Children/Teen Books for Silicon Valley Reads 2021
About the Book
Parker Looks Up by Parker and Jessica Curry (Picture Book)
Illustrated by: Brittany Jackson
When Parker Curry came face-to-face with Amy Sherald’s transcendent portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama at the National Portrait Gallery, she didn’t just see the First Lady of the United States. She saw a queen - one with dynamic self-assurance, regality, beauty, and truth who captured this young girl’s imagination. When a nearby museum-goer snapped a photo of a mesmerized Parker, it became an internet sensation. Inspired by this visit, Parker, and her mother, Jessica Curry, tell the story of a young girl and her family, whose trip to a museum becomes an extraordinary moment, in a moving picture book.
Parker Looks Up follows Parker, along with her baby sister and her mother, and her best friend Gia and Gia’s mother, as they walk the halls of a museum, seeing paintings of everyone and everything from George Washington Carver to Frida Kahlo, exotic flowers to graceful ballerinas. Then, Parker walks by Sherald’s portrait of Michelle Obama…and almost passes it. But she stops...and looks up!
Parker saw the possibility and promise, the hopes and dreams of herself in this powerful painting of Michelle Obama. An everyday moment became an extraordinary one…that continues to resonate its power, inspiration, and indelible impact. Because, as Jessica Curry said, “anything is possible regardless of race, class, or gender.”
About the Authors
Jessica Curry photo credit: Christa Houser, CALH Photography
Parker Curry photo credit: Jessica Curry
Jessica Curry is a New York Times published author, writer, work-at-home full-time mother to two little girls, Parker and Ava. Her blog, Happy Mama, Happy Babies—a motherhood and lifestyle blog that chronicles their adventures—has been mentioned in The Washington Post, The Grio, Heavy, Daily Mail (London), ESPN’s The Undefeated, and on the Emmy Award–winning talk show The Real by Tamera Mowry-Housley, further inspiring Jessica to share candid, honest moments and memories of Parker, Ava, and their family. She and her family live in Washington, DC.
Parker Curry is three years old, and is a full-time Pre-K 3 student. She is precocious and talkative with a love for ballet and books. She lives with her mother, father, and younger sister in Washington, DC.
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About the Book
Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell (K-3)
Illustrated by: Rafael López
What good can a splash of color do in a community of gray? As Mira and her neighbors discover, more than you might ever imagine! Based on the true story of the Urban Art Trail in San Diego, California, Maybe Something Beautiful reveals how art can inspire transformation - and how even the smallest artists can accomplish something big. Pick up a paintbrush and join the celebration!
About the Authors
Theresa Howell is the co-author of MAYBE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL (co-written with F. Isabel Campoy, illustrated by Rafael López, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). MAYBE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL was selected as the 2018 Read for the Record title, is the winner of the 2017 Tomás Rivera Book Award, and was named an ALA Notable Book as well as a 2016 Best Book of the Year by Kirkus, the Huffington Post, the Chicago Public Library, and SLJ's Fuse#8 blog. The Spanish edition of MAYBE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL, titled QUIZÁS ALGO HERMOSO, is now available. Theresa is also the author of the picture book series SCOUT MOORE, JUNIOR RANGER (Grand Canyon Conservancy), featuring the bright, curious, outdoor-loving Scout who motivates young readers to explore our national parks and nature for themselves.
Isabel Campoy, PhD is the author of numerous children's books in the areas of poetry, theatre, stories, biographies, and art. As a researcher she has published extensively, bringing to the curriculum an awareness of the richness of the Hispanic culture.
Rafael López. Illustrator
The illustrations created by Rafael López bring diverse characters to children's books and he works to produce and promote books that reflect and honor the lives of all young people.
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About the Book
Garvey’s Choice by Nikki Grimes (Grades 4-8)
Jacket Illustration copyright © 2016 Eva Vasquez
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, Garvey finds a way to accept himself, and a way to finally reach his distant father - by speaking the language of music instead of the language of sports.
About the Author
New York Times bestselling author
Nikki Grimes is the recipient of the ALAN Award for outstanding contributions to the field of adolescent literature, the 2017 Children's Literature Legacy Award, the 2016 Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, and the 2006 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Her distinguished works include the much-honored books Garvey's Choice, ALA Notable book What is Goodbye?, Coretta Scott King Award winner Bronx Masquerade, and Coretta Scott King Author Honor books Jazmin's Notebook, Talkin' About Bessie, Dark Sons, Words with Wings, and The Road to Paris. Creator of the popular Meet Danitra Brown, Ms. Grimes lives in Corona, California.
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About the Book
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (Ages 14+)
This book is inspired by Big History (to learn about one thing, you have to learn about everything). In The Sun is Also a Star, to understand the characters and their love story, we must know everything around them and everything that came before them that has affected who they are and what they experience.
Two teens -- Daniel, the son of Korean shopkeepers, and Natasha, whose family is here illegally from Jamaica -- cross paths in New York City on an eventful day in their lives--Daniel is on his way to an interview with a Yale alum, Natasha is meeting with a lawyer to try and prevent her family's deportation to Jamaica--and fall in love.
About the Author
Nicola Yoon is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything and The Sun Is Also a Star. She is a National Book Award finalist, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book recipient and a Coretta Scott King New Talent Award winner. Both her novels have been made into major motion pictures. Nicola grew up in Jamaica and Brooklyn, and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, novelist David Yoon, and their family.
www.NicolaYoon.com
@NicolaYoon on Twitter/Instagram
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