Krishna Grady's Reading List

"We would say this is a book for middle grade, anywhere from third or fourth grade and up. We didn’t know we were making history, but it’s the first graphic novel that’s won the Newbery Medal. It’s great. “Craft just created this really intimate and relatable world that invites kids in and holds them there” It’s about a kid, Jordan Banks, who transfers to the Riverdale Academy Day School. He’s in seventh grade and he can’t help seeing privilege everywhere. He’s one of the few African American students in the school. The beauty of the story is that he’s regularly dealing with racism and microaggressions and bullying, but there’s also friendship and learning who you are, which is especially hard in middle school. Craft just created this really intimate and relatable world that invites kids in and holds them there. This book just rose to the top for us. Yes, and that was the beauty of it. It’s really hard to be the new kid, no matter who you are. The book was very relatable to kids across the board. I also just learned that Jerry Craft is working on New Kid number two, the continuation of Jordan’s story. So I’m very excited about that."

"This was such a surprising, deliciously wonderful book. It’s really horror for children. The beauty of it is that what’s scary to a fox is not quite so scary for children. It starts off with seven foxes and if they make it to the end, they’ve received all the information and everything they need to survive in life. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . It’s interesting that later on, after we had chosen all the books, we realized that every single one was about resilience, in some way. We were like, “Oh wow! That’s what’s happened there.” “It’s horror for children that isn’t so horrific that it will keep you up at night” The imagery and the writing are gorgeous. Christian McKay Heidicker really can forge a sentence like no one else. It’s about the language and how he put it all together. It’s horror for children that isn’t so horrific that it will keep you up at night. The horrors for foxes are things like rabies. Also, Beatrix Potter is a villain, which was very intriguing. We were surprised by this book, it was fun. Yes, they definitely do. Goosebumps is one of the major ones and then the old school Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark . That goes out like hotcakes year round, and not just during Halloween. I’ve been a librarian since 2011. Yes, I do. We’re seeing a lot more diversity in books and more hard-hitting subjects. There’s always been grief and World War II—lots of World War II—but now we’re dealing with different things because our world is changing. Also, the book are getting longer. I believe so. It comes up in all of these stories and there are also other stories about resilience for kids. It’s important. It maybe speaks to where we are as a nation, that it’s something kids really are going to need."

"Other Words for Home is a beautiful immigration story and it’s wonderfully written in free verse, which is very accessible to kids and is really becoming popular. The book explores themes of family and prejudice. We just felt that we hadn’t seen this story told in this way before, and it’s a very important story. The way she wrote, there are lines that just make you want to cry. But, at the end, she gets to find out what home truly means. I thought it was just very honest. Yes, so Jude and her mother have to flee from Syria for a new life in America. They have to live with Jude’s uncle and her cousin and we get a bit of the mean girl trope. But it turns out to be a misunderstanding on both sides. Her cousin wants to connect to that part of her heritage too. It just ends up a really great story about Jude’s resilience and learning from each other. It’s that anywhere can be home. Yes. We definitely would say that."

"Genesis Begins Again, we would say, is for 12 years and up. This book is definitely hard-hitting. The book tells the story of a 13-year-old called Genesis, who deals with colorism, self-loathing and problems like her father’s gambling and alcoholism. She has a list of 96 things she doesn’t like about herself. Her family keep getting evicted from their house so it’s hard for her to make friends. Once again, it’s middle school—it’s so hard to be in middle school! It’s just a really, really powerful book that I think kids in this age range haven’t really seen before. It really opened up questions and we thought it was beautifully written. Also, there’s hope at the end. It wasn’t just misery, misery, misery and all these awful things. She begins to see the possibility of her self-worth, which once again speaks to resilience. So we were very, very excited to have this as an honor book. I know, that first interaction. I was like, ‘Oh no, there is so much pain here. This is going to be a ride, this is a journey we’re going on.’ Yes, we all have that experience at middle school. Everything is changing for us, we’re hurtling towards adulthood, which can be frightening in itself. Then to have all these other things that seem insurmountable piled on you is just really hard. She does it in a beautiful, heartfelt way. It’s crazy. I guess we were all on the same page, we all saw the excellence in these books. It was quite shocking when they announced it, we were like, ‘I guess they saw what we saw in these books.’ It’s always surprising when that happens. Yes, a completely different group, because the Caldecott Medal is for illustrations. Genesis Begins Again won the new talent award. I was on the 2017 Newbery Medal Selection Committee. That was my first foray into being on a book award committee. Yes, I really did. I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything. It’s getting to talk to people, who are excited about books and are excited about stories for children. One of the reasons we love the award is because we feel it respects children. It lets children know that they’re seen and heard and that their stories matter. So I think everyone was just so excited to be part of it; I know they were excited to be part of it. It’s so hard. It was extremely tough for us as well. It’s like someone coming in from the public asking, ‘What do you have that I can read? I need a little readers’ advisory.’ We think this award is really important."