New Crayons + Join the Read in Color Holiday Book Exchange

New Crayons is a meme hosted by us in which we share what new books we got for this week. We only mention the multicultural books (hence the crayons part). Before we get on to the new crayons, I have a bit of a shameless self-promotion.

The winter holidays are fast approaching and that means it's time for the Read in Color Holiday Book Exchange! I'm offering a free book to whoever can design a button (free of charge) for this holiday book swap. What differentiates this from other holiday book swaps is that you can only request/send books by/about people of color. For more information go here

*ahem* I'm done now. Back to your regularly scheduled programming :)

Doret received


The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.

With stunning historical detail, Wilkerson tells this story through the lives of three unique individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, who in 1937 left sharecropping and prejudice in Mississippi for Chicago, where she achieved quiet blue-collar success and, in old age, voted for Barack Obama when he ran for an Illinois Senate seat; sharp and quick-tempered George Starling, who in 1945 fled Florida for Harlem, where he endangered his job fighting for civil rights, saw his family fall, and finally found peace in God; and Robert Foster, who left Louisiana in 1953 to pursue a medical career, the personal physician to Ray Charles as part of a glitteringly successful medical career, which allowed him to purchase a grand home where he often threw exuberant parties.

Wilkerson brilliantly captures their first treacherous and exhausting cross-country trips by car and train and their new lives in colonies that grew into ghettos, as well as how they changed these cities with southern food, faith, and culture and improved them with discipline, drive, and hard work.

Ari received


AWAKE is book 2 of a YA fantasy trilogy told from the perspective of an African American teen girl, Adisa Summers. Adisa and Micah's saga continues as the teen couple race against time to save Micah. However conflict interferes with their efforts as well as other forces in the super world. When Adisa tries to secretly meet the parents who abandoned her, an explosive confrontation with Micah drives the couple apart and threatens to destroy them both. Adisa must conquer her fears and take a stand now that she's finally Awake.





Milagros: Girl from Away by Meg Medina


Milagros de le Torre hasn’t had an easy life: ever since her father sailed away with pirates she’s been teased at school and there’s the constant struggle for her family to make ends meet. Still, Milagros loves her small island in the Caribbean, and she finds comfort in those who recognize her special gifts. But everything changes when marauders destroy Milagros’s island and with it, most of the inhabitants. Milagros manages to escape in a rowboat where she drifts out to sea with no direction, save for the mysterious manta rays that guide her to land. In stunning prose, Meg Medina creates a fantastical world in which a young girl uncovers the true meaning of family, the significance of identity, and, most important, the power of a mother’s love.

Summaries from amazon.com

Link to your own New Crayons post in the comments!