Out when and where they shouldn't be on a chilly October night, Stella and her brother Jojo witness "[n]ine robed figures dressed all in white," gathered around a single wooden cross ablaze. In 1932, Bumblebee, North Carolina is small enough that most of the townspeople know one another,...
Still only 12, Jaden's life is about to undergo another major change: "his adoptive so-called parents were adopting another child, a baby boy from Kazakhstan. He figured he knew why they were adopting again: They weren't satisfied with him." Parents' hearts are going to be cringe-ing and...
"They're his roots, not mine," Mia insists as she seethes on a flight bound to Vietnam with her father. "I'm a Laguna Beach girl who can paddleboard one-legged and live on fish tacos and mango smoothies. My parents should be thanking the Buddha for a...
When Samantha Young swoops out of her father's dry goods store still angry from the news that they will soon be leaving Missouri for California – the exact opposite direction from New York – she couldn't possibly have realized that her life would literally be...
On the book's front cover, mega-bestselling Bone-creator Jeff Smith uses the word "wonderful." On the back, French Milk’s award-winning Lucy Knisley talks about "the wit and pen of someone well beyond her years." Inside, those blurbs get further expanded, followed by many more phrases of praise, including...
Having lived most of my life in cities, being temporarily stuck in a small ski resort town in the Wild West has been quite the challenge. Whenever I leave Dodge, I seem to take a good percentage of the diversity with me. When – shall...
Rad American Women A-Z is the first-ever kids' title in 60 years of "storied history" from San Francisco's iconic bookseller/publisher City Lights. What a way to grab attention ...
Naysayers: picture book this is, yes, but I guarantee that unless you happen to be a post-Civil War scholar, you'll have something to learn inside these informative pages. Here are four reasons why most of us need to read this book: First reason: history. We all should know more about Reconstruction – a "cultural blind spot," as Chris...
In case you've missed the recent headlines, Cuba has been in the news a lot: "We are separated by 90 miles of water, but are brought together through shared relationships and the desire to promote a democratic, prosperous, and stable Cuba," a recent official White...
In Latin, Deo gratias, means 'thanks be to God.' And yet in Belgian graphic artist/author J.P. Stassen’s arresting title of the same name, gratitude and God have all but disappeared. The titular Deogratias here was once a teenage boy – mischievous, a little desperate, in love with...
By age 4, Liz Prince knew something important about herself: she could be "totally happy as long as [she] didn't have to wear a dress." Before you pass any judgments, Prince explains at age 31, "I look like a total tantrum-throwing brat, which I wasn't...
"I WISH YOU WOULD BOTH JUST DISAPPEAR!!!" What child hasn't at least thought that about their parents at some point?! If you're half-witch, and half-human, and you actually voice such words really loudly on your 10th birthday – cake candles and all – you just...
After four novels, four poetry collections, editing an anthology (and multiple awards), Eric Gansworth – who is also a playwright and visual artist – takes on young adult fiction for his 10th title. His 7th-grade hero, Lewis Blake, calls the Tuscarora Reservation in upstate New...
Here's a narrative I haven't seen often: a not-yet-an-immigration story. Young Aref has one more week left to spend in his idyllic home in Muscat, the capital city of his native Oman. In too-few days, he and his mother will fly to the other side of the...
