Icon: Must Read

The Firefly with No Glow

Luke is a firefly who lives in a garden, but unlike his friends, Luke doesn’t have a light and “no light means no glow.” As Luke and his friends explore the world, Luke’s friends help him. But one night, a boy catches Luke’s friends and puts them into a jar. None of the other fireflies can help, but because Luke doesn’t glow, the boy doesn’t see him. Luke frees his friends. While he doesn’t have a light that glows, after he helps his friends, Luke is glowing with pride.

By reading The Firefly with No Glow, children can fly into the world of the fireflies and explore. Every page has illustrations that show the adorably cute fireflies who live in a beautiful world full of creatures—an owl in a tree, ladybugs on a leaf, and crickets playing a song. Young readers will have fun trying to find all the creatures in the illustrations. Most of the full-page illustrations show the dark blue night sky which allows the fireflies light to shine bright. When the fireflies are trapped in a jar, their frowns are evident, but the scenes are not scary.

The Firefly with No Glow is part of the Step into Reading level two, which is geared toward preschool through first grade readers. With large font and 1 to 2 short sentences per page, young readers will enjoy the simple story. However, some readers will need help sounding out unfamiliar words.

The story focuses on Luke, a firefly who is different than the other fireflies. However, it is Luke’s difference that allows him to save his friends. While Luke doesn’t have a light that glows, he is portrayed in a positive light. The Firefly with No Glow highlights how one firefly’s difference makes him the perfect firefly to help his friends. The cute, engaging story will leave readers with a warm glow and help them understand that being unique is a good thing.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • A boy “catches a few of Luke’s friends. They are trapped in a jar.” Every firefly that tries to help, gets caught by the boy.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

I Believe I Can

From the moment she starts her book, I Believe I Can, Grace Byers writes a dedication of encouragement to her readers: “There will always be one person who might not believe in you; let that person never be you.” These words set off a first-person narrative of “I can” affirmations.

As the reader dives into the pages of I Believe I Can, they are sent into the narrative as the first-person character; a character with the imagination to accomplish a list of feats including sailing, stretching like the Alps, igniting like a rocket, or building the world up, brick by brick. The narrative describes all the extremes that a person can be: grounded, boundless, brave, loud, right, wrong, and strong. Through these adjectives, the reader understands that they may encounter stumbles along their path and that they may not always be perfect, but that ultimately, believing in oneself is the key to getting up and trying again whenever one falls down.

I Believe I Can by Grace Byers is a book of empowerment for young readers at the very beginning of their road towards understanding themselves and accomplishing new feats. In colorful penciled drawings by Keturah A. Bobo, readers follow along with a diverse cast of children dancing ballet, playing in pirate ships or astronaut helmets, dressing up in silly costumes, planting greenery, and decorating cakes. The book even shows the children making mistakes—like drawing in crayon on their house walls— to relate to the mistakes readers themselves may have experienced.

Byer’s diction is simple, the sentence length is short (at most five sentences per page), and most pages are a set of two-sentence rhyming couplets. There is no complicated plot to follow, as the story is more focused on accumulating powerful “I” statements that readers can use throughout their daily lives. In addition, Bobo’s drawings often add animation to the subjects described in Byer’s phrases. For example, when a rocket is mentioned, there is a drawing of a rocket made from building blocks. In this way, the powerful encouragements and detailed drawings will be suitable for any reader looking to study new words and rhyming sentences on their own.

After reading this book, all youngsters will feel encouraged to dive into the activities they love and believe in themselves as they tackle new things in their life—including reading. I Believe I Can by Grace Byers ultimately shows readers the importance of lifting yourself up, and the way believing in yourself can lead to a power you never knew you had.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Hannah Olsson

Tristan Strong Destroys the World

Tristan Strong has returned to his normal life, away from the mythological worlds of Alke and MidPass, where he just helped save African American and African folk heroes and gods from the malevolent King Cotton. But Tristan is suffering from PTSD, and trying to acclimate is more difficult than it looks. Unfortunately for Tristan, his troubles are far from over. A cloaked entity kidnaps Tristan’s Nana in the middle of the night, forcing Tristan to descend back into the world of Alke and MidPass while dealing with his past trauma.

United by new and old characters, Tristan Strong Destroys the World is a solid sequel to the first installment, Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky. Tristan’s adventures in this book build nicely on the historical and mythological references that Kwame Mbalia established previously. The references to King Cotton, Brer Bear, and the impending doom hanging over Alke and MidPass are meant to reflect on the real-life consequences of the effects of the Atlantic slave trade on African traditions and culture.

Tristan’s role as the Anansesem, or magical storyteller, quite literally brings these folktales to life. The book emphasizes the power of stories and story-keeping as a method of preservation and healing. Although these themes are similar to the previous book, this time Tristan must deal with a new kind of trauma. After watching many of his new friends in Alke and MidPass get injured or die in the previous book, Tristan now faces the aftermath. Tristan’s reckoning with his mental health is mirrored in the villain Brer Bear, who is also dealing with loss but in a much more destructive way than Tristan.

Kwame Mbalia does an excellent job conveying the connections between Tristan’s world and the worlds of Alke and MidPass. When Alke suffers, so does Tristan’s world. The connection emphasizes the historical and mythological links to Tristan’s life and his grandparents’ lives. Tristan’s grandparents, especially his Nana, take on a larger role in this book. When Tristan’s Nana was younger, she frequently traveled to Alke, so she knows many stories and helps Tristan collect folktales.

The events of Tristan Strong Destroys the World lead to a cliffhanger, leaving the reader wanting to discover the next part of the story. The violence shown in this book is not gory, but certain scenes may scare some younger readers. The next book, Tristan Strong Keeps Punching, should continue these adventures and Tristan’s journey through understanding his trauma. Tristan’s story may be based on the folklore and stories that people share, but there is always a seed of truth in these fictitious tales.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Tristan practices boxing with his grandfather, who is much better than Tristan. As a result, Tristan occasionally gets “punched in the face” during bouts.
  • Through his phone, Tristan sees into Alke, the mythological land where the previous book took place. Tristan sees John Henry, one of the legendary folktales, talking to a mysterious figure, who attacks John Henry. Tristan describes, “The monster swung the hammer down in a vicious arc, and the screen went black.” Nothing else is described, and at this point, it is unknown if John Henry survives.
  • Tristan boxes a local boy named Reggie and beats Reggie. Later, Reggie and Tristan argue, and Tristan gets mad. He “shoved the larger boy in the chest with one hand.” But because Tristan is wearing John Henry’s magic boxing gloves, Reggie flies “backward across the barn . . . a dozen yards” away.
  • Tristan and his grandmother freeze time by accident. Tristan realizes that his grandmother is weaving a magical tapestry, while two large cats try to attack her and Tristan. As they are the only two that can move and defend themselves, Tristan tries to stop the cats while his grandmother finishes her tapestry. When Tristan is too late to stop one of the cats, his grandmother throws the tapestry over the cat to kill it. As a result, Tristan’s grandmother is injured. Tristan describes, “She dropped back onto the ground, sending torn pieces of quilt scattering like dead leaves as she clutched her chest.”
  • A monster known as the Shamble Man kidnaps Tristan’s grandmother. The Shamble Man “tossed her over his shoulder like she was as light as a pillow. She fought him. Somehow she’d grabbed her quilting bag and was smacking the Shamble Man upside the head with it.” Unfortunately, the Shamble Man succeeds in kidnapping Tristan’s grandmother, and Tristan must travel to save her.
  • Tristan interrupts the legendary Keelboat Annie while she’s speaking. In response, Tristan’s friend Ayanna “shut [him] up by jabbing [his] foot with her staff.”
  • Ayanna’s friend, Junior, throws a rock at Tristan’s head. Tristan describes, “Something flew through the air and beaned me in the back of the head.”
  • Tristan fights a giant vulture named Kulture Vulture. Tristan describes that he “threw a flurry of punches. Several connected. Kulture Vulture’s bald pink head snapped back, and flecks of mud went flying.” This scene lasts for a few pages.
  • Tristan, trying to distract and humiliate Kulture Vulture, “slapped the giant bird.” This scene is played as a comedic moment, as Kulture Vulture is trying to eat Tristan and Tristan switches fighting tactics. Tristan uses this moment to signal for Ayanna and Junior to throw rocks at Kulture Vulture. This scene lasts for a few pages.
  • The Shamble Man is Brer Bear in disguise. Tristan discovers this, and Brer Bear attacks Tristan. Tristan says, “The giant grizzly exploded across the dance floor, one massive paw lifting me off the ground by the throat and slamming me against the wall behind me, driving the breath out of my lungs and causing pain to shoot through the back of my skull. Ayanna screamed and Junior was knocked aside by Bear’s other paw.” A fight scene ensues for several pages.
  • A final fight ensues between Tristan and his friends against Brer Bear, who is trying to destroy MidPass, Alke, and Tristan’s world. Brer Bear has John Henry’s magical hammer and uses it to attack Tristan. At one point, Tristan “ducked, but the hammer clipped the side of [his] shoulder and sent [him] tumbling head over heels into the waves.” The fight lasts for a couple of chapters.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Light language is used somewhat often. Language includes: loser, trash, butt, loudmouth, clown, stupid, jerk, and fool.
  • Tristan’s friend Ayanna makes a joke about Tristan’s fear of heights. Tristan replies, jokingly, with “a rude gesture.” They both laugh afterward.
  • Tristan’s favorite exclamation is, “Sweet peaches!”
  • Keelboat Annie yells for Ayanna and Tristan to hold onto their “dirt-loving derrieres.”
  • Tristan calls the Kulture Vulture a “foul-mouthed birdbrain.”
  • Tristan and his friends call various monsters names while fighting them. For instance, Tristan and Gum Baby fight a giant called Big Big. Tristan yells at Big Big and calls him “Butt Butt.” Gum Baby has a slew of nicknames for Big Big, including “Bing Bong.”
  • Ayanna calls Brer Bear a “mangy-furred cretin.”
  • Gum Baby spends lots of her time yelling creative insults at her companions. Gum Baby calls Tristan and the others “bumbletongues” and “dunderheads,” for instance.

Supernatural

  • Tristan explains that in the previous book, he punched a hole into a different realm where “Black folktale heroes and African gods walk around like you and me . . . I accidentally brought a diabolical haunt with me, stirring up an even more ancient evil . . . I caught Anansi trying to use all the confusion to gain power for himself instead of helping the people, and this was his punishment.” Many of the folk heroes and gods from the previous book return in this installment, including legends such as John Henry.
  • Tristan explains his role as an Anansesem, “a carrier and spreader of stories,” which is his magic power. Tristan can bring stories to life.
  • Anansi, the mythological spider, makes ghosts appear in Tristan’s grandparents’ barn. All the spirits are from Alke, the mythological land where Tristan’s adventures in the previous book took place. Tristan explains that Alke is “the realm of stories where Black folk heroes and African gods coexisted—peacefully now, I hoped.”
  • Tristan returns to the lands of Alke and MidPass. In these worlds, Tristan is surrounded by magic creatures and magic itself. For instance, Tristan reunites with the “winged goddesses,” Aunt Sarah and Aunt Rose.
  • Tristan’s Nana tells him a story about boo hags, who are “creatures who slip their skin off at night” and “sit on your chest and suck the air from your lungs” while you sleep. Tristan discovers that boo hags exist in Alke and MidPass, and he helps one named Lady Night steal her skin back from a giant named Big Big. Nana also tells Tristan that one way to keep away a boo hag is to call upon a root witch to make a ward to keep boo hags away.
  • Lady Night turns Big Big into a “large wrinkly-skinned weasel” with her magic.
  • Mami Wata, a water goddess, shows Tristan a vision. Mami Wata shows Tristan MidPass as it once was and declares, “It is as it should be.” The vision lasts for a couple of pages.
  • The malicious entity fueling Brer Bear’s hatred is King Cotton’s mask, from the previous installment in the series. It’s a magical mask that “glows green” and feeds on negative emotions already within the being.

Spiritual Content

  • Tristan remembers the words to an “old spiritual” tune as he faces Brer Bear in a final showdown. The song goes, “Who’s that young girl dressed in blue?/ You don’t believe I’ve been redeemed/ Just so the whole lake goes looking for me . . .” These are the lines that Tristan tells the reader.

by Alli Kestler

The Heart and the Bottle

A young girl, much like any other, finds herself fascinated with the world surrounding her. From the sea to the sky and everything in between, the young girl finds herself continuously curious about everything the world carries—that is, until the world no longer carries something very important: a loved one who has recently passed away.

To reconcile the emotions that come with this passing, the young girl decides her best option is to bottle away her heart. But as she grows older, the girl quickly finds that lugging her heart around in a bottle is not just cumbersome, but it also drains the girl’s ability to stay curious about the world.

When the girl finally feels that it is time to free her heart from its bottle, it will take another curious, young girl to help her find the solution to freeing her heart.

The Heart and The Bottle tackles the complicated topic of grief through a touching metaphor. Bright illustrations show what words find hard to describe. For example, the passing of the main character’s loved one is not told explicitly through the story. Rather, it is conveyed through an illustration of the girl looking at an empty chair that the loved one sat on earlier in the book. In this way, the illustrations of the book capture the inarticulable moments in a child’s life, whether it’s a trip through their wide-reaching imagination or an attempt to conceptualize grief and death in a healing way.

Even though The Heart and The Bottle is a picture book, the story is intended to be read aloud to a child, rather than for the child to read it for the first time independently. The writing itself contains some larger words that may be harder for a young reader to work out on their own, but the number of words per page is sparse, averaging about one to eight sentences per page. Additionally, a number of pages in this narrative do not rely on words at all, but instead communicates the relationship with the young girl and her loved one through text bubbles filled with illustrations of plant life, galaxies, bees, whales, and other compelling aspects of the world.

