Lit! 5 New Books By Authors That Touch The Soul

You Don’t Have to Be Everything: Poems for Girls Becoming Themselves  Ages 12–18; Grades 6–12; Paperback; $14.95 US) by mother and activist Diana Whitney can be shared between parent and child to bridge generational divides and provide understanding through poetry’s unique ability to heal. A gift to young women experiencing the challenges of adolescence, the collection is filled with works by a wide range of poets—including Maya Angelou, Amanda Gorman, Nikita Gil, and Elizabeth Acevedo—who are honest, unafraid, and skilled at addressing the complex feelings of coming-of-age, from loneliness to joy, longing to fear, attitude to anger.

 

 

Being black in America is a beautiful thing; younger readers need to know this. ‘My Black Is Beautiful’ helps the young brown and black skin kindergarten through second grade readers grasp and understand, that everything in their lives goes along with how they look and feel about themselves. It is important that they know that their black skin, their black culture, and their black truth  is beautiful!

Author Johnson, who is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority’s Eta Nu Sigma chapter states, “The inspiration for this book comes from my son Josiah who I have taught to love the skin he is in, and I wanted the young readers to understand what it means to love their self no matter what others may think.” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092HNXNXH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_A0MTPBRYWPDXGG6M5JZY

Asian-American Attorney Mark Hsu pens Please Open in the Event of My Death:  A Father’s Advice to His Daughters in Case Something 

With the United States grappling anew with issues of diversity and inclusivity, there is perhaps a growing realization that there is a dearth of fresh, funny, and passionate Asian-American voices.  Evocative of  the film Minari, where immigrants confront a choice of assimilation vs. independence, and in the wake of a pandemic, as people have experienced a keener sense of mortality, Mark Hsu has written a book of advice addressed to his daughters but meant for us all.

A fear of flying led to this book.  A law firm partner in New York City, Mark was consumed with the unavoidable truth that if his plane went down during one of his business trips, his four- and three-year-old daughters would not remember a thing about him.  He proceeded to draw upon his work experiences and childhood spent in the U.S., Japan, and Italy as the only son of a deep-cover CIA spy:

“I wanted to write down all of the hard-won wisdom that many of us parents have accumulated by a certain age – why certain friendships last longer than others, how to deal with jealousy, using fear to your advantage, the power of appearance, what guys think when meeting women, parenting hacks – but I didn’t want to sound sanctimonious and unrealistic.  I wanted the advice to be relatable and grounded in real-world situations.”