Picture Books & Juvenile Nonfiction
We Eat Dinner in the Bathtub by Angela Shelf Medearis, ill. by Jacqueline Rogers
Harris invites his friend Josh over for dinner. As the friends talk, it becomes clear that their two families use the various rooms in their house for very different things.
Target Readers: Recommended for those looking for a starting point for talking about different ways different families or cultures do things, an intro to reading plays (because it has pictures of the character talking in front of the text, much like the way a character's name is written before text in a play), and those who like hyperbole and humor.
Dear Primo: a Letter to My Cousin by Duncan Tonatiuh
One cousin in a big US city and one cousin in a rural Mexican village exchange letters about their everyday lives.
Target Readers: Recommended for readers who want to build their CQ, kids who are starting a pen pal relationship, readers who like stories about realistic kids, and readers who like stories based on authors’ experiences (make sure you read the author's note on being a citizen of both Mexico and the US).
At the Same Moment, Around the World by Clotilde Perrin
Starting in Sengal, go around the world and investigate what people are doing in different time zones and countries at the same moment.
Target Readers: Recommended for readers working on their CQ, curious readers, readers who want to check out books in translation (this was originally published in French), and readers studying the concept of time zones and time measurement. (There are simple but sufficient notes on the development of time pieces and time zones in the back, as well as a fold out map showing the locations of all the people and places mentioned.)
The Way Home in the Night by Akiko Miyakoshi
A little rabbit is carried home at night, noticing the various activities of others and while going to bed she imagines what each of them must be doing at that moment.
Target Readers: Recommended for a bedtime read aloud, for animal lovers, those curious kids who wonder what strangers do after they’re out of sight, and anyone who loves enchanting illustrations. Oh, and if you’re looking for Japanese books translated into English, snatch this up too.
Houses and Homes by Ann Morris, photos by Ken Heyman
A survey of houses from all over the world, the different styles they can take, places they can be, and materials they are made from.
Target Readers: Recommended for social studies classes, readers building their CQ, curious readers, and budding architects.
Birthdays around the World by Margriet Ruurs, ill. by Ashley Barron
A survey of 15 different cultures around the world and how a child there would celebrate their birthday including any special traditions and foods. In the back of the book is a glossary and pronunciation guide to foreign words and phrases that appear, like how each culture wishes someone a happy birthday. The book includes a broad range of different traditions from personal birthday parties, to cultures where you give gifts instead of receive them, to cultures where a personal birthday isn’t celebrated as much as a certain time when everyone turns older.
I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Target Readers: Recommended for readers building their CQ, little foodies (you get introduced to special celebratory foods in each culture), and curious readers.
Food Like Mine by DK Publishers
A survey of the main food staples around the world. Primary focus is given to the top four staples: rice, wheat, corn (maize), and potatoes. Each staple gets a couple spreads on facts about that food, how it is grown and harvested, the varieties available, and various sample dishes made with it around the world. Then three to four recipes from around the world are provided with step-by-step photographed cooking/baking instructions. The end of the book includes informational pages and recipes for honorable mention food staples: dairy, chicken, sweet potatoes, chickpeas, and plantains.
Target Readers: Recommended for readers building their CQ and their international taste buds, budding chefs, those studying food nutrition (there are lots of interesting facts about the food staples included), and curious kids.
Middle Grade Fiction
The Nameless City (The Nameless City, #1) by Faith Erin Hicks
Kai has just come to the city to meet his father and train with the Dao forces. So far, he's lived with his mother who is a tribal leader. The city is huge...and rather complicated. It has been conquered so many times that if you ask ten people on the street what it is called, you will get ten different names. The city is coveted for its strategic location for trade, and in its history has regularly changed hands. The Dao are the most recent conquerors and have held the city for thirty years, longer than anyone else. Kai's military leader thinks the Dao will only be able to continue to hold the city by increasing their army strength. Kai's father thinks they should form a council of all the different people groups' leaders to maintain peace. As Kai goes into the city on his own and meets Rat, a girl of the streets and part of the people who've stayed in the city through all the changing conquerors and tend to hate the Dao, he begins to see the Dao and political ideas from multiple perspectives. Their friendship becomes vitally important when assassins start plotting to kill the emperor and Rat overhears them.
