2017-2018 Star of the North Nominees

• Good Night Owl by Greg Pizzoli
• Hippos are Huge! by Jonathan London, illustrated by Matthew Trueman
• I Will Not Eat You by Adam Lehrhaupt, illustrated by Scott Magoon
• Lost. Found. by Marsha Diane Arnold, illustrated by Matthew Cordell
• Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins
• The Night Gardener by Terry Fan and Eric Fan
• One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Woman of Gambia by Miranda Paul, illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon
• Their Great Gift: Courage, Sacrifice and Hope in a New Land by John Coy, photographs by Wing Young Huie
• *Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie, illustrated by Yuyi Morales
• Yard Sale by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Lauren Castillo

*NOTE: When discussing Native American people and their names/naming ceremonies, teachers are sometimes interested in having students create their own Native American names. This trivializes Native American history and culture and also lacks the understanding and recognition that there are over 500 federally recognized Native American tribes/nations in the U.S., each with distinct cultural traditions, languages and naming practices within them. Unfortunately, in the book, the author does not specify the nation/tribe to which the family identifies so it lacks that specificity and may convey the message that all tribes have the same naming traditions and ceremonies. To learn more, read Debbie Reese’s Towards a Common Understanding of Native Peoples in the U.S. (or, Why Alexie’s THUNDER BOY JR. Needs a Note to Readers) here: https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2016/05/towards-common-understanding-of-native.html.

Note taken from Anti-Defamation League’s Book of the Month 3 / November 2016 / © Anti-Defamation League
Full Document here: http://www.adl.org/assets/pdf/education-outreach/book-of-the-month-thunder-boy-jr.pdf