Anansi and the Talking Cloth by Caroline Brewer and Kwasi Asare (authors) and Ekua Holmes (illustrator) (Charlesbridge). “Anansi the spider lives in a city that’s hip. Weavers weave with their feet, hands, and fingertips. The leaves are always green; children dance and sing; hummingbirds always hum; drummers always drum.” Anansi is Chief Griot (the gatherer and sharer of stories), but when he turns his back on his village’s famed, handwoven kente cloth — whose vibrant colors and patterns embody everyone’s stories — will he listen to what the other spiders are trying to tell him about how vital the cloth is to the community and to Africa itself?

Hamburger Soup by Samantha Beynon (author) and Kelsey Fitzgerald (illustrator) (Harbour Publishing). “Do you know that when I went out on the fishing boat with Ye’e, we would see people having fry bread and hamburger soup all up and down the coast?” Grandmother asks her grandson, Simǥan. “And once when we visited our Tlingit and Metlakatla relatives in Alaska, they served us hamburger soup and fry bread made just the same way we do.” The recipes are deeply meaningful to the Indigenous Nisǥa’a people, which is why Grandmother is teaching them to Simǥan — and to readers!

Still Friends by Troy Wilson (author) and Mike Deas (illustrator) (Orca Book Publishers). “His new friend was off to a rocky start. She did not throw. She did not pet. Or walk. Or give treats. Not like his old friend. Not even close.” Still, the little dog can’t help but notice that his “friend” — a stone statue of a seated girl — is there for him in all kinds of weather, she never complains, and she never goes away. No pals are perfect, but maybe each is ideal in his, her, or its own way…