Storytime on the Carpet

Bunyaad Rug Room Summer Reading List

ByBunyaad

Expand Your World & Stay Woke

For over seven years, the Bunyaad Rug Room hosted Storytime on the Carpet every month. It was a time dedicated to expanding the world and having everyone see similarities and common experiences.

Books are transformative. Our staff remember many of the books they grew up with and reflect on how those favorite books opened the world to them.

This summer, we’d like to take our Storytime on the Carpet out of the Bunyaad Rug Room and into your homes. Here is a list of our favorite books straight off of our own bookcases.

 

Books shape our world view. Let’s make that world view one that listens, hears, sees and cares.

 

Dedicated to the belief that we can all do better, be better, live better. We owe our best to each and every child

from the dedication of Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

#BlackLivesMatter

 

Bunyaad Rug Room Summer Reading List

for kids and parents alike who work for justice & equality for all

We will be adding to this list throughout the summer as our own households keep reading and adding to the list. Check back often for more suggestions!

 

Young Kiddos

A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara
Counting on Community by Innosanto Nagara
Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi
Global Babies by the Global Fund for Children
No!: My First Book of Protest by Julie Merberg
Whoever You Are by Mem Fox
Daddy, Papa & Me by Leslea Newman
Circles of Hope by Karen Lynn Williams
Come with Me by Holly M. McGhee
Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis
Love Makes a Family by Sophie Beer
If Kids Ran the World by Leo & Diane Dillon
A Ride on Mother’s Back: A Day of Baby Carrying Around the World by Emery & Durga Bernhard
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold & Suzanne Kaufman
Happy Adoption Day by John McCutcheon
The Land of Many Colors by the Klamath County YMCA Family Preschool

 

Young Elementary & Middle School

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story about Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins & Ann Hazzard
Color of Us by Karen Katz
Say Something by Peter H. Reynolds
La Frontera: El Viaje con Papa/My Journey with Papa by Deborah Mills & Alfredo Alva
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and her Family’s fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh
The Well Made, Fair Trade series by Helen Greathead
Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall
Kid Activists: True Tales of Childhood from Champions of Change by Robin Stevenson
The Turtles of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye
Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola
Ada’s Violin: the Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay by Susan Hood
Mimi’s Village and How Basic Health Care Transformed It by Katie Smith Milway & Eugenie Fernandes
One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference by Katie Smith Milway
Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk & the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders
This is How We do It: A Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from Around the World by Matt Lamothe
The Barefoot Book of Children by Tessa Strickland & Kate DePalma
If the World Were a Village: A Book about the World’s People by David J. Smith
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell
Violet the Pilot by Steve Breen
Mirror by Jeannie Baker
The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth
Woolbur by Leslie Helakoski
This is Me: A Story of Who We Are & Where We Came From by Jamie Lee Curtis & Laura Cornell
Every Human Has Rights: A Photographic Declaration for Kids by National Geographic
Orange & Blue: The World of Barzu by Marina Abrams
Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different: True Tales of Amazing Boys Who Changed the World Without Killing Dragons by Ben Brooks
Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai
The Sandwich Swap by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls Volume 1 & 2 by Rancesca Cavallo & Elena Favilli

 

Middle School & Young Adult

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices by Wade Hudson
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-wining Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell
The Watsons Go To Birmingham –1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers) by Trevor Noah
The Green Bicycle by Haifaa Al Mansour
Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein by Jennifer Roy with Ali Fadhil
Let Your Voice Be Heard: the Life & Times of Pete Seeger by Anita Silvey
Herstory: 50 Women & Girls Who Shook Up the World by Katherine Halligan
Fearless Females: The Fight for Freedom, Equality & Sisterhood by Marta Breen
Follow Your Stuff: Who Makes it, Where Does it Come From, How Does it Get to You? by Kevin Sylvester & Michael Hlinka
The Lotterys Plus One by Emma Donoghue
The Lotterys More or Less by Emma Donoghue
The Power Book:  What is it, Who has it and Why? by Claire Saunders, Hazel Songhurst, Georgia Amson-Brandshaw, Minna Salami & Mik Scarlet
1001 Inventions & Awesome Facts from Muslim Civilization by National Geographic Kids
After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Non-Violent Resistance by Anne Sibley O’Brien & Perry Edmond O’Brien
It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going by Chelsea Clinton
Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds
A House Without Walls by Elizabeth Laird
The Omnivore’s Dilemma Young Reader’s Edition by Michael Pollan

 

Great Reads for Everyone (which is everything listed above plus the following)

A Different Mirror for Young People: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki
A Young People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
The Silk Roads: An Illustrated New History of the World by Peter Frankopan

 

We would like to give a shout-out to those local, independent bookstores that introduce young readers to books like these. We visit many of these bookstores as we travel out of pure love for the transforming power of the written word. There are many to list but some of our favorites are: Babar Books/Livres Babar in Pointe Claire, Quebec; Aaron’s Books in Lititz, Pennyslvania; Mabel’s Fables in Toronto, Ontario and Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

We also have great appreciation and respect for the reading guidance from these sites:

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