Ben, a “what-if kid” with many worries and fears, is spending a week with his mother, who left him when he was three years old, in her off-the-grid cabin on a small island in northern Minnesota.
Book of the Week
American Betiya
Indian American Rani Kelkar’s parents have always been clear: No dating in high school. She’s always respected that rule.
Amber & Clay
Two children’s fates entwine in a novel set in Greece, 5th century B.C.E.
Watercress
When a girl’s parents spot watercress growing at the side of an Ohio road, they pull over the family car and show her and her brother how to gather it.
Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance
Grimes focuses on women poets of the Harlem Renaissance to draw attention to these generally lesser known yet talented writers of that time, offering up a selection of poems that she in turns uses as inspiration for poems of her own.
Milo Imagines the World
Taking the subway to a destination unknown to the reader, Milo feels like “a shook-up soda.”
Meltdown: Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima
A gripping, well-researched account delves into the trifecta of catastrophes that occurred in Japan in March 2011: the magnitude-9 earthquake off the coast of the island of Honshu, the resulting tsunami, and the eventual meltdown of several reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
365 Days to Alaska
Rigel, 11, who is white, lives with her family in the Alaskan bush. But when her parents announce they’re getting divorced, Rigel and her sisters move with their mom to “Outside”–their maternal grandmother’s in Connecticut.
Hear My Voice / Escucha mi voz
“My sister and I came from Honduras.” “Our grandfather saw the gang kill our neighbor. They threatened to kill him so we all had to leave.” There is not even enough room for the baby to crawl.” “I have been here without bathing for twenty-one days.”
Fire Keeper’s Daughter
Daunis, 18, has postponed attending the University of Michigan to stay in Sault Ste. Marie for her mother, who is reeling from the recent death of Daunis’s uncle and the failing health of Daunis’s grandmother–the wealthy white woman who wouldn’t allow Daunis’s Ojibwe father to be named on Daunis’s birth certificate.