Note: Some violence
Target Readers: Recommended for readers building their CQ as this provides an opportunity to see prejudice and social injustice through new eyes in a way that points out how important it is to move past these issues for the better of everyone. Also a great pick for graphic novel fans, mystery fans, and fantasy fans. Series fans will be happy to know there are currently two books in this series with a third coming out soon.
The City on the Other Side by Mairghread Scott, ill. by Robin Robinson
Isabel is a poor little rich girl in San Francisco just after the big earthquake in the early 1900s. She has everything she could want, except her parents’ positive attention and love. She stumbles across the Veil one day into the fairy world and finds herself in the middle of a fairy war between the Seelies and the Unseelies. Isabel suddenly finds herself tasked with taking an important necklace to someone in the city named Miyori for the Seelie forces. The Unseelies are fast on her trail, and only the necklace’s power and Isabel’s new friends, a human boy named Benjie and a fairy named Button, are there to help her in an unfamiliar version of San Francisco.
I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Target Readers: This is a good one for seeing the importance of cultural intelligence in an imaginary situation that is easily translated to real life. Also recommended to fantasy graphic novel fans, stand alone story fans, and those who want to accidentally learn a little bit about the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake (there’s a little educational afterward with a quick summary of the real history of San Francisco in the back).
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
Manjiro was fourteen when he set out with four friends on a fishing trip that went epically bad. They were swept away from the shores of Japan in a storm and shipwrecked on a deserted rocky island. Eventually an American whaling vessel spotted and rescued them. Japan had strict isolationist laws at this time, and Manjiro and his friends knew they'd never be allowed to return home. The captain of the whaling ship was kind and fair, and gave the refugees safe passage to Hawaii. During the trip, Manjiro picked up enough English to communicate and was dubbed John Mung by the crew. He quickly took to sailing and was spellbound by all the things there were to learn and see in the world. When his friends stayed on Oahu, Manjiro decided to continue sailing. He was taken in by the captain as a son, and when they returned to America, welcome into the captain's home. There Manjiro went to school and learned a trade, eventually setting out to sea again and reuniting with his old friends. They decided to venture back to Japan and take a chance. Their return was anything but easy; but it was providentially timed for Manjiro proved very important in helping Japan and America understand each other when Admiral Perry steamed into Japan.
Target Readers: Recommended to readers who want to learn history through fiction. This is a slightly fictionalized account of an actual historic person (since Preus imagines dialogue and such). There really was a kid named Manjiro who was shipwrecked, joined an American whaler, learned in America and returned to Japan just in time to help the two countries better understand each other when Perry arrived. Readers can learn about building cultural intelligence with Manjiro and the importance of having people with CQ to solving potential world conflicts. Also a great read for anyone looking for sea adventures, books about people overcoming prejudice, or third culture kids.
The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre (The Two Princesses of Bamarre, #0.5) by Gail Carson Levine
Long before there were two sisters in Bamarre, the Bamarre were slaves and peasants because they opened their land to the Laktis in need and the Laktis thanked them for their kindness by taking over. The Laktis think the Bamarre are weak by nature and claim it's for their own good that they're in charge. But the Bamarre grow tired of their servile status and long for someone to lead them to freedom.
When she was a small child Peregrine was handed over to Lady Mother to pay her father's trespassing fine. Her older sister Annet is also taken by Lady Mother to serve as Perry's maid. Perry grows up thinking she is a Lakti taken in by Lady Mother and Lord Tove. But as she nears the age when Lakti go to battle, the fairy Halina appears to Perry to tell her the truth of her Bamarre heritage and her hopes in Perry to help bring things to rights. Perry is shocked. What can she do?
Note: Some violence.
Target Readers: Recommended for readers looking to see why cultural intelligence is important, those who like important messages in their fiction (this deals with prejudice), readers who enjoy fantastic writing, fantasy fans, and fairytale rewrite fans (there are loose parallels to Rapunzel but Levine has definitely made a unique story). And of course, fans of The Two Princesses of Bamarre will enjoy picking up this prequel.