The sparse text and elaborate illustrations show the ways in which this book seems to be a space for conversation; the illustrated pages without words grant room for parents and their children to talk about the images on the page. In so doing, The Heart and The Bottle gives all readers the chance to understand a way to move through grief while maintaining a fervor and love for the surrounding world.

Though perhaps a heavier read, The Heart and The Bottle tackles the difficult topic of grief in a kid-friendly manner. In addition, it gives a vital message to young readers experiencing grief for the first time. The Heart and The Bottle lets all readers know that it is okay to feel things intensely, it is okay to take time to heal, but most importantly, it’s okay to allow yourself to stay vulnerable and curious to the surrounding world despite the events that may come your way.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • There is no violence, but it should be noted that there is a reference of a family’s members death that is illustrated through an empty chair and the words, “She took delight in finding new things . . . until she found an empty chair.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Hannah Olsson

Sophie’s Squash

One fall day, Sophie makes a surprising friend during her family’s sunny trip to the local farmers’ market. The friend just happens to be a squash. Sophie calls her Bernice. At first, Sophie’s parents let Sophie care for and love Bernice—taking her to storytime at the library, introducing her to the other squash at the market, practicing somersaults in the garden, and tucking baby Bernice into a crib at night with a bottle. “Well, we did hope she’d love vegetables,” Sophie’s parents humorously justify. However, as Bernice begins to get older and rot, Sophie’s parents try to convince Sophie to cook Bernice, or send her to a food donation site. Even the other children during library storytime look down on Bernice as she ages. However, Sophie is not ready to ever give up her perfect friend—so when Bernice begins to soften and can no longer do somersaults, Sophie makes the difficult decision to put her in a bed of soft soil and wait for Bernice to grow again.

Sophie’s Squash is a wonderfully gentle tale that not only teaches children how to care for the things that they love, but also shows readers how letting go can sometimes lead to new possibilities. Miller thoughtfully weaves her story of Sophie and Bernice alongside whimsical watercolor illustrations in which illustrator Anne Wilsdorf fully showcases Sophie’s somersaults, Bernice’s baby carriage rides, and multiple family trips to the farmers’ market. Even though Sophie’s Squash is longer than most picture books, two or three illustrations sit on each page and break up the text so that there is no more than five to ten lines between each image. The watercolor illustrations also work to bring the entire narrative to life, so viewers still gain a complete grasp of the story by looking only at the pictures. This, coupled with the digestible nature of Miller’s prose, makes Sophie’s Squash perfect for new and learning readers.

Throughout all the quirky shenanigans of Sophie’s Squash, Sophie’s character shines with a heroic agency and independence. Sophie’s care towards Bernice turns this silly story about a girl and a squash into a truly heartwarming story about friendship, care, and even environmentalism. By exemplifying the new path Sophie must take in order to regrow her friend Bernice, Sophie’s Squash creates a powerful metaphor demonstrating the wondrous things that can come from putting something else’s needs— particularly the needs of nature— before your own.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • One of the children at the library points and stares at Bernice, saying to Sophie, “What’s that spotty thing?” In the narrative, this question takes on a teasing tone that may be hard for some children to read.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Hannah Olsson

Willodeen

Eleven-year-old Willodeen adores creatures of all kinds, but her favorites are the most unlovable beasts in the land; strange beasts known as “screechers.” The villagers of Perchance call them pests– even monsters– but Willodeen believes the animals serve a vital role in the complicated web of nature.
Lately, though, nature has seemed angry indeed. Perchance has been cursed with fires and mudslides, droughts and fevers, and even the annual migration of hummingbears, a source of local pride and income, has dwindled. For as long as anyone can remember, the tiny animals have overwintered in shimmering bubble nests perched atop blue willow trees, drawing tourists from far and wide. This year, however, not a single hummingbear has returned to Perchance, and no one knows why.

When a handmade birthday gift brings unexpected magic to Willodeen and her new friend, Connor, she’s determined to speak up for the animals she loves, and perhaps even uncover the answer to the mystery of the missing hummingbears.

Willodeen is a wonderfully relatable character who feels as if she’s odd and unlovable because she would rather spend time in nature than with people. Like many middle school readers, Willodeen is often self-conscious and struggles to find her voice. Many people make fun of Willodeen’s love of screechers because they don’t understand why she loves the ugly, smelly creatures. However, when Willodeen meets Connor, they connect over their love of all creatures. In the end, Willodeen becomes the heroine of the story when she uses her power of scientific observation to solve the town’s problem, saving the screechers in the process.

Through Willodeen’s experiences, readers will learn about the importance of community. When the town is threatened by fire, everyone joins in to help put the fire out. The theme is developed further when Willodeen and Connor go to the city council meetings—where both Willodeen and Connor find the bravery to speak up for the detested screechers. Readers will love how Mae, Birdie, and Connor’s father stand up for Willodeen and encourage her to “be what you are meant to be.” Even though Willodeen is different than others, the story shows that she has value and can contribute to her community in her own unique way.

Willodeen is also a story about caring for all nature—even the animals that aren’t adorably cute like the hummingbears. The story shows how all of nature is interconnected and how each animal has an important role in the ecosystem. Readers will love discovering how the screechers and the hummingbears are interconnected. In the end, the town learns to appreciate the screechers. And when tourists “complained about the horrible beasts stinking up the village, we learned to simply shrug and say, ‘when screechers were invented, Mother Nature made them scented.’”

Appplegate creates another beautiful story that advanced readers and middle school readers will love. The short chapters, loveable characters, and a bit of magic will captivate readers and leave them contemplating ways they can use their voice to impact their community.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Willodeen and her family are caught in a fire. Her father, mother and little brother died in the fire. Willodeen has a nightmare about the “flames grabbing for me like a hungry monster. The soles of my feet blistering. The poisonous smoke scorching my lungs.” Willodeen wonders why she “made it out” when her family didn’t.
  • Willodeen is looking at a screecher curled in a nest, when she “heard footsteps, movement. Thwap. The arrow hit with such force that the nest seemed to explode.” The screecher runs, but Willodeen sees “a thick trail of blood leading into the trees.” Later she finds the animal dead. “His eyes staring at nothing. His white snout was covered in blood.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Every year Perchance has a fair where “ale and trinkets” are sold.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Birdie tells Willodeen “angry tears have magic in them. . . There’s magic in all of us. Just a bit. You’re born with it, like fingers and toes and fuzzy baby hair. Some of us make use of it. And some do not.”
  • A screecher magically comes alive. “The creature has a maker, a boy with nimble fingers and a tender heart. He’s spent hours weaving weeds and thistledown in the milky moonlight, spinning her into existence.” The creature began as a screecher, made from weeds, wood, and other materials. But then Willodeen cried “for myself because I was alone and lonely on my birthday. And because I was odd and unlovable. For a long time, I let myself weep. . .” Willodeen’s “angry tears” had the magic to make the screecher alive.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Peter and the Sword of Mercy

Life on the island has continued peacefully for many years. With fallen starstuff in the island’s water supply, no one gets sick and no one ages. So Peter is very surprised when Wendy—Molly’s daughter—shows up on the island in desperate need of help.

Wendy grew up with no idea that the starcatchers existed. After Peter and Molly’s adventure in Rundoon, starstuff stopped falling and it was thought that no more of the Others existed. So the starcatchers stopped recruiting new members and faded to a tiny group of mostly elderly members. Needless to say, the starcatchers are not prepared when trouble brews anew. After both of Wendy’s parents disappear, Lord Aster—elderly and bedridden—tells Wendy there is only one person who can help: A very special boy on an island that is very hard to find.

For fans delighted with the Starcatcher series, as well as the fans who were disappointed with the first two sequels, this final installment ends the series with a flourish! Harkening back to the glory of the first book, Peter and the Sword of Mercy has action and mystery galore. Readers will be shocked when encountering old friends who are twenty years older than in the last book. An elderly Lord Aster and a fading starcatchers’ society are a shock to Peter, as is learning that Molly married George and had a daughter named Wendy.

The mix of old and new characters carries the story along at a breakneck pace. Rather than the fractured storylines that made the last installment difficult to relate to, this book returns to the original book’s more streamlined approach. Readers still follow events from several character’s points of view, but by focusing largely on Peter’s point of view. Peter and the Sword of Mercy succeed in emotionally engaging readers. The shifts in point of view are well-done, are never confusing, and allow readers to view events happening with Peter’s friends as well as the events put in motion by the Others.

With non-ending action, a broadcast of colorful characters, and the emotional rollercoaster ride of returning to London after twenty years, Peter and the Sword of Mercy is a glorious ending to a beloved series.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • In the year 811 A.D., two warriors battle. “Charlemagne drew his sword, known as Joyeuse. Both men grunted as they swung their weapons, the blades glinting in the firelight, the clash of metal echoing off the chapel’s stone walls . . . Ogier swung his sword, just missing Charlemagne’s jaw but slicing off a piece of the king’s beard.” The fight is described over two pages.
  • When a bobby tries to grab Molly, “she drew back her right foot and kicked him hard on the shin. As he bent over in pain, she yanked her arm free with all her strength, ripping her sleeve but freeing herself. She ran.” She gets away unharmed.
  • A character named the Skeleton is able to cause excruciating pain with the slightest touch. “The Skeleton’s claw-hand moved, ever so slightly. The priest screamed as his body was wracked with searing pain, starting at his neck but suddenly everywhere at once.”
  • Wendy crashes a flying machine called an ornithopter. “Wendy felt a stab of pain as her head struck the ornithopter frame. Before she could hold her breath she was dragged underwater.” She is rescued by porpoises.
  • Peter is hurt when his ship crashes. “Peter and Wendy were hurled sideways, slamming into the passageway wall. Peter’s head hit something, and he fell to the floor, dazed.”
  • A bad man threatens to burn his henchmen. The henchmen obey him immediately because “one time he’d pulled out most of a man’s hair by the roots. He’d reached into another man’s mouth and yanked out a gold tooth. They figured he was perfectly capable of using their bodies as fuel for smoke signals.”
  • A crewman tries to stop Wendy from escaping. She “drew back and kicked out with all her strength. Suddenly her shoe came off in his hand and she fell backward over the railing.”
  • Peter and his friends set off an explosion as a distraction. “Fortunately for them, none of the bobbies were directly in front of the door when it blew, although all of them were thrown violently backward and onto the ground.”
  • Peter pushes a bobby as they try to escape. “The three bobbies, yelping in pain and fear, tumbled after her. Peter had shoved the first from behind; he had taken the other two down, like bowling pins. They sprawled onto the floor, moaning.”
  • The Skeleton hurts Peter with his touch. “And then he [Peter] screamed in pain. Without knowing how he got there, he realized he was on his knees. The awful pain had receded from his body, but it had left him too weak to stand.”
  • The Skeleton hurts a prisoner. “He reached out his claw and touched the shoulder of the man next to James. The man screamed and fell to the floor.”
  • Von Schatten, one of the Others, attacks James. “Von Schatten spun, bringing the sword around. The flat side caught James in the forehead with a sickening sound. James fell to the ground, blood gushing from his head.”
  • James electrocutes von Schatten. Afterward Peter “screamed at the ghastly sight only inches from his face: Von Schatten lay twitching on his back, smoke pouring from his clothes as his flesh burned with a stomach-turning stench. The worst was his face. His eyeglasses had melted, forming two back rivers down his gaunt cheeks. Left exposed were the eyes, which were not eyes at all, but two gaping holes in the center of his skull, revealing nothing inside but a red glow. Wisps of smoke drifted upward from the holes.”
  • As a tunnel collapses, “huge chunks of earth and rock began to fall from the tunnel roof. A roof beam fell on George, knocking him to the ground.”
  • Hook attacks Peter. “He brought the sword down . . . but Peter’s hand was just quick enough as he brought the sword tip up to meet Hook’s downward thrust . . . [then] the porpoise, having launched himself from the water on the starboard side, slammed into Hook’s body, sending him sprawling on deck.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Two ships crash because “the helmsman of the Lucy had also had a bit too much to drink this night. He was half asleep at the wheel.”

Language

  • Imbeciles is used a few times.

Supernatural

  • Starcatchers are “a small group of people . . . There have been Starcatchers on Earth for centuries, Peter. Even we don’t know how long. But our task is always the same: to watch for the starstuff, and to get to it, and return it, before it falls into the hands of the Others.” The Others misuse starstuff to gain power.
  • Starstuff is golden dust that sometimes falls from the sky as meteors and “has amazing power . . . Wonderful power. Terrible power. It . . . it lets you do things . . . It’s not the same for everybody. And it’s not the same for animals as for people.” Starstuff can heal, can make people fly, can make people strong. Larger quantities are more dangerous and can kill a person, or turn a fish into a mermaid, horses into centaurs, and other transformations.
  • Starcatchers have learned the language of some intelligent animals, including bears, porpoises, and wolves. They work together often to find any starstuff that falls. Wendy speaks with a porpoise several times, in their language of clicks and squeaks.

