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The 2017 National Book Award Winner for Young Readers is a story of three teens, told by the three teens—Grace, Maya, and Joaquin. They each live in a different family, they know they’re adopted, but only Grace knows she has siblings. Grace sets out to find her siblings, and possibly their mother in this honest story of love and family.
In this delightful introduction to counting, a young boy rejoices in the living treasures of his own front yard - and it might just make you want to rake a pile of leaves and jump in, too!
Sugar and spice and all things nice? Wrong. This is a gritty novel showing the erasure of women. Nina’s mother says there’s no such things as unconditional love. Nina’s mother is an art historian specializing in Renaissance virgin saints. This underlies Nina’s experience.
Sisterhood, romance, immigration, assimilation from India, Ghana, London, New York—five women of three generations come of age.
Fabiola Toussaint, with her mother is on her way from Haiti to Detroit to start a new life with her aunt and cousins. But her mother is detained by ICE in NYC. Fabiola carries on to Detroit and finds that her aunt—at one time in control of the extended family--is now disabled. Chantal, the eldest, is wise but she’s only about 20. The twins are still in high school, where Fabiola joins them, falls in love and . . .
Through Jule’s eyes we see her relationship with fellow orphan Imogen. Imogen is rich, Jule is poor. Both are pretty. They’re living a jet-setting life that few of us will ever know. Both are powerful—Imogen is charismatic, Jule has extreme athletic prowess. The book starts at the end and works to the beginning.
Sister and brother meet as pre-teens in Cuba, after being separated for ten years by 90 miles of ocean and laws restricting travel. American Edver (originally verde or green) is sent to Cuba for the summer to live with his father, grandfather, and his sister Luza (originally azul or blue), who he didn’t know existed. Told in verse, Engle explores opposing cultures, technologies in this eco-adventure.
Amanda keeps a huge secret that endangers her life—she used to be Andrew. She was born a boy and has transitioned to being a girl. She needs a fresh start so she moves from Georgia to Tennessee to live with her father—but it’s still in the South. If that’s not dangerous enough, a football player, Grant, at her new school is falling in love with her—and she with him. How will her secret be revealed?
How can a bedtime tale be soothing, fun, and exciting all at the same time? Jacqueline Leigh pulls it off in her beautifully crafted debut picture book, Time for Bed with Ford and Red.
Where does your chocolate come from? Where do the cacao pods grow? Who harvests it, ferments it, transports it? Why is there “fair trade” cacao? This suspenseful story about young people from Mali and Ivory Coast—teens who are kidnapped into slavery explains a lot and might change what chocolate you do eat.
Hermione is raped, but she won’t be a victim. She doesn’t want people looking at her thinking, Oh, that poor girl. She isn’t going to let this stop her from finishing school—but this year, her senior year, was supposed to be her best ever. She’s co-captain of the cheerleading squad along with her best friend Polly, who is a dream-of-a best friend. Thank heavens.
How Calvin handles a move to the country, an annoying little brother who gets very sick, a new friend who won’t talk about her mother and all the other things an eleven-year-old has to contend with makes this an engaging read. Calvin learns a lot about himself and his relationships while he struggles to deal with the realities of life.
