This dynamic account of author G. Neri’s 7-week venture to Antarctica blends a lively first-person narrative with abundant photographs and other visuals … Neri made the trip as part of the National Science Foundation’s Artists & Writers program. His sense of curiosity and wonder is palpable …
Book of the Week
The Maid and the Crocodile
A sparkling novel set in the same world as the author’s West African-inspired Raybearer series succeeds as a lively stand-alone. Small Sade (Black) is an orphan who’s aged out of the care system.
Force of Nature: A Novel of Rachel Carson
A lyrical novel-in-verse about Rachel Carson begins with her childhood in rural Pennsylvania. Young Rachel delighted in nature; it also provided escape and solace as family members navigated difficult times.
This Table
What began as a seed that grows into a tree ends up as a table, but that’s barely the beginning of this warm-hearted picture book about the table–and members of a single family–across years. It’s a table around which (and under!) the bustling, growing multigenerational family gathers for celebrations and quiet moments; art projects, puzzles and imaginative play; homework and grown-up work; and much more.
The Fabulous Fannie Farmer: Kitchen Scientist and America’s Cook
Fannie Farmer loved cooking as a child. When she lost the use of a leg as a teenager due to polio, her love of cooking helped reshape her vision for the future; while she recovered, she cooked. Fannie noticed that the imprecise instructions and measurements in most recipes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (e.g., “a suspicion of nutmeg”) made for inconsistent results.
Adventures of Mary Jane
In the 1840s, 14-year-old Mary Jane lives on a trading post in the Minnesota Territory. A letter from Ma’s sister asking for a “helping hand” provides the impetus for Mary Jane (white) to head south.
Gracie Under the Waves
Sixth grader Gracie’s dream is to snorkel in the Maldives, but for now she’s thrilled that her parents agree on a family spring break trip to Roatán in Honduras, where there is a marine park. Even her little brother Ben, who can be exhausting, can’t dim her enthusiasm. Unfortunately, Gracie (Korean American) cuts her leg on coral on her first dive after Ben accidentally bumps into her.
Just Us
Every year during the winter holidays, the young narrator’s Grandma flies in to visit, and her aunts and uncles arrive at her house by car with all the cousins. “Every year we play charades, loud and rowdy. Then we light a fire in the fireplace and eat Grandma’s three kinds of pie. That’s what happens every year. It’s tradition.”
Narwhal: Unicorn of the Arctic
“You are a narwhal—shy, swift, small (for a whale).” Full of sensory detail, this narrative focusing on the life and activities of the “unicorn of the Arctic” begins on a “biting-cold December day,” in the dark of the Arctic, as “you,” a male narwhal, clash your tusk with that of another male.
The Brightwood Code
Edda, 18, has recently returned from working as a Hello Girl for the American Expeditionary Forces on the front lines of WWI. Now a telephone operator for Bell Systems in Washington, D.C., Edda (white) is weighted with guilt over an incident during her service: Despite her ability to quickly translate between French and English, and working hard to memorize codes that changed daily, she forgot a code word (“Brightwood”) at a critical moment and 34 soldiers died as a result.