Companion Books for Silicon Valley Reads
2012
It's OK To Be Different
by Todd Parr
Pre-K
About the book
From Publishers Weekly: It's OK To Be Different combines rainbow colors, simple drawings and reassuring statements in this
optimistic book. His repetitive captions offer variations on the title and
appear in a typeface that looks handcrafted and personalized. A fuschia
elephant stands against a zingy blue background ("It's okay to have a
different nose") and a lone green turtle crosses a finish line ("It's okay
to come in last"). A girl blushes at the toilet paper stuck to her shoe
("It's okay to be embarrassed") and a lion says "Grr," "ROAR" and "purrr"
("It's okay to talk about your feelings"). Parr cautiously calls attention
to superficial distinctions. By picturing a smiling girl with a guide dog
("It's okay to need some help"), he comments on disability and he accounts
for race by posing a multicolored zebra with a black-and-white one. An
illustration of two women ("It's okay to have different Moms") and two men
("It's okay to have different Dads") handles diverse families sensitively
this could cover either same-sex families or stepfamilies and also on the
opposite page, a kangaroo with a dog in its pouch ("It's okay to be
adopted"). He wisely doesn't zero in on specifics, which would force him to
establish what's "normal." Instead, he focuses on acceptance and
individuality and encourages readers to do the same.
 About Todd Parr
Todd Parr is the author and illustrator of more than 30 children's books. He grew up in Wyoming and moved to San Francisco in 1995 to pursue a career as an artist. He published his first book in 1998 and is well known for his distinctive use of bright colors and bold, black outlines to illustrate his books. He has won two National Parenting Publication Awards and three Oppenheim Gold Awards among other prizes.
www.toddparr.com
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 One Green Apple
by Eve Bunting
Grades K-2
About the book
From School Library Journal: As a Muslim girl rides in a hay wagon heading to an apple orchard on a class trip, the dupatta on her head setting her apart, she observes that while some of the children seem friendly, others are not. Her father has explained,
...we are not always liked here. Our home country (never named in the story) and our new one have had difficulties. Later, when she puts a green apple into the cider press instead of a ripe red one as her classmates have done, they protest. But the cider from all their apples mixed together is delicious
- a metaphor for the benefits of intermingling people who are different. Lewin's
watercolors radiate sunlight and capture the gamut of emotions that Farah
experiences on this challenging second day in her new school in the U.S.
They show her downcast silence and sense of isolation because she can't
speak the language, her shy smile when a classmate befriends her, and,
finally, her triumphant smile as she speaks one of her first English words,
App-ell.
 About Eve Bunting
Eve
Bunting is the author of more than 200 children's books, including picture books, middle-school readers and young-adult novels. Genres range from mystery to science fiction to contemporary problem stories. She was born in Northern Ireland and moved to the U.S. in 1959 with her husband and three children. She took a writing class at a local community college and published her first book for children in 1972. She has won numerous awards for her work and is listed as one of the Educational Paperback Association's top 100 authors.
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 My Name is Bilal
by Asma Mobin-Uddin
Grades 2-6
About the book
From Booklist: Bilal and his sister, Ayesha, who are Muslim, start school in a new city. At first Bilal tries to blend into the largely non-Muslim environment, calling himself Bill and ducking out of sight when two boys try to pull off Ayesha's head scarf. Encouraged by a sympathetic teacher and his own faith, Bilal finds the courage to stand up with his sister the next time the boys tease her. Bilal and Ayesha point out to their adversaries that they too were born in America and that being American means that they can wear what they want. By standing up for his sister, Bilal earns the boys' respect and takes the first step toward a possible friendship. The story is told in picture-book format, though the text is longer than that of most picture books. In the illustrations, the students appear to be in middle school, but the book is accessible to younger children as well. Appearing on nearly every double-page spread, large-scale watercolor paintings clearly portray the actions and attitudes of the characters. A good starting place for discussions of cultural differences, prejudice, and respect for the beliefs of others.
 About Asma Mobin-Uddin
Dr. Asma Mobin-Uddin was born and raised in the U.S. and attended public grade school and a Catholic high school in a small Ohio town where there were few other Muslim families. She received her undergraduate and medical school degrees from The Ohio State University and did her internship and residency training in Pediatrics at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. She was a private practice pediatrician for several years before taking time off to stay home with her children when they were young. She began to write about the Muslim-American experience because she had difficulty in finding good books in this area to read to her children. In addition to My Name is Bilal, she is the author of The Best Eid
Holiday Book.
Asmamobinuddin.com
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 Skunk Girl
by Sheba Karim
Grades 7 and up
About the book
From a Kirkus Review -- "There are only two types of people who spend their
Friday nights in high school at home - Pakistani Muslim girls and future
serial killers." Although Nina Khan was born and raised in small-town Deer
Hook, N.Y., and has never visited her parents' homeland, she must adhere to
their rigid cultural and religious beliefs, including no sleepovers, alcohol
or dating. With dark skin, a wide bottom and an overabundance of body hair
that makes her a "skunk girl," what are her chances of dating in the
predominantly fair-skinned, closed-minded town anyway? But when Italian
Asher transfers to her high school, she dreams of romance for the first
time. In this debut, episodic novel, rife with smart, self-deprecating humor
and set in the 1990s just as a phenomenon known as e-mail is gaining
interest, Nina searches for identity and emerging independence while
accepting the reality of her home life.
 About Sheba Karim
Sheba Karim writes literary and young adult fiction. She was born and raised in Catskill, NY, and is a graduate of New York University School of Law and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her young adult novel, Skunk Girl, was published in the United States, Denmark, India, Italy and Sweden. Her fiction has appeared in 580 Split, Asia Literary Review, Barn Owl Review, EGO, Kartika Review, Shenandoah, South Asian Review, Time Out Delhi and in several published and forthcoming anthologies in the United States and India, including Cornered, Electric Feather, and Venus Fly Trap. Two of her short stories have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She was a 2009-2010 Fulbright-Nehru Scholar and is currently working on a historical fiction novel set in 13th century India.
Shebakarim.com
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