Spiritual Content

  • In a flashback to 811 A.D., a king “prayed for the peace to continue. And, as always, he prayed for forgiveness for his son, now forty, but still a boy in his father’s eyes . . . [he] bowed his head, his lips moving as he recited the Scripture.”
  • During a sword fight, the king from 811 A.D. sees a “face smiling at him, shimmering through the smoke with unearthly beauty.” He thinks it is an angel. The being saves the man’s life, then disappears.
  • The queen of England is sick; a man by her bedside “murmured a prayer.”
  • When the Skeleton tortures a priest for information, the priest’s “lips began to move. He spoke in Latin, praying.”

by Morgan Lynn

Ophie’s Ghosts

Ophelia Harrison used to live in a small house in the Georgia countryside. But that was before the night in November of 1922, and the cruel act that took her home and her father from her– which was the same night that Ophie learned she can see ghosts.

Now, Ophie and her mother are living in Pittsburgh with relatives they barely know. In the hopes of earning enough money to get their own place, Mama has gotten Ophie a job as a maid in the same old manor house where she works.

Daffodil Manor, like the wealthy Caruthers family who owns it, is haunted by memories and prejudices of the past and, as Ophie discovers, ghosts as well. It is filled with ghosts who have their own loves and hatreds and desires, ghosts who have wronged others, and ghosts who have themselves been wronged. And as Ophie forms a friendship with one spirit whose life ended suddenly and unjustly, she wonders if she might be able to help—even as she comes to realize that Daffodil Manor may hold more secrets than she bargained for.

Ophie’s Ghosts pulls the reader into the story from the very first page and will keep readers engaged until the very end. While Ophie’s tale shows the harsh realities of living in the 1920s, the story is spun using kid-friendly descriptions. However, younger readers could be disturbed by Ophie’s encounters with ghosts, many of whom died tragically. The ghosts are from every walk of life and include people of all ages and races. While Ophie interacts with many ghosts, none of the ghosts try to harm her. For Ophie, the danger comes from the living.

Readers will empathize with Ophie, who is thrown into servitude at a young age. Through Ophie’s experiences, readers will come to understand the difficulties African Americans faced during the 1920s. The story gives many examples of discrimination and explores the topic of passing as caucasian. In the end, Ophie cries because “girls who believed in happily ever afters could be murdered in attics, and because men who just wanted to have their voices heard could have their words choked off forever.”

Throughout the story, Ireland references people and events of the time. However, the text doesn’t explain the references and most readers will not understand their significance. For example, Ophie’s mother makes several comments about bootleggers, but the term is never explained. In addition, the story uses some difficult vocabulary such as irksome tomes, incandescent, tincture, fluffing, and blotto. Despite this, most readers can use context clues to understand the term.

Through Ophie’s point of view, Ophie’s Ghosts paints a vivid picture of life in the 1920s. Ophie points out the unfair circumstances that rob her of her childhood. However, despite the hardships Ophie faces, she is never bitter. Instead, she thinks about her Daddy. “Daddy had often said that when presented with two choices, a hard thing and an easy thing, the right thing was usually the more difficult one.” Because of her Daddy’s words, Ophie has the courage to listen to the ghosts and help them move on.

Readers who enjoy historical fiction, should also read Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxie and The Player King by Avi. For readers who want to learn about history, but aren’t ready for more mature books, Survival Tails by Katrina Charman and American Horse Tales by Michelle Jabés Corpora would be good choices.

Sexual Content

  • Ophie asks Cook about a woman she saw. Cook replies, “Sometimes Mr. Richard likes to bring home . . . a bit of company, but those girls are not business of yours.”
  • Ophie likes to read romance books. “Mama would have had a fit if she knew her daughter was reading such things, stories of girls who were compromised, whatever that meant, and kissed boys who left them heartbroken.”
  • Sophie asks Clara, a ghost, about her beau. Clara said, “A lady never kisses and tells.”
  • A woman in a dressing room goes into the kitchen. Ophie wonders, “Did Clara know that Richard was having friends over, friends who walked around the house half-dressed after sleeping in most of the day?”

Violence

  • Ophie’s father is murdered because he voted. His death is not described.
  • After killing Ophie’s father, a group of men burn down Ophie’s family home. Ophie and her mother hide from the men. “The snap and crackle of fire slowly grew louder than the voices of the men, a roar of consumption, followed by thick smoke that twined sinuously through the treetops. . .”
  • When a group of men are standing around talking, Ophie thinks, “The men who were in her yard, yelling and laughing, were the kind of white men who had beat up Tommy Williams just because he accidentally looked the wrong way at a white lady from Atlanta. After they’d pummeled Tommy, they’d dropped him off in the woods near Ophie’s house, most likely because they’d figured no one would find him.”
  • Even though Ophie is young, she still understands that “Colored folks who’d broken some unspoken rule, gotten uppity and acted above their station, paid the price for such an error with their lives.”
  • Sophie meets a ghost who is just a boy. He has “bloody welts crisscrossing his back.”
  • When Ophie tries to help her cousin with her homework, “the result had been a vicious slap without any kind of warning.”
  • Caruther tells about a boy who was whipped “until the white meat showed.”
  • A man is hit by a trolley. “He boarded the trolley right through the closed door, his suit torn and bloody, his hat missing entirely. . . his gray suit and pale skin made the blood dripping from his head all the more vivid.”
  • The ghost of Clara possesses Penelope’s body. Clara goes after Penelope’s murderer with a pair of scissors. To prevent another death, Ophie throws salt. “The container burst into a shower of salt as it hit the girl in the chest. There was a sound like the room was inhaling, the air grew thick . . . Clara crumbled to the floor.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Ophie sees a ghost who was “still wearing his service uniform and drinking to numb the pain of a heart broken by a war fought in trenches.” Later, Ophie finds out that the ghost died because of his drinking.
  • After Mrs. Caruther has a “fit,” “the doctor gives her laudanum.”
  • A ghost asks Ophie, “Do you think you could get your hands on a bottle of gin. Spirits for the spirit!”
  • One of Mrs. Caruther’s servants “snuck drinks from a flask tucked into her garter when she thought no one was looking.”
  • Caruther’s son has friends over to the house and they “spent most of their time all blotto.”
  • When Mrs. Caruther’s son announces his engagement, he serves champagne. One of the guests has red wine.

Language

  • Ophie’s cousins call her stupid and “a dope.”
  • Caruther calls a servant a “jigaboo.”
  • Ophie’s mother says she misses her husband “every damn day.”

Supernatural

  • Ophie and her aunt can both see and communicate with ghosts.
  • Ophie’s Aunt Rose tells her not to trust the dead. “You keep iron and salt in your pockets at all times. That way they can’t take hold of your body, which some of the more powerful ones will try to do.”
  • Aunt Rose educates Ophie about ghosts. Aunt Rose says, “Ghosts are attracted to feelings—sadness and happiness, and all the other betwixt and between.”
  • Ophie wonders if ghosts are “too terrible for Heaven.”
  • Aunt Rose tells Ophie about a ghost who was “stealing her husband’s breath, using it to make her stronger.”
  • The ghost of Clara possesses a young woman.
  • To keep a ghost out of a room, “someone had placed a thick band of salt across the threshold just inside the bedroom door.”

Spiritual Content

  • While at church, Ophie likes to watch the pastor and his wife. “It made Ophie feel that maybe some of those Bible words were actually true, even if she didn’t entirely believe they were meant for her.”
  • After Ophie’s father dies, the pastor tells her, “Your daddy has gone to heaven to be with Jesus.”
  • Ophie says a quick prayer several times. For example, when Ophie and her mother take a trolley car, Ophie “prayed for the trolley to hurry.”
  • Ophie wonders why Mrs. Caruther is so mean. Ophie thinks about the pastor’s wife who “once talked about sin as a heavy burden that folks carried around: ‘When you carry that sin around, when you let it weigh you down, you want to make sure that everyone around you is suffering as well . . .let Jesus take it and hold that burden so that you can carry on as a light in the world.’”
  • Ophie’s father told her, “The good Lord is always testing us, Ophie, in big ways and small. You do the thing you know to be right, always, no matter what.”
  • Ophie’s teacher told her that it was “the Christian thing to do to turn the other cheek.”
  • When someone steals, Ophie’s mother tells the lady, Jesus will give you yours.”

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

Twelve-year-old Coyote Sunrise and her dad, Rodeo, have lived in an old school bus named Yager for five years—the same amount of time it’s been since her mother and two sisters suddenly died in a car accident. Coyote and Rodeo haven’t gone back home since the accident. They’re only looking forward and never turning back. Then, Grandma calls Coyote and tells her that the city is tearing down the park in Coyote’s hometown—the same park where Coyote, her mom, and sisters buried a treasure chest.

Coyote devises a plan to trick Rodeo into driving home to Washington State to get the treasure chest. Along the way, Coyote and Rodeo pick up an eclectic cast of characters, all with their own stories and destinations in mind. Coyote and Rodeo both learn that to move forward, sometimes you must go back.

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise is a funny, touching book that explores themes of grief and love. After the tragedy that strikes their family, Coyote and Rodeo never allowed themselves a moment to process their grief. They go so far as to pick new names for themselves, and they consider going back to their home in Washington State to be a major “no-go.”

When Rodeo figures out that Coyote has tricked him into taking them back, they must face each other not as companions on a school bus adventure, but as a father and daughter who lost the rest of their family. Coyote demands of him, “Why can’t you be my dad?” Coyote and Rodeo’s relationship is one of the most interesting dynamics because so much goes unsaid between them. Although Coyote helps explain certain rules and turns-of-phrase for the reader, Coyote and Rodeo’s relationship is more complicated than what’s initially expected.

Coyote is the narrator of this book, and she has a unique way of speaking to the other characters and to the reader. Coyote is funny and expressive, but much like with her relationship with Rodeo, there are certain things that are left unsaid until she’s comfortable thinking about them. For instance, she doesn’t even think about her sister’s names until late into the book. Through Coyote’s narration, the reader can see her complexity.

The supporting characters are striking and dynamic, and Rodeo and Coyote embrace their new friends with open arms. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise is as much about putting the past to rest as it is about a found family. In the end, Coyote and Rodeo are happy to remember their loved ones while embracing their found family. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise is for readers of all ages and is a must read because it handles the universal themes of grief, love, and family with an intelligent and kind hand. This isn’t a journey to miss.

 Sexual Content

  • Lester needs a ride to Boise, Idaho, to get his kind-of-ex girlfriend Tammy back. She wants him to get a “real job” while Lester wants to play in his jazz band. Lester tells Coyote, “If I get a real job, she’ll marry me.” This spawns a conversation between Coyote and Lester about love that lasts for a few pages.
  • Salvador asks Coyote why she’s really headed north, and Coyote responds, “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” Salvador’s “face flushed deep red” and then Coyote clarifies, “Geez. I mean, I’ll tell you where we’re going if you tell me why your mom and aunt lost their jobs.”
  • Salvador’s mom and aunt tell Coyote funny stories from their childhood. According to Coyote, one of the stories was about “something about their mom walking in on Salvador’s mom with a boy. They wouldn’t give [Coyote] all the details on that one, but the embarrassed blood running to [Salvador’s mom’s] face pretty much told [Coyote] what [she] needed to know.”
  • On their journey, Coyote and Rodeo pick up a girl named Val. Val tells them that she was kicked out of her parent’s house because she’s gay. Coyote relates that her mom’s sister, Jen “is gay, and her wife Sofia, is [Coyote’s] very favorite aunt-in-law, and the thought of having someone hating on them for who they love made [Coyote] want to put on boxing gloves.”

Violence

  • Coyote explains, “My heart stopped short like a motorcycle slamming into the back of a parked semi (which I actually saw once outside Stevenstown, Missouri . . . not a sight you’re likely to forget, I promise you).”
  • Coyote’s cat, Ivan, is startled when he wakes up on Rodeo’s neck. Ivan sinks “all ten of his razor kitten claws” into Rodeo’s neck. Eventually Ivan lets go, though Rodeo is bleeding a bit.
  • When her new friends ask where Coyote’s other family members are, Coyote responds, “They’re . . . they’re dead, ma’am. They were killed in a car accident five years ago.”
  • Salvador admits that his dad physically abuses Salvador and his mom. Salvador tells Coyote, “Sometimes he . . . hits.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Coyote describes the gas station’s contents, noting that beer is one of the drinks lining the coolers along the walls.
  • Rodeo buys a six-pack of beer at a gas station and sits out back, drinking it.

Language

  • A variety of creative language is used to show displeasure. Only adult characters use words like hell, badass, and damn. Everyone often uses words like darn, weirdo, freaky, heck, wimpy, holy heck, dang, crazy, idiots, stupid, shut up, morons, jerk, pee, crap, pissed, and freaking.
  • Coyote sometimes refers to Rodeo as “old man.”
  • While telling a story about two animals, Rodeo refers to the crow in the story as an “ornery old cuss.”
  • One girl at a campground says, “Oh. My. God” in response to how cute Ivan is.
  • The girl from the campground mentions that she’s reading Anne of Green Gables and Coyote responds, “Oh, lord, I love Anne of Green Gables!”
  • Coyote once uses the phrase “how on god’s green earth” as an exclamation.
  • When Rodeo and Lester accidentally leave Coyote behind at a gas station in Gainesville, Florida, Coyote says, “Oh god” and “Oh, lord.” Coyote and Lester use these sorts of exclamations often.
  • A few years back, Rodeo installed an old bell in the bus. Rodeo and Coyote named it the “Holy Hell Bell on account of if you really put your arm into it, that old bell made a holy hell of a racket.”
  • Coyote stands in a river and pees. She says, “if you’re already standing in a river and you’re getting out to go pee, you’re doing it wrong.”
  • When the brakes give out on Yager, Lester “said a couple words [Coyote] won’t repeat, but with which [Coyote] totally agreed.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Coyote and Rodeo have a ceramic pug that sits on the dashboard of their bus. They call him the “Dog of Positivity, and Rodeo insisted he was a sort of canine guardian angel, keeping us happy.”
  • Coyote explains her beliefs just before a miracle happens. She says, “Now, here are some things I generally don’t believe in: fate, astrology, angels, magic, or the mystical power of wishes. Sorry, I just don’t. So there ain’t no easy explanation for what happened next. But that’s all right, ‘cause not everything in this world needs to be explained. We can just chalk it up to luck and call it good.”
  • Coyote mentions her mom on the bus. Coyote says that doing this is like “farting in church,” as in deeply inappropriate.
  • According to Coyote, Rodeo is “always saying how the universe seeks balance.” Coyote isn’t sure what this means.
  • Coyote says that “Rodeo says that anywhere outside can be a church, ‘cause anytime you’re in nature you can feel God.”
  • Rodeo, Coyote, and other characters say, “Help me, Jesus,” and other similar phrases.
  • Ms. Vega prays when the bus’s brakes give out.

by Alli Kestler

The Forest of Stolen Girls

1426, Joseon (Korea). Hwani’s family has never been the same since she and her younger sister Maewol went missing and were later found unconscious in the forest near a gruesome crime scene.

