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We Are Not Free
Traci Chee

We Are Not Free

Genre:
Historical Fiction
Age Level:
Middle Grade, YA

The lives of a tight-knit group of 14 young Nisei, second-generation Japanese American citizens, are irrevocably changed by the mass U.S. incarcerations of World War II when over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry are removed from their homes and forced into desolate incarceration camps.  

Watch as Traci Chee reads a short excerpt from We Are Not Free

 

We Are Not from Here
Jenny Torres Sanchez

We Are Not From Here

Genre:
Fiction
Age Level:
YA

Pulga has his dreams.
Chico has his grief.
Peque a has her pride.

And these three teens have one another. But none of them have illusions about the town they’ve grown up in and the dangers that surround them. When those threats become all too real, the trio knows they have no choice but to run: from their country, from their families, from their beloved home. Crossing from Guatemala through Mexico, they follow the route of La Bestia, the perilous train system that might deliver them to a better life — if they are lucky enough to survive the journey. With nothing but the bags on their backs and desperation drumming through their hearts, Pulga, Chico, and Peque a know there is no turning back, despite the unknown that awaits them. In this striking portrait of lives torn apart, the plight of migrants at the U.S. southern border is brought to light through poignant, vivid storytelling. An epic journey of danger, resilience, heartache, and hope. Spanish version is also available.

we-are-okay
Nina Lacour

We Are Okay

Genre:
Fiction
Age Level:
YA

You go through life thinking there’s so much you need… . Until you leave with only your phone, your wallet, and a picture of your mother. Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart. 

 

We Are the Ship: The Story of the Negro League Baseball
Kadir Nelson

We Are the Ship: The Story of the Negro League Baseball

Age Level:
Middle Grade

An introduction by baseball great Hank Aaron opens this riveting look at the history of the Negro League. A large format supports revealing portraits of League players and an absorbing narration revealed in nine innings. Endnotes and further readings conclude this memorable and accessible history.

We Are Water Protectors
Carole Lindstrom

We Are Water Protectors

Genre:
Fairy Tales, Folktales and Myths
Age Level:
Middle Grade

Inspired by the many Indigenous-led movements across North America, We Are Water Protectors issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption.

Water is the first medicine.
It affects and connects us all …

When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth
And poison her people’s water, one young water protector
Takes a stand to defend Earth’s most sacred resource.

We Are Witnesse
Jacob Boas

We Are Witnesses

Age Level:
YA

Boas was born in the Westerbork Concentration Camp in Holland and writes this book from five teenage perspectives he found in reading their diaries: David Rubinowicz, Yitzhak Rudashevski, Moshe Flinker, Eva Heyman, and Anne Frank. As Boas points out, “alongside the other four diaries, Anne’s looks different than when you read it by itself as the sole voice of the Holocaust.”

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Judy Blume

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Genre:
Classics, Fiction

Margaret and her family move from the city to a suburb where she longs to fit in. As she struggles with growing up, she talks to God (does it matter if she’s Jewish or Christian?), finds new friends, and longs for a sign of growing up as she starts the 6th grade. Readers will empathize with Margaret in this contemporary classic.