Here are 66 books that Maybe Something Beautiful fans have personally recommended if you like
Maybe Something Beautiful.
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I think a lot about being welcoming, especially in regard to caring for our neighbors and teaching our children that we are all responsible for each other. Picture books are a wonderful way to teach those lessons and show concrete actions we can take. Books are windows to look into the lives of others with empathy and curiosity. I am a childrenâs author, but I am also a mom trying to raise caring kids and a neighbor trying to serve my community through the Little Free Pantry and Little Free Library I steward. Hosting a refugee family in my home was another way I could show compassion and fight against hate.
I love how this book exudes warmth and kindness by showing how a diverse group of neighbors of all ages and backgrounds comes together to care for a sick neighbor who usually cares for them.
This book celebrates multiculturalism, kindness, and friendship while also sharing the traditions of Shabbat. The illustrations are as warm and inviting as the message, and the Shabbat stew neighbors end up cooking!
âAs warm and comforting as a bowl of cholent, this does a fine job of showing how the American mosaic can also be a satisfying whole.â â Booklist (starred review)
When Goldie Simcha doesnât joyfully throw open her door to welcome everyone into her apartment for a meal of her famouscholent, her neighbors wonder what could be wrong. Little Lali Omar knocks on the door to 5-A, only to learn that Goldie was feeling too sick on Friday to cook, and everyone knows you canât make cholent in a hurry, right away, chik chak! But it just isnât Shabbat withoutâŠ
I think a lot about being welcoming, especially in regard to caring for our neighbors and teaching our children that we are all responsible for each other. Picture books are a wonderful way to teach those lessons and show concrete actions we can take. Books are windows to look into the lives of others with empathy and curiosity. I am a childrenâs author, but I am also a mom trying to raise caring kids and a neighbor trying to serve my community through the Little Free Pantry and Little Free Library I steward. Hosting a refugee family in my home was another way I could show compassion and fight against hate.
I love how this sweet book shows neighbors coming together to help in even the most stressful of times.
Not only do the different neighborsâfrom trees to animals to peopleâhelp the house find a new âhatâ (roof) during a storm, they all weather that storm together, and the house finds ways to help his neighbors too.
Kids learn that they can get through tough times with the help of friends. The warm illustrations also convey the range of emotions experienced in the book and show that it is OK to have all those feelings. I also love that the authorâs motivation for writing this story was her experience of leaning on friends and family during her cancer treatment.
An uplifting picture book debut about community and hope after a damaging storm.
One windy day, House's hat blows clean oïŹ his head!
His friends are happy to help, but nothing they try seems quite right. Then the wind gets even stronger and thunder rumbles, making House wonder how he can keep his family safe and if he'll ever feel quite like himself again.
But just in time, more neighbors come to pitch in. And they have a plan for a new hat that fits him perfectly.
Sweetly illustrated and studded with humor, this tale of community is perfect forâŠ
I think a lot about being welcoming, especially in regard to caring for our neighbors and teaching our children that we are all responsible for each other. Picture books are a wonderful way to teach those lessons and show concrete actions we can take. Books are windows to look into the lives of others with empathy and curiosity. I am a childrenâs author, but I am also a mom trying to raise caring kids and a neighbor trying to serve my community through the Little Free Pantry and Little Free Library I steward. Hosting a refugee family in my home was another way I could show compassion and fight against hate.
I love how this childrenâs book does not shy away from addressing acts of hate and bigotry, and how scary and sad that can be for kids.
The author writes in a sensitive and age-appropriate way, ultimately crafting a story of hope, resilience, and community coming together.
Beautiful collage illustrations from Selina Alko show a diverse group of neighbors from all backgrounds working to not only repair a vandalized synagogue, but make a young Jewish girl feel safe and proud of her heritage. I think this is a great introduction to the harm of antisemitism and the power everyone has to fight it.
A girl's community joins hands to fight intolerance in this richly illustrated picture book that sings with hope for young readers.
Leila loves going to Hebrew school and hearing stories of mighty kings and quick-witted queens. Being Jewish is a part of her story, and learning Hebrew connects her to her ancestors. L'dor V'dor! From one generation to the next!
But when Leila's synagogue gets vandalized, she isn't sure what she wants. Something that used to make her feel special now just makes her feel different.
Then Leila's classmates and community come together to repair the synagogue. This compassionate gestureâŠ
The four performance works documented in this book were each built through advance planning and spontaneous decisions, in response to the opportunities and constraints I anticipated and experiences in the process of composition. Each depends on live improvisation to verbalize content, themes, and manner throughout the performance itself.
I think a lot about being welcoming, especially in regard to caring for our neighbors and teaching our children that we are all responsible for each other. Picture books are a wonderful way to teach those lessons and show concrete actions we can take. Books are windows to look into the lives of others with empathy and curiosity. I am a childrenâs author, but I am also a mom trying to raise caring kids and a neighbor trying to serve my community through the Little Free Pantry and Little Free Library I steward. Hosting a refugee family in my home was another way I could show compassion and fight against hate.
