An artistic, fashion-loving boy unlocks a new talent--and learns to stand up for it--in this chapter book perfect for fans of the Sadiq series and Meet Yasmin! Tehzeeb drew curvy clouds, grand galaxies, squirmy squiggles, and delicate dots. He made charming checkerboards and even perfected paisleys. His practice was finally paying off! The first time Tehzeeb tries mehndi, his passion for the art form blossoms. Soon, he's creating designs for all his friends and family, and dreams of becoming the most in-demand mehndi artist in town. So Tez is hurt and confused when his favorite uncle tells him mehndi isn't for boys. His art brings people joy. How could it be wrong? Tehzeeb doesn't want to disappoint his uncle. But when a crisis before his cousin's wedding puts his talents to the test, Tehzeeb must find the courage to be his true creative self. Jani Balakumar's expressive, vibrant illustrations bring Tehzeeb's designs--and his community--to life. This charming, affirming story by debut author Zain Bandali will have you celebrating creativity, artistic expression, and being unapologetically yourself. Readers can learn more about mehndi at home with activities at the end of the book.
Mia is still getting used to living with her mom and stepfather, and to the new role their Jewish identity plays in their home. Feeling out of place at home and at her Jewish day school, Mia finds herself thinking more and more about her Muscogee father, who lives with his new family in Oklahoma. Her mother doesn't want to talk about him, but Mia can't help but feel like she's missing a part of herself without him in her life. Soon, Mia makes a plan to use the gifts from her bat mitzvah to take a bus to Oklahoma--without telling her mom--to visit her dad and find the connection to her Muscogee side she knows is just as important as her Jewish side.
A picture book that challenges the meaning behind the still-waving Confederate flag through the friendship of two young girls who live across the street from each other.
When twelve-year-old Waka's parents suspect she can't understand basic Japanese they speak to her, they make the drastic decision to send her to Tokyo to live for several months with her strict grandmother. Forced to say goodbye to her friends and what would have been her summer vacation, Waka is plucked from her straight-A-student life in rural Kansas and flown across the globe, where she faces the culture shock of a lifetime. In Japan, Waka struggles with reading and writing in kanji, doesn't quite mesh with her complicated and distant Obaasama, and gets made fun of by the students in her Japanese public-school classes. Even though this is the country her parents came from, Waka has never felt more like an outsider. If she's always been the "smart Japanese girl" in America but is now the "dumb foreigner" in Japan, where is home? And who will Waka be when she finds it?
Sometimes, the moments that Sona spends with her Sinhalese grandfather, her seeya, are quiet. They speak different languages and don't always use words. But they do communicate in other ways. Sometimes, they're loud. They play dress-up, stomp in puddles, and pretend to be puppies. They cook pittu, tease each other when they're messy, and read to each other, even though they might not understand what the other is saying. Any time that Sona and Seeya share is special, whether quiet or loud, because they get to spend it together. Dinalie Dabarera's debut picture book is an achingly tender meditation on the unconditional love that can transcend all languages.
When Taylor's block castle is destroyed, all the animals think they know just what to do, but only the rabbit quietly listens to how Taylor is feeling
A young boy bonds with his beloved abuela over a love of Spanish.
Middle schooler Ariel Goldberg must find her own voice and define her own beliefs after her big sister elopes with a young man from India following the Supreme Court decision that strikes down laws banning interracial marriage.
When a racist incident rocks her small Michigan town, eleven-year-old Lekha must decide whether to speak up or stay silent, even as she struggles to navigate her life at home, where she can be herself, and at school, where she is teased about her culture.
It's the summer before middle school and eleven-year-old Bug's best friend Moira has decided the two of them need to use the next few months to prepare. For Moira, this means figuring out the right clothes to wear, learning how to put on makeup, and deciding which boys are cuter in their yearbook photos than in real life. But none of this is all that appealing to Bug, who doesn't particularly want to spend more time trying to understand how to be a girl. Besides, there's something more important to worry about: A ghost is haunting Bug's eerie old house in rural Vermont...and maybe haunting Bug in particular. As Bug begins to untangle the mystery of who this ghost is and what they're trying to say, an altogether different truth comes to light--Bug is transgender.
