Books like Verdi
By Janell Cannon
For the kid who insists on wearing the same favorite shirt every day and hates being told to act their age, Verdi is a jungle-sized nod that being yourself is worth defending. Lush, jungle-green artwork with a stubborn, funny, tender heart.
A celebration told through many young voices, each one honoring the beauty of their own brown skin and finding themselves reflected in the natural world around them.
A Puerto Rican girl grows up surrounded by love and pride in her Taíno and African heritage, but painful treatment from the world slowly dims her sense of her own beauty — until her community rallies to wake her up again.
A duckling too odd-looking for his own barnyard is mocked and driven off, then must survive hunters and harsh seasons alone before discovering what he truly is.
An introduction to gender identity for young readers, explaining that some people are boys, some are girls, and some are both, neither, or somewhere in between.
A young reindeer with a glowing red nose is teased and left out by the other reindeer, until a foggy Christmas Eve gives Santa a reason to need him most.
A young girl leaves her grandmother's house in Mexico to join her parents and brother in New York, facing a new language, unfair accusations, and the slow work of calling a new place home.
Voted the most beautiful bird in the forest, a glossy blackbird is begged by the red, yellow, blue, and green birds to paint markings of black onto their feathers so they can be beautiful too.
A young girl with skin the color of midnight longs to be lighter like her mother and sister, until a shooting star's story about the sisters Night and Day changes how she sees herself.
A king adopts a family of orphans, who each try to win his approval with gifts and displays of talent — until one simply chooses to spend time with him instead.
A little girl named Jane grows up watching birds, trees, and animals with her toy chimpanzee Jubilee always at her side, dreaming of a life spent living among and helping all creatures.
A spider too big to join the Itsy-Bitsy Spider's water spout games gets left out by his smaller friends — until a sudden rainstorm gives his huge size a purpose.
A Black child moves through a year of feelings, from summertime joy on his skateboard to the fear, anger, grief, and eventual peace that follow a police shooting in his community.
