November 2019 - Page 3 of 15

All of Me
by Chris Baron (Author)

Booktalk: Ari has body-image issues. After a move across the country, his parents work selling and promoting his mother’s paintings and sculptures. Ari’s bohemian mother needs space to create, and his father is gone for long stretches of time on “sales” trips.

Meanwhile, Ari makes new friends: Pick, the gamer; the artsy Jorge, and the troubled Lisa. He is also relentlessly bullied because he’s overweight, but he can’t tell his parents–they’re simply not around enough to listen.

After an upsetting incident, Ari’s mom suggests he go on a diet, and she gives him a book to help. But the book–and the diet–can’t fix everything. As Ari faces the demise of his parents’ marriage, he also feels himself changing, both emotionally and physically.

Snippet:

When you are fat,
you get picked on.
It’s just how it is,
especially if you’re the new kid.
I don’t know what to say
most of the time.

I just want them to like me.
I want to fit in.

A 2019 Cybils Poetry nominee

Dreams from Many Rivers: A Hispanic History of the United States Told in Poems
by Margarita Engle (Author) and Beatriz Gutierrez Hernandez (Illustrator)

Booktalk: From Juana Briones and Juan Ponce de León, to eighteenth century slaves and modern-day sixth graders, the many and varied people depicted in this poetry narrative speak to the experiences and contributions of Latinos throughout the history of the United States, from the earliest known stories up to present day. A middle grade verse history of Latinos in the United States told through many voices

Snippet:

CONQUEST MEANS CRUELTY

PEDRO DE ACEVEDO
Puerto Rico, 1493

As the cabin boy on this ship,
I am a witness to the excitement
of Colón, whose first journey reached
other islands.

Now, this second voyage brings us reality.
It won’t be easy to find the spice trees we seek.

When I see a boy around my age,
I learn his name, Guacarigua.

He will be one of the captives,
a person enslaved.

A 2019 Cybils Poetry nominee

Nonfiction Monday

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