Book Review
Gracie Becomes a Rock Star
"Gracie Becomes a Rock Star" jumps from a clever play on words into an easygoing family story. In Mazie H. Leftwich’s lighthearted and amusing picture book "Gracie Becomes a Rock Star", a girl transforms her family picnic by...
Book Review
Sleeping in My Jeans
Connie King Leonard’s emotional and intense "Sleeping in My Jeans" is led by Mattie, a determined sixteen-year-old who wants to go to college and get a good job so that she can help her six-year-old sister, Meg, do the same. Her plans...
Book Review
The XY
Virginia Bergin’s thought-provoking dystopia "The XY" explores what the world might look like if it was developed only by women. Over sixty years ago most men were wiped out by a virus. Those who remained were placed in sanctuaries for...
Book Review
Hearts Unbroken
When Louise Wolfe’s boyfriend makes disparaging comments about Native people, she breaks up with him. After all, she is part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and proud of it. But in the small Kansas town her family has lived in for just...
Book Review
Secrets of the Casa Rosada
Alex Temblador’s magical "Secrets of the Casa Rosada" follows Martha George, a sixteen-year-old girl whose rootless and impoverished life with her mother shifts. When Martha’s mom says they are going to Texas to visit her mysterious...
Book Review
Mammoth
Jill Baguchinsky’s outwardly lighthearted "Mammoth" comes with an important message. Natalie is a plus-size high school junior who blogs about fashion and paleontology. An opportunity for a summer internship at the Mammoth Site in...
Book Review
A Story Like the Wind
"A Story Like the Wind" is an ethereal and powerful story about freedom. Fourteen-year-old Rami is at sea on a small boat with a group of refugees. He wears a red scarf and carries his only possession, a violin. His fellow passengers ask...
Book Review
Weregirl: Typhon
"Weregirl: Typhon" is a fast-paced, intelligent story about a young werewolf and the family she is trying to maintain. Nessa and her siblings, Delphine and Nate, have come to live with their eccentric billionaire father, Daniel, after...