Humpty Dumpty is afraid of climbing back up after falling off of the wall but is determined to be closer to the birds. Recommended for ages 3-6.
Picture Books and Younger Elementary
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Santat)
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Liu)
Bear can do anything except ride a bike. Recommended for ages 3-6.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Reul)
After devastating news rattles her community, a young girl wants to help make things better. Recommended for ages 3-6.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Williams)
After losing all their furniture in a fire, a girl helps her mother and grandmother save up money to buy a comfortable chair. Recommended for ages 3-6.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Engle)
Inspired by the life of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, this story follows a young girl who dreams of playing the drums in a time when only boys are drummers in 1920s Cuba. Recommended for ages 6-9.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Andreae)
Gerald the giraffe has a hard time dancing in the jungle until he finds the right music. Recommended for ages 3-6.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Del Rizzo)
When a fox washes up on a distant shore, a young girl who is recovering from an injury and her grandfather mend the tattered toy with golden thread, patience, and love. Inspired by the Japanese art form of Kintsugi (Golden Joinery). Recommended for ages 3-6.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Yolen)
Families find joy in preparedness and resilience while experiencing extreme weather due to climate change. Recommended for ages 3-6.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Sima)
While building a sandcastle, Jules is foiled again and again. Recommended for ages 3-6.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Testa)
Lili gets teased at school for the features she inherited from her family members. She creates a polka-dotted butterfly to help fly her sorrows away. Recommended for ages 3-6.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Spires)
A girl sets out to create something magnificent but gets upset when things don’t turn out the way she planned. With a little help from a friend and a new perspective, her invention becomes a success. Recommended for ages 3-6.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Sarihi)
A young girl is moving to a new country and contemplates how to take all of the things and people she loves with her. She comes to understand that while we cannot always carry things with us physically--maybe they can travel with us in other ways. Recommended for ages 3-9.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Beaty)
When her Abuelo is injured at the local landfill, Sofia is determined to transform it into a park. Recommended for ages 3-9.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Kim)
When things go wrong while out with her dad, Yoomi learns to enjoy new experiences. Recommended for ages 3-6.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Spires)
While playing with her friends, Lou is confronted with something difficult. What will she learn when she faces her fear? Recommended for ages 3-6.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ Keats)
A little boy wishes he could whistle. Recommended for ages 3-6.
Older Elementary
(J Fiction - J Ancestor)
Edited by award-winning and bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of intersecting stories by both new and veteran Native writers bursts with hope, joy, resilience, the strength of community, and Native pride. Recommended for ages 9-12.
(J Nonfiction - J 362.4092 Tho)
Born in Ghana, West Africa, with one deformed leg, he was dismissed by most people--but not by his mother, who taught him to reach for his dreams. He rode an astonishing four hundred miles across Ghana in 2001, spreading his powerful message: disability is not inability. Recommended for ages 5+
(J Nonfiction - J Washington Asi)
When Booker T. Washington arrived at the Hampton Institute to study writing, he had only fifty cents and a dream. The former slave overcame many hardships in his pursuit of a college education. Recommended for ages 7-12.
(J Fiction - J Marr)
Inheriting First Uncle’s home after he dies tragically and unexpectedly, eleven-year-old Meixing and her family immigrate to the New Land, where it will take all of Meixing’s resilience and bravery to finally find her place of belonging in this new world. Recommended for ages 9-12.
(Juvenile Picture Books - EJ McKissack)
‘Tricia Ann catches a bus to go somewhere special in a southern town during the 1950s. Remembering her grandmother’s words helps to lift her spirits. Recommended for ages 5+
(J Fiction - J Paulsen)
The sole survivor of a plane crash, a 13-year-old boy is left to survive in the Canadian wilderness with only a hatchet. Recommended for ages 9–12.
(J Fiction - J Behar)
A young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when a horrific car accident leaves her in a body cast. Inspired by the author’s childhood, this story contains cultural diversity and shows inspiring strength and resilience. Recommended for ages 9-12.
(J Nonfiction - J 921 Yousafzai You)
As a child in Pakistan, Malala made a wish for a magic pencil that she would use to make everyone happy or erase the smell of garbage from her city. As she grew older Malala saw that there were more important things to wish for and realized she could work hard every day to make her wishes come true. Recommended for ages 9-12.
(Juvenile Nonfiction Graphic Novel - J-GN 940.5318 Fagan)
In 1940, when the Nazi Army invaded Belgium, one refugee family showed courage and resilience in the face of violence and racism. Cary Fagan writes about how his father Maurice kept his dictionary and his determination to get an education throughout the challenges he faced. Recommended for ages 9–12.
(J Nonfiction - J 921 Germain Bar)
After growing up during the French Revolution and following her dream of studying mathematics, Sophie Germain became the first woman to win a grand prize from the Royal Academy of Sciences. Recommended for ages 5+
(J Fiction - J Warga)
Sent with her mother to the safety of a relative’s home in Cincinnati when her Syrian hometown is overshadowed by violence, Jude worries for the family members who were left behind as she adjusts to a new life with unexpected surprises. Recommended for ages 9-12.