multicultural

Out of desperation, Saboor, who is a poor farmer in Afghanistan, sells his three year old daughter, Pari, to a wealthy couple living in Kabul. Pari's older brother, Abdullah, is completely distraught over the loss of his beloved sister. Pari grows up, not knowing or remembering her biological family, but a letter left for her by her deceased uncle reveals the details of the adoption and Pari is then able to search for the family she didn't know existed. A reunion occurs, but perhaps doesn't have the happy ending one might have hoped for. Hosseini is a wonderful storyteller. And the Mountains

This book is about love, racism, the immigrant experience and hair. Nigerian born Ifemelu arrives in America and blogs about her experiences as a non-American black person in the US. She leaves behind the love of her life, Obinze who has his own immigrant experience in England. In the end, she returns to Nigeria and to Obinze.

This memoir explores the life of Waris Dirie, recognized by many for her work as a model, and by others for her advocacy for human rights and a battle against female genital mutilation. The reader follows her from her early life as a nomad in the deserts of Somalia, to her difficult and sometimes dangerous journey to Mogadishu and eventually London. Working there as an underappreciated maid for her own family, she is "discovered", and sets off on an equally nomadic life as a model. Throughout her journey, Waris has to face the world with her own wits and tenacity. The best part of this story

This film is the perfect antidote to the evening news. Rather than dwelling on the grim or sensational, it magnifies the beauty of the quotidian as it follows a single day in the life of people all over the world. Not only visually stunning, it is also emotionally impacting to see the human race in all its variety and realize how different, and how very much the same, people can be.

Looking for a feel-good movie? Babies is a must-see documentary. Watch as four newborn babies from around the globe grow, learn, and love during their first year of life on this planet.

Each baby is born into a world full of different customs and opportunities, yet their universal humanity busts through cultural boundaries. Follow Ponijao from Namibia, Bayarjargal from Mongolia, Hattie from San Francisco, and Mari from Tokyo as each baby navigates his or her place in the world.

Whether it’s Ponijao sitting in the dirt pounding stones with his friend, Bayarjargal sharing his bathwater with

The day after Liyana experiences her first kiss, her father announces that he is moving the family from St. Louis, to his birthplace, Jerusalem. Liyana leaves everything she knows behind, and everything that won't fit in a few boxes and embarks on an adventure to experience a different kind of life.

In Jerusalem there are no white picket fences, or green lawns. Her father works as a doctor in a hospital, her mother stays home and Liyana and her brother are sent to different schools. Liyana carefully dips her toes in the sights, sounds, smells and tastes around her, soaking up the new culture

My daughters and I found this book especially fun to read. We all enjoy baseball, but we also love to learn about Japan (we have family there). My girls love learning words in Japanese, besides the fun comparisons on each page of differences between Japan and America. The art is funky and and exciting. - See more at: http://jocolibrary.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1226618036_take_me_out_t…

A man decides to craft a book of definitions for his disabled son and struggles to find the right words. For his inspiration, he reads the poems of William Blake – an unlikely choice for the down-to-earth job of defining things but ultimately one that offers an amazing treasure for readers – reading Blake through the lens of an author who makes his poetry accessible without sacrificing its otherworldliness.   

Interspersed among poetic musings is the story of Eeyore, the disabled son – from his birth with an attached second brain to him becoming a young man with a burgeoning talent for

Along with the long-forgotten contents of the basement of the Panama Hotel, Henry Lee’s memories of 1940’s Seattle are unearthed.  When new hotel owners start to renovate the boarded up, old Japanese-designed building they discover the personal belongings of numerous Japanese families who were interned during WWII. As a resident of Seattle’s Chinatown, just the other side of the Panama Hotel from Japantown, Henry witnessed first-hand the removal of the Japanese. His friendship with a Japanese classmate leads him to hold a special interest in the dusty belongings of one family in particular

Senna’s narrative is very much in the vein of Walls’ The Glass Castle or Bragg’s All Over But the Shoutin. It surpasses both for its examination, not only of Senna’s parents relationship, but for its exploration of identity today, yesterday and tomorrow.

Carl Senna is a black man born in the south when Jim Crow was alive and well. Fanny Howe, on the other hand, was born of eminent Bostonians whose histories are traceable back to the Mayflower. Of her parents’ divorce Senna says “The divorce was so ugly because the marriage was so unequivocally beautiful. My parents’ marriage had been steeped