Books in this category include stories about kinds of families and activities that families do, such as celebrating holidays, adopting children and communicating across generations.
Dragon Soup Sally J. Smith (Illustrator), Arlene Williams (Author) When a young girl tries to steal a pearl from the Cloud Dragon's treasure in order to help her father, she finds herself resolving a dispute about soup recipes. [Grade Level: K - 3]
Dream Wolf Written and Illustrated by Paul Goble Two Plains Indian children are lost and cared for by a friendly wolf. [Grade Level: K - 3]
Dreamcatcher Audrey Osofsky (Author), Ed Young (Illustrator) A story of a young girl who protects baby's sleep as is the Ojibway custom. [Grade Level: K - 3]
Drita, My Homegirl Written by Jenny Lombard Drita and her family come to New York as refugees from war-torn Kosovo. Even though she barely speaks English, Drita can’t wait to start school and make a new best friend. But her new classmates don’t make it easy, teasing her about virtually everything. The worst is Maxie, a tough African-American girl whose sassy attitude hides a painful secret. When Maxie takes things too far, their teacher assigns Maxie a paper on Drita and her journey to America from Kosovo. Suddenly, Maxie realizes she and Drita have more in common than she thought. And when Drita’s mother gets sick, there’s only one person who can help—Drita’s new homegirl. [Grade Level: 3 - 5]
Drum, Chavi,Drum!/Toca, Chavi, Toca! Mayra Dole (Author), Tonel Tonel (Illustrator) Chavi is determined to play the drums on the school float during Miami's Calle Ocho parade, but everyone--from her music teacher to her own loving mother--is convinced that because she is a girl, she cannot possibly be good enough. Chavi knows differently, and she practices on anything she can get her hands on: pans, paint cans, car hoods. She just knows she's good, and before the book is over, so does everyone else. [Grade Level: K - 3]
Elena’s Serenade Campbell Geeslin (Author), Ana Juan (Illustrator) Elena, a young girl who lives in Mexico, dreams of being a glassblower like her father. When Papa rebuffs her dream by commenting, "Who ever heard of a girl glassblower?," Elena takes one of his old glassblowing pipes, disguises herself as a boy, and sets off to Monterrey, home of Mexico's "great glassblowers.” Along the way, she discovers that she can play sweet songs on the pipe, and when she finally reaches her destination, she creates beautiful ornaments, which are shaped by the tunes she plays on her pipe. Elena eventually creates a crystal swallow to carry her back home, where she disguises herself as an elderly man and shows her creations to Papa. When she finally reveals her identity, Papa realizes how special his daughter is. [Grade Level: K-4]
Elijah's Angel: A Story for Chanukah and Christmas Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson (Illustrator), Michael J. Rosen (Author) A young Jewish boy, Michael, is given a carved wooden angel at Christmas-time by his African-American friend, an old man in his eighties (based on an actual person—Elijah Pierce, a wood carver, lay minister, barber, and educator from Columbus). Michael is concerned that an angel may not be an appropriate gift for a Jew, but his parents assure him that it is a gift of friendship and that friendship means the same thing in any religion. In return, Michael presents his friend with a menorah he made and, for all eight nights of Chanukah, the menorah glows and sheds light on Elijah’s beautiful carvings. [Grade Level: K - 6]