I love that this book clearly communicates the message that each person is part of something bigger than themselves: a community.
But I also love that the author acknowledges that the feelings we have as individuals matter too. The better we feel inside, the better we are able to care for others, including friends, family, and our communities.
Kids will love the warm and friendly illustrations by Peter H. Reynolds, and adults will appreciate the important social-emotional learning this book fosters.
1
author picked
I Am We
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
4,
5,
6, and
7.
What is this book about?
Cultivate connection and kindness in I Am We, a companion to the New York Times bestsellers I Am Human and I Am Love
We are part of something bigger than ourselves, and when we each turn our goodness and compassion outward, we can create, learn, and love.
Sometimes we may wonder, how does caring for ourselves help anyone else? But then we realize that the better we feel inside, the more we can be there for others-our friends, families, and communities.
From the New York Times bestselling team behind the I Am series comes a celebration of caring for ourselvesâŠ
So often when things are going wrong in the worldâwar, natural disasters, pollution, poverty, diseaseâI feel really overwhelmed, and sometimes hopeless. That's when I seek out stories like these, about ordinary people (like me!) doing extraordinary, heroic things. It inspires me simply knowing these people exist, and it empowers me to do somethingâjust one small act can snowball and generate terrific change. I, too, can help create goodness in the world by paying attention, giving my time and other resources, and joining with others. For every heartbreaking news story, there's a beautiful one waiting to happen. Every one of us has the potential to be a hero.
The city of San Diego, California, is lush and leafy now in large part due to the efforts of tree-loving Kate Sessions, who in the early 1900s missed the redwood forests of her childhood when she relocated to dry, dusty San Diego. A scientist and naturalist, she procured seeds from experts far and wide to find species that might thrive in San Diegoâand she started planting. She used the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park as a reason to plant thousands more trees that residents, wildlife, and visitors enjoy to this day. No one told Kate to plant all those trees; she did it because she wanted to make the world a brighter, more beautiful place.
Unearth the true story of green-thumbed pioneer and activist Kate Sessions, who helped San Diego grow from a dry desert town into a lush, leafy city known for its gorgeous parks and gardens.
Katherine Olivia Sessions never thought sheâd live in a place without trees. After all, Kate grew up among the towering pines and redwoods of Northern California. But after becoming the first woman to graduate from the University of California with a degree in science, she took a job as a teacher far south in the dry desert town of San Diego. Where there were almost no trees.âŠ
I am fascinated by all that was happening in the world before WWII. Amidst a silent, looming economic collapse, many social norms were turned on their head, women broke out of their molds, and art, literature, technology, and music all flourished. And a heady mix of cultures blended not altogether seamlessly to influence the Roaring Twenties like no other decade before it. The juxtaposition of this exciting yet challenging tumult lures me into reading books and writing immigrant-forward stories about this periodâand as an author with deep roots in the bootâI particularly enjoy doing so through an Italian lens.
Veering away from fiction for a moment, this is a true crime tale set in the Jazz Age in San Diego. Flappers and playboys and actors in Hollywood during Prohibition, oh my! The biggest question this narrative nonfiction book doesnât answer, though attempts to, is who killed the dancer, Fritzie Mann? A sensational story that was splashed on newspapers across the nation in the 1920s that I happened to stumble on last year. A tragic unsolved homicide by the sea that had me gripped from the get-goâand thatâs saying something for someone not usually drawn to true crimeâthis book reads like a novel and should be a movie.
This âfast-paced, thoughtful true-crimeâ examines the cultural shifts of Jazz Age America through a beautiful dancerâs mysterious and scandalous death (Kirkus, starred review).
In January 1923, twenty-year-old Fritzie Mann left home for a remote cottage by the sea to meet a man whose identity she had revealed to no one. The next morning, the dancerâs barely clad body washed up on Torrey Pines beach, her party dress and possessions strewn about the sand. The scene baffled investigators, and abotched autopsy created more questions than it answered. However, the investigation revealed a scandalous secret.
How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist
by
Caroll Michels,
This updated and revised classic handbook puts to rest the popular myth of the starving artist. There is plenty of room to make a living â if artists take an active stand in promoting their careers and learn how to navigate the often-bewildering corridors of power that lead to successâŠ
As a transplant to California, albeit more than 50 years ago, I am still fascinated by what makes this place at the edge of the Pacific so unique. It has accepted so many people, from so many places over a fairly recent period. I always feel I can deduce more history from well rendered characters set in specific times and places. Their wholeness and their meaning, as well as that of their culture, are to be found in literature.
In San Diego, âLittle Angelâ visits his half-brother, the patriarch of a large Hispanic clan at what they both suspect will be his last birthday party. âBig Angel,â grew up in Mexico and Urrea treats us to the story of his life, how he won his wife, how he ended up in San Diego. âLittle Angel,â the author, tries to locate himself in this family, though he is half Gringo.
I loved the deep honesty that goes on in this family gathering, the fun and the sorrow. And it certainly locates the reader in place, in time, and in a culture. All of Urreaâs books are amazing.
