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Readers of Rick Riordan and J.K. Rowling will likely enjoy Angie Thomas’ new fantasy series for middle grade readers, The Manifestor Prophecy. In its first installment, Nic Blake and the Remarkables, readers will meet Nichole Blake, Alex DuForte, and Joshua Paul Williams (JP).  Each member of this dynamic trio has idiosyncrasies with which readers will identify and appreciate. Just as the Harry Potter books has muggles and wizards, the Nic Blake books feature Remarkables and Unremarkables, manifestors and monsters. When she was just a baby, Nic’s Dad kidnaps her, so the two have been living on the run—something Nic only learns later, along with aRead More →

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Although the two main characters in Deborah Crossland’s newest novel, The Quiet Part Out Loud are a baseball pitcher and a cheerleader, this is not your typical “athlete gets the girl” romance. This is a book about mental, emotional, and spiritual wholeness as much as it is about how relationships involve opening worlds for one another and experiencing those worlds together. It confirms that love is an action verb. More than just feeling, love is doing; it is serving the needs of others. Set in San Francisco, the story follows the lives of Alfie Thanasis and Mia Clementine. Determined to find beauty in people andRead More →

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Wren Warren and Derek Pewter-Flores ae both sixteen-year-old members of the four founding families in Hollow’s End. Wren’s family grows wheat, and Derek’s grows melons. The the pair hopes to build on their families’ 150-year-legacy, marry, and have children someday, but Wren has overheard her parents arguing about money, so she takes measures to help increase the farm’s production. Soon after, a blight appears, one with devastating effects on the soil, crops, animals, and people—one with the power to fracture not only a family but a future. Believing herself responsible, Wren takes matters into her own hands, and what she discovers rocks her core. WhenRead More →

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Cam Cordes, Harper Jeffries, and Effie Galanos are planning to enjoy their final year of high school at Mill City High in Minnesota. As this trio of young women navigate their senior year, they realize the bitter-sweetness in so many moments—from school dances to lunches off-campus. Wondering how she will survive without her typical support systems at college, Effie especially frets for her future since she is a wheelchair user who has cerebral palsy. Determined to enroll at a university with a reputable Mass Media and Society Department, Effie wants to help minorities, specifically people who are differently abled, be more visible in mass media,Read More →

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E. Lockhart pens a haunting story in Family of Liars. She not only shares how unearned privilege can lead to “terrible things on top of terrible things” but how those with resources often get a pass: “They assume that girls like us—educated girls from a ‘good family’—they assume we are telling the truth. We get the benefit of the doubt, the assumption of innocence, conferred by our family name” (277). Tucked in the telling, though, Lockhart also shares how messy and miserable that “pretending, lying, trying to have a good time” (219) can become. Because Carrie Sinclair is depressed and suffering, dealing with issues ofRead More →

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Told in five parts and written from the perspective of a Mars’ Rover intermixed with letters from Sophie, A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga targets middle grade readers who are fascinated by space, earth science, and computer coding. Inspired by NASA’s real Mars’ Rover, Warga creates Resilience. Under the influence of Warga’s pen and through anthropomorphism, Resilience learns important lessons about what it might mean to be human. Res develops relationships with two NASA scientists, Rania and Xander who work in California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and with a community of machines, namely Journey, Fly, and Guardian. Built for observation, Resilience awakens to knowledge. Although notRead More →

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While reading Justin Baldoni’s book Boys Will Be Human, I kept thinking of people I needed to pass this book on to next. Not just for male readers, it is a primer of sorts about acceptance and validation. Baldoni opens this topic early by writing: “Regardless of our genders, what’s important to our spiritual growth is learning how to be kind, loving, honest, of service, thoughtful, sensitive, loyal” (15) humans. Baldoni also argues that life isn’t a poker game where the winners are the most stoic players with the monetary and physical resources to bet high. We have to be willing to check our privilegeRead More →

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Dark Room Etiquette by Robin Roe should be required reading for any student of psychology. Set in Texas, this is a powerful book about the aftermath of a traumatic event and illustrates how the human mind is a total mystery. Roe tells the story of two years in the life of Sayers Wayte (Saye), a sixteen-year-old who turns eighteen in the course of the novel. As the story opens, Saye is basking in his status as a junior eligible for Homecoming Court at Laurel High School, as a popular young man with friends and a girlfriend, and as a member of the upper class whoseRead More →

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Legends of Lotus Island: The Guardian Test is the first installment in a new series by Christina Soontornvat. In this fantasy series targeted for middle grade readers, Soontornvat introduces a cast of characters with Plum as the protagonist and creates a mysterious setting called Lotus Island. Because a storm capsized her parents’ boat on the open sea, Plum is an orphan living with her grandparents. Gardening, talking to the worms, fox bats, and other creatures while also taking care of Tansy the goat consume Plum’s days. However, her grandparents are afraid they are holding Plum back from something more significant. Without consulting Plum, Grandpa completesRead More →