Review by Shanleigh Klassen
Life has not been easy for Hartley Staples as of late. It could be in part because his teacher has just assigned the last project of middle school and he has absolutely no clue what to present on. … More The Collected Works of Gretchen Oyster by Cary Fagan
Review by Valeria De La Vega
Enter any bookstore and you’ll find picture books in which children of all ethnicities play together, solve mysteries, and have adventures. However, that wasn’t always the case. … More It Began With a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way by Kyo Maclear, Illus. by Julie Morstad
Review by Louise Brecht
D’s scared. The trip was her idea. The plane crash happened here, the one that claimed the lives of her twin sister and Spider’s brother two long years ago. Now she, Spider, and their friend, Min, are stranded on the slopes of the Grey Sisters mountain range. … More The Grey Sisters by Jo Treggiari
Review by Emily Anctil
Alma and the Beast is a wonderfully executed picture book about finding similarities in those that seem different from you. … More Alma and the Beast by Esmé Shapiro
Review by Shyamala Parthasarathy
Seventeen-year-old Lainey is dragged along to a videogame convention with her brother Cody, aka, famous YouTuber Codemeister, to be his roadie. She crosses paths with SamTheBrave, who’s an up-and-coming gamer and YouTuber, and a lonely, bullied, fat kid with a mental illness who finds his safe space online. … More Fan the Flame by Anna Priemaza
Review by Elizabeth Leung
It is truly a testament to the genius of the original song how, over 40 years after its debut on The Elephant Show, the undeniably catchy tune of Skinnamarink(-y dinky dink, skinnamarinky doo) can resonate with this book’s readers. … More Sharon, Lois and Bram’s Skinnamarink by Sharon Hampson, Lois Lilienstein, and Bram Morrison with Randi Hampson, Illus. by Qin Leng
Review by Juhyun Tony Bae
Some stories possess the ability to connect us to emotions that can be almost impossible to express, and Travis Dandro’s debut graphic novel, King of King Court, is one of those stories. … More King of King Court by Travis Dandro
Review by Emily-Anne Mikos
Laurie Halse Anderson wrote Speak in 1999 to encourage the discussion and awareness of sexual assault that was lacking at the time. Shout is the response to absence of change since then by further exploring what it means to be a survivor in the form of a poetic memoir. … More Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson
Review by Kelsey Elizabeth Moorhouse
Ask seventeen-year-old Violet Sterling what she plans to be when she grows up, and she’ll give you an answer rehearsed from birth: she will be the Caretaker of her Great House, Burleigh, like her father was before her—until he died on the job, that is. … More A Treason of Thorns by Laura E. Weymouth
Review by Shyamala Parthasarathy
Heather Smith’s Chicken Girl is a book about hiding and confronting both yourself and the world, and accepting that not everything revolves around you. When sixteen-year old Poppy posts a picture of herself dressed as Rosie the Riveter from the era of World War I, she gets what every curvy girl gets on the internet—photoshopped onto sub-Reddit thread ISeeFatPeople that make fun of fat people for existing. … More Chicken Girl by Heather Smith