After five years, Hwani reunites with Maewol on Jeju island. Hwani has crossed the sea to find her father, Detective Jeewoo Min, after he has disappeared while investigating the disappearance of thirteen other girls. She is the older sister whose life plans—to get married and bear children—have come to a halt.

Maewol was called to be a shaman and train under Shaman Nokyung. Unlike Hwani, Maewol despises their father and does not wish for him to be found. When the body of one of the girls is discovered, Maewol and Hwani get sucked into the mystery of the disappearance of the young girls. The sisters realize there’s a possible correlation between the disappearances and their own Forest Incident, an event that left Hwani and Maewol completely changed. As Hwani and Maewol investigate further into the disappearances of the missing girls, they encounter a formidable enemy, the Mask, and the sisters learn that evil comes in different forms.

The entire story of The Forest of Stolen Girls is told in a prose narrative style, in the first person point of view. The story follows Hwani and her turbulent investigation into her father’s disappearance and, into the disappearance of thirteen young girls between the ages of eleven and eighteen. As the reader follows Hwani’s investigation, they will feel what Hwani feels and suspect who Hwani suspects.

The story displays a realistic sisterly relationship. The two sisters they, but are also kind to one another. A majority of the story is spent on the obstacles Hwani and Maewol face as sisters. Hwani is more logical and calculated while Maewol is impulsive and acts upon instinct. Maewol despises her father while Hwani idolizes him; this creates the central conflict. Hwani discovers her father is not as good as he seems and learns to be there for Maewol. Maewol, in turn, learns to forgive her sister even when Hwani has wronged her. At the end of the story, their sisterly bond is what saves Maewol and Hwani.

The Forest of Stolen Girls deals with the brutal history of China’s imperialism over the Korean peninsula. The core of the story relies on the historical fact that in Joseon, Korea, over 2,000 girls were kidnapped from their homes and sent to China as “tribute girls.” The story deals with this intergenerational trauma gracefully and brings to light atrocities committed by both Chinese and Joseon officials alike. The taking of tribute girls results in characters committing heinous actions for the sake of their own daughters. In order to prevent Gahee from being taken as a tribute girl, her father sliced up her face. Though her father did it to protect her, this actions permanently disfigured her and made her an outcast among her own people.

The Forest of Stolen Girls shows class strife and how it correlates with the missing girls. Rich officials of the Joseon government use bribes to keep their daughters from becoming tribute girls. But because the officials need new girls to take the place of their spared daughters, they kidnap girls from poverty.

The story shows the desperation of the poor, such as Convict Baek aiding in the kidnapping of girls in order to feed his daughter. The Forest of Stolen Girls shows readers that no one is truly bad and no one is truly good. It is the system in place that pressures people into continuing this cycle of grief and trauma.

The Forest of Stolen Girls is a beautiful novel that centers around a story of Asian women and the trauma they’ve endured for centuries. The mystery is beautifully woven, with every event, fight and conversation is meant to either aid the investigation, provide a red flag, or add to the characters’ stakes in the mystery. The twist is pulled off excellently and shows realistic motives that reveal the monster in people. The Forest of Stolen Girls is for readers who like murder mysteries, historical fiction, or would like to learn more about East Asian history.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • After discovering the body of one of the missing girls, Hwani asks the victim’s older sister, Iseul, some questions. Iseul implies that Hyunok was not raped while captured. Iseul says, “The midwife is my aunt. We knew Magistrate Hong would have her buried without an examination; he is like that. We examined Hyunok, and my aunt concluded that my sister hadn’t been harmed in…that”
  • While exploring the forest, Hwani is chased by a man in a white. “The blade flashed as he swung the sword, and I squeezed my eyes, waiting for the slash of pain.” Maewol saves her.
  • While treating her wounds, Hwani recounts how her aunt used to beat her with a stick, thus leaving thin scars on her legs. Her aunt uses corporal punishment as a form of discipline. Her wounds “stung, yet the pain was a mere inch compared to Aunt Min’s beatings. When she was upset, she would wait for Father to leave before striking my calves with a thin stick, and the humiliation of it had made the cuts all the more excruciating.”
  • Maewol tells Hwani that one of their possible suspects, Convict Baek, “ sliced up his daughter’s face when she was only twelve, and no one knows why.”
  • Hwani confronts Convict Baek. Convict Baek shoves Hwani, causing her to fall and hit her head against a low-legged table, hard enough to draw blood. “He took another step and with his large hand he shoved at my shoulder with such strength that I went toppling. My head hit the corner of the low-legged table, my hair coming undone and falling over my face.”
  • After Hwani finds her father, Inspector Yu tells her his cause of death was not poison. “He was stabbed.”
  • Seohyun wants to kill the person who forced her to become a tribute girl. “There was murder in my daughter’s eyes. She told me in riddles what had happened. She and many other girls had been given to Emperor Xuande for her imperial harem. She also told me she was going to kill the person responsible, that she’d found out who it was but she wouldn’t give me a name.”
  • Hwani fights Village Elder Moon in a cave where he was keeping all of the stolen girls. The scene lasts for about three pages. “With all my strength, I continued to cling to the village elder’s robe as we thrashed in a blackness that seemed to leak through my eyes, surging fear into my soul. The village elder’s hands, too, turned desperate. Fingers grappling for anything, grabbing strands of my hair, wrapping tight around my throat as I struggled to hold on. My limbs felt numb and frozen, about to shatter as the cold deepened.”
  • Convict Baek and Village Elder Moon are sentenced to be executed. “Weeks later, when the verdict was made in accordance to the Great Ming Code, Village Elder Moon accepted his fate with a stare as blank as that of the dead. He was to be decapitated for having committed murder. Convict Baek, his accomplice, was to be punished by strangulation.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • There are multiple mentions of poison, as well as incidents of poisoning. Poisoning was a common method of execution in Joseon, Korea.
  • Hwani gets poisoned twice, once with a poison called kyeong-po buja that Hwani ingested herself, and the second time with arsenic from Village Elder Moon.
  • Hwani’s father is revealed to have been poisoned with arsenic as well. The poison did not kill him.
  • Village Elder Moon’s daughter, Chaewon, commits suicide by poisoning herself because she cannot live with her father’s actions.
  • Hwani pours a bowl full of rice wine onto her father’s grave.

 Language

  • None

 Supernatural

  • None

 

Spiritual

  • There are multiple mentions of spirits and the spirit world. For instance, Maewol describes what she sees when Hwani asks her if she can really communicate with the spirits from the spirit world. “I can’t hear what they say…I can’t really see or hear anything clearly. It’s like seeing shadows through the fog. A very thick ”
  • Maewol is a shaman, someone who communicates with the spirits.
  • Hwani and Maewol say “gods” rather than God because their religion is polytheistic.
  • There’s a brief mention of witchcraft when the body of Detective Min was discovered in a pristine condition. Village Elder Moon said, “No corpse could be in such a condition, not with the humidity of Jeju. It has to be witchcraft.”

by Emma Hua

 

Salt to the Sea

Set during the end of World War II, Salt to the Sea follows the story of four refugees seeking shelter from the rampages of war. With the rapid advance of Soviet forces against Hitler’s Reich in Poland, Latvia, East Prussia, and Lithuania, thousands of refugees flood toward the port of Gotenhafen with the dim hope of escape. For these thousands, Gotenhafen is a chance to flee the inevitable onslaught and destruction created by the oncoming Soviets. Amidst this hurried procession of souls are four teenagers who witnessed the innumerable tragedy wrought by war. Each teen is from a different homeland and has a different background, yet all have equally dangerous secrets.

Joana is a nineteen-year-old Lithuanian expatriate who previously spent the entirety of the war as a conscripted nurse, tending to wounded and dying soldiers. Florian is an eighteen-year-old Prussian thief and forgery master wanted by the Nazis because of his shameful past. Alfred, also referred to as “Frick”, is a delusional seventeen-year-old Nazi Kriegsmarine soldier who is attempting to overwrite his troubled past through enlistment. Emilia is a fifteen-year-old Polish refugee running from the destruction of her homeland as both the Nazis and Soviets hunt her and her countrymen. Each character carries their own mysteries, whether shameful or perilous.

Salt to the Sea is told in first person point of view, with the main narrative being split between the four characters. Each chapter shifts from one character’s point of view to another, creating a cleverly knitted narrative that explores the ongoing tumult of their lives. Although each of our four protagonists have their own agendas, the audience can sympathize with each character as they struggle to not only survive but to also find themselves.

Salt to the Sea is a fast-paced, intense, and emotional story that will have readers gripped to the very last page. Sepetys does an incredible job weaving multiple narratives into one effortless adventure. Each chapter provides the reader with an increasingly dark understanding regarding the horrors of war and the vast challenges that refugees must overcome. As this book follows the inevitabilities of war, there are distinct violent moments and deaths which Sepetys has written to be intentionally jarring.

Although distressing and dark, Salt to the Sea tells the hopeful story of refugees fighting for a better future and their personal growth along the way. Salt to the Sea is a must-read for all those interested not only in history but also in the human condition as Sepetys colorfully illustrates the horrors of war.

Sexual Content

  • There are references to rape or other non-consensual sexual content. A passing elderly refugee asks Joana if she carries any poison. The woman says “I understand. But you are a pretty girl. If Russia’s army overtakes us, you’ll want some [poison] too.”
  • While on the boat, Joana kisses Florian. “She stood on her toes, took my face in her hands, and kissed me.”
  • When she was fifteen, Emilia became pregnant when she was raped.

Violence

  • While fleeing through a snow-laden forest, Florian kills a Russian soldier who was harassing Emilia. Florian “stood in the forest cellar, my gun fixed on the dead Russian.” The killing was not described.
  • Multiple references are made to Hitler’s Final Solution. “Hitler aimed to destroy all Poles. They were Slavic, branded inferior. . . Hitler set up extermination camps in German-occupied Poland, filtering the blood of innocent Jews in the Polish soil.”
  • While fleeing westward, Soviet planes drop bombs on top of forests which poses an immediate threat to Joana, Emilia, and Florian. “The bombs began falling. With each explosion, every bone in my body vibrated and hammered, clanging violently against the bell tower that was my flesh.”
  • Joana mentions the wartime atrocities committed by the Soviets. “Women were nailed to barn doors, children mutilated.” In addition to such terrors, Soviet soldiers were infamous for raping and pillaging entire villages, which involved the wholesale slaughter of male populations and the rape of a village’s women.
  • Eva, another refugee, references the potential violent fate of Emilia’s father. Eva says, “The senior professors in Lwów, they were all executed.”
  • While fleeing, Emilia saves Florian by shooting a wandering German soldier. The soldier “had a gun. He was pointing it. [Emilia] jumped up and screamed. Bang.”
  • Joana and a group of refugees stay at a deserted manor. Prior to this, soldiers brutally slaughtered the residents in their sleep. As Joana explores the rest of the manor, she discovers the house’s previous tenants and exclaims, “Dead in their beds. They’re all dead in their beds!” The bodies are not described in detail.
  • On their way to Gotenhafen, another refugee laments that the Soviets “shot his cow.”
  • While approaching the Frauenberg, the Soviet air forces shell the road. “A cluster of human beings behind us exploded with a bomb.”
  • As Joana and her group of refugees cross an icy river, one refugee falls through the ice and joins other unfortunate souls trapped beneath the frozen surface. “The ice in front of Ingrid was red, frozen with blood.”
  • Sepetys makes multiple mentions of refugees and their suffering, such as parents missing their children, or the children being abandoned.
  • Joana, a nurse, cares for the wounded on the Wilhelm Gustloff. Joana “would get these wounded men on the big ship.”
  • The Wilhelm Gustloff is struck by three Soviet torpedoes causing the ship to sink, killing thousands of refugees, including children. As the ship tilted deeper into the water, a passenger said, “The woman was right. We were all going to drown.” As the ship sinks, the ocean is strewn with dead bodies floating amidst the wreckage. “Thousands of dead bodies, eyes wide, floated frozen in life vests.”
  • A mother attempts to throw her child to a lifeboat, yet the baby tragically drowns. “The dark air was full of screams” of thousands of drowning men, women, and children.
  • Alfred attempts to throw Emilia off the raft, yet in doing so accidentally he kills himself. Alfred slams his head against the metal raft and falls into the freezing depths of the surrounding water. “Alfred was sent tumbling, crashing his head against the metal raft with a deafening scream”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Before the start of the book, Florian is wounded with shrapnel which he sterilizes using vodka. Florian “turned the top of the soldier’s flask and raised it to my nose. Vodka. I opened my coat, then my shirt, and poured the alcohol down my side.”
  • Joana and Florian share cigarettes in a moment of respite from danger. Joana “pulled out a cigarette and ran it through my fingers, trying to straighten it.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Daniel Klein

 

Amari and the Night Brothers

Amari Peters’ brother Quinton is missing. Without tax records or a single piece of evidence to use, authorities look at the Peters’ family address in the Rosewood low-income housing projects and prematurely chalk the disappearance up to “illegal activities.” Then, Amari gets into a fight with bullies at her school. This leaves Amari without a scholarship and without a sense of belonging, but a ticking briefcase in Quinton’s bedroom closet quickly instills tangible hope that Quinton will return. The briefcase leads Amari to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, a secretive organization tasked with hiding all the magicians, fairies, and supernatural creatures of the world. When Amari joins the organization, she again feels like she doesn’t belong among classmates who already have extensive knowledge of magic. Even more intimidating is the fear and bias that her classmates hold towards Amari’s supernaturally enhanced talent—an ability for magic that has commonly been deemed evil in the supernatural world. Will she find friendships here in this other world, or will she again be judged and half-seen?

