Long before Sọmadịna and her twin, Jayaike, were born, the creation of the Split ended the Starvation War. A yawning chasm, the Split severs the rest of the world from Sọmadịna’s island, where most people receive one magical ability from the goddess, Ala, when they come of age. When the twins manifest multiple gifts—and one of Sọmadịna’s causes her to murder a violent peer against her will—they are deemed “abominations” by their mother and harshly shunned by the community.
YA Fiction
Everything Is Poison
On her 16th birthday, Carmela is finally allowed to begin training at La Tofana, the apothecary run by her mother and two other women in 17th-century Rome. Sometimes called a witch, Carmela’s mother, Giulia, and her staff, Maria and Laura, treat a host of run-of-the-mill ailments. They also secretly help women, including Laura’s childhood nemesis, Violetta, end unwanted pregnancies.
Under the Same Stars
Three interconnected stories follow teenagers navigating the ordinary and the extraordinary as their lives are impacted by political and global events.
Amil and the After
The storytelling shines in this stand-alone sequel to The Night Diary set in India following Partition. Amil, 12; his twin Nisha; and their father, grandmother Dadi, and longtime employee and friend Kazi, who is Muslim, live in a small apartment in Bombay.
My Antarctica: True Adventures in the Land of Mummified Seals, Space Robots, and So Much More
This dynamic account of author G. Neri’s 7-week venture to Antarctica blends a lively first-person narrative with abundant photographs and other visuals … Neri made the trip as part of the National Science Foundation’s Artists & Writers program. His sense of curiosity and wonder is palpable …
The Maid and the Crocodile
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.
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.
Adventures of Mary Jane
In the 1840s, 14-year-old Mary Jane lives on a trading post in the Minnesota Territory. A letter from Ma’s sister asking for a “helping hand” provides the impetus for Mary Jane (white) to head south.
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.
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.