CCBC Weekly Book Reviews
Ironhead, or Once a Young Lady
Stance, 18, lives in Ghent in 1808. She’s always looking for experiences more interesting than what her fate as a woman seems to hold. Her brother Pier, 14, who wants to be a scholar, is dismayed by his older sister’s boldness and defiance.
August 8, 2022
A Song Called Home
Lou and older sister Casey’s mom is about to marry Steve, an unwelcome change that means they’ll be moving from San Francisco to the suburbs, enrolling in new schools, and living far from friends.
August 1, 2022
Olu & Greta
Olu lives near Lagos, in Nigeria; Greta lives in Milan, in Italy. The two children (both Black) are cousins. “They have never met each other in person! How would they?”
July 25, 2022
The Silence That Binds Us
The seemingly out-of-the-blue suicide of May’s older brother, basketball star and Princeton-bound Danny, just before graduation sends her Chinese American family into an downward emotional spiral.
July 18, 2022
Caprice
Twelve-year-old Caprice, Black, is back in Newark after attending a summer program at Ainsley International School in upstate New York.
July 11, 2022
The Treasure Box
In her secret treasure box, a girl with brown skin collects special found items: a particularly smooth, round rock; a papery snakeskin; a large feather; a bird’s nest. She delights in sharing these items with her white grandfather when he visits.
July 5, 2022
The Summer of Bitter and Sweet
Lou (Métis/white) is spending the summer before college working at her family’s ice cream stand in her Canadian prairie town. After her mom leaves to sell beadwork on the powwow circuit, Lou’s biological father–the white man who raped Lou’s mom when she was 16–lets Lou know he’s out of prison and demands to meet her.
June 27, 2022
Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone
Jennifer Chan (Chinese American) is obsessed with extraterrestrial life, a fascination she shared with her late dad. Biracial (Korean/white) Mallory Moss, always worried about fitting in, may not believe in aliens from other worlds but admires her new neighbor Jennifer’s ability to be herself even as she distances herself from Jennifer once the school year begins.
June 20, 2022
Honeybee Rescue: A Backyard Drama
After Mr. Connery discovers that one of his bee colonies has established a new hive in a rickety, drafty garage where they may not be able to survive the cold winter, he calls Mr. Nelson, a bee relocation specialist.
June 13, 2022
Journey of the Midnight Sun
When a Muslim community in Inuvik, two hundred kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, outgrows its makeshift house of worship, a new mosque is delivered from the other end of the country.
June 6, 2022
Vinyl Moon
Teenage Angel is staying with her uncle in Brooklyn after a violent incident with her (now) ex-boyfriend left her hurt both physically and emotionally.
May 31, 2022
The View from the Very Best House in Town
Sam, white, and Asha, Indian American, both autistic, are best friends until Sam is accepted to Castleton Academy for seventh grade. At Castleton, Sam is bullied until popular girl Prestyn takes a sudden interest in him.
May 23, 2022
Ten Blocks to the Big Wok
A bilingual (English/Chinese) counting book follows little Mia and her Uncle Eddie on a walk through Chinatown. They are headed to the Big Wok restaurant for dim sum.
May 16, 2022
Cress Watercress
Cress Watercress is a young rabbit whose family is on the move. Papa didn’t come home from his last foraging trip; Mama is now supporting Cress and her baby brother, Kip, on her own.
May 9, 2022
Snow Angel, Sand Angel
Claire and her brother, Timbo, each make winter-themed dioramas for a school project. Timbo’s is cotton balls of snow and glitter; Claire’s is about migration—their home, the Big Island of Hawaiʿi, is a winter refuge for many birds.
May 2, 2022- More Books of the Week