Twelve-year-old Anna must dig deep into her Hawaiian roots in order to save her best friend and her island from an angry fire goddess.
Follows a family as they make homemade challah bread from the heart. Includes information about challah and a recipe.
After discovering a lost Tea Dragon in the marketplace, apprentice blacksmith Greta learns about the dying art form of Tea Dragon caretaking from the kind tea shop owners.
Of her two granddaughters, Grandma Yvette clearly prefers Ruby Taylor's perfect--and perfectly Jewish--cousin, Sarah. They do everything together, including bake cookies and have secret sleep overs that Ruby isn't invited to. Twelve-year-old Ruby suspects Grandma Yvette doesn't think she's Jewish enough. The Jewish religion is matrilineal, which means it's passed down from mother to child, and unlike Sarah, Ruby's mother isn't Jewish. But when Sarah starts acting out--trading in her skirts and cardigans for ripped jeans and stained t-shirts, getting in trouble at school--Ruby can't help but be somewhat pleased. Then Sarah suddenly takes things too far, and Ruby is convinced Sarah is possessed by a dybbuk, an evil spirit... that Ruby may or may not have accidentally released from Grandma Yvette's basement. Ruby is determined to save her cousin, but a dybbuk can only be expelled by a "pious Jew." If Ruby isn't Jewish enough for her own grandmother, how can she possibly be Jewish enough to fight a dybbuk?
The little beachside town of San Pancras is not known for anything exciting, but when Zach Darlington buys a mysterious ring at the local flea market, his quiet little hometown is turned topsy-turvy by monsters straight from Jewish folklore and a nefarious secret society focused on upholding an apocalyptic prophecy. Zach discovers that the ring grants him strange powers, and he's intrigued; maybe he can use the ring's strengths to halt the slew of anti-Semitic and homophobic bullying he's experiencing at school. But soon the ring brings unexpected visitors, Ashmedai, King of Demons, in the guise of a preteen boy named Ash, and the local chapter of the Knights of the Apocalypse, a secret society intent on completing a creepy prophecy that will bring three monsters to Earth to start the events of the end of times. Now responsible for the ring and its consequences, will Zach and his friends, with the help of Ash, be able to stop the Apocalypse and save the world?
Life was harsh in the town of Bialystok, particularly for a Jewish boy like Leyzer Zamenhof. But Leyzer thought he knew the reason for the anger and distrust. With every group speaking a different language, how could people understand each other? Without understanding, how could there be peace? Zamenhof had an idea: a 'universal' second language everyone could speak. But a language that would be easy to learn was not easy to invent, especially when even his own father stood between him and his dream. Yet when at last in 1887 'Doctor Esperanto' sent his words into the world, a boy's idea became a community that spread across the globe.
In this gorgeously illustrated, deeply moving picture book, a young girl learns about the practice of sitting shiva after her mother dies.
This true story begins long ago in Spain, where a bride and groom are gifted a hand-painted haggadah. It is used at many Passover seders until the Spanish Inquisition when the family escapes. The haggadah survived for centuries in different countries. Scholars declared it a treasure. To protect it from the Nazis, a curator smuggled it out of a Sarajevo museum and hid it in a village mosque. On Passover of 1995, with bombs exploding overhead, the Bosnian president brought out the book from an underground vault to show the world that it was safe. The Sarajevo Haggadah has become a symbol of people of many faiths and cultures working together. Used for centuries and declared a treasure, people of many faiths have protected the Haggadah up to this day.
A young boy aspires to make a bowl of ramen as delicious as his dad's, and runs into some surprises--both delightful and disastrous--on his first attempt.
A family feud before the start of seventh grade propels Meilan from Boston's Chinatown to rural Ohio, where she must tap into her inner strength and sense of justice to make a new place for herself.
Sammy, Sol, and their dog Mazel search for Mama's missing babka and discover delicious life lessons along the way. Includes a recipe for Mama's missing babka.
Eleven-year-old Maizy Chen visits her estranged grandparents, who own and run a Chinese restaurant in Last Chance, Minnesota; as her visit lengthens, she makes unexpected discoveries about her family's history and herself.