*Book group selection.
Favorites are bolded.
Picture Books
*Benita and the Night Creatures by Mariana Llanos
*Rock Your Mocs by Laurel Goodluck and Madelyn Goodnight
*Forever Cousins by Laurel Goodluck and Jonathan Nelson
*Hanukkah Upside Down by Elissa Brent Weissman and Omer Hoffmann
*Fox Has a Problem by Corey R. Tabor
*Henry, Like Always by Jenn Bailey and Mika Song
*Later, When I’m Big by Bette Westera and Laura Watkinson (Translator)
*Not He or She, I’m Me by A. M. Wild and Kah Yangni
*Dancing Hands: A Story of Friendship in Filipino Sign Language by Joanna Que, Charina Marquez, Fran Alvarez (Illustrator), and Karen Llagas (Translator)
*A Letter for Bob by Kim Rogers and Jonathan Nelson
Oh man, I can remember every single time the old family car was traded in for the new family car.
*How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee by Carole Boston Weatherford and Frank Morrison
Rage-inducing re: spelling bee, and I felt such a sense of loss reading that Cox spent her working life as a domestic employee. Such a waste.
Middle Grade
*Something Like Home by Andrea Beatriz Arango
*Kin: Rooted in Hope by Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffery Boston Weatherford
*Ruby Lost and Found by Christina Li
*Cross My Heart and Never Lie by Nora Dåsnes and translated by Matt Bagguley
*A Sky Full of Song by Susan Lynn Meyer
Young Adult
*The Collectors edited by A.S. King
*Salt the Water by Candice Iloh
*Fire from the Sky by Moa Backe Åstot and Eva Apelqvist (Translation)
*Forever Is Now by Mariama J. Lockington
*I’d Rather Burn Than Bloom by Shannon C.F. Rogers
*Stars in Their Eyes: A Graphic Novel by Jessica Walton and Aśka
I found the hip mother and her relationship with her child incredibly grating. No teenager is that much of a comedy team with their mom. And about sixty percent of the story was incredibly artificial conversations written to fill in backstory for the reader. Also annoying: not using the names of the copious pop culture references. We know what is being discussed when a character references Bader and the Duke. So just use Vader and Luke.
The graphic part of the graphic novel did a great job conveying what it’s like to navigate a con with a prosthetic leg.
*The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption by Shannon Gibney
It’s early, but I’m betting this is the youth media award winner that is the most literary fiction-ish.
*Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings
Centers the story around the neurodivergent kids.
*The Long Run by James Acker
I’m a sucker for teenagers exploring outside their boxes, so this book warmed the cockles of my heart.
Children’s Nonfiction
*Jovita Wore Pants by Aida Salazar and Molly Mendoza
*Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series by Traci Sorell and Arigon Starr
*Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes by Traci N. Todd and Shannon Wright
Without picture book biographies, how many fewer interesting people would I not know about?