It is only through battling bullies, outsmarting Junior Agent Tryouts, and overcoming powerful magicians that Amari can find her brother Quinton and regain confidence in her uniquely beautiful power. Even in the midst of facing all of these obstacles, Amari is eventually able to say proudly, “I’m not the girl who gives up. I’m the girl who tries. The girl who fights. The girl who believes. My eyes open with a burning realization. I’m unstoppable.”

Amari and The Night Brothers follows Amari’s entertaining, witty, and strong perspective as she contemplates what it means to belong in a community that continually sets out to ostracize her. While the plot is an action-packed, engrossing story of every magical creature you have ever heard of (from magicians to mermaids, to golden lions and Bigfoot), this intricate plot also works to explore issues of race and class discrimination. In defining Amari’s supernatural power of being a “magician” as illegal and dangerous, this story aims at bringing to light the way that prejudices act to divide our society, as well as how we can aim to overturn them. The result is an empowering and wonderful story of power, love, friendship, and the ability to overcome.

Throughout its narrative, Amari and the Night Brothers addresses issues of racism, classism, and prejudice in an easily digestible ways for young readers. Additionally, this book presents captivating scenes and vivid settings which weave together to create a tangible fantasy world filled with every type of supernatural creature that an imaginative kid could hope for. Dragons, vampires, magical forests, and funny dialogue all paint a narrative that stays action-packed, captivating, and evocative until the end. The story ends in a moment of triumph and reaffirmed empowerment for Amari, while also leaving things open for the potential of a sequel. Amari and the Night Brothers is the perfect book for any elementary to junior high fantasy and action fanatic who is searching for a meaningful and magical story.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Early in the novel, Amari gets sent to the principal’s office for giving a classmate “a tiny shove.”
  • Later in the book, Amari tries to shove another bully, Laura, but Laura twists and pushes Amari to the ground instead.
  • In an act of revenge, Laura attacks Amari at a festival. Amari describes this scene by saying, “Laura dashes forward and kicks out her leg. It’s so fast I don’t even have time to react. I just feel my legs get knocked from under me and land hard on my side. Next thing I know, she’s on top of me, pinning both my wrists above my head with one arm. That means she’s still got one hand free.” Amari escapes after this moment.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • One of the Bureau agents tells Amari that the hotel she stays at has a “killer cigar selection.”

Language

  • In a moment of cyber bullying, Amari’s classmates celebrate the loss of her scholarship by writing comments such as, “We finally took out the trash at Jefferson. Never wanted her here. I heard she used to steal from the lockers. All it took was her dumb brother to drop dead.”
  • In another bullying incident, Amari’s bedroom at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs is vandalized. Someone paints an image of “a Black girl with two X’s for eyes and a stake in her heart NO MAGICIANS ALLOWED is written just below it.”
  • At one point, another peer from the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs calls Amari a freak.

Supernatural

  • The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs covers living beings “passing off as myths.” This includes “trolls and sphinxes, mermaids and oddities you could see with your own eyes and still not believe.” Mainly, the term supernatural covers fantastical creatures and magic, thus a lot of the narrative focuses on supernatural elements. This also applies to a group of hybrids (part-human, part-creature) who invade the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs.
  • Amari is deemed a magician when she places her hand on a Crystal Ball and “a plume of black smoke appears, swirling and filling the ball completely. A crack reaches across the surface.” As Amari stands back, a screen behind the Crystal Ball says, “Talent Enhanced to Supernatural Ability: Dormant Magic to Active Magician (Illegal).” It is in this way that Amari realizes that she is a magician, a role that is considered dangerous in the supernatural world.
  • After she touches the Crystal Ball, the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs has Amari step on what they call a “Magic-Meter,” which looks like a small scale. When Amari steps on the Meter it says that she is at 100 percent, meaning that “every drop of this girl’s blood is magical.”
  • When Amari grows angry at being bullied, “anger surges through me. And then, suddenly, a swirling blaze of fire erupts on the table between me and Laura.” Amari creates the fire with her magic.
  • Amari’s best friend, Elsie, is a weredragon (part-human, part-dragon), and can therefore read auras. Because of this, Elsie can read Amari’s emotions based on the color of Amari’s aura.
  • Amari’s classmate explains that there is another type of magician known as the technologist, which is a magician that can manipulate electronics like phones or security devices. The classmate also describes a Weaver, which can weave together new spells.
  • Amari is given a book of spells called The Spells and Musings of Madame Violet, Foremost Illusionist of her Era. This allows Amari to learn how to practice the Dispel spell, which allows a magician to erase any illusions set by other magicians. Among the other spells in this book is also the Solis spell, which allows a magician to create a ball of light with their hands and the darker, Magna Fobia spell, a spell from the “Magick Most Foul” section of Madame Violet’s spell book, which allows the magician to pull the “very darkest fears from an opponent’s mind to craft an illusion around them that they believe is real.”
  • During her final trial in the Junior Agent Program, Amari shows her illusions to the Bureau, and she creates an illusion of the street in her neighborhood. Then she also creates the illusion of a cloudless, starry night sky and the aurora borealis on the ceiling.
  • A boy shows Amari a whole forest that he created as an illusion using magic. Amari creates her own illusory blossom to this forest that they call the “Amari Blossom.”
  • In order to trick the dangerous plant known as “a Mars mantrap,” Amari uses her magic to create an illusion in which she duplicates herself. This becomes Amari’s tactic in fighting powerful magicians later in the novel.
  • Amari’s brother Quinton and his partner at the Bureau are put under a spell which is said to extract someone’s “life essence,” causing them to suffer “a very slow death.”
  • In order to defeat the magicians that have her brother, Amari sends a spell that not only duplicates herself but also puts a cage of lightning around her attackers.

Spiritual Content

  • At one point, Amari goes to visit the Department of Good Fortunes and Bad Omens, and the director of the Department reads the constellations for her. In this scene, the director plucks stars from the sky to place in Amari’s hands, and then has Amari scatter the stars again in order to tell her future based on her unique constellation. The director also speaks to the “spirit” of the stars, stating, “Every natural thing exists in two places, both here and there. If we are physically here, then we are spiritually there. Likewise, if the stars are physically out there, then it only makes sense for them to be spiritually here.”

by Hannah Olsson

Danbi Leads the School Parade

Danbi is thrilled to start her new school in America. But a bit nervous too, for when she walks into the classroom, everyone goes quiet. Everyone stares. Danbi wants to join in the dances and the games, but she doesn’t know the rules and just can’t get anything right. Luckily, she isn’t one to give up. With a spark of imagination, she makes up a new game and leads her classmates on a parade to remember!

Throughout Danbi’s school day, Danbi feels sad because “no one played with [her].” During lunch, Danbi tries to teach a girl how to use chopsticks. This doesn’t work, but it gives Danbi an idea and soon the classroom is full of noise—Ting! Ding! Ti-Ding! Boom Boom Boom Tap Tap Tap! Even though the class gets “a little wild,” the teacher doesn’t discipline the students; instead, she allows Danbi to lead everyone outside so they can continue their musical play.

Unlike most picture books, Danbi Leads the School Parade starts on the back of the front cover and continues all the way through to the back cover. Danbi’s story begins with her hugging her grandmother goodbye and traveling far away on an airplane. All readers will be able to relate to Danbi who is excited, but nervous to start school. Danbi’s feelings are described in ways that young children will understand. For example, on the first day of school in America, Danbi’s heartbeat goes “Boom. Boom.”

Each illustration is full of bright colors and movement. Each child is adorably cute and the classroom shows a diverse group of students. Young readers will enjoy exploring every picture and finding the small details that make each illustration fun. Danbi and her classmates’ emotions are clearly portrayed through the illustrations. Each page has 1 to 4 short sentences full of fun onomatopoeias that make the story fun to read aloud. Even though the picture book has a simple plot, readers will be enthralled with Danbi’s story.

Danbi Leads the School Parade won an Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Honor Book. Anna Kim immigrated to American when she was young, and she used her experience to create a heartwarming story about friendship. Danbi Leads the School Parade shows that friendships can bloom even if you are from different cultures and speak different languages. In addition, Danbi Leads the School Parade encourages acceptance, kindness, and trying new things. Parents who want to encourage these traits should add All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold to their children’s reading list as well.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Tune It Out

Lou has the voice of an angel, or so her mother tells her and anyone else who will listen. But the two of them have been performing the country fair and street circuit for so long that Lou can hear only the fear in her own voice. She’s never liked crowds or loud noises or even high fives; in fact, she’s terrified of them, which makes her pretty sure there’s something wrong with her.

But when Child Protective Services separates the mother-daughter duo after a snowy accident, Lou is forced to start all over again at a fancy private school far away from anything she’s ever known. Lou had never had a friend before, apart from her mother. After being sent to live with her aunt and uncle, Lou realizes most people don’t live like her—moving from place to place, unsure of their next meal, and not going to school. But Lou worries she will “freak out” at her new school because of her sensory disorder, neuroatypicality.

Luckily for her, she meets Well, an outgoing sixth-grade actor extraordinaire. With the help of Well, her aunt and uncle, and the school counselor, Lou begins to see things differently. A sensory processing disorder isn’t something to be ashamed of, and music just might be the thing to save Lou—and maybe her mom too.

Lou’s compelling story has a cast of complex characters who help Lou along her journey. As Lou navigates through life, she is reluctant to allow the school counselor to “label” her. However, Lou finally realizes that she must learn coping mechanisms so she doesn’t continue to “freak out” due to loud noises and light touches.

Many students will relate to Lou who doesn’t feel like she is “normal.” Tune It Out highlights the fact that most people have difficulties to overcome, no one is perfect, and people must learn from their mistakes in order to live their best life.

Tune It Out will entertain readers of all ages because it draws readers into Lou’s world from the very first page. The diverse cast of characters that surround Lou adds interest and depth to the story. In addition, the engaging story shows the importance of speaking up for yourself. Tune It Out will help readers understand Lou’s sensory disorder as well as teach them the importance of empathy. Readers who are interested in reading more books about overcoming obstacles should add Almost Home by Joan Bauer and Wish by Barbara O’Connor to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • Lou’s mother “wasn’t sure who [Lou’s] daddy was, and she didn’t want to be sure either.”
  • During play practice, one of the girls makes out with someone in the costume closet.

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Lou misses living in Biloxi and “the casinos with their jangling noises and bright lights and carpet that smelled like beer and cigarette ash.”
  • Once when Lou “freaked out,” some people wondered if she was on drugs.
  • After a car accident, a doctor tells Lou to take Tylenol or ibuprofen for the pain.

Language

  • Lord and oh God are both used as an exclamation once.
  • Hell is used once.

Supernatural

  • Lou knew a woman who “used to read tea leaves.” The woman would “tell you whether you’d meet the love of your life, or if a big change was coming, or if you should buy that alligator purse on sale.”

Spiritual Content

  • One of Lou’s friends is large, and his mother is upset when he starts drinking SlimFast. She says, “Son, you don’t mess with the body the good Lord gave you. God made you to be a man of stature. You better figure out how to use it, not lose it.”

The Deductive Detective

Someone stole a cake from the cake contest—who could it be? Twelve animal bakers are potential suspects, but Detective Duck uses his deductive reasoning skills to “quack” the case. For instance, the thief left hairs behind, so the thief wasn’t a bird. Follow along as he subtracts each suspect one at a time to reveal who the culprit was.

The Deductive Detective uses humor to introduce simple subtraction, deductive reasoning, and animal facts. Even though the story is packed full of facts, the puns and plays on words will keep readers entertained. Each time Detective Duck eliminates a culprit, a pun is used. For example, when Detective Duck discovers that Cow couldn’t have stolen the cake, Duck says, “So Cow is free to moooo-ve along home.” Detective Duck explains his logic in a kid-friendly way that is easy to understand. Another positive aspect is that each page shows the math that Detective Duck uses during the investigation. When Detective Duck has eliminated all but one suspect, the thief’s confession will make readers giggle.

Readers will enjoy following Detective Duck as he walks through the crime scene. The brightly colored illustrations and adorable animal suspects will immediately grab readers’ attention. When Detective Duck eliminates a suspect, the suspect becomes the focal point of the illustrations. Up to 5 sentences appear on a page; the words are on a solid background that makes the text easy to read.

