List

Chicago Public Library Best Picture Books of 2021
Parents Magazine October 2021 Book of the Month

A sensitive story about food insecurity.

Molly and her mom don't always have enough food, so one Saturday they visit their local food pantry. Molly's happy to get food to eat until she sees her classmate Caitlin, who's embarrassed to be at the food pantry. Can Molly help Caitlin realize that everyone needs help sometimes?

Winner of the 2020 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award.

Instead of giving him lunch money, Rex’s mom has signed him up for free meals. As a poor kid in a wealthy school district, better-off kids crowd impatiently behind him as he tries to explain to the cashier that he’s on the free meal program. The lunch lady is hard of hearing, so Rex has to shout.

Free Lunch is the story of Rex’s efforts to navigate his first semester of sixth grade—who to sit with, not being able to join the football team, Halloween in a handmade costume, classmates and a teacher who take one look at him and decide he’s trouble—all while wearing secondhand clothes and being hungry. His mom and her boyfriend are out of work, and life at home is punctuated by outbursts of violence. Halfway through the semester, his family is evicted and ends up in government-subsidized housing in view of the school. Rex lingers at the end of last period every day until the buses have left, so no one will see where he lives.

Unsparing and realistic, Free Lunch is a story of hardship threaded with hope and moments of grace. Rex’s voice is compelling and authentic, and Free Lunch is a true, timely, and essential work that illuminates the lived experience of poverty in America.

An Instant New York Times Bestseller

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.

As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”

As Elizabeth Gilbert writes, Robin Wall Kimmerer is “a great teacher, and her words are a hymn of love to the world.” The Serviceberry is an antidote to the broken relationships and misguided goals of our times, and a reminder that “hoarding won’t save us, all flourishing is mutual.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer is donating her advance payments from this book as a reciprocal gift, back to the land, for land protection, restoration, and justice.

Hunger continues to be an international problem. This true story of how one ordinary person did something extraordinary shows how everyone can do something to make a difference.

Readers will feel encouraged to find their own way to make a difference. Real life experience plus social justice interests combine into a powerful solution, filling empty bellies with nourishing food, all without costing a lot of money. Recycling meets hunger in John van Hengel’s ingenious, yet obvious solution to both food waste and widespread hunger.

This important book "weaves lyrical storytelling and fascinating research into a compelling narrative" (San Francisco Chronicle) to look at dietary differences along class lines and nutritional disparities in America, illuminating exactly how inequality starts on the dinner plate.

Inequality in America manifests in many ways, but perhaps nowhere more than in how we eat. From her years of field research, sociologist and ethnographer Priya Fielding-Singh brings us into the kitchens of dozens of families from varied educational, economic, and ethnoracial backgrounds to explore how--and why--we eat the way we do. We get to know four families intimately: the Bakers, a Black family living below the federal poverty line; the Williamses, a working-class white family just above it; the Ortegas, a middle-class Latinx family; and the Cains, an affluent white family.

Whether it's worrying about how far pantry provisions can stretch or whether there's enough time to get dinner on the table before soccer practice, all families have unique experiences that reveal their particular dietary constraints and challenges. By diving into the nuances of these families' lives, Fielding-Singh lays bare the limits of efforts narrowly focused on improving families' food access. Instead, she reveals how being rich or poor in America impacts something even more fundamental than the food families can afford: these experiences impact the very meaning of food itself.

Packed with lyrical storytelling and groundbreaking research, as well as Fielding-Singh's personal experiences with food as a biracial, South Asian American woman, How the Other Half Eats illuminates exactly how inequality starts on the dinner plate. Once you've taken a seat at tables across America, you'll never think about class, food, and public health the same way again.

A moving picture book biography about chef José Andrés, who, along with his World Central Kitchen organization, is sure to inspire kids to help out in their own communities.

A National Council of Teachers of English Recommended Book

José Andrés’s love of cooking began as a young boy in Spain as he gathered the wood to make the fire that would cook the paella just right. José loved everything about it: the sizzling olive oil, the mounds of chopped vegetables, and the smell of saffron. When he left home, he realized he wanted to tell stories with food. And tell them he did, creating magic with the seeds of ripe tomatoes and pomegranates and cheese. His dreams grew until they were as big as the stars in the sky. He thought, No one should ever go hungry. I want to help feed the world-- and World Central Kitchen was born.

From the earthquake in Haiti to the war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic, José and his team at World Central Kitchen have been at the frontlines, serving more than 200 million meals and counting, and bringing comfort and hope in the darkest times.

With a lyrical text and stunning illustrations, here is a picture book biography about a world-renowned humanitarian and chef that’s sure to inspire a new generation of community helpers.

Be sure not to miss our Spanish-language edition, Un plato de esperanza.

FOREWORD BY LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA AND LUIS A. MIRANDA, JR.

The true story of how a group of chefs fed hundreds of thousands of hungry Americans after Hurricane Maria and touched the hearts of many more

Chef José Andrés arrived in Puerto Rico four days after Hurricane Maria ripped through the island. The economy was destroyed and for most people there was no clean water, no food, no power, no gas, and no way to communicate with the outside world.

