When Stars are Scattered is about two young boys who live in a refugee camp after escaping the war in Somalia. They have to grow up in the camp separated from their family and are awaiting being chosen to relocate safely to North America. I would recommend reading this story to upper elementary grades. It was published in 2020 and won the National Book Award.

Giving Thanks was published in 1995 and is a good book choice to read around Thanksgiving as it is a message of peace and thankfulness for all the blessings of the earth. Emphasizing the importance of what our world has to offer and how we should be thankful for what we have been given. I would recommend this story to all age groups, I believe it is one of the better options to read to children.

Fry Bread is a Native American tradition story that depicts family members and friends who take part in history. Making fry bread together has become an important aspect of Native American culture. This story incorporates the traditions of indigenous families and would be great to read to any age group. This story was published in 2019.

We Are Grateful was published in 2018 and written by a member of the Cherokee tribe. I found that the word otsaliheliga (oh-jah-LEE-hay-lee-gah) is used by members of the Cherokee Nation to express gratitude. The story follows a full Cherokee year of celebrations and experiences through traditions. I would recommend this book to upper elementary grades.

Go Show the World was published in 2018 this book celebrates stories of Indigenous people (biography) throughout history. Including individuals from the US and Canada, Crazy Horse, Net-no-kwa, former NASA astronaut John Herrington and Canadian NHL goalie Carey Price. I would recommend this book to upper elementary grades as it touches on topics that are very relevant and important.

Something like gravity is a young adult fiction book about a transgender boy finding love. A car accident brings the two teens together and even though they both experience life-changing events throughout the process, they seem to never want to be apart. I would recommend this story to young adults as it is a chapter book and maybe a more complex text for kids. Published in 2019.

This is a story about a young girl, Nasreen. She has not spoken a word to anyone since her parents disappeared and her grandmother decides to enroll her in a secret school for girls. Her goal is to help Nasreen come out of her shell and open up and make friends. It is based on a true story and was published in 2009. I would recommend this story to upper elementary grades.

This is a biography of Harriet Tubman beginning at the time of which she is an older lady. It then plays out her life events back in time when she helped slaves escape on the Underground Railroad. It talks about her job as a spy and her various achievements throughout history. I would recommend reading this story to the upper elementary grades. I think it would be a great book to introduce the impact of slavery. Published in 2017.

This is the story of a rabbit who decides to take a trip to the library and rent a book on wolves. He decides on his way home that he is going to open up the book and read it. As he is on his journey he becomes engulfed in the story and becomes a part of it. The reader is eager to keep reading as the rabbit ends up being watched by wolves. I would recommend this story to a younger audience. Published in 2005, Kate Greenaway medal winner.

This nonfiction story is very touching as a young girl who is excited about attending a local school. Come to find out she and her siblings end up being turned away. They are told to enroll in a Mexican school instead, even though she is an American citizen who speaks fluent English. The girl's family is so upset by the school's response that they decide to file a lawsuit. Ultimately helping end school segregation laws in California in the 40s.

This is a cute book I would recommend for a younger audience. It is about a small fish stealing a hat off a larger fish who is sleeping. A crab witnesses the scenario go down and the big fish goes out to find the little fish. The little fish claimed he knew it was wrong but he believed that the hat was too small for the larger fish so he wanted to take it. This story won the Kate Greenaway Award and was published in 2012.

This is a touching young adult fiction story about a boy who has come out as gay living in a small Texas town with his family. He gets made fun of by many kids at school but learns to overcome the troubles head-on. He begins to be his true self and not worry about what his small town thinks of him. When doing so he learns how happy he is and that he can be successful no matter who he is. Whippoorwill book award winner, published in 2021.

This fiction story is about a polar bear climbing through a young girl's bedroom window one cold night. Tilly, the young girl, welcomes the bear and even cuddles with him until he causes a ruckus and Tilly begins to question if allowing him inside was a good choice. She tries convincing her family that she made a friend that is a polar bear but they don't believe it. It was a Phoenix book award winner in 2014. Published in 1994.

This children's book is a historical fiction story about a young girl named Regina. She is a member of an Indian tribe that the federal government decided to eliminate. She and the members of her tribe are forced to leave their homeland and move to Los Angeles, and she becomes subject to discrimination by her community. This novel won the American Indian Youth Literature Award. It was published in 2019.

This fiction story is about a boy and his father. As a young boy Bao Phi and his father decide one morning to go fishing before his father has to leave for work. Bao and his father are fishing not for pleasure but to catch a meal. This is a cute picture book that won the Asian/Pacific American Award. I would recommend reading this story to the upper elementary grades. Published in 2017.

This is a nonfiction story that has won the Robert Sibert book award for the most distinguished informational book published in English during the proceeding year. This story takes readers through the depths of the sea where the giant squid lives. It shows great illustrations filling the pages and facts about the giant squid and their environment. Won the Robert Sibert award in 2017, published in 2016.

This is a nonfiction story about a young girl named Eugenie who became the ocean's most fearless scientist. As a young girl, she loved sharks and has always wanted to swim with them and learn all about the ocean. As a child, she is gifted an aquarium for her room because she is fascinated by marine life. She became the first scientist in the world to train sharks. I would recommend this novel to any age band!

This is a story about a young girl growing up in Mexico and living a very privileged life until she and her mother must leave everything behind. They are forced to leave Mexico and work as migrant workers in California. Throughout her journey, she learns she can do hard things as she finds community and family throughout her experiences. (Pura Belpre award)

This story is about a young girl who lives in Europe and is invited by a rabbi to immigrate to America. She boards a boat leaving her grandmother and home behind. She was scared and unsure of what is to come as she is traveling across the sea. Once Jessie makes it to America her cousin Kay show's her around the city. She begins going to school as well. I would recommend reading this story to an older audience (5th grade).

