"The Truth About Choice"

Books About Choices

 

Preschoolers:

Campbell, Nicola, illustrated by Kim LaFave. Shin-chi’s Canoe

Shin-chi and his sister She-shi-etko are removed from their families and enrolled in a Catholic school where they are forced to abandon all traces of their First Nation culture. All Shin-chi has left is the small canoe his father carved for him, a powerful reminder of the past stolen from him and a promise of a return home.

 

Hill, Laban Carrick, illustrated by Bryan Collier. Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave

Dave was a potter of remarkable skill, crafting vessels of impressive capacity and affecting beauty. He was also an artist of astonishing courage, choosing to inscribe his pots with elegant poems at a time when knowledge was a commodity forbidden slaves. This spare, evocative elegy to Dave’s life and work is a fitting tribute to a largely unknown hero of our collective creative past.

 

Iwai, Melissa. Soup Day

A little girl and her mother head to the market for ingredients for some soup, protecting themselves from the cold with the promise of a hot, hearty meal. The girl makes wonderful choices to fill up the basket, and, later, to fill the soup pot. The result is a warm and inviting pot of soup, and an equally comforting story of the joys of home and family.

 

Jenkins, Steve. Dogs and Cats

For adults canines and felines are often presented as mutual exclusives. Jenkins plays with this either/or proposition, dedicating one half of the book to each, and packing the respective sections with tons of information illuminated with his trademark evocative torn tissue collages. The front reveals a preference for dogs, but, turning the book over, the other front reveals cats as the preferred species. The warm full spread where the rival narratives meet puts the conflict to rest. Which do you choose?

 

Khan, Rukhsana. Big Red Lollipop

When her mother insists that Rubina bring her little sister Sana along to her very first birthday party, she fears the worst. Sana exceeds expectations, ruining the party, and Rubina’s reputation in the bargain. But when Sana steals Rubina’s red lollipop, the only bright spot from a dismal day, that’s just too much to bear. This lovely story shines a precise light on the nature of sharing and choosing generosity over revenge.

 

Kids:

Burg, Ann E. All the Broken Pieces

Matt Pin, the son of a US soldier and a Vietnamese woman, is adopted by a loving American family, but suffers with his broken identity. Torn between the paralyzing fear of his memories and the anxiety of starting over as an unwelcome stranger, Matt struggles to choose between reconciliation and integrity. Burg’s lovely novel in verse promises to open eyes and hearts.

 

Halls, Kelly Milner. Saving the Baghdad Zoo: A True Story of Hope and Heroes

The war in Iraq left none untouched, but how many are familiar with the plight of the forgotten animals of the Baghdad Zoo? Halls tells the story of the remarkable effort of U.S. Army Captain William Sumner and his international team of supporters as they rescued abandoned exotic wildlife, animal by animal.

 

Hilmo, Tess. With a Name Like Love

Ollie is traveling the tent revival circuit with her family, led by her Preacher Father, the Reverend Everlasting Love. Ollie resents the itinerant lifestyle, longing for something permanent and when she meets a boy in trouble in Blinder, Arkansas, she convinces her family to stay. With great sensitivity and unapologetic sentiment Hilmo asks important questions about the unintended consequences of big choices and the secret costs of sacrifice.

 

Lin, Grace. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

A simple choice points a young girl on an epic Journey. Minli buys a goldfish on an impulse, to add some vibrant color to her gray, workaday existence. In an act of sacrifice she frees the fish in the river, and is rewarded with the secret to finding the Old Man of the Moon, who has the power of destiny.

 

Williams-Garcia, Rita. One Crazy Summer

Delphine’s mother chose to leave her and her sisters behind when she took off for Oakland all those years ago. Now their father is choosing to send them away. They arrive in Oakland, clear across the country, and their mother Cecile promptly deposits them in a Black Panthers summer camp where they learn loads about their estranged mother and about themselves.

 

Teens:

Condie, Ally. Matched

Cassia has everything. She is bright, popular, and, unbelievably, matched to Xander, her closest childhood friend. The Society has even taken an interest in her, recognizing her superior sorting abilities and obedient nature. But is there more to life than the safe, sterile perfection the Society provides? And what of Ky, the mysterious “aberration” with ties to the hidden past and the seductive power of words? What will Cassia choose?

 

Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars

Sixteen-year-old Hazel has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and prefers spending her days at home. Her parents force her into a cancer kid support group where she meets compelling, mysterious Augustus Waters. She wants to love as few people as possible, but Augustus has other plans. The two embark on a sarcastic, cosmic quest to meet a favorite author and, maybe, hold the inevitable at bay.

 

Roth, Veronica. Divergent

Beatrice must decide which of the five factions she will devote her life to—the truthful Candor, the unselfish Abnegation, the daring Dauntless, the peaceful Amity, or the intellectual Erudite. Her decision will not only determine with whom she will live and work for the rest of her life but also whether she will follow her family or her heart. Dystopian Chicago makes for an engaging backdrop for this fascinating story of labels, dreams and deliberate identity.

 

Williams, Carol Lynch. The Chosen One

Kyra is offered no choice when it is announced that she is to be married to her 60-year-old uncle. In her rebellion she comes to appreciate just how deep are the sinister roots of the polygamist compound where she has spent her entire, sheltered life. Secret trips to the bookmobile have given her an inkling of the world beyond, but escape will involve stigma, violence and very real danger. Can she find the courage to break free?

 

Wolf, Allan. The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic

In a hybrid epic poem and novel in verse Wolf makes some fascinating choices as he turns the familiar inside out, telling the story of the sinking of the Titanic from multiple, creative perspectives. The poet casts a variety of characters, including the aristocrats above, the impoverished below, the vermin, and even the iceberg perpetrator, to offer a multi-faceted look at a singular disaster.