This poignant debut novel in verse is a portrait of healing, as a young girl rediscovers life and the soothing power of nature after being freed from her abusive father.
Category: Middle Grade Readers
Consider the Octopus by Nora Raleigh Baskin & Gae Polisner
When chance, or fate, throws two twelve-year-olds together on board a scientific research ship at the edge of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it’s not all smooth sailing!
My Best Books for Youth in 2021
Click here to read about these nine books that I reviewed in 2021 for Booklist Magazine and India Currents Magazine. … More
How to Find What You’re Not Looking For by Veera Hiranandani
New Novel for Younger Readers Explores Interracial Marriage and Anti-Semitism ● In 1967, twelve-year-old Ariel Goldberg’s life is full of … More
Sugar Town Queens by Malla Nunn
Gr. 7-12 ***Starred Review*** Fifteen-year-old Amandla has always set her sights on leaving Sugar Town, a slum outside Durban, South … More
The Pick-Up by Miranda Kenneally
Gr. 8-12 Rising senior Mari is excited to be in Chicago at her dad’s for the weekend. She’s going to … More
Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket
Gr. 4-8 ***Starred Review*** Introspective and instructive, the inimitable Snicket returns with a philosophical and nearly stream-of-consciousness tale about learning … More
Playing a Dangerous Game by Patrick Ochieng
Gr. 6-9 In the 1970s, 10-year-old Lumush lives with his family in Railway Estates in Kenya. A recent transfer to … More
How to Be a Girl in the World by Caela Carter
Gr. 4-8 The summer before seventh grade, Lydia begins wearing extra clothes to ward off new, unwanted attention from neighborhood … More
My Eyes Are Up Here by Laura Zimmermann
Gr. 7-12 Until ninth grade, Greer Walsh’s body was acceptable. Then her bustline grew. And grew. Now a sophomore, she’s … More
When Loose Ends Meet 