Jeanette Winter

Every day, Angelina tells her mother she wants to go home. Not to their new city home, cold and gray and unfamiliar — but their old island home, sunny and colorful and filled with rainbow-colored fruits and birds. Angelina believes she'll never feel at home in this new place, until her mother finds a wonderful surprise in the newspaper. A beautiful tribute to the traditions of the West Indies, Carnival, and the longing for home that young immigrants will recognize immediately.

Product Description: Luis loves to read, but soon his house in Colombia is so full of books there's barely room for the family. What to do? Then he comes up with the perfect solution — a traveling library! He buys two donkeys — Alfa and Beto — and travels with them throughout the land, bringing books and reading to the children in faraway villages.

"In simple words and charming pictures, Winter gives an outline of the life of Josefina Aguilar, a maker of pottery figures who lives in Ocotlan, Mexico. The author follows this narrative with a counting story describing Josefina's creation of a pottery world, beginning with one sun and going through increasing numbers of angels, houses, flower sellers, farmers, mamas and babies, mariachis, mourners, skeletons, and, finally, 10 stars." — School Library Journal

Young Nasreen has not spoken a word to anyone since her parents disappeared. In despair, her grandmother risks everything to enroll Nasreen in a secret school for girls. Will a devoted teacher, a new friend, and the worlds she discovers in books be enough to draw Nasreen out of her shell of sadness? Based on a true story from Afghanistan.

"Nino aspires to play the role of the perro in the Fiesta of the Tigre in his small Mexican village. Despite being told that he must wait until he is older, he is determined to perform the part of the animal that ensures the success of the corn crop by chasing the tiger out of town.

In spite of looming war, librarian Alia Muhammed Baker was able to save the books from the library of Basra by moving them to safety. Simple forms and deep colors in a naïve style evoke the war without being explicit. The bravery and action of one person celebrates both everyday heroism and books as a unifying force.

"Wangari lives under an umbrella of green trees in the shadow of Mount Kenya in Africa." So begins this tribute to Wangari Maathai, a young woman who saw deforestation turn the lush lands of Kenya into a barren desert. Wangari began to plant seedlings and encouraged the women around her to do the same. By 2004, 30 million trees had been planted and Wangari won the Nobel Peace Prize. Jeanette Winter skillfully presents both Wangari's successes and challenges through spare text and bold illustrations. An author's note provides additional information about Wangari's life story.

"Above a small town in Mexico, the sun rises like a great marigold." So begins one family's preparation for El día de los muertos. The children are eager to try just a taste of this and that, but everyone says they must wait until the family is ready to take their offerings to the cemetery for a night of celebration and remembrance. The warmth of this story about one of Mexico's most important traditions shines through the text and illustrations.

The early life of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera is presented in simple, yet revealing language in both Spanish and English. Accompanied by richly colored illustrations, this book is reminiscent of the folk art and themes in Rivera's work.