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Twelve-year-old Valeria Salomón loves fútbol, aka soccer. Because of her talent, her teammates have nicknamed her Magic. The protagonist in The Beautiful Game by Yamile Saied Méndez, Magic plays for a boys’ team, the Overlords until her period arrives and she gets kicked off the team. Dedicated to the sport she loves and not ready to give it up, Val approaches Coach Blume and asks for a place on her all-girls’ team, the Amazons. Although Val missed try-outs and the team roster is full, Coach Blume decides to “accommodate for exceptional circumstances” (144). As Val tries to find a place in her new sisterhood, sheRead More →

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With her book All Alone with You, Amelia Diane Coombs has written an honest account of a seventeen-year-old girl who copes with anxiety and depression because of imbalanced brain chemicals. Carrying around an unshakable sense of dread, Eloise Deane distracts herself by focusing on her dream to attend University of Southern California (USC). She can’t wait to graduate from Evanston High School in Seattle and make her escape. However, when her guidance counsellor tells her that USC will be expecting not just academic expertise but “investment and involvement” in her community, Eloise wavers.  That means that in order for her dream to come true, sheRead More →

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Given the past two years, with a war waging between Russia and Ukraine, Swimming with Spies by Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger is an especially relevant novel for middle grade readers. This historical fiction text tells the story of the annexation of Crimea in 2014—a time when “Russkyi mir, the violence and blood and criminality and corruption,” threatened Ukrainian’s language, culture, and tradition. The stars of this story are Sofiya, Ilya, Cedric, Anna, and Petro, twelve-year-old classmates who have to decide whether they will work together as well as determine the degree to which nationalism plays a role in identity. Additional characters serve as significant support staff inRead More →

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When Adele enters “womanhood,” she discovers that in addition to her monthly cycle, she has the family gift, or burden, depending on one’s perspective. She sees ghosts! Others in the family also share the ability to be a medium. Gram, who despises the gift, has painted her house an electric blue to ward off the ghosts and to avoid their invasive requests to tap into her power. She insists that ghosts are not welcome in her home and advises Adele to adopt her viewpoint. About the family gift, Gram tells Adele, “We have the power to stand in the middle, you see. Halfway between theRead More →