This novel is about a young girl named Bo who is born in Alaska and is abandoned by her mother as a baby. She is then taken to an orphanage where she is adopted by two male gold miners where she grows up learning two languages, English and Eskimo. This story could be read by 4th-grade students but would also be a great read-aloud for any age group as it even has pictures included throughout. Scott O'Dell Award winner.

This chapter book is about a young native American girl who lived 18 years alone on an island of the coast of California waiting for a ship to pick her up. Along her journey, she learns how to survive on the island with the resources that the island provides. I would recommend reading this story to any age group as a read-aloud. This story won the Scott O'Dell Award.

In this realistic fiction story, the main character Asiya and her sister Faizah are of the Muslim faith and Asiya is at the age where she is to wear her hijab to school. Faizah envies her sister as it is her first-day-hijab and she cannot wait until she gets to wear one. Throughout the story, Asiya experiences bullying while at school and she learns to overcome it. I would recommend reading this to any age group, I found it to be very inspiring.

This is a realistic fiction/autobiography about a girl who had trauma to her leg which resulted in both her legs needing to be amputated. She felt defeated and so did a dog named Rescue who was looking for a companion. The two end up meeting and Rescue and Jessica are inseparable. I would definitely recommend this story to any age group it is such an impacting story.

This is a calming realistic fiction story about a boy and his Pa going owling together. There is a lot of figurative language in the story specifically metaphors and similies that could go along with a lesson. I would read this novel to a third-grade classroom as I think the students would be very interested in it and could understand the figurative language. I would definitely recommend reading this story in your class!

This is a sweet story about how Black culture and history are so important and powerful. It is seen through the perspective of a child so it is very moving. I would definitely use this book in my classroom and I would recommend reading it to any age group. It received the Jane Addams Children's book award.

This story is about a young girl who goes to market street where she finds objects that she had spent all her money buying presents for her friend, her cat. The author goes through the alphabet with each present starting with the next letter in the alphabet. I would recommend reading this to a younger audience, probably kindergarten and first grade when they are learning how to read and write. This story won the National Book Award.

“The Day the Crayons Quit“ is a cute imaginative story about a child's crayons. Each crayon writes him a letter from their point of view expressing their feelings and emotions about how they are being used. Some letters are funny, and some are sad, but this would be perfect for a lower-grade classroom. This story won an E.B. White Award.

This story is about a transgender child that is soon going to be a big brother! He grew up not being like the rest of his friends and began transitioning as a young child. His family was very supportive throughout the process and when asked about the unborn baby's gender they replied “it's a baby“. This made Aidan grateful and he hoped that his baby sibling could be who they want to be just like he is. The book received the “Stonewall book award“.

This story was read to us in class and it is a great story to use in a classroom. It shows readers that you can be anything you want to be and the way you look, dress, and talk is accepted and allowed. Julian dressed up as a mermaid using materials he found around his house while his grandmother was in another room. She then took him to see other dress-up mermaids that dressed just like he was. This book received the Stonewall Book Award“.

I read this book in 8th grade and it was my favorite book we read that year. It is a dystopian novel that portrays a society where color and emotions are nonexistent. This novel puts a mysterious twist on our perception of the world and the society we live in. This book was awarded the Newbery medal.

This story received the “Golden Kite Award“ and is definitely a story I would incorporate into my classroom library. The moral of the story is to remind children who are marginalized that they matter and will always matter. This story was empowering and made me hopeful for future generations.

A grumpy bear had eggs that ended up being ducklings and he was angry because he thought they were hard-boiled. He ends up loving them and forming a bond with them. This book shows that you can make good out of an unexpected situation. Friendships can always be made.

A Little Spot of Anxiety is about experiencing anxiety as a child and how it can affect those of all ages. The story gives children strategies that help with understanding emotions and why we struggle from time to time. I think this text would be great to incorporate into the classroom as everyone deals with anxiety to some extent.

This is a very current picture book that brings hope to how our future is changing day by day. The girl in the story is inspired by her grandmother to be free and live out her dreams. The story is very uplifting and influences readers to be who they want to be and not let people or things hold them back. I would definitely use this in my classroom!

This story was about an old woman and old man who want a cat and come across hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, trillions of cats. This story would be exciting for children to read and they could split up into characters which would be more engaging. I would read this in my classroom, it can even be used in a math setting since its talking about cats in numbers.

This story would be great for a child who is going to have a younger sibling. The daughter is upset that the mother is expecting, and she wishes the baby was never going to be in the family. She struggles with accepting that she will not be the only child anymore but the mother assures her that it will be okay and that she will still love her just as much.

Jabari is a young boy who has a fear of jumping off the high dive at the pool. His father tries to encourage Jabari to overcome his fear and eventually jumps. Cornwall wants readers to recognize that they too can do hard things with determination. I would recommend this book for early childhood learners.

This story is perfect for an early childhood classroom, the author does a fantastic job expressing how important it is to be yourself. Despite our differences, we are all unique and should accept one another for who we are. The illustrations are beautifully done and would be a great book to include in a classroom collection! It is now my favorite children's book!

This is a cute book that focuses on feelings of sadness and that it is okay and normal. I believe this would be a great story to share with any grade level. The main character and the character's “sadness“ are together throughout the book, “sadness“ is shown as a shadow or emotion that is visible. This book teaches children that it is okay to be sad and show emotions because we all have them.

This novel is beautifully illustrated and written in poem form. “Shadow“ is about a make-believe character representing the idea of imaginary characters/ideas. This book is very descriptive and as we all know children love to pretend and play in imaginative ways. I think this book would definitely draw students' attention but I would not use it to support a lesson.