Tomorrow, 2 April 2022 is the start of Ramadan. Ramadan Mubarak.

This is one of my favorite blog posts of the year to assemble. For the past few years, Carrie (frequent guest blogger and fellow February birthday celebrant) and I host a birthday book drive – Reading for Pride and Justice.

The book drive started several years ago when I decided for my birthday I wanted to collect and donate new books by authors of color to public schools with diverse students and where new books are harder to come by. Carrie heard about the idea and we teamed up. It is a great match since Carrie added a focus on disability to the book drive. Books by authors with disabilities or about disabilities are greatly needed in our schools.

Carrie and I put out a soft ask on social media to our friends inviting them to participate. We had a wishlist of books we hoped to receive, people could also order from the Fakequity Bookshop link since they meet our criteria. Our criteria was broad but narrow – books had to be by authors of color, or about disabilities – ideally by authors with disabilities. Friends chose what books they wanted to donate and had them shipped to my house. This wasn’t just about money and books, friends contributed titles and their own stories of what books meant to them. I oohed and ahhed and sent Carrie pictures of the books as they arrived on my doorstep.

“Wish you could have heard the squeal when they saw Crying in H Mart.”

I recently read a Book Riot article talking about why students need to read contemporary books, not just the classics. New books can help students make sense of their world now and prompt conversations that are happening to them now. Classics are important too, but sometimes students need to warm up to them.

Carrie and I also ask for donations of new books because students deserve crisp new books with unbroken spines. Many of the books in my kid’s elementary school library are so well-read they are held together with tape. I love opening a new book and feeling the joy of knowing I’m the first one to gently crack that spine. The librarian at a local high school sent us an email saying “Thank you again for the quality books for our students! Wish you could have heard the squeal when they saw Crying in H Mart.” What I took away from that comment is students know about these new books and want to read them – now they can.

Books offer students tools to see themselves and envision new possibilities, empathize, and learn how to think differently. Many teachers use diverse books to introduce new concepts, provide students with new ways of relating to the world around them, and sometimes for pure enjoyment. Books won’t solve racism, end wars, or solve ills – they do give kids tools to feel understood and to build new neural pathways to understanding, empathizing, learning new skills. This is why diverse books matter. Reading about different experiences and understanding disabilities and POC experiences lets us envision what justice can be. We have to put in the work to create that justice. This is one of my small actions to create space for more justice to flourish — sharing books with students, most of whom I will never meet. They deserve a more just world and they have to create it for themselves and maybe an idea they read or a picture they see in a book will spark a new idea for them.

Book Delivery Day

We collected a lot of books, so many fun new books. My kids helped me create book bundles for school libraries and a few teachers. Each bundle had about 10-25 books. This year we reserved two of the elementary school bundles for a first- and a second-year POC elementary school teachers to help them build their classroom libraries. I know of one elementary school teacher who spent $600 of her own money to buy books for her classroom.

Book delivery day is one of my favorite days of the year. Carrie and I load up my car and drive a big loop of Southeast Seattle to deliver books. We got buzzed into school buildings, met office staff, walked through a swarm of middle schoolers during passing period, this year we got lost in a few buildings looking for front doors. After the deliveries, we got lunch from a local POC restaurant. It was a great day.

The Book List

Here is the list of books donated and shared with schools. The notes about the book are my own and apologies if I erred on race/ethnicity of any of the authors. If you have ever purchased a book starting with Fakequity’s affiliate link, the proceeds help to fund this book drive. I use the profits to purchase books to ensure diversity in our donations.

The books listed range from elementary age to adult. I hope you find some new books to read or share with children in your lives.

