Review by Logaine Navascués
When young Emily Carr goes into the garden, she cannot help but feel tuned in to its natural rhythms. The reader follows the thumpety-bumpety of Emily’s heart and discovers the girl’s way of seeing and her connection to the Wild. … More When Emily Was Small by Lauren Soloy
Review by Louise Brecht
Émigré Susan Thomas is intrigued by desi boy Malcolm Vakil. She wants to fit in the way he does: to her new country, her new city—Mississauga, Ontario—and especially to her new school. Arthur Eldridge High is a world away from her last institution in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and even farther from the family’s home base in India, but her parent’s decree that Susan complete her senior year in Canada is absolute. … More The Beauty of the Moment by Tanaz Bhathena
Review by Logaine Navascués
Friends share a common language. Sometimes it’s in the words they speak or in the games they play. Others, in the small details of daily life, those instants when magic reveals itself, such as when cicada bugs leave the underground world and emerge into the sunlight. … More Natsumi’s Song of Summer by Robert Paul Weston, Illus. by Misa Saburi
Review by Jieun Lee
Iris Weijun Wang has a pretty great life. She’s almost done high school, she’s got a new Vera Wang dress to wear to prom, and she’s got a super cool, super sexy boyfriend named Peter to go with. But Madame Xing’s curse of being a flower-hearted tiger girl— … More My Summer of Love and Misfortune by Lindsay Wong
Review by Logaine Navascués
The ocean is a big blue mystery and Marie wants to unravel it. She is used to investigating the countryside with her father, but the sea is different: she can hear it calling, although she still cannot understand what it says. … More Ocean Speaks: Marie Tharp and the Map that Moved the Earth by Jess Keating, Illus. by Katie Hickey
Review by Louise Brecht
Change is rocking Sara Rodriguez’s world. The half-Latina academic all-star expected to spend her senior year of high school fleshing out Ivy League options for post-secondary studies, not to have her plans dashed by the consequences of one reckless rendezvous in May. … More Belly Up by Eva Darrows
Review by Elizabeth Leung
In the world of Perfect Pets, Barnabus is a failed project. Half-elephant and half-mouse, he isn’t fluffy enough and his eyes are kind of beady, so he is hidden away with the other failed projects in a secret lab deep underground and guarded by the Green Rubber Suits. … More The Barnabus Project by The Fan Brothers with Devin Fan
Review by Annalise Fisher
In the novel Refraction,by Naomi Hughes, teenage Marty Callahan is forced to take desperate measures to save himself from an apocalypse, and discovers that there is more to the end of the world than just self-preservation and survival. … More Refraction by Naomi Hughes
Review by Lauren Hathaway
Picture books that feature intergenerational relationships can be surprisingly hard to come by. Maud and Grand-Maud not only helps fill this gap in the market, but it also honors the special bonds that some children share with their grandparents. … More Maud and Grand-Maud by Sara O’Leary, Illustrated by Kenard Pak
Review by Deborah Vail
When Kyle Baker’s father tells him that his mother is having an affair, Kyle’s world begins to fall apart. He’s just committed to his girlfriend and confessed his love for her, but his understanding of commitment and loyalty are based on his parents’ love story. … More Goodbye from Nowhere by Sara Zarr
YOUNG ADULTING 