Six New Things – Week of October 13, 2025
A pile of Children’s Books (+one teen graphic novel, one adult list link, and two adult reads) for upcoming seasons and holidays will brighten spirits, deepen awareness, and strengthen belonging.
Please see this week’s Support Simple Gun Control Great Idea for more adult conversation and engagement opportunities.
ONE
It’s never a wrong time to honor Indigenous Peoples – whether on the ‘official day’ (October 13, 2025) or not.
Becoming Kin author Patty Kramer returns with Bad Indians Book Club: Reading at the Edge of a Thousand Worlds (Broadleaf), ‘a potent challenge to all the stories settler colonialism tells’. Be sure to utilize the free discussion guide.- Academy Award nominee (and first North American Indigenous filmmaker to be nominated in the Documentary category), Julian Brave NoiseCat follows his film Sugarcane with We Survived the Night (Knopf), ‘a profound and unforgettable portrait of contemporary Indigenous life, alongside an intimate and deeply powerful reckoning between a father and a son’.
- And renowned author and Indigenous ecologist, Robin Wall Kimmerer, offers her first children’s book, Bud Finds Her Gift (Allida), which, ‘inspires readers to treasure nature’s generosity and the gifts each one of us can share with the Earth’. Could be a powerful new take on this year’s stewardship drive.
Find more in our Anti-Racism – Adults: Reading Indigenous Voices and Stewardship & Giving: Talking with Children lib guides.
All of these would also be appropriate for exploring Alternative Thanksgiving themes.
TWO
Close out Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15, 2025) with:
-
Vera La Valiente Is Scared (Beaming), which, ‘redefines what it means to be brave’. The accompanying activity kit and coloring sheet help kids share their feelings and fears – and learn that with help, we can face some of them. - Unique Like You (Beaming), which ‘transports readers to the colorful streets of Bogotá and encourages them to look at the world with curious eyes’. A glossary supports the Spanish/English narration.
- Refugee: The Graphic Novel (Scholastic) shares the story of Josef, a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany; Isabel, a Cuban girl whose family travels to the US on a raft in 1994; and Mahmoud, a Syrian boy who leaves his waitron homeland in 2015. Though ‘separated by continents and decades, shocking connections… tie their stories together in the end’.
Find more in our Multi-lingual, Identity & Diversity, Tweens & Teens Graphic Novels & Justice lib guides.
THREE
Celebrate LGBTQIA+ History Month (October 1-31, 2025) with Bookshop.org’s list of books for adults, including:
- Baldwin: A Love Story
- The Other Olympians
- Let the Record Show
And the Children’s Book Council list for children, youth, and YA.
Find more for all ages in our Relationships & Identity: 2SLGBTQIA+ lib guide.
FOUR
Quieter kids may appreciate One Can Be (Beaming), ‘an ode to introverts and quieter leaders’.
And this All Saints’ Eve and Day/Halloween, Gilbert and the Ghost (Beaming) offers ‘a ghostly tale of overcoming obstacles and finding friendship in mysterious places’. An Educator’s Guide inspires Social/Emotional Learning through several subject areas.
FIVE
Items in ONE may inspire memorable observances of Alternative Thanksgivings. For a multicultural approaches to a more ‘traditional’ Thanksgiving, see:
Thanksgiving Is a Blessing (Beaming), which ‘celebrates the holiday as an opportunity to be a our best selves’ while celebrating life amidst diverse community.- Two-List Thanksgiving (Beaming) wonders, ‘What does Thanksgiving dinner look like when both sides of [a Korean American] family come together?’ in a celebration of ‘the beauty of blessing traditions of all family backgrounds to create a truly multicultural holiday celebration’.
SIX
We can’t neglect Christmas – and the Winter Solstice:
The Littlest Solstice Tree (Beaming) is ‘told from the point of view of a small tree in the forest’ with themes of ‘intergenerational friendship, challenging the status quo, and youth bringing about change’.- The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t (Beaming) ‘invites readers to ponder how sometimes, when things are taken way, ti brings us closer to the heart of the holy mystery that still draws us into its warmth’.
- The Memory Tree: A Holiday Grief Book (Beaming), from the author of The Memory Box, ‘provides comfort to grieving families – whether for the first holiday celebrated after the loss of a loved one, or many years later’. The accompanying coloring sheet supports emotional processing and conversation.
