Hilda Eunice Burgos’s "Ana María Reyes Does Not Live in a Castle" is thoughtful and entertaining. Eleven-year-old Ana María is bright, talented, and precocious, the second child in a family with four—soon to be five—children. She... Read More

"The King of Escape" is a thoughtful story about growing up and letting go of past mistakes. In Mark Christopher Mathis’s powerful young adult novel, "The King of Escape", a young man copes with loss, pain, and guilt. Nicholas is a... Read More

"Alfonso and Leopold" is an appealing tale of rivalry and exploration. Patrick Lawrence’s charming picture book "Alfonso and Leopold" follows two brother wolf pups as they explore the Alaskan wilderness in search of the great wolf... Read More

Lee Wind’s insightful "Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill" follows fifteen-year-old Wyatt as he comes to terms with his sexual orientation, thanks to the surprising revelations of a class assignment on Abraham Lincoln. Wyatt is gay, but he... Read More

In Karina Yan Glaser’s "The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden", the thoroughly charming Vanderbeeker children return, and they’re up to their same, always well-intentioned antics. The Vanderbeekers love the other tenants with whom... Read More

Filled with exciting history and wonder, "The Spy with the Red Balloon" centers on Ilse and Wolf, two Jewish, German-American youths living in 1943. They have a closely guarded secret: there is magic in their blood. When the government... Read More

In Mischa Thrace’s intense "My Whole Truth", seventeen-year-old Seelie has just survived a vicious attack by killing her assailant. The worst of her physical injuries include a deep knife wound in her leg and a cut across her face that... Read More

R. L. Toalson’s heart-wrenching "The Colors of the Rain" traces a boy’s journey through incredible loss amid tense racial issues. In 1972, in Houston, Texas, Paulie Sanders’s father is killed after fleeing the scene of a bar fight.... Read More