On Shelves Now: CALLING THE WATER DRUM by LaTisha Redding

32 p.
Ages: 5 to 9

Henri and his parents leave their homeland, Haiti, after they receive an invitation from an uncle to come to New York City. Only able to afford a small, rickety boat, the family sets out in the middle of the night in search of a better life. Out at sea Henri dreams of what life will be like “across the great waters.” Then the small boat overturns, and Henri is placed on top of the boat as his parents drift further out at sea.

Overcome with grief, Henri retreats into himself and is no longer able to speak once he reaches land. Encouraged by his uncle and neighbor, Henri takes a bucket and plays on it like a drum. The drumming becomes a link to his past and a conduit for his emotions. Slowly, through his drumming and the kindness of his uncle and friend, Henri learns to navigate this new and foreign world without his parents. Calling the Water Drum is a tender and timely tribute to the bravery of immigrants and refugees, and the resiliency of the human spirit.

Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound

On Shelves Now: STITCHIN' AND PULLIN': A Gee's Bend Quilt by Patricia McKissack

48 p.
Ages: 5 to 9

For generations, the women of Gee’s Bend have made quilts to keep a family warm, as a pastime accompanied by sharing and singing, or to memorialize loved ones. Today, the same quilts hang on museum walls as modern masterpieces of color and design. Inspired by these quilts and the women who made them, award-winning author Patricia C. McKissack traveled to Alabama to learn their stories. The lyrical rite-of-passage narrative that is the result of her journey seamlessly weaves together the familial, cultural, spiritual, and historical strands of life in this community.

Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound

On Shelves Now: DON'T CALL ME GRANDMA by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

32 p.
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Ages: 5 to 9

Great-grandmother Nell eats fish for breakfast, she doesn't hug or kiss, and she does NOT want to be called grandma. Her great-granddaughter isn't sure what to think about her. As she slowly learns more about Nell's life and experiences, the girl finds ways to connect with her prickly, pearl-wearing great-grandmother.

Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound

On Shelves Now: THE ONLY CHILD by Guojing

112 p.
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade
Ages: 5 to 9

Like Shaun Tan’s The Arrival and Raymond Briggs’s The Snowman, this gorgeous and imaginative 100-page graphic picture book is utterly transporting and original.

A little girl—lost and alone—follows a mysterious stag deep into the woods, and, like Alice down the rabbit hole, she finds herself in a strange and wondrous world. But…home and family are very far away. How will she get back there?

In this magnificently illustrated—and wordless—masterpiece, debut artist Guojing brilliantly captures the rich and deeply-felt emotional life of a child, filled with loneliness and longing as well as love and joy.

On Shelves Now: LILLIAN'S RIGHT TO VOTE: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Shane W. Evans

40 p.
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade
Ages: 5 to 9

As Lillian, a one-hundred-year-old African American woman, makes a “long haul up a steep hill” to her polling place, she sees more than trees and sky—she sees her family’s history. She sees the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment and her great-grandfather voting for the first time. She sees her parents trying to register to vote. And she sees herself marching in a protest from Selma to Montgomery.

Veteran bestselling picture-book author Jonah Winter and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Shane W. Evans vividly recall America’s battle for civil rights in this lyrical, poignant account of one woman’s fierce determination to make it up the hill and make her voice heard.