Title	Author	Race	Disability
The Secret Sky	Abawi, Atia	Middle East
Clap When You Land	Acevedo, Elizabeth	Latine
White Rage	Anderson, Carol	Black/African American
One Person No Vote, YA Adaptation	Anderson, Carol	Black/African American
Too Small Tola	Atinuke	Black/African American
Disability Studies and the Inclusive Classroom	Baglieri, Susan	Mix	X
The Stars Beneath Our Feet	Barclay Moore, David	Black/African American	X
We Ride Upon Sticks	Barry, Quan	Black/African American
What Do You Do With a Voice Like That	Barton, Chris and Ekua Holmes	Black/African American
All the Way to the Top	Bay Pimentel, Annette	White	X
El Deafo	Bell, Cece	White	X
Until I am Free Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America	Blain, Keisha N.	Black/African American
How to Love a Country	Blanco, Richard	Latine
Firekeeper’s Daughter	Boulley, Angeline	Native / Indigenous
Pushing Up the Sky – Seven Native American Plays for Children	Bruchac, Joseph	Native / Indigenous
A Splash of Red	Bryant, Jen		X
Six Dots: A Story of a Young Louis Braille	Bryant, Jen	White	X
Mindful Moves	Cardoza, Nicole	Black/African American
The School for Good and Evil	Chainani, Soman	Asian
Shirley Chisholm is a verb	Chambers, Veronica	Black/African American
Finish the Fight	Chambers, Veronica	Black/African American
Jukebox	Chanani, Nidhi	Asian
Hair Love	Cherry, Matthew	Black/African American
The Ocean Calls A Haenyeo Mermaid Story	Cho, Tina	Asian
Seeing Ghosts – A Memoir	Chow, Kat	Asian
Shang-Chi & The Legend of the Ten Rings	Chow, Marie	Asian
When We Say Black Lives Matter	Clarke, Maxine Beneba	Black/African American
What We Lose – A Novel	Clemmons, Zinzi	Black/African American
Black Panther	Coates, Ta-Nehisi	Black/African American
The Matter of Black Lives	Cobb, Jelani and David Remnick	Black/African American
Restorative Circles in Schools	Costello, Bob & Wachtel	Mix
New Kid	Craft, Jerry	Black/African American
Class Act	Craft, Jerry	Black/African American
Maria Tallchief, She Persisted	Day, Christine	Native / Indigenous
I Can Make This Promise	Day, Christine	Native / Indigenous
The Sea in Winter	Day, Christine	Native / Indigenous
The Day Abuelo Got Lost	de Anda, Diane	Latine	X
Love	de la Peña, Matt	Latine
Animals – Braille	DK Braille		X
This Place 150 Years Retold	Elliott, Alicia	Native / Indigenous
The Range Eternal	Erdrich, Louise	Native / Indigenous
Girl, Woman, Other	Evaristo, Bernardine	Black/African American
Unsettled	Faruqi, Reem	Middle East
Yasmin – The Explorer	Faruqi, Saadia	Asian
Yasmin – The Superhero	Faruqi, Saadia	Asian
Manu	Fernández, Kelly	Latine
Just Be Cool Jenna Sakai	Florence, Debbi Michiko	Asian
The Sea-Ringed World Sacred Stories of the Americas	García Esperón, María	Native / Indigenous
Rosa	Giovanni, Nikki	Black/African American
Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose	Giovanni, Nikki	Black/African American
This Is My Brain in Love	Gregorio, I. W.	Asian	X
Tiger Honor	Ha Lee, Yoon	Asian
Dragon Perarl	Ha Lee, Yoon	Asian
Cook Korean	Ha, Robin	Asian
The 1619 Project	Hannah-Jones, Nikole	Black/African American
The 1619 Project Born on the Water	Hannah-Jones, Nikole and Renée Watson	Black/African American
A Face for Picasso	Henley, Ariel	White	X
Sal & Gabi Break the Universe	Hernandez, Carlos	Latine
She’s Got This	Hernandez, Laurie	Latine
Imagine	Herrera, Juan Felipe	Latine
Imagina	Herrera, Juan Felipe	Latine
All About Love: New Visions	hooks, bell	Black/African American
We Rise We Resist We Raise Our Voices	Hudson, Wade and Cheryl Willis Hudson	Mix
Displacement	Hughes, Kiku	Asian
Read This to Get Smarter about Race, Class, Gender, Disability & More	Imani, Blair	Black/African American	X
we are never meeting in real life.	Irby, Samantha	Black/African American
wow no thank you	Irby, Samantha	Black/African American
Good Talk A Memoir in Conversations	Jacob, Mira	Latine
When Stars Are Scattered	Jamieson, Victoria and Omar Mohamed	Black/African American	X
Crip Kinship	Kafai, Shayda	Middle East	X
When Breath Becomes Air	Kalanithi, Paul	Asian
The Most Beautiful Thing – Chinese translation	Kalia Yang, Kao	Asian	X
Notable Native People	Keene, Adrienne	Native / Indigenous
When You Trap a Tiger	Keller, Tae	Asian
Song for a Whale	Kelly, Lynne	White	X
The Arabic Quilt	Khalil, Aya	Middle East
Under My Hijab	Khan, Hena	Middle East
Last Fallen Star	Kim, Graci	Asian
And Now I Spill the Family Secrets	Kimball, Margaret		X
Demystifying Disability	Ladau, Emily	White	X
My Shoes and I Crossing Three Borders	Laínez, René Colato	Latine
Measuring Up	LaMotte, Lily and Ann Xu	Asian
Midsummer’s Mayhem	LaRocca, Rajani	Asian
Long Division – A Novel	Laymon, Kiese	Black/African American
Draw Together	Le, Minh	Asian
Mindy Kim and the Lunar New Year Parade	Lee, Lyla	Asian
Run	Lewis, Rep. John	Black/African American
Show Me a Sign	LeZotte, Ann Clare	White	X
A New Year’s Reunion	Li-Qiong, Yu and Cheng-Liang, Zhu	Asian
When the Sea Turned to Silver	Lin, Grace	Asian
Elatsoe	Little Badger, Darcie	Native / Indigenous
I found it! A bilingual look and find book — Simplified Chinese, Pinyin, and English	Liu, Katrina	Asian
