in an ornate mirror to reassure himself, an African woman mystically appears. She reminds him that in a faraway land his hair is the hair of a king. Chris learns that acting like a king isn’t about swagger and bling it’s about how you treat others. Chris steps up into a leadership role on the playground encouraging others to “stop judging, quit calling names. Be a little more chill. Stop playing games.” The story ends with Chris playing with his new group of friends.

Lovely illustrations portray a diverse cast of children with expressive faces. The story encourages the concepts of positive self-image as well as acceptance and kindness to others. The only drawback is the unexpected appearance of the mirror that does not fit the flow of the story.

Justice Rising: 12 Amazing Black Women in the Civil Rights Movement

Year after year as we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month, we hear about the same heroes; MLK, Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks. There are many other Americans who stepped up and made a difference during the Civil Rights Movement. This book focuses on twelve women who through their actions furthered the fight for equality and justice during the Civil Rights Movement.

In the book, you will hear about; Ella Baker, Ruby Bridges, Claudette Colvin, Dorothy Cotton, Fannie Lou Hamer, Coretta Scott King, Diane Nash, Rosa Parks, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Gloria Richardson, Jo Ann Robinson, and Sheyann Webb. The twelve women each have a page long biography detailing their work, their struggles, and their successes. Each biography is concise yet comprehensive enough to paint a picture for the reader.

Recommended for elementary libraries.

The Together Tree

Rumi starts at a new school and doesn’t feel like he fits in; not in class and not at recess. At recess while the other kids played, Rumi sat beneath a shady old willow tree, twirling a stick. Everything was different at his old home. Some of his classmates started making fun of him and it escalated to bullying. When a student threw a rock and hurt Rumi, his classmates realized their behavior was hurtful and gradually they all joined Rumi under the tree to create beautiful drawings in the dirt. The story ends with the bully being invited to join the group under the tree.

A beautifully illustrated book that tells the story of being a new student from a different cultural background and how teasing escalates to bullying.

Leena Mo, CEO

Written by Deena Shakir and illustrated by Nez Riaz

Leena had to shovel snow and she really didn’t like that job. So, She dreamed, brainstormed, investigated and eventually built a duck-like robot to do the job for her. Her neighbors noticed how great her new snow removal device, aka Helmy (Arabic for “my dream”) and the orders started pouring in. Leena asks her two friends to join her business – Olivia (a robotics whiz) and Lily (a successful lemonade stand entrepreneur). Leena’s only remaining problem was Helmy parts procurement. How would she pay for them? Her nice neighbor, Miss Irma, offered to invest in Leena’s venture. Her business was ready to go! The girls got right to work with production, They sold all the Helmys they produced and business grew. Leena was a CEO! The story ends with a tv interview, which a man and his granddaughter watch in Leena’s mom’s hometown in Iraq. That little girl saw her future dreams in Leena’s story. Anything is possible!

This is an inspiring STEM related story that will resonate with young girls, who may not even realize that their interest in one area might turn into something even bigger. Characters are culturally diverse and the community seems to be positive and supportive of the young CEO. The illustrations are colorful and complement the storyline. Buy this for your library and share it with your young scientists. What if a child read this and said “I can do this, too!”? How cool would that be?

Pedro and the Monster Eaters = Pedro y los devoradores de monstruos

written by Xequina María Berbér and illustrated by C. Rod. Unalt

Pedro is a young boy that comes from a family of artists that creates papier maché art pieces – from pinatas to giant puppets called mojigangas that are used in parades and festivals in Mexico. His family is very busy, because their artwork is so beautiful. So, Pedro learns the aspects of the art from an early age. One night, he becomes very sick and has a high fever. He has some terrible dreams in which the mojigangas chase after him. In his nightmares, colorful creatures called alebrijes rescue him by gobbling up the scary puppets. He awakens and is determined to create these monster-eating creatures in papier maché. Soon, people from all around are buying his colorful art pieces and he become world renowned for his beautiful work.

This story is loosely based on the life of Mexican folk artist Pedro Linares, who created beautifully painted fantastical creatures in papier maché. The book is written in English and Spanish and illustrated with colorful otherworldly creatures that spring from Pedro’s imagination. Text and illustrations work very well together to convey Pedro’s story. An author’s note at the end gives more information about Pedro Linares and is a great starting point for more thorough research about an artist in a medium about which there is typically little information.

Purchase this book for your library for a variety of reasons – the subject matter, dual language presentation and the beautiful illustrations. Students will be curious to explore more about the artist and the medium after such a wonderful introduction.

Man O’War by: Cory McCarthy

Reviewed by OHS student, Cyrus P.

River McIntyre is a young high school trans person who spends his life in Haley, Ohio swimming, raving about jellyfish, exploring life and love, and battling all forms of discrimination. He spends the most significant of his days at the local SeaPlanet swimming with fish and being queer. Giving the full scope of a coming of age novel this book puts the reader through the full athletic queer experience the perfect read for someone who wants to learn about marine biology and life as a queer person.

I like the “sciencey” aspects to the book and the ways that River connects those aspects to themselves. At times I felt that it was egregiously queer. Gay to a fault – making the issues seem too forced at times. Queer people and athletes may like this book. They should read it because it’s a great, full journey and keeps you invested in the lives of these people while teaching you about marine biology.