Nikki Grimes
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"Garvey's father has always wanted Garvey to be athletic, but Garvey is interested in astronomy, science fiction, reading--anything but sports. Feeling like a failure, he comforts himself with food. Garvey is kind, funny, smart, a loyal friend, and he is also overweight, teased by bullies, and lonely. When his only friend encourages him to join the school chorus, Garvey's life changes. The chorus finds a new soloist in Garvey, and through chorus,...
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Gabby daydreams to tune out her parents' arguments, but when her parents divorce and she begins a new school, daydreaming gets her into trouble. Her mother scolds her for it, her teacher keeps telling her to pay attention, and the other kids tease her...until she finds a friend who also daydreams and her teacher decides to work a daydreaming-writing session into every school day. With a notebook "thick with daydreams," Gabby grows more confident about...
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"Growing up with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and a mostly absent father, Nikki Grimes found herself terrorized by babysitters, shunted from foster family to foster family, and preyed upon by those she trusted. At the age of six, she poured her pain onto a piece of paper late one night - and discovered the magic and impact of writing. For many years, Nikki's notebooks were her most enduing companions. In this accessible and inspiring...
7) Dark sons
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Alternating poems compare and contrast the conflicted feelings of Ishmael, son of the Biblical patriarch Abraham, and Sam, a teenager in New York City, as they try to come to terms with being abandoned by their fathers and with the love they feel for their younger stepbrothers.
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Dyamonde Daniel and her best friend, Free, are excited about the library's poetry contest and its $100 prize. When Dyamonde learns that a classmate is homeless, she encourages the girl to submit a poem about the homeless shelter where she lives. As the two girls become friends, Dyamonde learns what it's really like to be poor yet rich in friends.
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A young girl learns much about her mother as she reads a collection of poems written before she was born that capture her mother's memories of living around the world and growing up as a child of an Air Force serviceperson. Includes author's note, list of select U.S. Air Force bases, and explanation of the free verse and tanka poetry forms used.
12) Almost zero
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Dyamonde, longing for a pair of red high-top sneakers, is persuaded by a classmate that it is her mother's job to give her what she needs, and she learns an important lesson when she tries that argument on her mom who responds by literally giving Dyamonde only what she needs.
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Diverse Books - African American/ Black Experience in the U.S.
Favorite Female Authors
New Babies
Picture Books for Black Lives
Favorite Female Authors
New Babies
Picture Books for Black Lives
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Illustrations and text welcome a new baby to some of life's delights, from "the glistening mystery of soap bubbles" to "the swish of leaves in the breeze."
18) Come Sunday
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A little girl describes her typical Sunday from the moment her mother wakes her up through the different elements of the worship service in church.
19) The watcher
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A poetic story inspired by Psalm 121. Jordan lives in fear of Tanya, the class bully. But Tanya has worries of her own, no matter how much she tries to ignore them. It seems impossible that Jordan and Tanya could be anything other than enemies, but the Lord is watching over them, guiding each of them along a path that might just help them to understand one another.