Rules	Lord, Cynthia	White	X
Very Large Expanse of Sea	Mafi, Tahereh	Middle East
A Soft Place to Land	Marks, Janae	Black/African American
A Soft Place to Land	Marks, Janae	Black/African American
Moving to Higher Ground How Jazz Can Change Your Life	Marsalis, Wynton	Black/African American
Baby Sitter’s Club #2 Truth About Stacy (Graphic Novel)	Martin, Ann	White	X
Baby Sitter’s Club #16 Jessi’s Secret Language	Martin, Ann M.	White	X
Jessi’s Secret Language – Baby Sitters Club	Martin, Ann M.	White	X
Claudia and Mean Janine- Graphic novel	Martin, Ann M.	White	X
The Sum of Us What Racism Costs Everyone	McGhee, Heather	Black/African American
Cerci Suárez Changes Gears	Medina, Meg	Latine
Hair Twins	Mirchandani, Raakhee	Middle East
Medicine Stories	Morales, Aurora	Latine	X
Everything Sad is Untrue	Nayeri, Daniel	Middle East
My Rainbow	Neal, DeShanna	Black/African American	X
Itzhak A Boy Who Loved the Violin	Newman, Tracy	White	X
The Magic Fish	Nguyen, Trung Le	Asian
Beautifully Me	Noor, Nabela	Asian
This is What America Looks Like	Omar, Ilhan	Black/African American
All Over Creation	Ozeki, Ruth	Asian
Hulk	Pak	Asian
The Art of Sanjay’s Super Team	Patel, Sanjay	Asian
Dumpling Soup	Rattigan, Jama Kim	Asian
Miles Morales: Spider Man	Reynolds, Jason	Black/African American
Juliet Takes A Breath	Rivera, Gabby	Latine
Juliet Takes A Breath	Rivera, Gabby	Latine
Never Look Back	Rivera, Lilliam	Latine
Filipino Celebrations A Treasury of Feasts and Festivals	Romulo, Liana	Asian
I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter	Sánchez, Erika L.	Latine
Ani’s Light	Singh, Tanu Shree	Asian	X
My Heart Fills With Happiness – Spanish	Smith, Monique Gray	Native / Indigenous
Just Ask	Sotomayor, Justice Sonia	Latine	X
My Beloved World	Sotomayor, Sonia	Latine	X
The Complete Maus*	Spiegelman, Art	Not POC but included since it was recently banned
Artie and the Wolf Moon	Stephens, Olivia
Yayoi Kusama — From Here to Infinity	Suzuki, Sarah	Asian	X
Baby Sitter’s Club Claudia and Mean Janine Graphic Novel	Telgemeier, Raina	White	X
Guts – Spanish	Telgemeir, Raina	White	X
Stone River Crossing	Tingle, Tim	Native / Indigenous
When a Ghost Talks, Listen	Tingle, Tim	Native / Indigenous
Beyond the Gender Binary	Vaid-Menon, Alok
The Running Dream	Van Draanen, Wedelin	White	X
The Undocumented Americans	Villavicencio, Karla Cornejo	Latine
The Black Panther Party – Graphic Novel History	Walker, David and Marcus Kwame Anderson	Black/African American
The Princes and the Dressmaker	Wang, Jen	Asian
Navigate Your Stars	Ward, Jesmyn	Black/African American
Other Words for Home	Warga, Jasmine	Middle East
Taino Tales	Weber, Vicky	Latine
One Crazy Summer	Williams-Garcia, Rita	Black/African American
Disability Visibility – Young Adult version	Wong, Alice	Asian	X
The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond	Woods, Brenda	Black/African American
Harbor Me	Woodson, Jacqueline	Black/African American
The Year We Learned to Fly	Woodson, Jacqueline	Black/African American
I Can Fly in the Sky, A Story of Friends, Flight and Kites — Told in English and Chinese	Xin, Lin	Asian
The Vanderbeekers of 141st St	Yan Glaser, Karina	Asian
A Map Into the World	Yang, Kao	Asian
Room to Dream	Yang, Kelly	Asian
3 Keys	Yang, Kelly	Asian
Séance Tea Party	Yee, R	Asian
The Legend of Auntie Po	Yin Khor, Shing	Asian
Crying in H Mart	Zauner, Michelle	Asian
The People Remember	Zoboi, Ibi	Black/African American
My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich	Zoboi, Ibi	Black/African American
All We Can Save Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis		Mix
Art of Protest

Here is a link to a Google spreadsheet with the list of books. Carrie is good about reminding me that tables are not always screen-reader friendly. Many of these books are included in the Fakequity Bookshop.

A short message from a teacher:

“Several students chose to read from the collection of books today during our independent reading time.

We read and performed a class play from Pushing Up the Sky [Native American short plays] earlier this year, so one student excitedly grabbed that book and asked if we could perform another play. His group’s reading goal is to grow in their fluency, so he is now choosing a play for his group to practice performing together. He also has dreams of being an actor, so you have helped make many a dream grow in here already.”

Finally, a thank you to our 30+ friends and family members who donated books, funds, titles, and joy to this birthday celebration project. By the numbers: 183 books, 9 schools reaching over 1,000 students (maybe more). I hope you will find ways to do your own projects like this to support students in your communities. One friend mentioned she asked friends to donate a book instead of a birthday present for her kid’s toddler age birthday. Even if it is just requesting your public library stock more books by authors of color, authors with disabilities, that is a good start to helping students discover new diverse books.

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