Annotated Peace Resource List

Stewart begins with information about early African explorers of North America, and includes important facts new to many of us who have not been required to study this part of our nations history. The book is organized into six sections: Great Migrations; Civil Rights and Politics; Science, Inventions and Medicine; Sports; Military; Culture and Religion, with entries of several paragraphs each. More than 200 photos.

By the Cooperative Children’s Book Center: "Books by and about people of color: African and African Americans, American Indians, Asian/Pacific and Asian Pacific Americans, and Latinos. This listing introduces 50 essential books and a range of authors and illustrators for children."

reviews.www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/detailListBooks.asp?idBookLists=42

Using full color photographs, this book showcases the diversity of human skin color, and gives a simple, accurate explanation. Text in Spanish and English.

Reveals in verse that regardless of outward differences, children everywhere have basic commonalities. Great for read-alouds.

Short stories dealing with the conflicts and choices that happen when two cultures com together. Stories from the perspectives of Asian American adolescents growing up in a country that often sees them as aliens.

Narrator tells how his family was sent to an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II and how baseball was used as a diversion from the horrible situation in which the camp's inhabitants lived.

A history of African-Americans in the US as told through letters, speeches, articles, eyewitness accounts, etc. 1619-

A Suquamish native American chief describes his people's respect and love for the earth, and concern for its destruction.

Examines the life of the Mexican-American labor organizer who demanded rights for farm workers

Relates the life story of the Nez Perce, native American chief who led his people on a long trek to escape the great injustices of the American government.

Each page of this book is brilliantly illustrated, including prayers for morning, mealtime, New Year, bedtime, etc. and a book list at the end on festivals, world religions, prayers, and blessings. Note that there are prayers from many religious traditions included (Jewish, Native American, etc.).

"Lena discovers that she and her friends and neighbors are all beautiful shades of brown. ‘I am the color of cinnamon. Mom says she could eat me up,’ says Lena. Then she sees everyone else in terms of delicious foods: Mom is the color of French toast. Lena's friend Sonia is the color of creamy peanut butter. Isabella is chocolate brown like the cupcakes they had for her birthday. Lena's best friend, Jo-Jin, is the color of honey. Katz wrote and illustrated the story in affirmation of her adopted Guatemalan daughter and her friends, and the diversity that surrounds them. The pictures of Lena and her friends and city neighbors celebrate the delicious colors of the individual people, all brown, and each one different." -- Hazel Rochman, Booklist.

Growing up Latino in the United Status sometimes jeans speaking two languages and learning the rules of two cultures. This book of poems celebrates this reality with sections by Sandra Cisneros, Martin Espada, Gary Soto and Ed Vega. Bilingual.

Using crayon characters, this book teaches about different cultures and how we all work together to make a beautiful world. The book is easy to read and is suitable for a child to read by her or himself or for a parent to read to the child.

In James Weldon Johnson's "The Creation," written in 1918, he tells the biblical story in free verse, that captures the rhythm and character of southern black country sermons in the 1800s. Mr. Ransome writes, "I have tried to remain faithful to the spirit of Mr. Johnson's text by interspersing creation scenes with images of a southern country storyteller." The colorful illustrations are also lush.

From Website: “Clara Estelle Breed, or Miss Breed, was the Children's Librarian at the San Diego Public Library from 1929 to 1945. Miss Breed was fond of all children, including the many Japanese American children and teenagers who frequented the East San Diego Branch Library… The day of their departure at the San Diego train station, Miss Breed distributed stamped and addressed postcards to her young friends, asking them to write to her and describe their life in camp.” A sample of those letters, information about life in the camps, and information about Miss Breed is found here. See also the book: Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During WWII and a Librarian Who Made a Difference.

This book is based on the postcards/letters received by San Diego librarian Miss Breed, who gave stamped self-addressed postcards to children she knew when they were forcibly removed to incarceration camps because of their ethnicity during WWII. See also the website www.janm.org/exhibits/breed/title.htm

Jean Fritz includes historical accounts of the early years of the Jamestown colony and dealings between the English and the native peoples. She sets a rich context for what is known of the life of Pocahontas, who played an unusual role as a bridge between cultures in her 21-year life. Such a historical account is an important book for anyone who has seen the Disney movie.

Fiesta Femenina portrays the courage and resilience of the feminine spirit through the stories of eight extraordinary Mexican women. From a goddess whose very being is the earth we walk on in "The Hungry Goddess," to a clever female personification of the moon in "Why the Moon is Free," these stories show how the feminine spirit touches many parts of Mexican culture, from the soil to the stars. Beginning with Maya and Aztec stories, Gerson also relates folktales of Mixtec, Yaqui, and Euro-Mexican origin.
Fiesta Femenina was awarded The Aesop Prize for 2001 by the American Folklore Society (the most outstanding book incorporating folklore published in English for children and young adults, both fiction and nonfiction); was acknowledged by Parents' Choice as a Recommended Winner (of the 2000+ products submitted, less than 9% earned any level of recommendation) and received a "starred review" in the American Library Association's Booklist magazine. (Taken from Amazon reviews.)