Gephart, Donna. LILY AND DUNKIN

Gephart, Donna.
LILY AND DUNKIN
New York : Delacorte Press, 2016
IL 5-8, RL 4.6
ISBN 0553536745


Lily loves the feel of her mother's dress.  But her father wants her to dress as Tim and act like a boy.  How can she ever convince him that she is really a girl?  Her mother and sister have accepted it but not her father.  So when he sees Lily dressed up, he is furious.  And the new boy on the block sees her as well.  When school starts, the new boy, Norbert Dorfman, is confused to meet Tim.  He was sure he had seen a girl who looked just like him.  Lily befriends Norbert and nicknames him Dunkin because he is always drinking Dunkin' Donuts coffee.  The two become friend but Dunkin is recruited to join the basketball team because of his height.  These are the boys who are making Lily's life miserable.  When Lily confides in Dunkin about her desire to live openly a a girl, will that change everything?  And what is Dunkin hiding from everyone?

Podcast: https://spark.adobe.com/video/BJyL498B

WHAT YOU WISH FOR : STORIES AND POEMS FOR DARFUR

WHAT YOU WISH FOR : STORIES AND POEMS FOR DARFUR

New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2011
IL YA
ISBN  0399254544

What Your Wish For: A Book for Darfur is a collection of writing and art from an international roster of some of the best authors and artists who are currently working.  Authors like Meg Cabot and Alexander McCall Smith, Francisco Stork, Naomi Shihab Nye, Jeanne DuPrau, Joyce Carol Oates, Nikki Giovanni, Karen Hesse, Cornelia Funke, Ann M Martin, Meg Cabot, R.L. Stine, Jane Yolen, Gary Soto, Nate Powell, Cynthia Voigt -- have all donated their work to this project.  Each piece explores wishes – some are funny, some are creepy, some are inspiring – but all are linked by the universal power of a wish, the abstract things we wish for: home, family, safety and love.

The book was created to raise awareness of the plight of the Darfuri refugees forced to live in camps in eastern Chad.  And funds from sales of the books go toward granting the Darfuri’s wishes – building libraries in the refugee camps.  Their wish is that children growing up in refugee camps will become educated about good and evil and their history and their future, and will therefore be less likely to be recruited as child  soldiers.

What You Wish For is a thoughtful book that sheds light on an important international tragedy. But readers will also become exposed to some very fine writing that will encourage them to continue to read more of these authors’ works.   (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)