Sunday, July 27, 2025
After Life by Gayle Forman - OPTIONAL
Dream by Barbara O’Connor - OPTIONAL
Dream by Barbara O’Connor, 256 pages. Farrar, Straus, Giroux (Macmillan), 2025. $18
Content: G
BUYING ADVISORY: EL - OPTIONAL
APPEALS TO: SOME
11yo Idalee lives with her Mama in their boarding house in the small Colby, North Carolina. Mama dreams of being a country-western star and this summer she is going on the road with her band in search of stardom, leaving Idalee and the boarding house in the care of one of their long-term borders. When Idalee hears about a song-writing contest, she badly wants to enter, but she’ll need to find the treasure hidden in the house by her late granddaddy in order to buy the guitar she needs to inspire her.
I am unsure what time period Idalee lives in - though Charlie, from O’Connor’s Wish appears in the book as a young lady. For fans of gentle realistic fiction.
Characters default white.
Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS
The Freedom Seeker by Ruchira Gupta - ADVISABLE
The Freedom Seeker by Ruchira Gupta, 320 pages. Scholastic, 2025. $19
Content: G (mild danger)
BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE
APPEALS TO: SEVERAL
12yo Simi lives in India with a loving family, but her parents are a Muslim and a Hindu and a growing faction in India are against such mixed marriages. After her father is badly beaten, he makes his way from India to Mexico and from there to NYC. When Simi and her mother follow in his footsteps, however, they are abandoned by their coyote in the desert and picked up by American agents and taken to separate detention camps. Will the family ever be reunited?
I found this video about Indians immigrating to America - both legally and illegally (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh1xgoPHiM8). I had no idea that Indians are a large percentage of those coming from Mexico. Gupta gives a poignant portrayal of the desperation of those sneaking in and of their treatment if captured and detained.
The main characters are Indian and Mexican.
Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS
Saturday, July 26, 2025
The Loudest Silence by Sydney Langford, - OPTIONAL
Language: R (89 swears, 6 ‘f'); Mature Content: PG (kissing); Violence: PG (cyber bulling, punches)
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
APPEALS TO: SEVERAL
A few months before making a big move from Oregon to Florida with her family, 16yo Casey, who hoped to one day be a professional singer, woke up to find that she had lost most of her hearing. When Casey's friends find about her hearing loss, they all desert her. Determined not to be hurt again, she plans to hide that she is Deaf-Hard of hearing and make no friends at her new school in Florida. But Lela has other ideas. She brings Casey into her circle of friends anyway: Hayden, Paz, and Cesar. Soon Casey is bonding with Hayden over a shared love of music. Hayden also has secrets he is keeping. Although his family expects him to be a soccer star like his father and brother before him, he wants to star on Broadway. Hayden is also dealing with generalized anxiety disorder. Casey and Hayden begin to confide in each other. They find love and support with each other as they are both dealing with a disability. When they both decide to be brave and share things with their other friends, they find acceptance and support there as well.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, which is told from the dual perspective of Casey and Hayden. I liked that Casey found a place where she felt at home. I liked that the focus is on two kids dealing with disabilities while still trying to follow their dreams. They both find needed love and support from their friendship. I liked that the book describes when ASL is used and touches on some aspects of Deaf culture and community. The book touches on some aspects of ableism and cyberbullying. Casey describes herself as being bisexual. The relationship between Cesar and Casey is antagonistic until the last few chapters of the book. Then I feel that suddenly, and without any lead-up, there was a change between them.
Casey is white with a Polish father, Hayden is Cuban/Italian-American, Lela and Cesar are Colombian-American, Paz is Ethiopian-American
Reviewer: A. Snow, Librarian
Fart Boy and Reeky Dog by Joan Holub and Rafael Rosado - ADVISABLE
Fart Boy and Reeky Dog by Joan Holub, illustrated by Rafael Rosado. 133 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL Random House, 2025. $15. 9780593434307
Content: PG (farting is mentioned a lot)
BUYING ADVISORY: EL - ADVISABLE
APPEALS TO: MANY
Professor Groovypants and his henchman have come to Earth to steal a renewable source of energy to power their homeworld. Together they create a small baby boy, who creates the most powerful and stinky farts ever. "Will Professor Groovypants, now Perfume Lady, win or will Phartolomew blow his nemesis away?
Fart Boy and Reeky Dog" is a pun-filled graphic novel that takes an irreverent look at the natural body function of passing gas. In the book, Dr. Gastro even gives a song filled explanation of how gas forms in the digestive system before needing to be expelled. The question is posed of whether girls actually fart as well. Joan Holub has filled the story with wordplays that are truly clever, and Rafael Rosado has created graphic storyboards that display action and humor.
J. Smith, Teacher Librarian
Don't Cause Trouble by Arree Chung - ESSENTIAL
Story Spinners: A Sisterly Tale of Danger, a Princess, and Her Crew of Lady Pirates by Cassandra Federman - ADVISABLE
Story Spinners: A Sisterly Tale of Danger, a Princess, and Her Crew of Lady Pirates by Cassandra Federman. 194 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL. Aladdin (Simon), 2025. $23. 9781665918237
BUYING ADVISORY: EL - ADVISABLE
APPEALS TO: MANY
Sisters Kennedy and Devon fight all the time, but now must work together to put their baby sister to sleep. Their adventurous fairy tale combines elements from both sisters as they cooperate to earn back the privilege of screen use. Princess Danger Sparklepuff must find true love and face dragons, evil water spiders, the Garbage Kingdom, and even a Shark Prince. Late nights are a good time for sisters to share creative ideas and heartfelt truths.
