In the finale to the acclaimed trilogy, upheaval in Zora Neale Hurston's family and hometown persuade her to leave childhood behind and find her destiny beyond Eatonville. For Carrie and her best friend, Zora, Eatonville--America's first incorporated Black township--has been an idyllic place to live out their childhoods. But when a lynch mob crosses the … Continue reading ZORA & ME: THE SUMMONER, by Victoria Bond, Candlewick Press
racism
THE NICKEL BOYS, by Colson Whitehead, Bond Street Books, Doubleday Canada, Penguin Random House Canada
Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. As the Civil Rights movement begins to reach the black enclave of Frenchtown in segregated Tallahassee, Elwood Curtis takes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King to heart: He is … Continue reading THE NICKEL BOYS, by Colson Whitehead, Bond Street Books, Doubleday Canada, Penguin Random House Canada
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WE HOPE FOR BETTER THINGS, by Erin Bartels, Fleming H. Revell Co, Graf-Martin
When Detroit Free Press reporter Elizabeth Balsam meets James Rich, his strange request--that she look up a relative she didn't know she had in order to deliver an old camera and a box of photos--seems like it isn't worth her time. But when she loses her job after a botched investigation, she suddenly finds herself … Continue reading WE HOPE FOR BETTER THINGS, by Erin Bartels, Fleming H. Revell Co, Graf-Martin
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THE SISTERS OF THE WINTER WOOD, by Rena Rossner, Redhook/Hachette Book Group
Out September 2018 Raised in a small village surrounded by vast forests, Liba and Laya have lived a peaceful sheltered life - even if they've heard of troubling times for Jews elsewhere. When their parents travel to visit their dying grandfather, the sisters are left behind in their home in the woods. But before they … Continue reading THE SISTERS OF THE WINTER WOOD, by Rena Rossner, Redhook/Hachette Book Group
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THE DOLLAR KIDS, By Jennifer Richard Jacobson, Illustrated by Ryan Andrews, Candlewick Press
When a family buys a house in a struggling town for just one dollar, they’re hoping to start over — but have they traded one set of problems for another? Twelve-year-old Lowen Grover, a budding comic-book artist, is still reeling from the shooting death of his friend Abe when he stumbles across an article about … Continue reading THE DOLLAR KIDS, By Jennifer Richard Jacobson, Illustrated by Ryan Andrews, Candlewick Press
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EISENHOWER VS. WARREN, The Battle For Civil Rights and Liberties, by James F. Simon, LiveRight/W.W. Norton & Company
The bitter feud between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Chief Justice Earl Warren framed the tumultuous future of the modern civil rights movement. Eisenhower was a gradualist who wanted to coax white Americans in the South into eventually accepting integration, while Warren, author of the Supreme Court’s historic unanimous opinion in Brown v. Board of … Continue reading EISENHOWER VS. WARREN, The Battle For Civil Rights and Liberties, by James F. Simon, LiveRight/W.W. Norton & Company
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LOVE, PENELOPE, by Joanne Rocklin, Illustrated by Lucy Knisley, Amulet Books/Abrams Books, Hachette Book Group
Penny is excited to welcome her new sibling, so throughout her mom’s pregnancy she writes letters to it (not it, YOU!). She introduces herself (Penelope, but she prefers “Penny”) and their moms (Sammy and Becky). She brags about their home city, Oakland, California (the weather, the Bay, and the Golden State Warriors) and shares the … Continue reading LOVE, PENELOPE, by Joanne Rocklin, Illustrated by Lucy Knisley, Amulet Books/Abrams Books, Hachette Book Group
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JEAN VANIER MADE FOR HAPPINESS, Discovering the Meaning of Life with Aristotle, Introduction by Ian Brown, House of Anansi
In Made for Happiness, Jean Vanier examines the basis for modern moral philosophy and its role in our lives today. Having discovered through his work with the intellectually disabled the degree to which our society is divided, and our values misplaced, Vanier invites us to read with fresh eyes theories of happiness written 2,400 years … Continue reading JEAN VANIER MADE FOR HAPPINESS, Discovering the Meaning of Life with Aristotle, Introduction by Ian Brown, House of Anansi
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THE STEEP & THORNY WAY, by Cat Winters, Amulet Books/Abrams
A thrilling re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, The Steep and Thorny Way tells the story of a murder most foul and the mighty power of love and acceptance in a state gone terribly rotten. 1920s Oregon is not a welcoming place for Hanalee Denney, the daughter of a white woman and an African American man. She … Continue reading THE STEEP & THORNY WAY, by Cat Winters, Amulet Books/Abrams
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American Heart, by Laura Moriarty, Harper Teen, Book Review
Description: Imagine a United States in which registries and detainment camps for Muslim-Americans are a reality.Fifteen-year-old Sarah-Mary Williams of Hannibal, Missouri, lives in this world, and though she has strong opinions on almost everything, she isn’t concerned with the internments because she doesn’t know any Muslims. She assumes that everything she reads and sees in … Continue reading American Heart, by Laura Moriarty, Harper Teen, Book Review
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