CCBC Weekly Book Reviews
Legendborn
African American Bree, 16, grief stricken since her mother’s death in a car accident, is in the Early College program at UNC-Chapel Hill, her mom's alma mater.
January 19, 2021We Are Not Free
The voices of 14 teenagers and young adults, all friends and acquaintances from San Francisco's Japantown, narrate this story of Japanese and Japanese American imprisonment during World War II.
January 11, 2021Skunk and Badger
Enjoying a quiet, solitary life in the brownstone owned by Aunt Lula, a pine marten whospeaksveryfast, Badger is dismayed by the Skunk’s arrival, battered suitcase in paw, with an invitation from Aunt Lula to stay there, too.
January 4, 2021Flash and Gleam: Light in Our World
Each page or spread of this creative look at many ways light is part of our lives features one or more rhyming couplets describing light in a specific context set against an illustration showing an accompanying scene.
December 28, 2020You Should See Me in a Crown
Running for prom queen is way outside high school senior Liz Lighty’s comfort zone, but she’s motivated by the $10,000 scholarship for the winner, since she didn’t get the music scholarship she was counting on for college.
December 21, 2020All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team
The rescue of 12 young Thai soccer players and their assistant coach, trapped in Tham Luang Nang cave for more than two weeks in 2018, was an effort of compassion, courage, and international cooperation.
December 14, 2020The Mulberry Tree
Immy and her parents have moved from Sydney, Australia, to a small town just outside Cambridge, England. They rent Lavender Cottage despite warnings that the gnarled, centuries-old mulberry tree in the backyard was responsible for the disappearance of two girls—one in the 18th century, one in 1945—on the eve of their 11th birthdays.
December 7, 2020Flamer
Aiden Navarro (Filipino/white) is nervous about transferring from Catholic to public school in fall when he starts high school. For now, he’s happy to be at Boy Scout camp.
November 30, 2020Catch That Chicken!
Lami, a small girl who lives with her extended family in an African compound brimming with activity, is known as an expert chicken catcher.
November 23, 2020A Place at the Table
Pakistani American Sara is in her first year at public middle school after previously attending a private Mosque school her family can no longer afford. Elizabeth, Jewish and white, is in the after-school cooking club Mrs. Hameed (Sara’s mom) is running.
November 16, 2020The Bear in My Family
“We live with a bear!” a boy insists. The bear that sleeps in the bedroom next to his is loud, bossy, and strong.
November 9, 2020Elatsoe
Following news that her older cousin Trevor has died, Ellie, a contemporary Lipan Apache teen in Texas, is visited by Trevor in a dream in which he tells her he was murdered.
November 2, 2020Cemetery Boys
Cuban/Mexican American Yadriel’s family are brujx. Women are healers, and men make sure spirits move to the land of the dead before turning evil.
October 26, 2020What If a Fish
A sudden change in summer plans sees Little Eddie, 11, traveling to Cartagena, Colombia, where his late dad was from, to visit his half-brother.
October 19, 2020- More Books of the Week