Reviewed by Emily Naik Ganesh and the Little Mouse is inspired by a myth of Hindu gods, Ganesh and Karthikeya, racing around the world. Joshi adapts the original myth to include themes of friendship, family, and perseverance for a modern audience. Ganesh was born with the head of an elephant, which sometimes makes him feel…
Reviewed by Jennifer Langreck Do you remember believing in fairy tales or scary creatures when you were young? In Tracey Baptiste’s fantasy novel The Jumbies, Caribbean lore becomes reality. The twelve-year-old protagonist Corinne doesn’t have to believe in the creatures she hears about in the local stories, but she does have to confront them. The…
Reviewed by Anne Floyd If you’re like me, you thought that the legal fight against segregation started at Brown v. Board of Education. Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh sets the record straight. In the Mendez v. Westminister School District case, 7 years before Brown v. Board of Education, Sylvia and her family successfully…
Reviewed by Racha Kassir The Turtle of Oman recounts how a third grader Omani boy named Aref refuses to move with his parents from Oman to the U.S. Ann Arbor, Michigan for three years while they obtain their doctorate degrees. Aref gives his mom a hard time while packing. No matter how large the suitcase,…
Reviewed by Eileen Graves Opening with a dedication “to all the cats in my life,” Eric Carle tells a story about a little boy, who is looking for his lost cat and discovers a world full of different, beautiful cats. It is more about diversity than anything, and it gets the point across very well.…
Children's Literature at UMN 