Monique Harris
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Review of Not So Pure and Simple
Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles High School HarperTeen 391 pp. 1/20 978-0-06-234919-4 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-234921-7 $9.99 Del’s forever crush on schoolmate Kiera comes to a head when she finally becomes single in their junior year of high school. Del is poised to do whatever it takes...
Review of Jackpot
Jackpot by Nic Stone High School Crown 341 pp. g 10/19 978-1-9848-2962-7 $17.99 Library ed. 978-1-9848-2963-4 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-1-9848-2964-1 $10.99 School, work, home; repeat. Such is the life of Rico, high school senior, part-time convenience-store clerk, and full-time caregiver to her nine-year-old brother. In Rico’s life, there is not...
Review of Genesis Begins Again
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams Middle School Dlouhy/Atheneum 386 pp. g 1/19 978-1-4814-6580-9 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-6582-3 $10.99 Regina and the popular girls are coming over after school to hang out, eat snacks, and watch music videos. It’s a dream day for thirteen-year-old Genesis. That is, until she...
Review of Sulwe
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o; illus. by Vashti Harrison Preschool, Primary Simon 48 pp. 10/19 978-1-5344-2536-1 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-2537-8 $10.99 In a story partially based on the author’s childhood in Kenya, “Sulwe was born the color of midnight.” So begins a journey to self-love for a little girl whose name...
Review of Light It Up
Light It Up by Kekla Magoon Middle School, High School Holt 359 pp. g 10/19 978-1-250-12889-8 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-250-12890-4 $9.99 In this follow-up to How It Went Down (rev. 11/14), Peach Street is seething. Two years after a young man was gunned down by police on the same street,...
The Undefeated
“This is for the unforgettable / The swift and sweet ones / who hurdled history / and opened a world / of possible.” From the opening lines of Kwame Alexander’s poem, readers are invited on a journey. It is a journey through a people’s story — through the sorrows, triumphs, and resilience...
Review of Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir
Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir by Nikki Grimes High School Wordsong/Boyds Mills 325 pp. 10/19 978-1-62979-881-3 $19.99 As poetically written as Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming (rev. 9/14) with a story as hard-hitting as Sapphire’s Push. In her author’s note, poet Grimes (winner of the 2017 Children’s Literature Legacy Award) says that...
Review of Saturday
Saturday by Oge Mora; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Little, Brown 40 pp. g 10/19 978-0-316-43127-9 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-316-43126-2 $9.99 Mora (Thank You, Omu!, rev. 11/18) follows up her Caldecott Honor winner with another story built around family and community connection. On Saturdays, Ava and her mother (who...
What Is Given from the Heart
In this posthumous offering from author Patricia C. McKissack, young James Otis and his mother are experiencing hard times: James Otis's father has died; they have lost their farm; their rundown new house floods; James Otis's dog disappears. The two things they have been able to hold onto are their faith and each other. In...