Andrés addressed the humanitarian crisis the only way he knew how: by feeding people, one hot meal at a time. From serving sancocho with his friend José Enrique at Enrique’s ravaged restaurant in San Juan to eventually cooking 100,000 meals a day at more than a dozen kitchens across the island, Andrés and his team fed hundreds of thousands of people, including with massive paellas made to serve thousands of people alone.. At the same time, they also confronted a crisis with deep roots, as well as the broken and wasteful system that helps keep some of the biggest charities and NGOs in business.

Based on Andrés’s insider’s take as well as on meetings, messages, and conversations he had while in Puerto Rico, We Fed an Island movingly describes how a network of community kitchens activated real change and tells an extraordinary story of hope in the face of disasters both natural and man-made, offering suggestions for how to address a crisis like this in the future. 

Beyond that, a portion of the proceeds from the book will be donated to the Chef Relief Network of World Central Kitchen for efforts in Puerto Rico and beyond.

From beloved Governor General Literary Award--winning author Susin Nielsen comes a touching and funny middle-grade story about family, friendship and growing up when you're one step away from homelessness.

Felix Knuttson, twelve, is an endearing kid with an incredible brain for trivia. His mom Astrid is loving but unreliable; she can't hold onto a job, or a home. When they lose their apartment in Vancouver, they move into a camper van, just for August, till Astrid finds a job. September comes, they're still in the van; Felix must keep "home" a secret and give a fake address in order to enroll in school. Luckily, he finds true friends. As the weeks pass and life becomes grim, he struggles not to let anyone know how precarious his situation is. When he gets to compete on a national quiz show, Felix is determined to win -- the cash prize will bring them a home. Their luck is about to change! But what happens is not at all what Felix expected.

A kind and generous grandparent-grandchild duo nourishes their neighborhood in this full-color picture book from New York Times bestselling author Toni Buzzeo and illustrator Zara González Hoang.

Pa and his grandchild, Jelly Bean, have a sidewalk library filled with stories. Anyone can bring donations or take something to read. Jelly Bean loves the sidewalk library! But what about when their neighbors might need something more than books?

Together, Pa and Jelly Bean build a sidewalk pantry right next to the sidewalk library. They get donations from neighbors who have a lot to give, and leave the doors open for those who may not have enough.

This charming multigenerational story celebrates community, generosity, and creative problem-solving.

"Nothing less than astonishing..."—Booklist (starred review) 

From a renowned international journalist comes a galvanizing international bestseller about mankind's oldest, most persistent, and most brutal problem—world hunger. 

There are now over 800 million starving people in the world. An average of 25,000 men and women, and in particular children, perish from hunger every day. Yet we produce enough food to feed the entire human population one-and-a-half times over. 
So why is it that world hunger remains such a deadly problem?

In this crucial and inspiring work, award-winning author Martín Caparrós travels the globe in search of an answer. His investigation brings him to Africa and the Indian subcontinent where he witnesses starvation first-hand; to Chicago where he documents the greed of corporate food distributors; and to Buenos Aires where he accompanies trash scavengers in search of something to eat.

An international bestseller when it first appeared, this first-ever English language edition has been updated by Caparrós to consider whether conditions that have improved or worsened since the book's European publication. 

With its deep reflections and courageous journalism, Caparrós has created a powerful and empathic work that remains committed to ending humankind's longest ongoing crisis.

From Onjali Q. Rauf, acclaimed author of The Boy At the Back of the Class, come two poignant tales of modern-day heroism, featuring supermarket theives, a visit with the Queen, and plenty of laughs!

Ten-year old Ahmet, once known as the "Boy at the Back of the Class", became the Most Famous Refugee Boy in the World when he and his friends stood up for refugee children like him all over Britain. But they're just getting started! 

THE DAY WE MET THE QUEEN
Ahmet and his friends have been invited to tea—by none other than the Queen of England herself! But when their journey is unexpectedly interrupted by an old enemy, it will take some quick thinking and an ingenious plan to make it to the palace—and the queen—on time.

THE GREAT FOOD BANK HEIST
On Thursdays, Nelson, Ashley and Mum head out to the food bank. With its shining cans and boxes of food stacked from floor to ceiling, Nelson thinks it’s the best kind of bank there is. But there’s a thief in town, and the shelves of the food bank are getting emptier each day.

One thing is for certain: someone has to put a stop to the robberies. And Nelson and his friends plan to do just that, with a daring supermarket stake-out that's sure to catch the Food Bank Theives—if they don't get found out first!

In this two-novella collection, discover kid heroes making a difference in the world, featuring old friends and some new classmates you won't want to leave.

Winner of:
2014 Christopher Award, Books for Young People
2014 ILA Primary Fiction Award
2015 MLA Mitten Award Honor
Human Rights in Children's Literature Honor

With humor and warmth, this children's picture book raises awareness about poverty and hunger

Best friends Sofia and Maddi live in the same neighborhood, go to the same school, and play in the same park, but while Sofia's fridge at home is full of nutritious food, the fridge at Maddi's house is empty. Sofia learns that Maddi's family doesn't have enough money to fill their fridge and promises Maddi she'll keep this discovery a secret. But because Sofia wants to help her friend, she's faced with a difficult decision: to keep her promise or tell her parents about Maddi's empty fridge. Filled with colorful artwork, this storybook addresses issues of poverty with honesty and sensitivity while instilling important lessons in friendship, empathy, trust, and helping others. A call to action section, with six effective ways for children to help fight hunger and information on antihunger groups, is also included.