20 Books Published by Rosetta Press on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

Max desea visitar una hermosa boutique donde venden vestidos y muñecas, pero le preocupa que otros niños se burlen de él. Cuando finalmente se decide a entrar en la tienda, conoce al Señor Pepe, fabricante de muñecas y extraordinario sastre. El Señor Pepe comparte con Max su historia –y su amor por las muñecas. Max aprende del Señor Pepe que: “No debes avergonzarte de hacer algo hermoso con tus manos. Cocer es una habilidad, como lo es golpear una pelota de béisbol o arreglar un coche”.

When a bright star shines on a dark, silent night, let the faithful come. This lyrical retelling of the traditional Christmas story serves as a plea for greater compassion and unity in our contemporary world. Peace and goodwill are values celebrated during the holidays, but they should also be applied to the daily struggle of those traveling over land and sea in search of hope and sanctuary. This simple nativity narrative urges readers to recognize the value of every child, and to respect our shared responsibility for all the members of our global community.

Summer vacation has just begun and Dayshaun wants to spend Saturday morning playing his new video game. But Dayshaun’s mother has other plans: she volunteers at a nearby community garden and that means Dayshaun has to volunteer, too. When Dayshaun puts on his grandfather’s grubby old gardening hat, something unexpected happens—the hands of time turn backward and Dayshaun finds himself in the free Black community of Weeksville during the summer of 1863! While helping the survivors of the New York City Draft Riots, Dayshaun meets a frail old man who entrusts him with a precious family heirloom. But will this gift help Dayshaun find his way back to the 21st century? Dayshaun’s Gift is Book #2 in the City Kids series.

I love snow! spinning, swirling, swooshing snow crunch beneath my boots snow tickling my tongue snow I love snow! This short poem uses rhythm and repetition to describe the fun activities a fresh snowfall permits. Too much snow can sometimes cause problems, and in time it turns to dirty gray slush. But in the end, nothing can diminish a child’s love of snow!

Two sisters find a way to endure the hot summer nights by savoring the scents and sounds carried into their bedroom on currents of air. The girls lie awake and wait for each new wave to arrive, bringing jazz and Latin music, the smell of fried fish, the screeching of alley cats, and a soothing surprise that finally lulls the children to sleep.

Fox and Crow are old friends who enjoy trying to outsmart one another. One winter evening, mischievous Crow plays a trick that leaves Fox with his head stuck in an empty jar! Instead of helping her friend, Crow flies off to have an adventure in town. Humbled by his embarrassing predicament, Fox must also leave the safety of the forest to search for help. Both creatures know from experience that humans can be wasteful and cruel, but on this special night, Fox and Crow see humans in a new light after they each bring joy to members of a family whose holiday spirit has been dimmed by illness. Inspired by actual events, Fox & Crow: A Christmas Tale is a contemporary take on Aesop’s beloved fable.

Christmas is coming, but eight-year-old Mariqua Thatcher isn’t looking forward to the holidays. Mama’s gone and Gramma doesn’t know what to do with her feisty granddaughter. Almost every day Mariqua gets into a fight at school, and no one seems to understand how she feels inside. But things start to change when a mysterious street vendor gives Mariqua a beautifully carved angel as a gift. Each night Mariqua whispers in the angel’s ear and soon her wishes start to come true! Mariqua begins to do better at school, and she even wins an important role in the church pageant. But best of all, Mariqua becomes friends with Valina Peterson, a teenager who lives in Mariqua’s building. Valina helps Mariqua learn how to control her anger, and reminds her pretend little sister that “everyone has a story to tell.” Their friendship is tested, however, when Mariqua discovers that Valina has been keeping a secret about her own mother. Can the magic angel make things better? A touching story about love, compassion, and the gift within every heart. For children age 8+.

