Gibberish by Young Vo; illus. by the authorPrimary Levine Querido 40 pp. g2/22 978-1-64614-110-4 $17.99Dat, the young Asian protagonist of this involving picture book, has traveled far to reach his new country and is about to start his first day of school. His mother warns, “When people speak it will...
This Golden State by Marit WeisenbergHigh School Flatiron 400 pp. g3/22 978-1-250-78627-2 $18.99e-book ed. 978-1-250-78626-5 $10.99Poppy, seventeen, and her younger sister, Emma, have grown up on the run. Their parents, though loving, are fugitives from justice who use fake identities to settle in small towns all around the country and...
Family of Liars by E. LockhartHigh School Delacorte 320 pp. g5/22 978-0-593-48585-9 $19.99Library ed. 978-0-593-48586-6 $22.99e-book ed. 978-0-593-48587-3 $10.99This formidable prequel to We Were Liars (rev. 5/14), focusing on the wealthy Sinclair family a generation before that novel’s events, opens with a harsh truth, and a spoiler. Johnny, one of...
The Chandler Legacies by Abdi NazemianHigh School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 336 pp. g2/22 978-0-06-303932-2 $17.99e-book ed. 978-0-06-303934-6 $9.99Chandler Academy is a posh Connecticut boarding school with a hallowed reputation, but with a thinly veiled culture of hazing, bullying, and homophobia and zero interest in changing long-established “traditions.” The story, which...
Rima’s Rebellion: Courage in a Time of Tyranny by Margarita EngleMiddle School, High School Atheneum 208 pp. g2/22 978-1-5344-8693-5 $18.99e-book ed. 978-1-5344-8695-9 $10.99This historical novel in verse, set mainly in 1920s Cuba, is an engrossing look at the protracted fight for women’s suffrage there. The story is told through the...
Pauli Murray: The Life of a Pioneering Feminist and Civil Rights Activist by Rosita Stevens-Holsey and Terry Catasús Jennings High School Yellow Jacket 288 pp. g 2/22 978-1-4998-1251-0 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4998-1252-7 $9.99 The remarkable life of Black activist, attorney, and Episcopal priest Pauli Murray (1910–1985) is presented in an...
Little Bird’s Day by Sally Morgan; illus. by Johnny Warrkatja Malibirr Primary Blue Dot Kids 32 pp. g 10/21 978-1-7362264-6-9 $18.95 As soon as the sun peeks above the horizon, a silver-crowned friarbird alerts the denizens of Australia’s Arnhem Land region that the day has begun. Aboriginal writer Morgan (who...
Everybody in the Red Brick Building by Anne Wynter; illus. by Oge Mora Preschool Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 32 pp. g 10/21 978-0-06-286576-2 $17.99 On a clear, starry night, everybody in a red brick apartment building is sound asleep. That is, until Baby Izzie sits up in her crib and starts...
Red and Green and Blue and White by Lee Wind; illus. by Paul O. Zelinsky Primary Levine Querido 32 pp. g 10/21 978-1-64614-087-9 $17.99 The author begins: “On a block dressed up in Red and Green, one house shone Blue and White.” He goes on to introduce a boy named...