Holiday Gift Guides

 

2023

Picture Books

Amy Wu and the Ribbon Dance (and the rest of the series) written by Kat Zhang and illustrated by Charlene Chua

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh by Mo Willems

I Love My Body Because written by Shelly Anand and illustrated by Nomi Ellison

J is for Judy written by John Robert Allman and illustrated by Peter Emmerich

Love in the Library written by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrated by Yas Imamura

the Mercy Watson series written by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Chris Van Dusen

Nico Bravo and the Hound of Hades (and its sequels) by Mike Cavallaro

Song After Song: The Musical Life of Julie Andrews written by Julie Hedlund and illustrated by Ilaria Urbinati

The Together Tree written by Aisha Saeed and illustrated by Leyuen Pham

Tokyo Night Parade written by J. P. Takahashi and illustrated by Minako Tomigahara

Middle Grade

A Bit of Earth by Karuna Riazi

Lotus Bloom and the Afro Revolution by Sherri Winston

Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson

The Takeout by Tracy Badua

Tiger Daughter by Rebecca Lim

The Vanquishers by Kalynn Bayron

Young Adult

An Echo in the City by K. X. Song

Emmett by L. C. Rosen

The Legacies by Jessica Goodman

Queen of Tiles by Hanna Alkaf

Symptoms of a Heartbreak by Sona Charaipotra

Mysteries

East Jerusalem Noir edited by Rawya Jarjoura Burbara

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

the Inspector Gamache series beginning with Still Life by Louise Penny

Murder Under the Red Moon by Harini Nagendra

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst 

The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian

Adult

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

Happy Stories, Mostly by Norman Erikson Pasaribu, translated by Tiffany Tsao

The Light at the End of the World by Siddhartha Deb

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Your Driver is Waiting by Priya Guns

Miscellaneous

Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook: A Cookbook by Sohla El-Waylly

2022

Picture Books

My Paati’s Saris written by Jyoti Rajan Gopal and illustrated by Art Twink

Amah Faraway written by author Margaret Chiu Greanias and illustrated Tracy Subsiak

Broadway Bird written by Alex Timbers and illustrated by Alisa Coburn

Loud Mouse written by Idina Menzel and Cara Mentzel and illustrated by Jaclyn Sinquett

Yes! No!: A First Conversation about Consent written by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli and illustrated by Isabel Roxas

A Perfect Fit written by Mara Rockcliff and illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal

The Pronoun Book written by Chris Ayala-Kronos and illustrated by Melita Tirado

Jo Bright and the Seven Bots written by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Meg Hunt

Amira's Suitcase written by Vikki Conley and illustrated by Nicky Johnston 

Bharatanatyam in Ballet Shoes written by Mahak Jain and illustrated by Anu Chouhan 

Middle Grade

Join the Club, Maggie Diaz (audiobook) written by Nina Moreno and illustrated by Courtney Lovett

Zara's Rules for Record Breaking Fun (audiobook) written by Hena Khan and illustrated by Wastana Haikal

When Winter Robeson Came (audiobook) by Brenda Woods

Tumble (audiobook) by Celia C. Pérez

Thirst (audiobook) by Varsha Bajaj

Amal Unbound (audiobook) by Aisha Saeed

Young Adult

Ms. Marvel series (audiobooks) by G. Willow Wilson et. al.

My Fine Fellow (audiobook) by Jennieke Cohen

Messy Roots by Laura Gao

This Wicked Fate by Kalynn Bayron

The Hawthorne Legacy (audiobook) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Hollow Fires (audiobook) by Samira Ahmed

No Filter and Other Lies! (audiobook) by Crystal Maldonado

Mystery (new category!)

Under Lock and Skeleton Key (audiobook) by Gigi Pandian

The Bangalore Detectives Club (audiobook) by Harini Nagendra

The Sleeping Car Porter (audiobook) by Suzette Mayr

Magpie Murders (Audiobook) by Anthony Horowitz

Adult

God Spare the Girls (audiobook) by Kelsey McKinney

Identitti (audiobook) by Mithu Sanyal

All This Could Be Different (audiobook) by Sarah Thankam Matthews

Daughters of the New Year (Audiobook) by E.M. Tran

2021

Picture Books

Jenny Mei is Sad written and illustrated by Tracy Subisak

Laxmi’s Mooch written by Shelly Anand and illustrated by Nabi A. Ali

Little Messy Marcy Su written by Cherie Fu and illustrated by Julie Kwon

My Two Border Towns written by David Bowles and illustrated by Erika Meza


Middle Grade

Fearless by Mandy Gonzalez

I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day

Piece By Piece: The Story of Nisrin's Hijab by Priya Huq

The Sea in Winter by Christine Day

Young Adult

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

Defy The Night by Brigid Kemmerer

The Everlasting Rose by Dhonielle Clayton

Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong

Up All Night: 13 Stories Between Sunset and Sunrise edited by Laura Silverman

You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson

Adult

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

Misfits by Michaela Coel

My Body by Emily Ratajkowski

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

2019

Picture Books

Ganesha's Sweet Tooth by Sanjay Patel and Emily Haynes

Khalida And The Most Beautiful Song by Amanda Moeckel

Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong written by Judy Leung and illustrated by Chris Sasaki

Tiny Feet Behind the Mountains by Hanna Cha

Middle Grade

More to the Story by Hena Khan

My Basmati Bat Mitzvah by Paula Freedman

Young Adult

The Long Ride by Marina Budhos

Love From A to Z by SK Ali

Adult

The Cutting Season by Attica Locke

Zora and Langston: A Story of Friendship and Betrayal by Yuval Taylor

2018

Picture Books

Queen of the Hanukkah Dosas written by Pamela Ehren­berg and illustrated by Anjan Sarkar

Young Adult

Mariam Sharma Hits the Road by Sheba Karim

My So-Called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma

Adult

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

In Pieces by Sally Field

The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

The Rei Shimura mysteries by Sujata Massey

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

The Verity Kent mysteries by Anna Lee Huber

Well, That Escalated Quickly : Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist by Franchesca Ramsey

2017

Young Adult

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Once And For All by Sarah Dessen

Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz

To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Adult

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A Beautiful Poison by Lydia Kang

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Chemistry by Weike Wang

The Cooking Gene: A Journey through African-American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael Twitty

Deceit and Other Possibilities by Vanessa Hua

Documenting Light by E.E. Ottoman

Electric Arches by Eve L. Ewing

Everything Good Will Come by Sefi Atta

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole

God Loves Haiti by Dimitry Elias Leger

Haiti Noir and Haiti Noir 2 edited by Edwidge Danticat

Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist by Karen Chilton

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn

Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher

Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile

The Ruin Of The Rake by Cat Sebastian

The Turner House by Angela Flournoy

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim

2016

Books

The Misadventures Of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae

You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Have To Explain by Phoebe Robinson

Movies

East Side Sushi (2014)

Hail; Caesar! (2016)

Ghostbusters (2016)

TV/Web Series

Atlanta (FX/Hulu)

Awkward Black Girl (YouTube)

Insecure (HBO)

OJ: Made in America (ESPN)

Queen Sugar (OWN/Hulu)

Westworld (HBO)

Albums

Awaken, My Love!, Childish Gambino

Formation, Beyonce

Hamilton Soundtrack

Purpose, Justin Bieber

A Seat at the Table, Solange