Even though The Deductive Detective is a picture book, the story is intended to be read aloud to a child, rather than for the child to read it for the first time independently. The Deductive Detective is part of Aborale Publishing, and is intended to be a “fun-to-read story and a launch pad for discussions and learning.” The story includes a 2-page “For Creative Minds” section in the back of the book and a 27-page cross-curricular “Teaching Activity Guide” online.

The Deductive Detective uses a fun story to show readers how to use logic in solving a mystery. Young readers will giggle as they learn important skills such as math and comparing and contrasting animals. Parents may also want to check out Wallace and Grace by Heather Alexander, which also teaches problem-solving skills.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The Word Collector

Some people collect stamps. Some people collect coins. Some people collect art. And Jerome? He collects words. Jerome discovers the magic of words all around him—short and sweet words, two-syllable treats, and multi-syllable words that sound like little songs. Words that connect, transform, and empower.

As Jerome collects words, he writes them on strips of yellow paper and organizes them in a way that makes sense to him. One surprising aspect of the story is that Jerome “slipped and his words went flying!” This accident allows Jerome to find new connections between words. The words allow Jerome to write poems and songs. Jerome also uses words to give encouragement and to tell someone that he is sorry. Another positive aspect of the story is that Jerome acknowledges that he doesn’t know the meaning of all the words. He doesn’t know what “aromatic, vociferous, and effervescent” mean, but they are still good words to add to his collection.

The Word Collector is a must-read because it shows the importance of words. “The more words he [Jerome] knew the more clearly he could share with the world what he was thinking, feeling, and dreaming.” In the end, Jerome shares his word collection with others, and “he saw children in the valley below scurrying about collecting words from the breeze. Jerome had no words to describe how happy that made him.”

Jerome’s story comes to life in simple full-page illustrations that focus on Jerome and his words. Most pages have one sentence in addition to a list of words. Readers will need help pronouncing some words like kaleidoscope, guacamole, and torrential. Most of the book’s appeal comes from the fact that The Word Collector teaches vocabulary as well as positive life lessons.

As Jerome collects words, he realizes that “some of his simplest words were his most powerful.” The Word Collector is a sweet story that highlights the power of a person’s words. At one point, Jerome shows how simple words such as “I’m sorry” or “thank you” can have a tremendous impact. Whether you’re looking for a story to use as a teaching tool or just want a quick bedtime story, The Word Collector would make an excellent addition to your book collection.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Seedfolks

In a neglected and unkempt empty lot in a Cleveland neighborhood, a young Vietnamese girl named Kim plants a seed to honor her dead father. Although her gardening was meant to be a secret, her actions are detected by a curious neighbor, and Kim’s small seed ignites a change throughout the neighborhood; soon the community strives to revitalize the lot and transform it into a beautiful garden. Neighbors from all sorts of backgrounds come together to grow things, sharing gardening tips and growing closer as a community.

Seedfolks is a heartwarming story that demonstrates the power of simple actions, and how change is possible. Each chapter follows the perspective of a different neighbor with a unique background and a new story to tell. For example, Gonzalo watches his Tío plant seeds and feels closer to the earth as he remembers life in Guatemala. Virgil’s father from Haiti wants to grow lettuce for money. And Sam, although too old to garden himself, talks to his neighbors as they grow their fruits, vegetables, and flowers and unites the community through conversation.

Ultimately, Seedfolks is a story that celebrates diversity. Although the neighbors originally use the garden separately without communicating, they eventually begin to help one another grow things and learn from each other’s similarities and differences. Even when the winter comes, they have the promise of the garden to bring them back together again.

Although the garden is at the center of the book, the real story comes from the lives of the people using this revitalized space. Each chapter introduces a brand-new character and includes a black and white sketch to give a sense of who they are. While some characters speak broken English, their perspectives are understandable and personal. There is no coherent plot in the novel as every chapter follows a new perspective, but some of the same characters reappear in the background of other’s stories. With this format, the central theme showcases how even small actions, like planting a seed in a vacant lot, can produce big changes that bring people together. In the end, the neighbors that once coexisted separately from one another are united with a common space and goal to grow.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • In the past, Wendell’s boy was “shot dead like a dog in the street.”
  • Gonzalo explains it isn’t safe to sit outside or “some gang driving by might use you for target practice.”
  • Sae Young was robbed and assaulted at her dry-cleaning store. The thief had a gun and “he take out money, then push me [Sae Young] down. He yelling at me. Very bad words. Then he kick me. Break cheekbone. Then he kick me again, head hit hard against wall and I go to sleep.”
  • Amir hears a woman scream because “a man with a knife had taken her purse.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Before the garden, there were “men with no work drinking from nine to five instead, down there in the lot.”
  • Sam hires a young boy to plant his garden. The boy “wanted to grow marijuana, to sell.” Instead, they agree to plant pumpkins.

 Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Sam calls the garden “a small Garden of Eden.”
  • After visiting the garden, Wendell is reminded of the Bible verse, “And a little child shall lead them.”

by Elena Brown

Mel Fell

Mel, a kingfisher bird, is ready to learn how to fly. Her mother is away from the nest and her siblings, Pim and Pip, both worry that the drop is too long. Mel is a little afraid too. However, Mel reminds herself, “I’ve got wings.” Then she takes the plunge off her perch.

Mel’s fall from her tree introduces readers to a flurry of bright and whimsical characters—from a group of acrobatic squirrels and a chivalrous hive of bees to a helpful spider and heroic snail. Each character tries to save Mel from her fall, but they soon realize that they can do nothing to stop Mel’s descent and Mel is left to her own devices. She reaches the water at the halfway point of the book with a big SPLASH. At first, it appears that Mel has fallen . . . until the readers are asked to turn the book sideways and see Mel fly. Mel bursts from the water— fish in mouth— to race the other animals to the top of the tree and into her mother’s arms.

Mel Fell highlights this beautifully uplifting message through hand-painted watercolor illustrations with earthy tones. Settings of deep water, high forest canopies, and open skies fill the background of every page, immersing the reader in the kingfisher’s specific habitat. Each page has 1 to 4 short sentences written in simple vocabulary, making Mel Fell a wonderful book for an emerging reader. The repetition of certain phrases like, “Mel fell and fell” adds a rhythm that makes the story fun to read out loud. In addition, animated asides from the different animals are given in small, bright pink and blue text bubbles. These comments—exclamations like “Blast,” “Aieee,” or “Do…not…fear…helpless…little….bird….”— bring unique personalities to every animal presented in the book. These exclamatory asides hold a lot of excitement and would be great for any group of readers wishing to trade-off reading certain sections. The overall result is a book that fills the page with movement, both textual and illustrated.

Tactile interactions incorporated in the book, such as the ask to physically rotate the book halfway through, allows readers to engage in the book in a whole new way. This also works to directly show readers that falling (or failing) is all a matter of perspective. Additionally, an author’s note at the end of the story gives a small introduction to the nature of the kingfisher, allowing for an opportunity to teach children about wildlife. All readers, both young and old, will enjoy the young kingfishers in Mel Fell. The small but courageous young Mel will remind everyone that it’s normal to be scared when you try new things. Mel’s confidence also teaches young readers that believing in yourself can open a whole new world of possibilities.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Hannah Olsson

Black Brother, Black Brother

Donte is black, and the white kids at Middlefield Prep won’t let him forget it. They especially won’t let him forget that they like his lighter-skinned brother, Trey, more than Donte. To make matters worse, the administration turns a blind eye when the students harass Donte. When Donte gets bullied and arrested for something he didn’t do, he feels immensely frustrated and helpless.

Then Donte meets former Olympic fencer Arden Jones. Jones begins to train Donte to take on his main bully: the Middlefield Prep fencing captain, Alan. With support from his friends, family, and the folks at the youth center, Donte begins to unpack the systemic racism that has sought to hold him down all his life.

Through Donte and his family’s eyes, Black Brother, Black Brother tackles systemic racism head-on. Jewell Parker Rhodes shows a range of characters including those who willingly ignore the racism, those who show microaggressions, and finally those who are outright racist like Alan. This book is unflinchingly honest in how it deals with how others treat Donte differently than his brother Trey, who has lighter skin. Even the police treat their father, a white man, differently than their mother, a black woman. These experiences are presented openly and honestly, and in a way, that younger readers will be able to understand.

Donte and the other characters are fully fleshed-out people. Donte and Trey’s relationship shows their solidarity and brotherly love as well as the moments where Donte feels insecure around his older, more popular brother. Their relationship with their parents is also lovely, as they are protective of their sons.

The local Boys and Girls Club has a wide range of characters who bring life to the story. The most prominent of these characters is Donte’s coach, former Olympic fencer Arden Jones. Arden helps Donte grapple with the patience and fortitude required in fencing and in life. Arden’s personal experiences and frustrations show Donte how to conduct himself, and by the end, Donte is an excellent fencer who isn’t afraid to stand up for himself.

Black Brother, Black Brother is an important book that illustrates how racism operates on many levels, and how deeply it affects people of all ages. While this book will appeal to people who like fencing, it is a must-read for all people of any age. Through Donte’s experiences, readers will learn about people from various walks of life and the importance of individual courage. Donte may not be real, but he is certainly not the first nor the last student to be judged on the basis of race when he and every other student should be judged based on the content of their character.

Sexual Content

  • Donte meets twins Zarra and Zion. Donte says, “Zarra’s beautiful. First time I ever thought that about a girl. Deep brown eyes. A wide smile. Glowing black skin. I can’t think of anything to say. Not even my name.”
  • A few girls at school wave at Donte. Trey jokingly says, “Got game, little brother. Girls are going to be calling you.” Donte thinks, “Problem is I won’t know if they like me for me. Or because they like Trey. (Zarra would like me for me.)”
  • When Trey meets Zarra, Donte says, “My brother smiles goofily. I groan. He thinks Zarra’s beautiful, too. If he becomes a competition, I’ll lose.”
  • Donte says that one of the girls from school, “has a crush on Trey. (She knows I know.) Trey hasn’t figured it out yet.”

Violence

  • Another student threw a pencil in class and “it hits Samantha. Donte didn’t throw it, but Ms. Wilson turns from the whiteboard and looks at [Donte] anyway.”
  • At his very white private school, Donte is subjected to plenty of racist words and actions. For instance, Donte’s brother Trey is white-passing, so other students mock Donte by calling him “Black brother.”
  • Donte experiences microaggressions from his peers and adults in his life. Donte describes, “Of all the kids in the school, the police found it easy to arrest me. Why was Mrs. Kay scared? Why did Mr. Waters seem to enjoy my troubles? Worse, why did Headmaster call the police on me? Since I’ve been at Middlefield, the police never came for anyone else. Is something wrong with me?”
  • Donte’s mom notes some real-life stories of police brutality against black people. She says, “Tamir Rice playing with a toy gun, killed. Twelve and he’s dead.”
  • Donte describes a video he sees, saying, “there was a video loop of a school officer pulling a girl from her desk, slamming, dragging her across the floor.”
  • Donte and Trey play-wrestle in the kitchen. Donte describes, “I shove Trey. Rebalancing, his hand swipes and the milk falls to the floor. Trey shoves back. I clutch his waist. He pushes back, clasps me around my back. We wrestle. Our shoes slip. Trey’s long leg sweeps behind my knee. I fall. My shirt soaks up milk.” This lasts for about a page.
  • The boys’ fencing team knocks Donte down. Donte describes, “I fall flat on my face. Each teammate gets a dig, a stomp, a step on me. Trey is flailing, trying to shove them away.”
  • In the seventies, another fencer on Coach’s Olympic team, Jonathan Michael, harassed Coach for being black. Coach describes, “Michael bullied me. Called me terrible names. Threatened me. He’d convince Coach I’d broken curfew even when I hadn’t. Convince teammates everything went wrong because of me.”
  • Alan trips Donte. Donte says, “My mask rolls forward. I drop my foil trying to break my fall. A painful shock sears my wrist.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • After being tripped and hurting his wrist, Donte asks for Advil.

Language

  • The captain of the fencing team, Alan, “says ‘black’ like a slur. Says it real nasty. Like a worse word. A word he thinks but doesn’t dare say.”
  • Donte’s mom tells Donte, “Take off your hoodie. People might think you’re a thug.”
  • Inappropriate language is occasionally used. Words include: nuts and stupid.
  • During a fencing match, Alan yells, “Hey, black girl!” at Zarra.
  • Another fencer, Jonathan Michael, says some very rude things to Coach while Donte and another young fencer watch. Michael’s young fencer tries to shake hands with Coach, but Michael bats the kid’s hand away. Michael then says, “You don’t shake hands with someone dishonorable.”
  • Someone leaves a note for Trey. Donte sees the first part that says, “Why play with…” but he doesn’t look at the rest because, as he says, “I don’t want to see a hateful word.”

Supernatural

  • Donte is black and experiences discrimination at his private school where most of the other students are white. Because of this, Donte wishes that he “were invisible. Wearing Harry Potter’s Invisibility Cloak or Frodo Baggins’s Elvish ring.”

Spiritual Content

  • Zarra brings in books about women in fencing. She mentions that in the 2016 Olympics, a woman named Ibtihaj Muhammad won team bronze, and that “she’s a Muslim American and fences in a hijab.”

by Alli Kestler

 

 The Prisoner of Cell 25

Michael Vey is a teenager trying to survive high school in Meridian, Idaho. He has Tourette’s syndrome – except that is not all that complicates his survival. Michael also has a secret: he’s electric.

The only person who knows of his electric powers is his best friend Ostin, and his caring mother, Sharon. His mom attempts to protect Michael and keep his secret safe. But a cheerleader at Meridian High School named Taylor, discovers Michael’s powers after he shocks a bully and his gang. Michael realizes there’s more to the picture when Taylor reveals she has powers of her own—she can read and reset minds based on electrical signals.