Young Adult Fiction
Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson
Jade is trying to manage navigating the world of her elite, mostly white prep school during Junior year as an African American scholarship student from the hood. Jade loves the opportunity to get a good education, but she sometimes finds it exhausting to try and fit in. They give her plenty of opportunities, but Jade doesn't know how to handle "good opportunities" that at the same time assume certain things about her. Like putting her in the Woman to Woman group. Yes, she'll get a college scholarship out of the program but so far she feels like the program just wants to teach her how to not be black and her mentor seems flaky. At least this year she has Sam, who rides the same bus to school as her. The two bond over not being rich like the rest of their classmates. But sometimes Jade gets upset when Sam, who is white, doesn't understand the racism she faces. Jade is working on learning to speak up for herself and not quit things when they get hard, but it isn't easy. Her life feels like her favorite hobby, making collages of recycled papers, and she can't quite figure out how to make them stay together. Is she about to just fall to pieces instead?
Target Readers: This is a book about figuring out who you are and what your place in the world is, and how to navigate the broken parts of this world. It isn't easy, it isn't necessarily always fixed the way we like it, and like Jade we must figure out our job in fixing the brokenness. My students may not have the same exact skin color as Jade, but I think many of them will identify with her on several points. All of the students at my international school know what it is like to try to straddle two or more cultures and figure out who they are amongst all these seemingly vastly different parts. They also will get going to a school that most of their peers from "home" can't hope to comprehend. And all of them know the tension of being a chameleon at times in order to fit in. And unfortunately racism and injustice is a universal problem, not one just found in America. So though many have pegged this as a timely piece for America, I think it is a timely read for anywhere. Anywhere two or more cultures bump up against one another you will find Jades who will read this and recognize echoes of their own struggles and perhaps be motivated to not quit, to speak up, and to do what they can to make things better
Note: Click on the title to see notes on content.
YA & Adult Nonfiction
I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Caitlin Alifirenka & Martin Ganda with Liz Welch
In the fall of 1997 two tweens are connected as pen pals through school assignments. Caitlin was a typical American girl living in Pennsylvania who loved to go to the mall. Martin was a boy from Zimbabwe with a brilliant mind but whose family struggled to find the funds to keep him in school. For a few letters the two just conversed on a surface level, but when Caitlin finally realized the dire situation Martin and his family were in, both of their lives changed as Caitlin's eyes were opened to the hurting people of the world and Martin gained a friend willing to invest love and her babysitting money in his future. Eventually, Caitlin's entire family got involved in helping Martin and his family survive the tumultuous recession in Zimbabwe and figuring out how to help Martin come to the States for university.
Note: Click on the title to see notes on content.
Target Readers: Recommended to anyone who likes inspirational true stories.
In the Land of the Blue Burqas by Kate McCord
A single, middle-aged American Christian who went to work in a small town in Afghanistan for an NGO to help Afghans in a variety of ways, relates what it was like to live there. Religion is one of the principal topics of conversation, so McCord spends a lot of time breaking down what the average Afghan Muslim man and woman believe, and how she would explain her own beliefs to them when asked.
Target Readers: Recommended for anyone who wants to build their CQ, especially if you want to understand the Afghans as people, not just news items. Also a good read because the author is a good example of someone with high cultural intelligence. She does an excellent job of being true to herself but also being able to really understand and bridge cultures.
The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence
Lawrence Anthony bought a game park in South Africa called Thula Thula used for hunting and turned it into an animal reserve with eco tourism. In this book he shares some of the challenges of getting the reserve up and running, battling poachers, keeping good relations with his Zulu neighbors, building up the animals protected in the reserve, and figuring out how to get a restless herd of elephants settled there. Next to the poachers the elephant herd provided one of Anthony's biggest challenges. He was the herd's last shot at life. They had broken out of too many other reserves. It took all of Anthony's creative juices to figure out a way to outsmart these wily animals who did things like smash the batteries running the electric fences so they could break out. While relating these challenges, and showing the progress Anthony makes over several years, readers get a peek into the life of a ranger running a reserve that keeps itself running with eco tourism.
Note: Some language.
Target Readers: For those looking for good examples of someone with a high CQ, this is another good read. Anthony did a great job of understanding his Zulu neighbors and workers, and finding common ground. Of course, elephant lovers and animal lovers in general should also find this a very engaging read. And readers looking for engaging autobiographies should snatch this up.
The Cultural Intelligence Difference: Master the One Skill You Can’t Do without in Today’s Economy by David Livermore
An intro to cultural intelligence and how to build it.
Target Readers: Recommended to those who’d like to better understand what cultural intelligence is and why it is important. There are several books out there on the topic. This just happens to be one we have in our library. But Livermore is a recognized expert on the topic.
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