Chloe isn’t a social bunny, but she enjoys her solitary life in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. As autumn approaches, however, Chloe realizes that all the other bunnies have gone away. The little rabbit enlists the help of her neighbors to solve the mystery. Should she wait for them to return, or should she leave the safety of the garden to find her family?

On the outside, Zoe looks like an ordinary little girl, but her father knows just how special she is inside. On cloudy days, they pretend that she has swallowed the sun, and then together Zoe and her father put it back up in the sky. After the terrible events of September 11th, Zoe decides she must secretly swallow the sun both to keep it safe, and to fill the void left by her missing father. As the days pass, however, the sun inside Zoe becomes too heavy a burden to bear. With her mother’s help, Zoe learns to accept her father’s death, and she puts the sun back in the sky where it belongs.

Max wants to visit a beautiful boutique that sells dresses and dolls, but worries that other children will tease him. When he finally finds the courage to enter the store, he meets Señor Pepe, dollmaker and tailor extraordinaire. Señor Pepe shares his story—and his love of dolls—with Max, insisting, “There is no shame in making something beautiful with your hands. Sewing is a skill, just like hitting a baseball or fixing a car.”

When a boy at school hurts Kamara’s feelings, she goes home and asks her grandmother if the mean words are really true. Gramma tells Kamara to go upstairs and clean the old mirror in the guest room. But when Kamara starts to rub the glass, she discovers that the mirror is magical! Kamara sees brave women from the past who faced many challenges yet never gave up hope. When the historical journey ends in the twenty-first century, the mirror once again shows Kamara her own reflection. She sheds her self-doubt and instead draws strength from the courage of the women she met in the magic mirror.

Best friends Carlos and Tariq love their block, but Barkley Street has started to change. The playground has been taken over by older boys, which leaves Carlos and Tariq with no place to call their own. They decide to turn the yard of an abandoned brownstone into their secret hang-out spot. Carlos and Tariq soon discover, however, that the overgrown yard is already occupied by an ancient phoenix! When the Pythons try to claim the yard for their gang, the magical bird gives the friends the courage to make a stand against the bullies who threaten to ruin their beloved neighborhood.

t took some time for Nikki to adjust to her parents’ divorce, but now she and her little sister Natalie enjoy their new routine. Daddy comes over for dinner on Tuesday nights and the girls spend each weekend with him. But everything changes when Daddy picks them up for their weekend visit and introduces the girls to his new friend Sylvia. Nikki feels invisible when Sylvia’s around and so she decides not to spend the weekend with Daddy anymore. Only after talking about her feelings with her aunt does Nikki learn that her father’s love is unchanging, and that there is room in his heart to love many different people.

A mysterious boy from another planet chooses an unusual girl as his guide on Earth. Both children lead solitary lives: the girl lives under a rock and lives on a diet of dreams; the boy, encased in a bubble, is unable to touch—or be touched by— anything around him. As their friendship develops, however, the mysterious boy and the unusual girl begin to recognize the limits of their sheltered lives. The two children quarrel, but ultimately they find a way to shatter the bubble that separates them from one another and the world.

THE DEEP plunges readers into a dangerous, underground world policed by members of The League, a secret group of women and men who use their intuitive abilities to detect energy surges far below the earth’s surface. In the deep, ancient sources of malevolent energy are bubbling up through the bedrock, and only members of The League know how to detect and seal the leaks that allow evil to enter the world. Nyla Evans knows nothing about the war being waged beneath the city. It has been almost a year since she moved from Ramstein Air Base in Germany to Brooklyn, and Nyla is still searching for a way to belong. It doesn’t help that she has started to hallucinate while walking the city streets, but things get even stranger when a man named Osiris approaches her and offers to introduce Nyla to others who have similar “gifts.” When Nyla refuses, her friend D is kidnapped and held in the deep until Nyla agrees to let Osiris guide her underground. There, miles beneath Brooklyn, Nyla meets Lada—the mother who abandoned her a decade ago. Furious that Nyla is being recruited by The League, Lada tries to prevent her daughter from following in her footsteps. But Nyla feels at home in the deep and her training begins at an accelerated pace when The League discovers an earthquake will soon hit Brooklyn, releasing unprecedented levels of malevolent energy into the city. THE DEEP is the companion book to SHIP OF SOULS (2012), a Booklist Top Ten Sci-Fi/Fantasy Title for Youth and finalist for the Phillis Wheatley Book Award.

