Sometimes all you need is a keepsake to make any place feel like home.

Aurelia has left her home, and her beloved grandmother — Abuelita — to move to Canada with her mother. At first she's excited about her new neighbourhood with the big trees. She loves her room, which Mami says she can paint any colour she wants. And she's looking forward to starting school and making new friends.

But school isn't what she expected. Some of her classmates tease her for being different, and she's left out of schoolyard games. She ends up feeling quite alone. With the help of a blanket Abuelita has given her, and the love it signifies, Aurelia returns to school with a new perspective and makes a true connection.

Inspired by the author's own experiences, this story is a touching and age-appropriate depiction of what it's like to experience racism and exclusion, and what it means to find friendship. (From North Winds Press)

Leonarda Carranza is a writer who was born in San Salvador and is currently based in Brampton, Ont. Her debut picture book, Abuelita and Me, won the International Latino Book Award. Carranza also co-edited the anthology, Tongues: On Longing and Belonging Through Language. Her other children's books include Fighting Words, illustrated by Erika Rodriguez Medina.

Erika Rodriguez Medina is a Mexican illustrator, art instructor and book publicist living in Vancouver. She has illustrated a number of children's books including Fighting Words, Margot and the Moon Landing, 48 Grasshopper Estates and Adela's Mariachi Band.