A story about love and family that spans two generations – a connection that brings Ayesha as a visiting graduate student to the US, and Mira, adopted and raised by her moms in the US, to face each other. The narratives reveal how complexities in South Asian cultures about teen relationships, out-of-wedlock pregnancies become more fraught across differences in social class. (Grades 9-12)
Highly Commended
The Katha Chest
Young Asiyah learns her family history through her grandmother’s chest of richly patterned katha quilts, hand-stitched from layers of repurposed, memory-laden, sari fabric. Asiyah’s tale is accompanied by wordless story panels that reveal their Bengali cultural history. These panels resemble a family photo album, reminiscent of Pattachitra, cloth-based narrative scroll paintings. (Preschool-Grade 3)
The Wise Fool: Fables from the Islamic World
Meet Mulla Nasruddin, a legendary character whose adventures and misadventures are enjoyed across the Islamic world. (Grade 5 & under)
Karma
Written in free verse poems in a diary format, this novel straddles two countries and the clash of Indian cultures in the tale of 15-year-old Maya. (Grade 6 & up)
The Grand Plan to Fix Everything
Eleven-year-old Dini loves movies, and so when she learns that her family is moving to India for two years, her devastation over leaving her best friend in Maryland is tempered by the possibility of meeting her favorite actress, Dolly Singh. (Grade 6 & up)
Beyond Bullets: A Photo Journal of Afghanistan
Award-winning photographer Rafal Gerszak spent a year embedded with the American troops in Afghanistan to bear witness to its people, culture, and the impact of war. (Grade 6 & above)
The Whole Story of Half a Girl
When Sonia’s father loses his job, she must move from her small, supportive private school to a public middle school. The new school, her father’s diagnosis of clinical depression, and her half- Jewish and half- Indian heritage leave Sonia feeling more confused about herself, her friends, and her family. (Grades 5-8)
Torn
The story follows Ellie, a 19-year-old British medic, during her tour of duty in Afghanistan. Her squad is attached to a small troop of American SEALs who must find a hidden cache of arms and learn about a children’s army that is fighting both the Western Coalition and the Taliban. (Grades 8 and up)
Tina’s Mouth: an Existential Comic Diary
Tina Malhotra, a sophomore at the Yarborough Academy in Southern California, creates an existential diary for an assignment in which she tries to determine who she is and where she fits in. (Grades 9-12)
The Sweetest Mango
The sweet, simple story and luscious pictures evoke delicious flavors of hot days, warm friendships and the smell of mango in the air. (Grades PreK-3)