Fresh Reads, Honest reviews, Educator-approved
Bring crucial social justice conversations to the forefront with Brianna Jonnie’s five-star graphic novel, If I Go Missing. Combining spare, devastating text with striking black-and-white artwork by Neal Shannacappo, this high school title challenges systemic biases in policing and media coverage regarding missing Indigenous youth.
What if someone hijacked a plane, parachuted away with $200,000, and vanished without a trace? Escape at 10,000 Feet by Tom Sullivan unravels the true story of D.B. Cooper through gripping graphic storytelling, authentic FBI files, and real photographs.
A shipwreck. A mutiny. A murder trial. When survivors of a doomed British warship return home with conflicting stories, a gripping battle over truth and survival begins. Packed with danger, betrayal, and astonishing twists, this true story reads like an adventure novel while revealing how far people will go when pushed to the edge.
J. Reuben Appelman delivers a rapid-response, deeply thorough chronicle of the tragic University of Idaho student murders. While it tenderly humanizes the young victims and captures the toxic hysteria of internet culture, its repetitive pacing holds it back.
A real-life nightmare or a narrative slog? Richard Chizmar’s Chasing the Boogeyman attempts an ambitious blend of true-crime suspense and horror fiction by inserting the author directly into his own 1988 serial killer mystery.