I first read this story years ago and was immediately sucked in to the Dystopian world of the main character, Juliette. Juliette’s touch causes incredible pain and possible death. The story begins with her incarcerated in an asylum because of her ability to cause pain and death with only a touch. The current regime of this dystopian world, known as The Reestablishment, want to use her for her ability. An element of romance is introduced when Juliette receives a cellmate and everything she’s believed to be true about herself is thrown into question.

This book is about a little girl whose big sister gets her first Hijab and wears it to school for the first time. The little sister begins the day in awe of her sister wearing her beautiful blue Hijab. She calls her a “princess” and she is so excited for her. The first day wearing a Hijab to school is a very special day in the life of many Muslim girls. When the girls get to school, she begins to notice that her big sister is getting more attention than usual because of the Hijab, including the negative attention of a little boy who teases her for it. She feels teasing so intensely. Ultimately, she sees how strong her sister is for having to manage both the positive and negative attention she receives while wearing her Hijab. She is proud of her sister and their heritage. The book is written in prose but often sounds like poetry.

This is a classic book of poetry that continues to bring joy to the hearts of everyone that reads it. Children love how silly the poems are and are often inspired to write their own. The illustrations accompanying the poems are sweet and simple. It is a challenge to read the poems in this book and not laugh. Some of the poems have a bit of a dark undertone and can be surprising for some students if read in the classroom. I think this adds an extra element of fun.

How Raven Stole the Sun in the Trickster Tale of Raven from the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest. The story tells of how Raven is born to the daughter of a chief, disguised as a baby during a time when the Earth was in total darkness with no sun, moon, or stars. Raven finds three boxes in the chiefs home and begs for the chief to let him have them. Box by box, the chief is persuaded by his love of his grandson to give up the boxes which Raven opens, releasing the contents into the sky. After the last box, Raven decides he's tired of being a human and changes back into a Raven escaping through the smoke hole in the chiefs home and turning black from the soot of the hole. This is how Raven got his color and how the Earth got the sun, moon, and stars.