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Told in five parts with an epilogue, A Year Without Home is a poignant novel written in verse by V. T. Bidania. Targeted towards middle grade readers, Bidania’s book tells the story of eleven-year-old Gao Sheng and her Hmong family during wartime. Although Gao Sheng is a classic name “meant for girls who are elegant, graceful, charming” (10), Gao Sheng claims none of those traits. She struggles against the gender roles imposed by her culture and wishes to be known as more than “a vegetable picker,” one expected to be a good and responsible daughter. Tired of being like the mab plant, useful and tough,Read More →

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Set in the near future somewhere in North America, Outside by Jennifer L. Holm is both a survival and an adventure story. It tells the tale of four families who have formed a home after a world catastrophe. One of the children at this compound, Razzi is calm, comforting, and responsible, so the parents count on her to set a good example for the other children who live at the Refuge where their parents have found safety after the Great Poisoning. Based on details she has gained from reading books and watching old movies, twelve-year-old Razzi can only imagine what happens outside since outside isRead More →

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In Book Two of the Dragon Force series by Katie and Kevin Tsang, Devourer’s Attack, four tweens who have heart-bonded with dragons must defeat the Devourer and all of his Petrifiers to save the Dragon Force and the entire world. Twelve-year-old Lance Lo and his dragon Infinity takes a leadership role as each member of the diverse quad uses his/her power as part of a team. Lance plays his erhu to mesmerize his opponents with music and to summon spells for protection, defense, and power. Bold, carefree, and determined, Lance’s younger sister, Zoe, can change form and even replicate herself. Arthur has a pathfinding power,Read More →

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Fans of the Nevermoor series will likely fall in love with Steven Banbury’s debut novel for middle grade readers, The Pumpkin Princess and the Forever Night. Banbury’s magical novel opens as an orphan is attempting yet another escape from the orphanage. Pursued by the orphanage’s two hounds, Watcher and Curfew, our protagonist, logical and unafraid, plots and schemes as she flees. Desperate not to just run away, but to run to something keeps her dedicated to her escape plan as she seeks to find “the happiness she has always read about in books and wants so badly for herself” (13).  Fearlessly looking for a home,Read More →

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Lamar Giles, author of Ruin Road, takes the idea of selling one’s soul to the devil to a whole new level. His novel further reinforces the moral: Be careful what you wish for, and even suggests that sometimes fear can be a good thing. Playing wide receiver, Kincade (Cade) Webster attends Neeson Preparatory School on an athletic scholarship and dreams of playing football for Ohio State. When he makes it into the pros, he plans to take his best friends out of Jacob’s Court with him: Gabby and Booker Payne. One night, while escaping an altercation on the bus, Cade walks into Skinner’s Pawn andRead More →

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Sixteen-year-old Bianca Torre identifies as a socially awkward lesbian until she realizes there is more to her identity. Not a risk taker, Bianca knows a lot about hiding. In fact, she hides her sexuality, her personality, and often herself as she peers in on the lives of others using her birdwatching telescope. When Bianca sees her neighbor, Steven Lebedev, another recluse from across the way, get murdered, no one believes her except her best friend, Anderson Coleman. The two live near one another in North Hollywood and decide to solve the murder of Mr. Conspiracy, which is how they best remember him. As they unravelRead More →

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In writing Hamra and the Jungle of Memories, Hanna Alkaf begins in the fashion of a traditional fairy tale. In her reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood, Alkaf borrows heavily from the Malaysian Muslim culture and weaves her magical retelling with Malay customs and cuisine. The star of this tale is thirteen-year-old Hamra, who is stubborn, sad, rebellious, and angry. She is tired of wiping up messes and cooking and listening to her grandmother say things that don’t’ make sense now that she is living with dementia. Hamra is tired of always having to be nice and good and polite and responsible. And she isRead More →

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If books need labels, Café con Lychee by Emery Lee would be a romantic comedy that showcases queer interracial love between two people of color. Labels are suggestive of a category and, as such, provide a cognitive short-cut. Yet, labels also invite critical thinking. So, while Lee’s book does indeed feature two gay young men—one Japanese/Chinese, the other Puerto Rican—it dives deeper, emerging as a book about the universal experience of looking for acceptance and how fear makes people do terrible things. An openly gay boy, Theo Mori is a talented cook and soccer athlete. Even though his friends see him as confident, smart, andRead More →