Arden Taylor – illustratör

Building walls that separate us from others is as old as humanity.

People have built walls to keep others out for thousands of years, from the Great Wall of China to Hadrian's Wall to security fences along the US-Mexico border. But did you know they've also been built to keep people in, to grow food, to control nature and to collect taxes? Sometimes they've helped people and kept communities safe, but they've also created inequity and done more harm than good. Why do we have walls at all?

Walls: the Long History of Human Barriers and Why We Build Them explores the many reasons humanity has put up walls over the course of our history, and why we continue building them today.

The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

★ “Moving and bittersweet…Discusses the reality of slavery and the racial violence and prejudice formerly enslaved individuals experienced.” — Booklist, starred review

In 1841, a 12-year-old enslaved boy, Edmond Albius, made history when he discovered how to hand-pollinate vanilla plants using a bamboo twig.

Until that time, only bees in Mexico could pollinate the plant—botanists couldn’t figure out another way. With his master, Edmond travelled around Réunion Island to share his technique, le geste d’Edmonde (Edmond’s gesture), which is still in use today. Despite his important achievement, as an enslaved person Edmond didn’t receive payment or recognition for his contribution to science, eventually dying in poverty after being freed from slavery in 1848. Today it is recognized that Edmond’s method of pollination was key to bringing vanilla to the world, helped to create a billion-dollar industry and gave us the flavor we love to use in cooking, baking, medicine and, of course, ice cream.

The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Community is essential for humans. But living together comes with challenges—challenges often solved by engineers!

Access to clean drinking water? Engineers did that. Managing garbage? Engineers too. Safe and comfortable places to live with electricity and running water? You got it, engineers. Engineers are also behind the communication and transportation networks that keep our communities operating smoothly. Oh, and advances in healthcare? You can thank engineers for those too.

Engineers have been shaping our world by designing and building amazing structures and machines for thousands of years. From ancient civilizations to modern metropolises, engineering inventions have been essential to human survival and prosperity. In Why Communities Need Engineers, young readers will discover how engineers have shaped life as we know it and how they make safer, greener and more livable communities.

The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Racism can make everyday things like going to a well-resourced school, accessing clean water and living in a safe community difficult or nearly impossible.

For Black people, some of their experiences of racism are unique to the Black experience and are either not shared by other racialized people or experienced differently. There are many reasons for this, and most of them are historic. Africans were largely first brought to North America in chains, and racism was used to justify their enslavement, abuse, imprisonment and control.

In Stop AntiBlack Racism, young readers will learn about the injustices Black people have faced throughout history and today. They will read about freedom fighters, civil rights leaders and resistance movements and come away with actionable steps to stand up, speak up and become a better ally in the ongoing fight against ignorance.

The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Praise for Nadia L. Hohn

★“Twenty-one kid-lit authors of color share a wide array of delicious recipes as well as personal experiences related to culture, race, and racism. Accompanied by vibrant illustrations, these story-recipe pairings demonstrate how intertwined food and identity are…The result is a thoughtful, beautifully designed work that fosters inclusivity and respect…A hearty meal that doles out both culinary delights and moving cultural insights.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review for The Antiracist Kitchen 

★“A celebration of diversity in the form of a cookbook...Aspiring kid chefs will enjoy trying out these original recipes. The author asks, “What if talking about racism was as easy as baking a cake?” With this book, it could be. Recommended for all libraries.” —School Library Journal, starred review for The Antiracist Kitchen