These 3 book recommendations are suitable for people of all ages and highlight various cultures, viewpoints, and experiences.
Submerge yourself in the captivating pages of books that range from fantasy fiction to self-love and self-discovery.
Diverse Children's Book
Brown Is Beautiful: A Poem of Self-Love
by Supriya Kelkar - Noor Sofi
For fans of Hair Love and Eyes that Kiss in the Corners, here is an empowering picture book about recognizing the beauty around you and within you by award-winning author Supriya Kelkar and rising star illustrator Noor Sofi.
Brown is beautiful.
On a hike with her grandparents, a young Indian-American girl makes note of all the things in nature that are brown, too. From a nurturing mother bear, to the steadiness of deep twisting roots, to the beauty of a wild mustang, brown is everywhere! On her way, the girl collects the beautiful brown things she encounters as mementos for a scrapbook to share with a very special new addition to her family--a baby brother!
Brown is you.
Brown is me.
About the Author Supriya Kelkar
Supriya Kelkar is an author, illustrator, and screenwriter who grew up in the Midwest, where she learned Hindi as a child by watching three Hindi movies a week. Winner of the New Visions Award for her middle grade novel Ahimsa, Supriya has worked on the writing teams for several Hindi films, including Lage Raho Munna Bhai and Eklavya: The Royal Guard, India's entry into the 2007 Academy Awards.
Diverse Teen/Young Adult Book
When the Angels Left the Old Country
by Sacha Lamb
Stonewall Book Award Winner
Sydney Taylor Award Winner
Michael L. Printz Honor Book
National Jewish Book Award Finalist
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn't have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young emigrants goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her.
Along the way the angel and demon encounter humans in need of their help, including Rose Cohen, whose best friend (and the love of her life) has abandoned her to marry a man, and Malke Shulman, whose father died mysteriously on his way to America. But there are obstacles ahead of them as difficult as what they've left behind. Medical exams (and demons) at Ellis Island. Corrupt officials, cruel mob bosses, murderers, poverty. The streets are far from paved with gold.
"Powerfully moving. Broad in scope, the strong queer relationships at its core provide an unfaltering anchor." -Publishers Weekly
""I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH!!!! I read it in two days and then I spent the next two weeks thinking about it. Literally forgot to take my lunch break at work because I was busy thinking about it. This book is SO fun and funny and beautiful. Inherently, inextricably deeply queer-and-Jewish in a way that makes my brain buzz. I am obsessed." -Piera Varela, Porter Square Books
About the Author Sacha Lamb
Sacha Lamb is a 2018 Lambda Literary Fellow in young adult fiction, and graduated in Library and Information Science and History from Simmons University. Sacha lives in New England with a miniature dachshund mix named Anzu Bean. Their debut novel, When The Angels Left The Old Country, was named a Printz Honor Book, a Sydney Taylor Award winner and a Stonewall Book Award winner.
Diverse Adult Book
The Perishing
by Natashia Deón
Lou, a young Black woman, wakes up in an alley in 1930s Los Angeles with no memory of how she got there or where she's from. Taken in by a caring foster family, Lou dedicates herself to her education while trying to put her mysterious origins behind her. She'll go on to become the first Black female journalist at the Los Angeles Times, but Lou's extraordinary life is about to take an even more remarkable turn. When she befriends a firefighter at a downtown boxing gym, Lou is shocked to realize that though she has no memory of meeting him, she's been drawing his face for years.
Increasingly certain that their paths previously crossed--and beset by unexplainable flashes from different eras haunting her dreams--Lou begins to believe she may be an immortal sent here for a very important reason, one that only others like her can explain. Setting out to investigate the mystery of her existence, Lou must make sense of the jumble of lifetimes calling to her, just as new forces threaten the existence of those around her.
About the Author Natashia Deón
Natashia Deón is an NAACP Image Award Nominee, practicing criminal attorney, and college professor. A Pamela Krasney Moral Courage Fellow, Deón is the author of the critically acclaimed debut novel, Grace, which was named a Best Book by The New York Times. Deón has been awarded fellowships by PEN America, Prague Summer Program for Writers, Dickinson House in Belgium, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.