Michael and Taylor, with the help of Ostin, set out to learn more about Taylor’s and Michael’s powers. The three friends struggle to keep their secrets safe as they navigate high school life. They band together to form a club, the “Electroclan.” The group sets standards for how and when they should use their powers. However, the search for the origin of their abilities entangles the group in a fight for their lives. A mysterious organization called the “Elgen” kidnap Taylor and hold Michael’s mother hostage. In order to rescue them, Michael teams up with Ostin and his ex-bullies from the Elgen’s academy (which is really a laboratory and prison) in Pasadena, California.

The story follows Michael and the other main characters’ limited perspectives, including the manipulative Dr. Hatch, one of the Elgen. Michael learns more about the evil deeds of the corporation that stole his mother and gave him his powers. Hatch tries to convince Michael and Taylor to join him, although Michael doesn’t agree with Hatch’s desire for global domination. Michael is most concerned with protecting those he loves and keeping himself on the right side of history. Despite the changing perspectives, the story’s plot is easy to follow. The Prisoner of Cell 25 also has a host of interesting side characters and unexpected plot twists.

This coming-of-age story is geared towards late middle schoolers and early high schoolers. While this age group may not relate to having superpowers, the Michael Vey series emphasizes staying true to one’s values and being loyal to one’s friends and family. Temptation, torture, and manipulation from the Elgen, the evil side, are common themes in the story. Michael is constantly pressured to choose differently than what he thinks is right, such as when Dr. Hatch wants him to forget his mother and join his academy. The gravity of these themes can be unsettling because the teens in the story are manipulated by an older and more powerful adult: Dr. Hatch. Michael struggles under the responsibility of his power, but all the characters—including the non-electric ones — show that the ability to choose is the greatest power we have.

Sexual Content

  • Ostin thinks Michael’s mom is attractive. He calls her “hot” and “a babe.”
  • Taylor is described as very beautiful. Ostin and Michael both think so. At one point, Ostin says, “Taylor’s really a babe. You know she likes you . . . I read this book on body language. And I was watching her body.” Michael says, “Yeah, I bet you were.” Ostin replies, “for scientific purposes.”
  • Michael has a crush on Taylor. They begin dating towards the end of the story and share a few quick kisses. Michael describes, “She [Taylor] set down the phone and walked over and took my hand… She leaned forward and kissed me on the lips. Then she wrapped her arms around me and we kissed again.”

Violence

  • Because the Elgen are trying to locate Taylor and Michael, there is a bounty placed on them.
  • Michael and Ostin are bullied in school by a gang of boys. “It was the second time I’d been locked in my locker by Jack Vranes and his friends that month. This time they put me in upside down and I nearly passed out . . .” The gang also “pantsed” Ostin.
  • Michael reveals why he left his previous school: “When I was in sixth grade… a bunch of wrestlers put me in the lunchroom garbage can and rolled me across the cafeteria… It took five minutes before I couldn’t take it anymore and I ‘went off,’ as my mother calls it. I wasn’t as good at controlling it back then, and one of the boys was taken to the hospital.”
  • Knowing of Michael’s powers, Ostin suggests that Michael shocks people that pick on him.
  • When they suspect Michael of ratting them out, Jack and his gang beat him up. Michael uses his powers to shock them. Michael will frequently use his powers to defend himself from worse threats. The scene is described over four pages. “Jack grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head around… He smacked me again on the nose, which sent a shock of pain through my body. At that moment something snapped… A surge of anger ran through my body so powerful I couldn’t control it. Suddenly a sharp, electric ZAP! pierced the air, like the sound of ice being dropped onto a hot griddle. Electricity flashes and Jack and his posse screamed out as they all fell to their backs and flopped about on the grass like fish on land. I rolled over to my side and wiped the blood from my nose… I stood above Jack, who was frothing at the mouth. ‘I told you to leave me alone. If you ever touch me again, I’ll do worse.’”
  • When Ostin uses a multimeter to test the levels of Michael’s electricity, he says Michael produced so much electricity that he “could kill someone.”
  • When investigating birth records, the Electroclan discovers that Michael and Taylor’s birthdays coincide with an increased number of infant fatalities at Pasadena General Hospital. Only 17 of 59 children survived. They discover that the incident is related to Elgen.
  • While out to dinner with Ostin, Michael and his mom are held at gunpoint by a robber working for the Elgen corporation. Michael shocks him, but it was a test to see his skills. Dr. Hatch – the head of the Elgen’s facility in Pasadena, California – has one of the other 17 electric children, Zeus, shock Michael’s mother. Nichelle, another electric child who is also present, uses her power on Michael to take away his electricity.
  • Nichelle, one of the electric children, takes pleasure in hurting other people with her powers and frequently does so, even when she’s not under orders by Dr. Hatch. She tortures Michael upon first meeting him: “As the girl neared me I started to feel different… With each step the girl took toward me, my dizziness increased. Then my head began to pound like a bass drum.” She tortures many of the electric children, remarking once of Michael that she “almost killed him.”
  • Dr. Hatch’s elaborate schemes often involve the forced participation of the electric children. He tries to get Taylor and Michael on board by separating them from their families and bribing them to join him. He has a twisted view of reality. When talking about the babies that died, he says, “Accidents are the price of civilization. Blood oils social progress. Sure, it was awful, but was it worth it? Believe me, it was.”
  • Tara, Taylor’s twin sister, can produce fear and reset brain signals. She also uses her powers to torture others because she is loyal to Dr. Hatch, such as making people think snakes are crawling on them. This isn’t described by any of the characters until Michael is in Cell 25.
  • It is implied that the Elgen brought down an airplane, killing the passengers.
  • Dr. Hatch “broke” Tanner, one of the electric children. Hatch tortured Tanner’s little brother in front of him. Hatch says, “The first time I told him to take down a 747 he refused. Until we let him see his little brother getting nearly electrocuted by one of your peers. It only took ten minutes of his screams before he was quite eager to help out.” It is also implied that they killed another girl’s adopted family in an electrical fire.
  • Dr. Hatch pressures Taylor into using her powers to “reboot” people. Rebooting is Taylor’s word for making someone forget what they are doing. Hatch makes her do this to a singer at a concert, making the singer forget her lyrics. Taylor learns that Hatch often forces the students to demonstrate their powers as a test of their loyalty to him.
  • Dr. Hatch punishes the children if they lash out and use their powers on others, such as when Zeus shocks someone at the concert. “Bolts of electricity shot out from Zeus’s fingers. The man cried out and dropped to the ground like a bag of concrete.”
  • Later, Dr. Hatch tries to make Taylor reboot a motorcycle driver, but she refuses because he could crash and die. Instead, Tara reboots the man for her. Taylor argues, “’He asked me to kill someone.’ ‘So what?’ Tara replies. . . ‘They’re just people!’”
  • When Taylor refuses to reboot a man, Nichelle tortures her as punishment. Hatch says, “’You have no idea what hurt is. But you will. Nichelle, Miss Ridley needs a little lesson in gratitude—about an hour’s worth to begin with. Oblige me.’ A sadistic smile lit up Nichelle’s face. ‘I’d be happy to.’ Nichelle stepped inside the darkroom and Hatch shut the door behind the girls. He could hear Taylor’s screams even before he reached the other end of the corridor.”
  • Jack and Wade, Michael’s former bullies, agree to drive him and Ostin to Pasadena. Because they formerly did not get along, name-calling and threats are common. Michael learns from Jack about Wade’s upbringing. Wade’s “parents were alcoholics. His old man used to beat the tar out of him until the state took him away. He lived with foster parents until they put him with his grandma, but she doesn’t really want him. She’s not shy about telling him either.”
  • After breaking into the academy, Hatch imprisons Michael. Nichelle uses her power to force Michael into submission. When Michael lunges at Hatch, Nichelle protects the doctor by using her powers against Michael, “Pain seared through my entire body, buckling my knees. I fell to the ground screaming.”
  • Hatch tells Michael that he killed his own father by stopping his heart.
  • Hatch often threatens to use violence because he will use any means necessary to get Michael on his side, including harming Michael’s mother, who they still have imprisoned. Hatch also wants Michael to shock a GP—the name the academy gives to their human guinea pigs, who are kept with shockable collars that don’t allow them to speak.
  • Hatch imprisons Michael in Cell 25, which is supposed to be a form of torture. Later, the reader learns that it is a special type of solitary confinement in which Tara creates fear. Michael stays in Cell 25 for twenty-six days, which is described in a short chapter. “I was suddenly filled with fear like I had never felt before. Something evil was crawling around in the cell… Something frightening beyond words.”
  • After, Michael is still defiant, so Hatch orders Zeus to kill Ostin and Taylor in front of him. However, Michael distracts Zeus and escapes with Taylor and Ostin.
  • The group of electric children that aren’t loyal to Hatch attempt to escape the academy. The kids use their powers to knock out the guards. The non-electric kids often fight with their fists. “Wade hit first, wrapping his arms around the guard’s legs, while Jack knocked him over. The other inmate grabbed the guard around the neck. The guard was flailing around but had no idea who or what had hit him.” The rest of the fighting is not described in great detail.
  • During the escape, Hatch attempts to shoot Michael, but Zeus stops the bullet. “Hatch pulled a revolver from beneath his jacket and pointed it at me. ‘You did this, Vey. Now pay.’ He pulled the trigger. As the gun erupted, lightning flashed across the room and hit the bullet inches in front of me, blowing it into nothing.”
  • The final confrontation is between Michael and Nichelle. He stops her by surging with all he has, which hurts her: “’Stop it!’ Nichelle screamed again, then began convulsing as if she were having a seizure… [She] fell to her knees in agony.” He stops when she’s unconscious.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Jack, Michael’s former bully turned ally, is seen smoking a few times.
  • When Taylor is kidnapped, she “felt as if she’d been drugged.”
  • Jack’s brother is in prison due to a gunfight over drug money. He tells Michael, “He got really messed up on drugs. He and a guy were stealing snowmobiles to get money for drugs when the owner came out. The guy with [Jack’s brother] had a gun and he shot the man. My brother didn’t even know that he had a gun, but the way the laws are, he’s also guilty.”
  • Wade’s parents were alcoholics.

Language

  • Name-calling is frequent, both affectionately and for bullying purposes. Insults include spawn, stupid, wimp, freak, and idiot.
  • Michael is sometimes made fun of for having Tourette’s. Jack calls him “blinky boy.”
  • Ostin is made fun of for his weight. He’s called “doughboy.”
  • Sometimes insults are created to reference powers of the electrical children. For example, Michael is called “glow worm” because the electric children glow in the dark. Ian is called “bat boy” because he uses electrolocation to see, similar to how bats use echolocation.

Supernatural

  • The seventeen electric children have electric-based powers and have a faint glow in the dark. Michael can “shock,” “pulse,” and “surge” electricity.
  • Taylor can “reboot” people by resetting electrical brain signals.
  • Nichelle can cause pain and take away electricity. She calls herself an “electrical vampire.”
  • Zeus can shock others with lightning bolts.
  • Tara can induce fear and other emotions.
  • Bryan can burn through objects.
  • Kylee is similar to a magnet since she can bring metal objects to her and stick to metal surfaces.
  • Mckenna can make light and heat.
  • Abi can take away pain due to stimulating nerve endings.
  • Tanner can interfere with electrical signals, often with aircraft.
  • Ian, who is blind, uses electrolocation to see.
  • Grace works like a computer and can import electric data files into her memory.

Spiritual Content

  • Hatch remarks that fate favored him. He says, “we never dreamed that we’d be so fortunate that she’d [Taylor] lead us to you. In this matter, fate was truly generous.”
  • Michael thinks, “Fate sucks.”

by Madison Shooter

The Mayflower

Myths! Lies! Secrets! Smash the stories behind famous moments in history and expose the hidden truth. Perfect for fans of I Survived and Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales.

In 1620, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock and made friends with Wampanoag people who gave them corn. RIGHT?

WRONG! It was months before the Pilgrims met any Wampanoag people, and nobody gave anybody corn that day.

Did you know that the pilgrims didn’t go straight from England to Plymouth? No, they made a stop along the way—and almost stayed forever! Did you know there was a second ship, called the Speedwell, that was too leaky to make the trip? No joke. And just wait until you learn the truth about Plymouth Rock.

Messner makes learning about history fun. The Mayflower is written in a factual, conversational tone that explains how some of America’s myths started. The Mayflower explains to readers what a primary source is, as well as discusses why “a primary source isn’t necessarily the truth of what happened; it’s an account of what the writer noticed and believed at the time.” The book contains many passages from primary sources and also translates some passages that are difficult to understand.

The Mayflower doesn’t recite a bunch of boring facts. Instead, readers will learn about the events and their significance. For example, the book explains what the Mayflower Compact was: “It established the idea that people should agree on laws together. It also laid the foundation for the separation of church and state—the idea that the government shouldn’t be run by religious leaders and shouldn’t tell anyone how to worship.”

The book’s unique layout will appeal to readers because it includes some graphic novel panels plus lots of illustrations, maps, sidebars, and historical pictures. Almost every page has a graphic element and many of the black and white illustrations are humorous. The illustrations will allow readers to visualize the people, places, and events while the abundant graphics break the text into manageable parts and help readers stay interested in each story.

