Published by Candlewick

Summary:  The first few wordless pages show a family leaving their homeland with rainbow-colored suitcases.  In their new home, the girl opens one of the suitcases and leafs through a photo album.  The pictures depict different types of love, expressed through eleven Arabic words.  Each is described with a rhyming couplet: “There’s sunshine-warm friendship that glows and grows after two people meet (al-Wud)/And love that comes like a sudden breeze, sweeping you off your feet (al-Hawa).”  In between, the refrain is repeated, “There are eleven words for love, and my family knows them all,” with the last page reading, “There are eleven words for love, and I love that my family knows them all.”  40 pages; ages 5-9.

Pros:  Warm, colorful illustrations illuminate this celebration of love in its many forms of a Palestinian family that has fled home to start life in a new place.

Cons:  I wish there had been some context notes either at the beginning or the end.  The only reason I know this is a Palestinian family is from reading reviews.

Published by Chronicle Books

Summary:  Yenebi and her younger sister Melanie get woken up at 4:00 a.m. to begin their trip to school.  On the road with Mami and Melanie, Yenebi confronts her archenemy: la línea, the line of cars waiting to cross the border.  Will they wait two or three hours this morning?  Mami and Yenebi debate while Melanie sleeps.  Then Mami says the magic words, “hora de desayunar!”  It’s time to decide what to buy for breakfast, choosing from the vendors all around them.  They enjoy chicken tamales as they get closer to the border.  After showing their papers to the stern border patrol agent, they’re finally in the United States and on their way to school.  It’s 7:00 a.m., right on schedule, and when they finally get to school, Yenebi is feeling wide awake.  “Estoy listo,” she declares, ready for her day.  Includes an author’s note about her own experiences crossing the border to go to school.  Available in English and Spanish (El viaje de Yenebi a la escuela). 40 pages; grades K-4.

Pros:  I plan to pair this book with 9 Kilometers as an introduction to the lengths some kids have to go to to get to school.  Yenebi is pretty cheerful about her long drive, and Sendy Santamaria beautifully portrays the sense of community she experienced from this daily journey. I’ve added this to my back to school book list.

Cons:  I wondered what Mami did all day, since I assume she would have to take her daughters home after school.

Published by Neal Porter Books

Summary:  Manolo is excited to sign up for his school’s Spanish spelling bee, because “Spanish is the language of my family,” or “es la lengua de mi familia.”  He already knows how to spell a lot of Spanish words, but some are unfamiliar to him, and his abuela helps him prepare.  While they study, she tells him how she and her classmates were punished for speaking Spanish in school.  On the big day, there’s stiff competition, but Manolo wins the bee by correctly spelling “respeto,” the Spanish word for respect, which he has for his abuela, his family, and his Spanish language.  Includes an author’s note with additional information about the history of the Spanish language in the United States and the National Spanish Spelling Bee.  40 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  Manolo’s pride in his bilingualism is evident, with Spanish words easily woven into the text, and a contrast to abuela’s shameful experiences with the language when she was growing up.  John Parra’s illustrations are always a treat. I hope this story will inspire educators to check out the Spanish spelling bee.

Cons:  The disgraceful history of the Spanish language in the U.S.

Published by Nancy Paulsen Books

Summary:  From the team that brought you The Day You Begin comes this picture book about a brother and sister going through a difficult year.  There’s boredom in the spring when the weather keeps them inside, sibling fights in the summer, loneliness in autumn, and finally, a move away from the familiar neighborhood in winter.  Each season, their grandmother reminds them, “Lift your arms, close your eyes, take a deep breath.”  When they do, the two children are able to fly, looking down on their city and letting go of their difficult feelings.  In their new house, other kids are initially unfriendly, but when they see the two who can fly, they close their eyes, take a deep breath, and join them.  Includes an author’s note acknowledging Virginia Hamilton’s The People Could Fly: Black American Folktales as her inspiration for this story.  Available in English and Spanish. 32 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  I probably shouldn’t start predicting the 2023 Caldecott the day before the 2022 awards will be announced, but I do love Rafael López’s beautiful illustrations that perfectly complement the intriguing, poetic text by Jacqueline Woodson.

Cons:  Don’t hurry through the story; there’s a lot to unpack in both the text and the illustrations.

I have a discussion guide for this book on Teachers Pay Teachers that includes discussion questions, vocabulary, and connections.

Published by Kokila

Summary:  A boy and his father take a Saturday morning trip over the border to Mexico, something that is obviously a familiar routine for them.  As they approach the bridge, Dad reminds him that the land once belonged to the Coahuiltecans before it became two countries.  They enjoy coffee and hot chocolate in a restaurant, then head out for their errands, visiting relatives and shopping for friends.  When it’s time to go back home, they have one more stop to make part way across the bridge.  It’s lined with people camping there, refugees from the Caribbean and Central America who can’t get into either Mexico or the U.S.  The boy and his father distribute much of what they’ve bought that day to the people on the bridge: food, medicine, comics.  “All the way home I imagine a wonderful day, when all my friends from the Other Side can go back and forth between my two border towns, just like me.”  40 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  An uplifting but realistic look at the life of an American boy who still has close ties to his Mexican heritage–and who is being taught empathy and compassion as he and his dad consider the plight of their friends waiting to gain admittance to one country or another. 

Cons:  A little back matter with additional information about the border and/or refugees would have been a nice addition.