Our collection of picture books featuring Black and Indigenous people and People of Color (BIPOC) is available to the public. *Inclusion of a title in the collection DOES NOT EQUAL a recommendation.* Click here for more on book evaluation.
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6 matching books
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A Sky-Blue Bench
"A young Afghani amputee matter-of-factly removes her own barrier to education, building a bench from discarded wood so that she and her “helper-leg” can sit through school in comfort. It's Afghani schoolgirl Aria's first day back at school since her accident. She's excited, but she's also worried about sitting on the hard floor all day with her new prosthetic "helper-leg." Just as Aria feared, sitting on the floor is so uncomfortable that she can't think about learning at all. She knows that before the war changed many things in Afghanistan, schools like hers had benches for students to sit at. If she had a bench, her leg would not hurt so much. The answer is obvious: she will gather materials, talk to Kaka Najar, the carpenter in the old city, and learn to build a bench for herself. In A Sky-Blue Bench, Bahram Rahman, author of The Library Bus, returns again to the setting of his homeland, Afghanistan, to reveal the resilience and resolve of young children—especially young girls—who face barriers to education. Illustrator Peggy Collins imbues Aria with an infectious spunkiness and grit that make her relatable even to readers with a very different school experience. An author's note gently introduces an age-appropriate discussion of landmines and their impact on the lives of children in many nations, especially Afghanistan, which has the highest concentration of landmines of any country in the world." -- publisher
Rumi
"Born in Afghanistan in the thirteenth century, Rumi settled in Turkey and became a great mystical poet. From a holy man, Shamsuddin, Rumi learned to listen for the sacred sound of God within himself. When his creative spirit was awakned, he recited more than 50,000 rhymed couplets. He also wrote about the love that resides in the soul of everyone, regardless of religion or background. He founded the order of the whirling dervishes, who believed their spinning dances put them in touch with God and brought peace and love into the world. To honor the 800th anniversary of his birth, the United Nations declared 2007 The Year of Mawlana Jalaladdin Rumi. Demi’s spectacular art, inspired by the eastern culture of the thirteenth century, was painted with Turkish and Chinese inks and gold overlays. An introductory note by Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar, Ph.D., is included." -- publisher
The Wisdom of Ahmad Shah
"Known to his people as Ahmad Shah Baba (Ahmad Shah, our father), the king was an outstanding general and a just ruler. But he was vexed with troubles and needed to find someone with the right qualities to help him -- but how?"- -Excerpted from cover page 4
The stranger’s farewell
"A stranger visits a young couple and later, a rich man. The results of his visits are very different and can teach the reader something about the nature of giving and receiving"--Excerpted from cover page 4
The Wooden Sword
Impressed by a poor Jewish shoemaker's belief that God will ensure everything turns out as it should, a shah in Kabul, Afghanistan, devises a series of hardships to test the man's faith
Razia’s Ray of Hope
Razia dreams of getting an education, but in her small Afghan village, girls have not been allowed to attend school for many years. When a new girls' school opens in the village, Razia must convince her family to let her attend