The Mayflower starts with who the Pilgrims were and why they wanted to leave England. The book also includes information about traveling to the New World, the harsh conditions of settling an untamed land, and the Pilgrims’ treatment of the Wampanoag’s people. The Mayflower is a must-read book because it shows American history in a new light and explains how many of America’s myths became part of our history.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • John Bilington was a troublemaker who “killed another settler and ended up being sentenced to death by hanging.”
  • Dermer and a group of men went to America to explore. “They were attacked by Nauset men. Most of Dermer’s men were killed. Dermer was wounded but escaped to Virginia.”
  • A group of Pilgrims attacked the Natives and killed “two of the community’s leaders.”
  • After the Pequot people attacked an English trading vessel, “They set the village on fire and killed anyone who tried to escape. About seven hundred Pequot men, women, and children were killed.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • While sailing to the new world, everyone, including the kids, drank beer. “But this was different from the kind of beer that only adults drink today. The Pilgrims called it ‘small beer,’ and it had less alcohol.”
  • On Christmas Day 1620, some of the men drank beer.

Language

  • A man who enslaved some of the Natives is called a jerk.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • The King of England said he had “permission” to give away land in Virginia because the Pope said, “Christian people could go into the lands of any non-Christian; take the land and resources and enslave the people who lived there. People who weren’t Christians weren’t looked at as human beings.”
  • Christians believed that taking non-Christians’ lands was acceptable because “God wanted the Pilgrims to convert the Native people, and that could only happen if they lived in the same place.”
  • On the trip, one sailor died. One of the passengers wrote, “But it pleased God before they came half over the sea, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard.”
  • The pilgrims found and stole the Wampanoag’s stored corn. One man said the corn was, “God’s good providence.”
  • A Pilgrim said that Tisquantum “had been sent by God.”
  • The Pilgrims didn’t have celebrations, but they had days “spent in prayer.”
  • After the Pilgrims killed everyone in a Pequot village, the English “gave praise thereof to God.”

 

A Girl Named Rosa: The True Story of Rosa Parks

When Rosa Parks was a young girl, she had to walk to school. Only white children were allowed to ride the bus. Every day, Rosa saw how African Americans were treated unfairly. Everything was segregated—schools, churches, even drinking fountains. During this time, Rosa’s grandfather “taught her to not be afraid of the dangers or hardships she might face.”

When Rosa grew up, she became a part of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She wanted to help change unfair laws. Then, when riding a bus she was told to give up her bus seat to a white person. She decided the time had come to stand up for fairness by staying seated. What happened next changed America.

A Girl Named Rosa shows how a peaceful protest can lead to important changes in the world. Rosa’s courage helped other African Americans speak up. Rosa’s refusal to give up her seat encouraged others to boycott the bus system, which eventually leads to the end of bus segregation. While the biography teaches about Rosa’s life, the text doesn’t contain any direct quotes from her.

Rosa’s life is described through text and large, full-color illustrations. Each two-page spread has a full-page illustration and one page of oversized text. Some words appear in bold letters and are in a glossary at the back of the book. The end of the book also has a timeline of Rosa’s life, pictures of Rosa and boycotters, and a short article about a girl named Marley who searches for books that portray black girls in a positive light.

Everyone can take inspiration from Rosa’s story. In today’s world, Rosa’s story of courage can help inspire others to demand justice for all people, regardless of their race. Rosa’s story shows that injustice can be overcome. Even though the book’s format will appeal to younger readers, they may struggle with the difficult vocabulary. However, the short chapters make A Girl Named Rosa a good choice to read aloud. Older readers who want to explore more books about racial injustice should read A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Rosa was a child, “there were white groups who used violence to frighten, and sometimes hurt, black people. In Rosa’s community, gangs of white men wearing robes and masks sometimes attacked black people, setting fire to their churches, schools, and homes.”
  • While walking to school, some of the white kids “threw things at Rosa and her friends from the bus windows.”
  • While Rosa was walking down the street, “a white boy tried to knock her down. Rosa shoved him back. . . the mother threatened to have Rosa put in jail.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The Power of One: Every Act of Kindness Counts

A young girl is devastated after a boy yells at her. Fortunately, another girl sees the confrontation and decides to act. The story shows how “one [person] is a lot bigger and more powerful than you think.” To emphasize this point, each sentence starts with the word one. “One good listener can make even the smallest voice heard. One shy smile can lead to a friendship.” The picture book shows that one person and one act of kindness can start something beautiful.

The story follows three kids—two girls and a boy who is a bully. None of the characters have names, and when the boy yells his words appear as scribbles in a quote box. A small plant represents the two girls’ growing friendship and shows how “one caring friend can open the door for several more.” The bully eventually apologizes, and the girl forgives him. The boy’s words appear as flowers in a quote box. By not showing the boy’s words, Ludwig leaves an opening for parents or teachers to discuss different ways to apologize.

The Power of One’s message is made clear through both the text and the lovely illustrations. The kids in the illustrations have many skin tones. The kids wear neutral colors which allow the red flower (a symbol of friendship) to pop off the pages. On some of the pages, the negative parts of the illustrations appear in shades of gray. Again, this focuses the reader’s attention on the acts of kindness.

Each page has 0 to 1 sentence. The picture book is intended to be read aloud to a child, rather than for the child to read it for the first time independently.

Everyone can relate to the kids in the illustrations because everyone has had their feelings hurt, and everyone has used mean words. The Power of One’s message is simple: One person can make a difference and help build a kinder community. “Acts and words of kindness do count.” The picture book gives young readers ideas on how they can make a positive difference. For example, “Acknowledging others presence, so they don’t feel invisible. Standing up to put-downs.” The back of the book includes recommended books and websites so parents can find more resources to teach about kindness.

The Power of One is a must-read because it will allow teachers and parents to start a discussion on acts of kindness and making a positive impact on others. Other books that show the importance of kindness are I Am Enough by Grace Byers and All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold. Each book will help parents and teachers encourage children to think about the power of their words.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

When Stars Are Scattered

Omar and his younger brother Hassan have spent most of their childhood inside the A2 block of the Kenyan refugee camp Dadaab. After fleeing from his family farm in Somalia and becoming separated from his mother, Omar’s main concern is always protecting his only remaining family member, his nonverbal brother Hassan. Not only does Omar shield Hassan from the grueling chores of finding water and cleaning the tent, but he also cares for his brother when Hassan suffers seizures, or when he is teased by the other kids for only saying one word: Hooyo—“Mamma.” Omar also hopes one day his mother will find him and Hassan, and so he keeps all days the same. So, when Omar has the opportunity to go to school, he knows it might be a chance to change their future…but it would also mean leaving his brother, his only remaining family member, every day.

When Stars are Scattered is an easy-to-read, beautifully illustrated graphic novel. Omar Mohamed’s story comes to life in this graphic novel about his childhood in a refugee camp. The story shows the heartbreaking events that lead to Omar going to a refugee camp when he was only four. Omar’s story chronicles the hunger, heartbreak, and harsh conditions he endured. The story also sheds light on other issues including women’s access to education, starvation, family loss, and the constantly looming struggle to get on the UN list that invites refugees to interview for resettlement. Despite difficulties, Omar is still able to create a sense of family and home in the midst of difficult situations.

Like all people, Omar is a complex character who struggles to make the right decisions. He also often has conflicting emotions. For example, Omar wonders if his mother is dead or alive. He thinks, “I love my mom, but sometimes I hate her for leaving us. It’s like these two feelings are tearing me apart.”

At one point, Omar wonders if school is a waste of time; however, his foster mom tells him, “Prepare yourself and educate yourself. So you can be ready when God reveals his plan to you.” Eventually,

Omar falls in love with the power of learning and the potential of resettlement. Omar begins to learn what it feels like to build a new life by focusing on what he is given, rather than remaining torn by what he has lost. It is in this way that Omar moves from searching the stars for his mother to actually feeling that, “Many years ago, we lost our mother. But maybe she is not gone. She is in the love that surrounds us and the people who care for us.”

The story teaches several important life lessons including not to judge others and to make the most of your life. Appreciating what you have is the overarching theme of When Stars Are Scattered. Omar’s best friend tells him, “I didn’t ask for this limp. But I didn’t ask to live in a refugee camp either. . . I guess you just have to appreciate the good parts and make the most of what you’ve got.” Despite his struggles, Omar makes the most of what he has been given and thanks God for the love of others.

Based upon the real-life story of Omar Mohamed, When Stars Are Scattered navigates themes of familial loss, grief, struggle, and finally, hope, all while addressing the permanent feeling of a temporary refugee camp and the heartbreak of a war-torn home country. Omar shares his story because he wants to encourage others to never give up on home. Omar says, “Things may seem impossible, but if you keep working hard and believing in yourself, you can overcome anything in your path.”

When Stars Are Scattered not only encourages others to remain persistent, but also sheds light on the conditions of the refugee camps without getting into a political debate on immigration. Instead, the graphic novel focuses on Omar’s story—his hardships, his hopes, his despair, and his desire to help others like him.

The narrative is occasionally intense and heavy in its consideration of grief and the lifestyle of a refugee, which may upset younger readers. However, the serious and very important subjects that When Stars are Scattered covers are overall presented in a digestible way for young readers. The graphics that illustrate the story are absolutely captivating for all, while the humor and uplifting optimism that perseveres throughout this novel can fill the hearts of any audience.

Sexual Content

  • Maryam’s family needs the money, so they allow Maryam to get married despite the fact that she is only in middle school. “Maryam’s husband is old, but he’s not too strict.”

Violence

  • When Hassan hugs a boy, the boy pushes him away. The boy tells Omar, “I don’t know why you bother taking care of this moron. He’s a waste of space. You should let him wander off into the bush to get eaten by lions.” Omar punches the boy, and they get into a fight. An older woman breaks up the fight.
  • While Omar is at school, Hassan wanders off and some kids “[take] his clothes, and… He’s pretty badly hurt.”
  • When Omar’s best friend says he’s going to America, Omar thinks about the resettlement process. He thinks, “I heard about one guy… His case was rejected by the UN and he couldn’t handle it. He… He killed himself.”
  • During an interview with the United Nations, Omar talks about the village he came from. Omar was playing under a tree when he heard men yelling at his father. Then, “Bang! Bang! Bang!” Omar ran to his mother, who told Omar to take his brother and run to the neighbor. The neighbor hides them inside, but “then I heard gunshots and screaming, and soon the whole village was running. There were angry men everywhere.” Omar and his brother run and stay with the people from the village, but they never see their mother again. The event is described over three pages.
  • When Fatuma describes her sons, she notes that “they were killed in Somalia” but there is not any explicit description as to how they were killed.
  • When Hassan tries to help Omar with collecting water one day, Omar gets frustrated and shoves Hassan, yelling “leave me alone!”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Some of the men in the refugee camp chew khat leaves. Omar explains that “a lot of men in camp chew Khat. They say it kind of helps you . . . forget things.”

Language

  • There are multiple times where some of the children are called by names based upon their physical appearance. For example, one child is called “Limpy” based upon a physical disability. Omar is also called “Dantey” for being quiet.
  • The story has some mild name-calling, such as idiot, jerk, and dodo head. For example, Omar thinks that one of the boys his age is “kind of a jerk.”
  • While walking to school, someone yells at two girls, “Hey it’s the mouse and the shrimp.” In reply, someone says, “Tall Ali… You’re like… A towering tree of an idiot.”
  • In class among the girls, A boy says, “You’re just jealous because you’re, what, number seventeen? I didn’t know we had seventeen girls in class. My goat could’ve done better than you.”
  • When Tall Ali becomes frustrated at Hassan for not understanding a game, he says to Omar, “ I don’t know why you bother taking care of this moron! He’s a waste of space. You should let him wander off into the bush to get eaten by lions!” Then he says to both Omar and Hassan, “Now I know why you’re orphans. That’s probably why your mom left you.”
  • When Jeri gives a presentation in school about how much he wants to be a teacher when he grows up, another classmate exclaims, “what a kiss-up.”
  • When Omar learns that all the teachers speak in English, he thinks, “Oh crud.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When community leader Tall Salan tries to convince Omar to go to school, he says, “Omar, only God knows what will happen in the future.” Omar’s foster mom Fatuma also says, “I think you should look deep inside yourself and see what God is telling you to do. If this is God’s will, then He will make everything okay.”
  • Omar and his brother practice Islam. Because of this, Omar recognizes that “Like every morning, I hear the call to morning prayers over the loudspeakers. It’s early, but today I was already awake.” There is also a chapter dedicated to discussing the Holy Month of Ramadan. This chapter shows Omar and his friends celebrating Eid Al-Fitr, which is the holiday at the end of this month. It is also recognized that Omar’s camp, and others near it, have a “loudspeaker that, five times a day, called everyone to prayer.”
  • When Omar decides to go to school, he prays “that [he’s] making the right decision.”
  • Omar’s foster mom tells him that God has given Hassan gifts. “Hassan is considerate, helpful, and friendly.”
  • When the community comes together to help Hassan, Omar thinks, “We may be refugees and orphans, but we are not alone. God has given us the gift of love.”
  • During Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, Muslims are supposed to fast from sunrise to sunset. Even though many in the refugee camp are always hungry, “people in the camp fast anyway… Just because we’re poor and hungry doesn’t mean we can’t observe the holy month.”
  • During Eid, Omar prays “for me and Hassan. That we’ll find a way out of this refugee camp—that someday we will find a home.”
  • When a social worker brings Omar a school uniform, he thinks, “you just try your best, and God will find a way to help you when you need it.”
  • Even though life has dark moments, Omar believes that “God will deliver an answer, and you’ll find a faith out of the darkness. The kindness of strangers. The promise of new friends.”
  • When Omar is waiting to see if he will be resettled in America, he thinks, “We’ve done all we can. It’s in God’s hands now.”

by Hannah Olsson

 

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