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Topic: Diversity & Inclusion

Picturebook

In a true tale of a young girl in Iran and her grandmother, this beautiful ode to family celebrates small moments of love that become lifelong memories.

In this big universe full of many moons, I have travelled and seen many wonders, but I have never loved anything or anyone the way I love my grandma .

While Mina is growing up in Iran, the centre of her world is her grandmother. Whether visiting friends next door, going to the mosque for midnight prayers during Ramadan, or taking an imaginary trip around the planets, Mina and her grandma are never far apart… At once deeply personal and utterly universal, this story is a love letter of the rarest sort: the kind that shares a bit of its warmth with every reader.

Picturebook

Joyous and vibrant, this captures perfectly the excitement of getting ready for a celebration, as well as showcasing a dazzling array of intricate hairstyles.

This is a glorious debut from an exciting new partnership who both emerged from the FAB Prize for undiscovered BAME writers and illustrators.

Picturebook

Discover that bereavement can be a beginning, not an ending, in this beautiful story of one boy’s grief when he loses his beloved grandfather. Dadaji loves to teach others to paint, especially his grandson. But after Dadaji passes away, the boy can’t bear to use the favourite paintbrush his grandfather left for him. When a little girl knocks on the door, the boy discovers how many lives Dadaji touched with his art, and finds a way to continue his legacy.

Picturebook

A young Asian boy notices that his eyes look different from his peers’ after seeing his friend’s drawing of them. After talking to his father, the boy realizes that his eyes rise to the skies and speak to the stars, shine like sunlit rays, and glimpse trails of light from those who came before-in fact, his eyes are like his father’s, his agong’s, and his little brother’s, and they are visionary.

Inspired by the men in his family, he recognizes his own power and strength from within. This extraordinary picture book redefines what it means to be truly you.

Picturebook

A beautiful, heartfelt adventure, perfect for celebrating all kinds of family and the love that brings them together.

This is the dark and starless sky, where just past the moon a planet drifts by.
And this is the planet that’s full to the brim, with friendly and caring space people called… TIM!

Meet Tim and Tim – a couple who long for a family and set off on a quest to find their very own star child. This joyful, read-aloud adventure is a comforting, soothing read that’s ideal just before bedtime. It’s also a helpful jumping off point for early conversations about the experiences of LGBTQ+ families for the youngest readers.

From the author of My Daddies and the illustrator of The Perfect Hug and The Biggest Kiss.

Chapter book

A quirky family comedy set in the Caribbean from prize-winning author Patrice Lawrence.

Shayla can’t wait to see her cousin Michael again. Last time, they had great fun chasing Granny’s chickens and playing hide-and-seek in the bamboo by the river. But Michael thinks everything in London is better than in Trinidad where Shayla lives, which makes him better than her, doesn’t it? Soon everything’s a competition, especially when there’s hot pepper sauce involved!

This humorous story featuring characters from Trinidad by Patrice Lawrence, the winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2017 for Older Fiction, has fun black-and-white illustrations by David Dean and is perfect for children who are developing as readers.

Picturebook

Brimming with positivity, I Love Me! is a fun and empowering book of affirmations to help little ones stand tall. Written by Marvyn Harrison and with art by Diane Ewen (the award-winning illustrator of Floella Benjamin’s Coming to England ), this upbeat book is perfect for sharing, easy to put into practice, and celebrates the very best in all of us!

With joyful, uplifting statements for each day of the week, it provides an enjoyable routine to help prepare young children for the wider world of nursery and school. The book also includes a bright, fold-out ending and tips for parents and carers.

Picturebook

A big-hearted global celebration of mosques and the diverse worshippers that they welcome every day!

My mosque feels safe like home.
In my mosque, we pray for peace, love and joy.
You are welcome in my mosque.

Picked by School Library Journal for the Best Picture Books of 2021.

Do you go regularly to a mosque? Or perhaps you’ve never been inside one? This joyful book invites everyone – worshippers and newcomers alike – to step inside and meet warm, welcoming mosque communities all across the world. Join young Muslim children, their families and friends, as they learn, pray, eat, help others … and play!

Joyful illustrations from award-winning illustrator Hatem Aly ( The Proudest Blue ) bring to life this simple and heartfelt introduction to life inside the mosque!

Picturebook

Jabari is inventing a machine that will fly all the way across the yard! But making it go from CRASH to WHOOSH will take grit, patience, and maybe even a little help from his sister.

Jabari is making a flying machine in his backyard! “It’ll be easy. I don’t need any help,” he declares. But it doesn’t work! Jabari is frustrated. Good thing Dad is there for a pep talk and his little sister, Nika, is there to assist, fairy wings and all. With the endearing father-child dynamic of Jabari Jumps and engaging mixed-media illustrations, Gaia Cornwall’s tale shows that through perseverance and flexibility, an inventive thought can become a brilliant reality.

Chapter book

A Robot Squashed My Teacher is the laugh-out-loud, wacky adventure by Pooja Puri brilliantly illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan , the sequel to the Marcus Rashford Bookclub Selected book A Dinosaur Ate My Sister .

Esha Verma, her snotty apprentice Broccoli and his secretly cunning pet tortoise have a dream. They are going to win the legendary Brain Trophy – the ultimate inventing prize. This year’s entry: The RoarEasy – a gadget that lets the user speak to animals.

But when Esha’s arch-nemesis, fellow inventor Ernie, lands her in detention, the RoarEasy malfunctions and suddenly Monsieur Crepeau is transformed into a pigeon.

Luckily for Esha, she knows exactly what she needs to repair her invention and where to find it: locked away in the mysterious Central Research Laboratories.

She, Broccoli, Archibald and Monsieur Crepeau will have to go undercover and break into the labs before the competition to return Monsieur Crepeau to his human form. And with Ernie following them, determined to foil their plans as they face giant robots, killer plants, shrinking machines, robo-spiders, clouds that make you float and terrifying twisters, they’re going to need all the help they can get to get out of this wacky pickle.

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Stone Girl Bone Girl

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