From the Page to the Stage!

Much Ado About Baseball
By LaRocca, Rajani

Loosely based on Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing, ” twelve-year-olds Trish and Ben should be automatic friends because they both play baseball on a Little League team in Comity, Massachusetts, and they both love solving math puzzles, but obstacles stand in their way.

I Think I love You
By Desombre, Auriane

Competing for a first-prize trip to a Los Angeles film festival, die-hard romantic Emma and her archnemesis, the practical-minded Sophia, find their frequent clashes turning into something more.

Abuzz
By Chase, Amy

Shakespeare’s beloved romcom Much Ado About Nothing gets a modern update with an LGBTQ cast and the same classic miscommunications! Feuding senior students Ben and Beatriz drag half of Messina High into their never-ending arguments, making things difficult as budding sweethearts Hero and Claudio are asked to pick sides in the battle. 

The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano
By Margarita Engle

Juan Francisco Manzano was born in 1797 into the household of wealthy slaveowners in Cuba. He spent his early years at the side of his owner’s wife, entertaining her friends. His poetry was his outlet, reflecting the beauty and cruelty of his world. Written in verse.

The Surrender Tree
By Margarita Engle

A collection of poems in which Rosa, a healer, describes her experiences trying to help Cuban peasants who have been forced to leave their farms and villages in 1896 and given eight days to find their way to “reconcentration camps” or be killed.

Your Heart, My Sky: Love in a Time of Hunger
By Margarita Engle

In Cuba’s “special period in times of peace” of 1991, Liana and Amado find love after their severe hunger gives both courage to risk government retribution by skipping a summer of labor to seek food. Told in their two voices plus that of the stray dog that brought them together.

Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey
By Rodriguez, Edel

Following a young Cuban American whose passion for reading becomes both refuge and compass, this story traces the tender, funny, and complicated journey of growing up between cultures. 

Akissi: Tales of Mischief
By Marguerite Abouet

Set in the vibrant rhythms of Côte d’Ivoire, this spirited tale follows a fearless girl whose daily adventures brim with humor, friendship, and unstoppable imagination. Her mischievous escapades highlight the warmth, community, and lively traditions that shape her world. As she dashes from one bold idea to the next, she discovers both the joy of belonging and the lessons tucked inside everyday trouble. It’s a celebration of childhood energy grounded in rich West African culture.

The Hunterman and the CrocodileBy Baba Wagué Diakité

Rooted in the rich oral traditions of West Africa, this tale follows a wise hunter whose compassion is tested after he rescues a boastful crocodile. Guided by the storytelling rhythms of the region, the journey blends humor, justice, and community wisdom. As animals debate right and wrong, the story celebrates ingenuity, moral lessons, and the enduring power of African folklore.

Emmanel’s Dream the True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah
By Laurie Ann Thompson

Born in Ghana, West Africa, with one deformed leg, he was dismissed by most people-but not by his mother, who taught him to reach for his dreams. As a boy, Emmanuel hopped to school more than two miles each way, learned to play soccer, left home at age thirteen to provide for his family, and eventually, became a cyclist. He rode an astonishing four hundred miles across Ghana in 2001, spreading his powerful message- disability is not inability. Today, Emmanuel continues to work on behalf of the disabled.

We Are Water Protectors
By Carole Lindstrom

Water is the first medicine. It affects and connects us all… When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth and poison her people’s water, one young water protector takes a stand to defend Earth’s most sacred resource. Inspired by the many indigenous-led movements across North America, this bold and lyrical picture book issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption.

Moon Song
By Michaela Goade

As a family goes to bed on a cold night, a young girl begins a story to ease her cousin to sleep. The tale unfolds as a walk through the world around them, illuminating the winter landscape and all who find solace in the quiet hours and tempering her cousin’s worries about the dark by urging him to “Come! Haagu! Follow the light.”

Johnny’s Pheasant
By Cheryl Minnema

Johnny and his grandmother are on their way back from the market when he spots “a small feathery hump” by the side of the road. It’s a pheasant, and Johnny insists that it is just sleeping, while Grandma suspects a more permanent state of rest. Minnema (Hungry Johnny), a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, gives the boy a sweetly inquisitive, playful disposition and an authentic voice, as when he exuberantly “hoot, hoot”s, anticipating the pheasant’s waking.

Firefly Season
By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Piper feels grateful for visits with her relatives, especially for the time spent with her cousins in Cherokee Nation and Muscogee Nation during summer vacations, fishing on misty mornings and playing on firefly-filled evenings. Piper’s family lives a road trip away in Kansas City. So when a neighbor named Sumi moves in next door, Piper is excited to share her stories and seasons with a new friend. 

And They Walk on
By Kevin Noble Maillard

A child remembers a late loved one in this emotionally centered picture book about the Indigenous concept of “walking on.” Contemplating where those who have walked on end up, the narrator wonders, “Did they go to the market to thump green melons and sail shopping carts in the sea of aisles?” 

Natsumi!
By Susan Lendroth

The festival of traditional Japanese arts is coming up, and little Natsumi’s big personality is too much for her family’s quieter traditions, until her grandfather introduces her to taiko drumming.

Dodsworth in Tokyo
By Tim Egan

behaved during a visit to Tokyo, although he does fall into the koi pond at the Imperial Palace and becomes the center of attention at a Sanja Festival.

1001 Cranes
By Naomi Hirahara

When 12-year-old Angela Kato arrives in L.A., the last thing she wants to do is spend the entire summer with her grandparents. But in the Kato family, one is never permitted to complain. Grandma Michi and Aunt Janet put Angela to work in their flower shop, folding origami and creating 1001 crane displays for newlyweds.

Jasmine Toguchi, Drummer Girl
By Florence, Debbi Michiko

Jasmine worries that she will be the only one with no talent to share in the school talent show until her mother brings out her taiko drum.