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.
Middle Grade Fiction
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.
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.
South of Somewhere
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.
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.
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.
The First State of Being
In August 1999, 12-year-old Michael Rosario is preparing for possible disaster with the turn of the new century (Y2K) when he meets Ridge, a teenager who’s time-traveled from 2199.
Safiyyah’s War
In Nazi-occupied France, Safiyyah and her family (Algerian French) live in an apartment in the Grand Mosque of Paris, where her father, Baba, and uncle, Ammo Kader, work. The presence of German soldiers in the city streets has everyone on edge, but Baba is particularly tense. His efforts with the Resistance—hiding injured Allied soldiers and making fake identity papers for Jews, saying they’re Muslim—puts his family at great risk.
Ferris
Emma Phineas Wilkey, 11, born beneath a Ferris wheel on the county fairgrounds, has been “Ferris” ever since. “Every good story is a love story,” says Ferris’s grandmother, Charisse, who delivered her. But Charisse has heart problems and is spending more and more time resting, which worries Ferris. Charisse is also communicating with a ghost.
Drawing Deena
An emotionally resonant novel explores anxiety, social media, and finding one’s voice as a young artist. As much as Pakistani American Deena enjoys her seventh grade art class, she’s eager to improve her creative skills with additional training. Classes are expensive, though, and Deena has overheard her parents arguing about finances.