A Circle of Elephants

A Circle of Elephants

This is a well written, heartfelt story of a thirteen year old Elephant boy in 1975 Nepal who works with his “elephant brother, Hira Prashad,” to keep animals and humans safe in the Boarderlands area.  A Circle of Elephants is a sequel and throughout the text refers to the protagonists’ earlier experiences, captured in What […]


Cogheart

Cogheart

Wonderful (and terrifying) story set in a terrific steampunk world replete with airships, mechanical animals, and very bad guys with silver eyes. A page turner with heart and wind up keys. Lily lost her mother years ago – and now word comes that her father’s been lost in an airship accident. Then her governess threatens […]


There’s Something about Sweetie

There’s Something about Sweetie

A lovely teen romance with South Asian American athlete protagonists.  Ashish is a star basketball athlete at his school but he’s lost his flow because of a bad break up with his ex girl friend. Sweetie is the star runner in her school, but she’s also carrying some extra weight. Her mother feels strongly (along […]


The Song for a Whale

The Song for a Whale

Cool story about Iris, a deaf girl named after a whale. Iris has strong tech skills (she repairs antique radios for pocket money) but she’s main streamed in a school with no deaf students and feels frustration at being alone. Then she learns about a whale (Blue 55) who communicates in a different frequency from […]


The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

I don’t often read novels in verse. They aren’t my thing, but Elizabeth Acevedo’s debut novel, “The Poet X,” is making think I have been missing out.  Acevedo tells the story of Xiomara who feels ignored at home and school, but is also the target unwanted attention from both her classmates and mother. The boys […]


The Hunt for the Mad Wolf’s Daughter

The Hunt for the Mad Wolf’s Daughter

Wonderful companion novel to The Mad Wolf’s Daughter (2018), this book shares Drest’s story as she struggles with the dual challenges of deciding how to cope with the price on her head — and with her place in the family whom she rescued in the The Mad Wolf’s Daughter. In order to remove the threat […]


Upcoming YA Books – Spring 2019

Upcoming YA Books – Spring 2019

A lot of exciting titles are coming out this spring. We will new books from some of our favorite authors, additions to popular series, and some promising debuts. Here are few to keep on an eye and place your holds today! Internment by Samira Ahmed March 19 Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old […]


To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer

To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer

Hilarious and sweet, this epistolary novel keeps the reader turning the pages. The premise is adorable: two 12 years old girls from opposite sides of the country are sent to the same summer camp by their single gay dads who are planning to woo each other on once in a lifetime trip to China. Bette […]


A  Few Drops of Red: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 by Claire Hartfield

A Few Drops of Red: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 by Claire Hartfield

Dive into Chicago’s past with relevance to the racial issues still facing Chicago and other communities today with this nonfiction read. A Few Drops of Red, sets the stage of all of the different events that led up to the race riots;  from immigrants from Europe and  southern Blacks coming to Chicago, to the meat […]


Blended by Sharon Draper

Blended by Sharon Draper

Sharon Draper, the acclaimed author of the beloved, Out of my Mind (2012),  returns with an enjoyable book that manages to provide a girls’ eye view of racial issues, from police profiling to skin color dynamics. Isabella’s mom is white and her dad is black and her parents are divorced and she’s traded back and forth once […]


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