Lion Island: Cuba's Warrior of Words

9 best books like Lion Island: Cuba's Warrior of Words (Margarita Engle): A Time to Dance, The Grief Keeper, Pay Attention, Carter Jones, Front Desk, The Night Diary, Stef Soto, Taco Queen, The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets, Mary, Who Wrote Frankenstein

A Time to Dance

Author	Padma Venkatraman
ISBN	0399257101

Padma Venkatraman’s inspiring story of a young girl’s struggle to regain her passion and find a new peace is told lyrically through verse that captures the beauty and mystery of India and the ancient bharatanatyam dance form. This is a stunning novel about spiritual awakening, the power of art,...

The Grief Keeper

Author

Alexandra Villasante

This stunning YA debut is a timely and heartfelt speculative narrative about healing, faith, and freedom.

Seventeen-year-old Marisol has always dreamed of being American, learning what Americans and the US are like from television and Mrs. Rosen, an elderly expat who had employed Marisol's...

Pay Attention, Carter Jones

Author

Gary D. Schmidt

Carter Jones is astonished early one morning when he finds a real English butler, bowler hat and all, on the doorstep—one who stays to help the Jones family, which is a little bit broken.

In addition to figuring out middle school, Carter has to adjust to the unwelcome presence of this new know-it-all...

Front Desk

Author	Kelly Yang
ISBN	1338157795

Mia Tang has a lot of secrets.

Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests.

Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner,...

The Night Diary

Author	Veera Hiranandani
ISBN	0735228515

It's 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries: Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders.

Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn't...

Stef Soto, Taco Queen

Author

Jennifer Torres

Estefania "Stef" Soto is itching to shake off the onion-and-cilantro embrace of Tia Perla, her family's taco truck. She wants nothing more than for her dad to get a normal job and for Tia Perla to be put out to pasture. It's no fun being known as the "Taco Queen" at school. But just when it looks like Stef is...

The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora

Author

Pablo Cartaya

Save the restaurant. Save the town. Get the girl. Make Abuela proud. Can thirteen-year-old Arturo Zamora do it all or is he in for a BIG, EPIC FAIL?

For Arturo, summetime in Miami means playing basketball until dark, sipping mango smoothies, and keeping cool under banyan trees. And maybe a few...

Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets

Author

Kwame Alexander

I’m in the minority here because I wasn’t thrilled by this collection so I’ll be as brief as I can. I am a fan of Kwame Alexander, who along with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth wrote poems in response to some of their favorite poets, including Maya Angelou, Bashō, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sandra...

Mary, Who Wrote Frankenstein

Author	Linda Bailey
ISBN	1770495592

The story of the girl behind one of the most well-known novels -- and monsters -- ever, perfectly timed for the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein.

How does a story begin? Sometimes it begins with a dream, and a dreamer. Mary is one such dreamer, a little girl who learns to read...