Fresh Reads, Honest reviews, Educator-approved
When Mac discovers his classroom novel has been blacked out by a censoring teacher, he fights back. Intertwining student activism with the poignant reality of parental mental illness, Amy Sarig King’s The Attack of the Black Rectangles is an empowering masterpiece.
A poignant, necessary entry into the children’s literary canon, Root Magic brings to life the history and culture of Gullah people while highlighting the timeless plight of Black Americans. Add in a fun, magical adventure and you get everything I want in a book!
In A Soft Place to Land, Janae Marks delivers a deeply moving, relatable story of resilience that upper elementary and pre-teen readers will truly root for. Facing sudden financial struggles and family tension, Joy Taylor must redefine her meaning of home while navigating a secret neighborhood mystery.
Rescue is a spectacular, World War II adventure of espionage and unmatched courage. Tasked with guiding a family of German refugees across Nazi-occupied France to save her imprisoned father, young Meg Kenyon enters a dangerous game of survival and codes.
The Fort is a gripping, realistic fiction novel that follows a middle school “band of brothers” who discover an underground bomb shelter after a major hurricane. What begins as a secret hideout quickly transforms into a vital sanctuary for a friend fleeing an abusive home.