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Although Ruth Behar’s historical fiction novel for middle grade readers is titled Across So Many Seas, the author could just as easily have named it Across So Many Generations. Set in four locations over multiple centuries and following the lives of four twelve-year-old girls, Across So Many Seas tells the story of the Jewish expulsion from Spain in 1492. The first segment is told from Benvenida’s viewpoint and captures a time when the high arts, such as reading, writing poetry, and singing sacred prayers in the synagogue were left to men. Still, Benvenida seeks freedom and autonomy. Her mother encourages her to “always live theRead More →

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Xavier T. Fletcher is an odd duck. At ten-years old, he’d rather sit silently watching birds than play catch or go fishing with his brother, Nicholas, and his father, Arnold. When his father unexpectedly loses his job, forcing the family to move to Nana Susan’s farm, Xavier should be ecstatic, but he is unsure. After all, Nana Susan’s goat, Cal Ripken Jr., bit him five years ago, and Xavier hasn’t fully recovered from the traumatic experience. Furthermore, “the idea of going forth to explore real nature, all wild and dangerous and free, feels a bit unnerving to Xavier. But as you may know, sometimes theRead More →

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Whether you work your fingers to the bone operating a quern, starve yourself until you are skin and bones, or turn to cannibalism and gnaw meat to the bone when the tuckahoe is gone, Alena Bruzas’ book To the Bone captures all of these idioms. Writing in the historical fiction genre, Bruzas retells the harrowing times of 1609-1610 at James Fort when the colonists find themselves suffering. To tell her tale, Bruzas features two teens: Jane Eddowes and Ellis Folk. Jane—full of spark, vitality, wit, and defiance—loves to draw and to pursue adventure. Ellis finds herself drawn to Jane. Because she lost her parents—her motherRead More →

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In her novel Kareem Between, Shifa Saltagi Safadi shares a story about the experiences of seventh grader Kareem, who loves football and dreams of being the first Syrian American NFL player. Seeing his name on an American jersey would spell perfection for him, but first he has to earn a position on the middle school team. Set in Indiana from 2016-2017, Kareem feels invisible since he doesn’t make the football roster and his best friend Adam has moved away. To find comfort, Kareem escapes to the library where the smell of paper and ink and books surrounds him. A lover of words, Kareem uses NFLRead More →

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With her writing and illustrating for the graphic novel The Deep Dark, Molly Knox Ostertag takes readers on a journey into the psychology of dark thoughts and their potential to suck the life from us. Trying to survive senior year, Magdalena Herrera (aka Mags) is stuck in a small Southern California town under a mountain of responsibilities that include coursework, a part-time job, caring for her mostly bed-ridden abuela, and struggling with her gender and sexual identities. When her transgender childhood friend Nessa returns from college, Mags has a kindred spirit to help support her, and together they must make the choice to thrive orRead More →

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G.F. Miller sets out to explore early relationships in her book Not If You Break Up with Me First. The novel follows two best friends: Eve McNeil and Andrew Ozdemir. The pair has “seen each other through growth spurts, family drama, and broken bones” (9). However, hormones and other life changes occur during the summer between seventh and eighth grade. When Andrew returns from a Florida trip taller, stronger, and with a deeper voice, Eve’s parents are struggling to hold their family together. At school in Andrew’s circle of friends, talk of Legos and video games has shifted to talk of which girls the boysRead More →

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Set in both New York and Pennsylvania prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, Stepping Off by Jordan Sonnenblick tells a story of human relationship dynamics. The novel’s primary characters are three sixteen-year-old youth who navigate issues like parental death, divorce, and friendship challenges. Ava Green, Chloe Conti, and Jesse Dienstag are best friends whose parents own summer homes in Pennsylvania where the official motto of the vacation-home community is “The Real World Isn’t Real.” Tall Pines Landing provides an escape from the crowds, traffic, pollution, endless noise, and pressures of school and jobs in New York. Although she has a tendency toward a pricklyRead More →

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Set in 1994 in the United Kingdom, Boy Like Me by Simon James Green tells the story of high school junior Jamie Hampton who grew up in a time when thoughts of cuddling a same sex partner were considered a perversion. In fact, from 1988 to 2000 in Scotland and from 1988 to 2003 in England and Wales, Section 28 made homosexuality a crime. At sixteen years old, Jamie is dealing with issues of identity and self-discovery. Although he wants to be unique, Jamie is a straight-A student, a writer, an organizer, and somewhat of a book nerd. Better to fly under the radar andRead More →

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With her recent historical fiction novel for middle grade readers, J. Anderson Coats has written a poignant coming-of-age tale. Over the course of six months—April through September—A Season Most Unfair tells the story of Scholastica Greenwell (aka Tick) who lives in St Neots with her papa and stepmother, Mama Elly, who “bubbles over with warmth and hugs and the coziest of welcomes” (51). Tick cherishes the time she spends with her papa making candles. She feels needed and loved. However, without Tick’s knowledge, Papa takes an apprentice, and suddenly Henry’s gains become her losses. Tick is angry and hurt that her father no longer hasRead More →