"All we do, mija, is love. Love is the answer. Nothing stops it. Not borders. Not death."
In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party. But as the party approaches, his mother, nearly one hundred, dies herself, leading to a farewell doubleheader in a single weekend. Among the guests is Big Angel's half brother, known as Little Angel, who must reckon with the truth that although he shares a father with his siblings, he has not, as a half gringo,âŠ
Iâm an animal person. A lot of my writing, for readers ages 10 and up, features animals. I am intrigued by the intersection of research-based reality and fiction. When I speak at schools, I love sharing ways students can make their voices and actions count. They can make the world better. I believe some of our best human traits are brought out when we interact with animals. They connect us to the natural world while sharing so many human qualities. Between the lines in these books about animals, we can discover strength and the inspiration to be the best humans we can be.
This is a nonfiction picture book that the whole family can love about the unlikely bond between a stray dog and a Marine deployed in the Iraqi desert. I love both the text and the photos that show us the real Nubs and his buddy Brian.
Iâm a sucker for dog stories anyway, but one about a dog and his Marine really touches me. As a Vietnamese friend once said to me, âThere are no winners when war comes to you.â But Nubâs story shows us there can be moments of happiness and acts of kindness in the harshest circumstances. The dogâs persistence in finding his person is inspiring. I love that.
1
author picked
Nubs
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
6,
7,
8, and
9.
What is this book about?
Major Dennis first met Nubs, a German Shepherd-Border Collie Mix and the leader of a pack of desert dogs, while patrolling one of the Iraqi border forts. Eventually, Dennis and Nubs formed a bond, strengthened by the fact that Dennis nurtured the dog back to health after a near fatal injury. When Brian's team relocated a full seventy miles away, he received an unlikely visitor: Nubs. Miraculously, the dog had trekked solo through below-freezing desert temperatures to find his favorite marine. With an outpouring of help from family and friends, Dennis raised enough money to transport Nubs back to SanâŠ
As a quiet and very shy child, I found myself sitting alone reading books rather than playing with other kids. My love for reading at the time was restricted to childrenâs books like The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe or Roald Dhal stories until I upgraded to Enid Blyton Books and Mills & Boon romances as a teen. It wasnât until I reached my twenties when I actually found the genre I loved. It was through my love of these stories I came to realise I didnât have to hide anymore, and my love for these stories planted a small seed in my mind that I would have the courage to write my own.
After learning that âmemoirsâ were a thing and since Iâd grown up with a troubled background myself, I wanted to find out if there were stories written by black women who had struggles in life, neglect, or abuse. After intense research I came across this and was not disappointed. Not only does Cupcake experience abuse from a very young age, she becomes an orphan, ends up as an addict and a member of a notorious gang before turning her life around. The emotions of her story are so real and raw, I felt her journey in my heart as the reader.
'Phenomenal woman' The Oprah Magazine 'Dazzles you with the amazing change that is possible in one lifetime.' Washington Post
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This is the heart-wrenching true story of a girl named Cupcake Brown.
Orphan, runaway, addict, all before she was twenty. That's when things got really interesting...
Cupcake was just eleven years old when, orphaned, she entered the child welfare system. Moved from one disastrous placement to the next, like so many, she was neglected and sexually abused.
She fed her appetite for drink and drugs by selling the only thing she had. Her body. Before long she had stumbled headâŠ
They say that we begin by imitating what we love and find our personal themes in the process, and thatâs certainly been true for me. I grew up reading horror and fantasy and now I write realistic fiction with something deeper and darker always throbbing under the surface. My subjects can be contemporary, like Nightmare, with Angel or The Spirit Box, but Iâve had some of my biggest critical successes with historical fiction. Iâve had parallel career paths in books and TV, each often crossing with the other, but itâs in the novels and short stories that youâll find me uniquely invested.
Tom Reamyâs first novel was also to be his last. Its carnival sideshow setting is reminiscent of Geek Love, Nightmare Alley, and much of Ray Bradbury, but with a poignancy and sense of place that set it apart. I can guarantee that youâll never forget Angel, the mute, blind flying boy. Reamy was an active genre critic, editor, and convention organiser for at least two decades before he began submitting the fiction heâd been working on in private. Its impact was immediate but he saw little of its success, struck by a heart attack while working on a story at the age of 42. For me his legacyâthis novel, and the collection San Diego Lightfoot Sue and Other Storiesâequal that of many a more prolific author.
"It was a time of pause, a time between planting and harvest when the air was heavy, humming with its own slow warm music." So begins an extraordinary fantasy of the rural Midwest by a winner of the John W. Campbell, Jr., Award for best young science fiction writer. One summer day in the 1920s, Haverstock's Traveling Curiosus and Wondershow rides into a small Midwestern town. Haverstock's show is a presentation of mysterious wonders: feats of magic, strange creatures, and frightening powers. Three teenage girls attend the opening performance that evening which, for each, promises love and threatens death. TheâŠ
