When white, twelve-year-old Mavis’s mother is accused of embezzlement, the rest of the family makes an abrupt transition from a life of luxury to small-town living. Upon returning to their upscale Chicago home after a vacation, the family finds that the FBI is already there—and Mom is already in hiding. With their bank accounts frozen, Mavis’s father takes his kids to live with his estranged sister just south of Somewhere, Illinois.
2024 Books
ninitohtênân / We Listen
A school-age Cree girl visiting her grandmother, Nôhkom, describes Nôhkom’s measured actions, each of which the girl, her friend (who is Black), and her mother repeat. “Nôhkom prays. We pray. Nôhkom picks. We pick.” The simple story eloquently shows the role this elder plays in teaching by doing, while also giving a lovely sense of family as the foursome walks in the woods to harvest berries and gathers for a meal.
City of Leafcutter Ants: A Sustainable Society of Millions
Beneath a Central American rainforest there exists a bustling, thriving city of eight million. Leafcutter ants, that is. They’re sisters, all of whom come from the same queen, the colony’s founder.
A Crane Among Wolves
In early 16th-century Korea, King Yeonsan terrorizes the populace, torturing those he considers enemies and kidnapping women as consorts. Iseul, 17, was raised in a noble family but her parents were killed in one of the king’s sweeping campaigns of vengeance. Now her older sister, Suyeon has been kidnapped by the king and Iseul is determined to rescue her.
Across So Many Seas
In a novel that spans centuries and countries, the individual lives and experiences of four twelve-year-old girls coalesce to tell the story of one Sephardic Jewish family.
Joyful Song: A Naming Story
This Shabbat service will be special for brown-skinned Zachary and his Jewish family. It’s his baby sister’s first Shabbat, and he and his moms (one of whom is Black, and one white) will announce her name to the world.
Born Naughty: My Childhood in China
An utterly delightful, early chapter book memoir chronicles author Jin Wang’s life in Nan Ba Zi, a village (“about eighteen houses…and a tiny store”) in Inner Mongolia, China, the year she was eight.
Looking for Smoke
Four Blackfeet teens relate their versions of events following the murder of their friend, Samantha, during an Indian Days ceremony. The community is already on edge after the disappearance of Loren’s sister, Rayanne, a few weeks prior; when Rayanne’s body is found, it’s clear that her and Samantha’s murders are connected.
The Kodiaks: Home Ice Advantage
Moving from the reserve where he’s grown up to Winnipeg for his dad’s new job, Alex (Cree) starts grade 6 without his best friend George or his old hockey team, the North Stars. A skilled player, Alex is doing great at tryouts for a new team in Winnipeg; then another kid, Terrence, calls him “Chief” while aggressively checking him.
Just Like Millie
When this book’s young, white narrator and her mom move into a new apartment in a new city, she feels comfortable and safe there. She enjoys reading and independent play. But meeting new people? That’s a different story.