New Crayons!

New Crayons is a meme hosted by us here at Color Online. In this meme we share what new multicultural books we got for the week. Crayons being a metaphor for multicultural literature.

A link I found interesting for the week has to do with a comment made Jodi Picoult in which she complains about how the New York Times review always raves about white male literary authors. I learned about the comment and the discussion that ensued here and the post is very interesting (and I completely agree with the author of the post).

This week we got....

Doret
Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes

When twelve-year-old Izzy discovers a beat-up baseball marked with the words "Because magic" while unpacking in yet another new apartment, she is determined to figure out what it means. What secrets does this old ball have to tell? Her mom certainly isn't sharing any especially when it comes to Izzy's father, who died before Izzy was born. But when she spends the summer in her Nana's remote New Mexico village, Izzy discovers long-buried secrets that come alive in an enchanted landscape of watermelon mountains, whispering winds, and tortilla suns. Infused with the flavor of the southwest and sprinkled with just a pinch of magic, this heartfelt middle grade debut is as rich and satisfying as Nana's homemade enchiladas.



Sellout by Ebony Joy Wilkins

NaTasha has a wonderful life in affluent Park Adams. She fits in, she has friends, and she's a member of the all-white ballet troupe. Being nearly the only African American in her school doesn't bother NaTasha. But it bothers Tilly, NaTasha's spitfire grandmother from Harlem, who decides NaTasha needs to get back to her roots or her granddaughter is in danger of losing herself completely. Tilly whisks NaTasha away to a world where all of a sudden nothing in NaTasha's life makes any sense: Harlem and Comfort Zone in the Bronx, a crisis center where Tilly volunteers her time to help troubled girls get on the right track. Girls who are completely unlike anyone NaTasha has ever encountered. These girls are rough, beautiful, streetwise, sure of themselves, and wield their secrets like knives--and they dislike NaTasha and her world of privilege with a passion.

If there is ever a time when NaTasha feels like running away from something, now is it. But she doesn't. She stands her ground. And what she discovers surprises everyone, especially NaTasha.

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

The acclaimed and inspiring international bestseller that is a tribute to the human spirit.

In a city ravaged by war, a musician plays his cello for twenty-two days at the site of a mortar attack, in memory of the fallen. Among the strangers drawn into the orbit of his music are a young father in search of water for his family, an older man in search of the humanity he once knew, and a young woman, a sniper, who will decide the fate of the cellist—and the kind of person she wants to be.
Nathalie

Notorious by Kiki Swinson

After the drama in Playing Dirty, Yoshi Lomax is on the run, but trouble follows her wherever she goes. . .

When things get too hot in Miami, criminal lawyer Yoshi figures she'll be safe if she goes home to Norfolk, Virginia, for a little while. But the streets there are just as mean, and a sistah needs to keep her head to avoid getting popped by a drive-by. And when Yoshi witnesses the brutal murder of a snitch by a ruthless drug dealer, she knows she'll be the next one in the gangsta's sights. Out of time and abandoned by everyone but her cousin Carmen, Yoshi's goin' to have to learn to fight back if she wants to live another day. . .

All summaries from Amazon.com

So that's what we got this week. Leave a comment with a link to your own New Crayons post!