Dear Friends,
Happy New Year. I hope one of the resolutions for this year is to discover more great literature for children. That's still on my list! 

A few of this month's selection are admittedly on the serious side, dealing with social issues. I am discovering well-crafted books bring today's realities into children's life  as effectively as historical fiction does for the past. While I don't recommend an unbalanced diet- we need joy and laughter too- I wouldn't shy away from these books.

Two of them skillfully address the experiences of refugee children. Nowhere Boy is a dramatic tale of a young Syrian refugee boy, while The Eleventh Trade works with an Afghani boy recently arrived in America. Both books give us wonderful glimpses into the Muslim cultures that the children have left behind, and the trauma they have experienced in their flight to freedom. I recommend reading them with your children.

For older children, 12 and up, Gandhi- My Life is My Message is a beautifully crafted graphic novel, that doesn't white-wash the violence of India's independence, but does give hope.

Finally, a light-hearted tale for younger children, 6-8, the original Moomintroll book, Moomins and the Great Flood, is a fun bedtime read. 

May this be a year where the written word uplifts us and leads the way into the heart.

Laura Duggan