Elizabeth Zunon’s evocative oil paintings and cut paper collages add power to Carole Boston Weatherford’s compelling picture book biography (for grades 2 and up) about the brilliant actress, singer, and civil rights activist Lena Horne. The book whisks the reader along as it shows how Horne, as a child, lived out of a suitcase as […]
Fabiola “Fabulous” Toussaint and her mother were on a plane to America from Haiti with the hopes of a better life; however, those plans were derailed when Fabiola who is a US citizen gets through customs and her mother does not. Fabiola has arrived alone in Detroit, a new world, with new slang, ruthless vagabonds, […]
Many realistic middle grade novels try to tackle complex issues and do it quite well. Add to the list of successful titles The End of the Wild, a heartfelt look (for grades 4 and up) at an 11-year-old girl named Fern who lives near a forest and loves the animals, plants, and natural foods she finds […]
Castle Crenshaw, a middle schooler who calls himself Ghost, knows how to run. But after an Olympic medal-winning track coach recognizes his talent and recruits him, Ghost finds himself facing completely new challenges: a schedule, teammates, and the demands of being on a team. Despite some heavier themes, Ghost is funny, charming, and perfectly captures how huge and overwhelming […]
There’s one word Julia, never says out loud anymore. In fact she tries not to even think it. Short. Julia is tired of being short, called short and excluded because she’s short. While summer has just kicked off for Julia, she’s not really excited for it. She’s still mourning the loss of her beloved dog, […]
Wow, what a wildly exciting sci fi action novel (for adrenaline fans starting in Grade 5 and up) this is! This promising, action-packed start to the Chronicle of the Dark Star series takes us to the year 2213 and introduces us to Liam who lives with his scientist parents on Mars (Earth is no more). […]
In Elana K. Arnold’s poignant and fast-paced chapter book (great for 3rd to 5th graders), a 10-year-old autistic boy with the nickname of Bat befriends a baby skunk. His veterinarian mother brings home the orphaned kit and Bat’s world changes. He wants to spend every moment caring for the little critter, and discovers that he […]
A world where there is no disease, no hunger and jumping off buildings and being sent to revival centers are some people’s only source of fun sounds perfect, right? Wrong! There is nothing perfect about Scythes who are commanded to control population growth by murdering random people. Citra and Rowan find themselves in the middle […]
A compulsively readable and fast-paced story about a man whose family have been miners below the surface of Mars for generations. They believe they are helping to terraform Mars so it will one day be inhabitable for others, but Darrow discovers it’s all a lie – Mars has been habitable for centuries, and his people […]
“When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off […]
