“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.
2024 Books
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.
Orris and Timble: The Beginning
A love of stories and storytelling transforms an inauspicious meeting into a promising friendship in this early chapter book series opener. Orris, a rat, enjoys a solitary life in an abandoned barn, where he has furnished his nest with select treasures: a red velvet slipper, a yellow marble, and an unopened can of Imperial Sardines.
A Star Shines Through
The school-age child narrator and their parents used to live in a city, in an apartment with a star-shaped cardboard lamp in the kitchen window. “When I returned home from music lessons … I could recognize our window from afar: a star shone through the cold November darkness.” When war begins, the child and their mother flee to another country.
The Monarch Effect: Surviving Poison, Predators, and People
An engrossing, detailed work of nonfiction delves into not only the behaviors and characteristics of monarch butterflies, but also the long history of human fascination—and, unfortunately, interference—with monarchs.
Where Wolves Don’t Die
Minneapolis teen Ezra longs to spend more time at Red Gut, the Ojibwe reservation where his extended paternal family lives. When his school bully, Matt, is killed in a house fire, Ezra is brought in for questioning; he’d punched a locker earlier that day after Matt threatened Ezra’s friend and crush, Nora. While he complies with the investigation, Ezra’s father also swiftly moves Ezra to live with his grandparents just over the Canadian border, in Red Gut.
Little Shrew
Little Shrew, a silky rodent with a pointed nose and round eyes, lives a rather commonplace life with a well-established routine. He eats the same breakfast each day, brushes his fur with a hairbrush he’s had “forever,” and departs for his job at the currency exchange.
As Edward Imagined: A Story of Edward Gorey in Three Acts
A playful biography of artist and writer Edward Gorey is staged in three acts. “Act One: An Artist Is Born” introduces a precocious child who taught himself to read at age three and soon began crafting his own “deliciously sinister” tales.
Emergency Quarters
Ernesto (Dominican American) is finally big enough to go to school on his own. On Monday, his mother puts a quarter in his hand. “For emergencies, Ernesto … If you need me, look for a pay phone.”
No More Señora Mimí
Ana (Latina) spends her day before and after school with her apartment building neighbor, Señora Mimí, while her mother is at work. “Señora Mimí has a two-tooth baby named Nelson and a no-tooth dog named Pancho, who likes buttered crackers as much as I do.” Ana and Señora Mimí’s relationship is one of warmth, familiarity, and loving routines; they even have matching hand-knitted sweaters Señora Mimí made.