Best Of

Melissa is like many other fourth-grade girls; she loves fashion magazines, experimenting with hairstyles, and talking with her best friend. But the outside world sees her as the gender to which she was born, not the one with which she identifies; they see her as George. Nailing the younger middle grade voice, Gino offers a straightforward and authentic story, crafting a character whose universal need for recognition and acceptance will be embraced by all readers.

Sheinkin’s gripping and explosive story of Daniel Ellsberg, whose decision to release copies of the Pentagon Papers to the press transformed public opinion about the Vietnam War and shattered Americans’ trust in the government, immerses teens in this turbulent era. This expertly researched and provocative work will enthrall readers and have them questioning authority and pondering the role of the media and the ethics of whistle-blowing.

Attention-grabbing text, harrowing eyewitness accounts, and enlightening—and emotionally unflinching—sepia-hued illustrations pull readers into the eye of the storm. This riveting graphic novel chronicles the hurricane’s destructiveness, the awful reality of trying to survive, and the many human failures that made Katrina’s impact all the more devastating.

The radicalization of the American gay community can be traced back to a sweltering night in June 1969, when a riot erupted outside a bar in New York City’s West Village. The legacy of that event and the gay rights movement that ensued are brought into sharp focus in this engrossing, well-documented history featuring eyewitness accounts and black-and-white archival images. An important contribution to discussions of civil rights—both yesterday and today.

Ashamed that Denmark did not resist German occupation in April 1940, 14-year-old Knud Pedersen and friends decided to “disrupt” German activity in their hometown. On bicycles and on foot, the boys began by destroying directional signs and progressed to blowing up railroad cars. Impeccable research, including hours of interviews with Pedersen, support this spellbinding narrative documenting the teens’ incredible courage, exploits, and imprisonment.

Once 12-year-old Astrid sees roller derby for the first time, she’s totally hooked. All she needs to do is learn to skate, hold her own among her rough-and-tumble peers, and figure out how to navigate the vagaries of junior high friendships. This vivacious, colorful read is full of rink action and crazy skater names, with an awesome heroine at its core.

As his running-late mother rushes him through their bustling city neighborhood (“Hurry!”), a boy repeatedly stops to examine the everyday wonders that surround him (“Wait.”) until a truly spectacular sight causes both child and parent to pause and appreciate (“Yes. Wait.”). Portis’s message and vivacious visuals are worth lingering over.

Evan’s world comes crashing down when his father dies and his estranged grandfather moves in. But after discovering a manuscript filled with journal entries from a Japanese soldier and an American Marine stranded during World War II on an island in the Pacific inhabited by spirits, the teen uncovers secrets about his own family. An utterly absorbing tale that examines war, death, and grief in an entirely new light.

In this sequel to The Riverman (2014), Alistair journeys into Aquavania, a hidden universe of connected worlds created by “daydreamers.” In search of his lost friend, Fiona, he makes his way from one psychedelic landscape to the next, hot on the trail of a creature known as The Whisper, who’s sucking the life force from the daydreamers and overtaking their worlds. Dark and strange, this is a wholly original tale that combines real-life horror, fantasy, and mythology and reverberates with complex themes about creation, responsibility, and imagination.