More than anything, Nina Traymore wants stability in her life. After graduating from college, Nina returns to New York City determined to immerse herself in the struggle to revive impoverished communities. Her world is shattered, however, when she is brutally raped in her home by a male acquaintance. Traumatized by the violation but fearful of life outside the city’s familiar limits, Nina accepts a teaching position in Brooklyn and moves there hoping to piece her life back together. At the Sojourner Center for Families and Youth, Nina meets Isaiah Edwards, an aspiring architect whose privileged upbringing saved him from many of the traps that have ensnared his childhood friends. Although he intends to detach himself from his inner-city roots, Isaiah soon finds himself caring for Nina, though she seems bound to the crumbling community. Torn between her love for Isaiah and her duty to the children she serves, Nina must decide whether her path to healing lies abroad or in the beautiful yet brutal city that has been her home for so many years.

girl/power: While in the custody of Child Protective Services, two underage girls compare their relationships with the men accused of exploiting them. Brotherhood: Upon his release from prison, Von returns to his foster mother’s home hoping to build a new life with the remnants of his family. But with the house on the brink of foreclosure, Von must confront the forces of change that have transformed the world he left behind. Deluged: A young woman conducting research on lynching in Louisiana finds herself swept up in a hurricane and dropped onto a plantation off the Mississippi River. Men of All Work: Four black male celebrities meet in "the green room" and share the trials and triumphs they have encountered trying to "make it" in the entertainment industry.

CONNOR’S BOY: Connor, a successful artist and transracial adoptee, commits suicide after being accused of abusing his beloved son. Connor’s death forces the people who loved him to confront each other, the past, and the guilt that fuels their fierce struggle over his child. MOTHER LOAD: A black woman filmmaker in her mid-thirties, Liv, decides to attend her estranged mother’s sixtieth birthday party. Her mother, Cleo, is a prolific, celebrated playwright. Liv arrives determined to triumphantly disclose her pregnancy, but instead she must confront the fact that Cleo is dying of uterine cancer. BEAST: DeMarcus Gaines, a famous basketball player, has been implicated in a shooting that may end his career; these charges are just the latest in a string of accusations leveled against the young star, including rape. His family, from whom he has been estranged, decides to rally around DeMarcus, but only after he gives a full and honest account of his actions.

Stranger in the Family is a mixed-media memoir that examines the shifting terrain upon which we negotiate race, kinship, and identity. When my father died of cancer in the spring of 2004, I accepted an offer to teach in the tiny east African country of Djibouti. While abroad, I reflected upon the complicated concept of diaspora, and the alienation I sometimes felt as a foreigner brought to mind a hurtful remark my father once directed at me: "You’re a stranger in this family." When my teaching assignment in Djibouti ended prematurely, I returned to Toronto and wrote a collection of essays to more closely examine my "outsider" role within my family and my native land. Stranger in the Family uses prose, photography, short stories, and poetry to trace my evolution as a black woman, a writer, a daughter, and a Canadian.

STASH: Charity, a young woman is accused of killing and castrating her abusive father. QUALITY: Two white women do laundry while discussing the challenges of living in a neighborhood that is gradually being gentrified. INNOCENTS: Three black women gather behind a courthouse in the South to reflect on their loss of innocence. SELF/PRESERVATION: A white couple, desperate to save their home from eminent domain, falsely claims their cellar was once part of the Underground Railroad. HER VOW: After miraculously recovering from a coma, Lila attacks life with a vigor that frightens and alienates her devoted husband, Jerome.