New YA Nonfiction from Twenty-First Century Books and Zest Books | Spring 2023 Preview

Join us to learn about our forthcoming young adult nonfiction titles from Lerner Publishing Group!

Walls and Welcome Mats: Immigration and the American Dream
Examine the United States' history of immigration, as well as the backlash that so many immigrants have faced, while also understanding the optimism that leads people to seek a better future in a new land.


Roads to Family: All the Ways We Come to Be
Examine—and appreciate—the many ways in which people can create a family. This informative compendium goes beyond the basics of sexual reproduction to examine the diversity of methods people use, including in-vitro fertilization, surrogacy, adoption, and more.


The Big Backyard: The Solar System beyond Pluto
Deep space holds materials left over from the formation of the solar system. Astronomers have been making exciting discoveries on the outermost fringes and the New Horizons spacecraft brings new insights into the origins of the sun and planets.


Nearer My Freedom: The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano by Himself
Explore Olaudah Equiano's life story—his childhood in Africa, enslavement, liberation, and life as a free man—through "found verse," a creative approach to primary source analysis. The authors selected excerpts from Equiano's autobiography to create the poetic retelling, adding annotations to deepen understanding.


Men of the 65th: The Borinqueneers of the Korean War
Nicknamed the Borinqueneers, the 65th Regiment was the envy of generals and the pride of Puerto Rico. How could a regiment known for honorable service in two world wars lay down their arms and refuse to fight in the Korean War? 


Thank you for listening!

Music credits
"Farm" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/  

Transcript

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okay so first on the tfcb list is walls and all commands um here author uh and former public school ESL teacher Lars Ortiz explores the history of immigration in the United States from before the country was born to government policies such as the Chinese Exclusion Act to the building of a wall along the U.S Mexico border uh migration the act of moving from one place to another is one of the most natural traits that all human beings and animals share seeking better food and safe shelter is born out of a survival Instinct yet the crossing of borders is at once both controversial and hopeful walls and welcome mats examines the backlash against immigration in the form of xenophobia and nationalism as well as the optimism that leads people to seek a new life in future the traditional Narrative of how kids come into the world leaves out many of the ways today's families come to be author of public health professional and health Communications specialist Rachel genocio tackles this by weaving together the science of human reproduction with family narratives that include single parent lgbtqia plus Blended cohabitating adoptive extended Foster and many others readers will learn about the science behind donors surrogates IVF and the Myriad of ways 21st century families are built and constructed giving preteens and teens a more complex understanding of family creation um a follow-up to the tfcb title natural satellites the big backyard looks at the backyard of our solar system some of the most exciting news in astronomy in the past two years has been the discoveries of being made on the outermost fringes of our solar system including images returned by the New Horizons spacecraft after it flew past Pluto along with the data that has expanded our knowledge of the formation of the Sun and its planets author and illustrator Ron Miller a member of the NASA fine arts program and a regular contributor to magazines such as astronomy and Scientific American takes readers to the distance distant Kuiper belt in the orc Cloud home to hundreds of thousands of icy bodies and more than a trillion comments these regions hold materials that are just now being explored and readers will learn about the exciting new insights into the origins of the sun and the planets that is the tfcb list and then we are over to zest on the first title is Nearer My Freedom um of the millions of Africans enslaved during the transatlantic slave trade most have been rendered silent their personal stories are unknown to us and Scholars working to correct this are now tracing names on ship manifests exploring family histories investigating cultural artifacts and tracking down every lead possible among those who were able to leave us stories one of the most well-known is olauda equiano through his 1789 autobiography using that autobiography as a source text near my freedom authors and Educators Monica Edinger and Leslie young share equiano's life story in found verse supplemented with annotations that give readers context and historical background about what is happening in the poems this book follows equiano from his birth in Western Africa and his enslavement at a young age to his Liberation and his work as an abolitionist the 65th Infantry Regiment is a Puerto Rican regiment in the United States Army that has served in both World Wars the Korean War and others the men of the 65th were awarded 10 distinguished service crosses 256 silver stars 606 bronze stars and 2771 purple hearts during the Korean War which made them one of the most decorated regiments in the war however company L of the boring caneers were also part of the largest court-martial after a series of discriminatory or orders resulted in 162 soldiers being arrested the facts of the Court martial were not made publicly known and the soldiers families found out months later when the men started to write home from prison eventually the reasons for the court martial were found to be discriminatory and everyone was pardoned in men of the 65th author Talia Aikens Nunez tells the stories of the soldiers successes and failures during the war in the face of discrimination examines the racial injustices the men faced as they served and covers the receipt of the Congressional gold medal from President Obama in 2014.