Kennedy and Devon portray the idea of siblings with opposite interests and habits who still love each other and can find common ground. It's kind of a morality tale about truly looking at our siblings and seeing things from their point of view. The illustrations have a kind of sticker appearance and color codes the word bubbles for the sisters dialogue. I believe this style will appeal to many young readers.
Mom is portrayed as a rounder figure. Princesses come in all colors, sizes, and appearances. Princess Danger Sparklepuff has a peg leg.
J. Smith, Teacher Librarian
Friday, July 25, 2025
Talk to Me Nice by Minda Harts - OPTIONAL
Talk to Me Nice by Minda Harts, 240 pages. NONFICTION. Flatiron Books (Macmillan), 2025. $15.
Language: PG13 (16 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: ADULTS - OPTIONAL
APPEALS TO: FEW
An employee since her teenage years, Hart’s résumé has given her lots of experience with various managers and coworkers. One thing she has learned is that trust is vital—but different people need trust shown in different ways. Hart introduces the seven trust languages that, when implemented, will make the workplace better for you and everyone else around you.
Admittedly, I only picked this book up because it reminded me of the five love languages, and I was interested to see this new take on the concept. While focused on workplace relationships, these trust languages can be applied to other relationships, though Hart goes into a lot of detail specifically for implementing them at work. Hart offers templates and examples to enable her readers to advocate for themselves and their needs at work—to gain, build, and restore trust with managers and colleagues. A very niche topic, but interesting nonetheless.
The mature content rating is for mentions of sexual harassment, and the violence rating is for mentions of school shootings.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen
Ain't it Funny by Margaret Gurevich - ADVISABLE
Candle Island by Lauren Wolk - ESSENTIAL
Thursday, July 24, 2025
Kingdom of Without by Andrea Tang - OPTIONAL
Language: R (132 swears, 55 ‘f'); Mature Content: PG-13 (Mentions of sex and one night stands, a couple of kisses, alcohol use, mentions of drug use); Violence: PG-13 (bar fight, man shot in the stomach, attempted murder with poison, violent confrontations)
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
APPEALS TO: SEVERAL
Older teen Ning'er takes on a burglary job, thinking it will be quick and easy, and provide her with much-needed money. However, she quickly finds she has signed on with a crew of college-age insurgents and vigilantes. Re Zi'an is the explosives expert, Fei fei is the fixer, Zhenyi is the medical expert, and Cheng Yun (also known as the Red Yaksha or Young Marshall) is the leader and provides the funding. To make matters worse, they don't want her to steal an object; they want her to liberate a former rebel leader who has been imprisoned for five years. Set in futuristic Beijing, where cyborgs keep the peace in a class-divided society that often erupts in protests and riots. The city is divided by walls into six areas. Ning'er comes from the sixth or poorest of the rings. The city is run by an out-of-touch ruling family and elected officials who are in the pocket of the powerful pharmaceutical company Lilium. Many of the residents, regardless of which ring they live in, are addicted to a drug called complacency. Lilium will do whatever it takes to keep the people addicted to their powerful and expensive drug. The deeper Ning'er gets into the job, the more she realizes she has to either remain complacent or take risks and join her new friends as they seek revolution.
I enjoyed the book overall. It is a story of a girl who must choose between remaining safe with the status quo or taking risks to improve her life and the lives of others. It was confusing at times because each of the characters has a name, a nickname, and in the case of Cheng Yun, two aliases. A few key points of the ending were wrapped up too conveniently, in my opinion.
All of the characters are Chinese.
A. Snow, Librarian
A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall by Jasmine Warga - ADVISABLE
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Creaky Acres by Calista Brill & Nilah Magruder - ADVISABLE
Creature Clinic by Gavin Aung Than - ESSENTIAL
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Hoops Academy: On the Line by J.B. Duncan - ADVISABLE
Hoops Academy: Numbers Game by J.B. Duncan - ADVISABLE
Monday, July 21, 2025
Hoops Academy: Boxed Out by J.B. Duncan - ADVISABLE
Mixed-Up by Kami Garcia, illustrated by Brittney Williams and Tyler Smith - ESSENTIAL
Mixed-Up by Kami Garcia, illustrated by Brittney Williams and Tyler Smith. 193 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL. First Second (Macmillan), 2025. $23. 9781250142337
BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ESSENTIAL
APPEALS TO: MANY
Stella is excited to start fifth grade with her two best friends. They have a great teacher and their favorite TV show just got a new online game. Stella loves math and art, but is very slow at reading. When fifth grade turns out to be harder than ever and Stella falls behind in her classwork, she can't keep up with her friends or the online game. It turns out that Stella has dyslexia.
Students will be able to see themselves in the characters--from friendship struggles to learning differences. The font is even dyslexia accessible. This is one of the best books I have read this year! Dan Santat's endorsement on the front cover sums it up well: ""Handles living with dyslexia beautifully, with empathy and compassion. This is a must-read book."" I wish I could get a few select educators to read this book. In the meantime, I will be recommending it to every middle-grade reader and teacher I can! "
The main character is Latina and other characters are ethnically diverse.
Rachel, elementary library specialist