Reviews+

When Peter and his dog have trouble settling into their new house at the edge of an ominous wood, the boy constructs two pillow-and-blanket guardians that provide companionship until he meets a flesh-and-blood friend. Kid-savvy text and handsome artwork reveal the spirit-bolstering power of imagination.

Told unequivocally that drums are only for boys, a daring girl dreams incessantly about tapping on tall congas, small bongós, and “silvery/moon-bright timbales” until she finds a way to share her music with the world. Lyrical free-verse narrative and fanciful color-infused artwork tell a tale inspired by Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a young Chinese-African-Cuban musician who broke gender boundaries in early 20th-century Cuba.

Kent Turner, SLJ’s DVD editor, hand-picked these top-shelf productions that offer educational—as well as entertainment—value.

As a girl and her father travel toward an unnamed border with their coyote, they encounter repeated barriers and armed resistance. The spare text and arresting digital artwork present a child’s-eye view of the journey, as she counts the people who live by the train tracks, items on a makeshift barge at the frontera, and the clouds in the sky. A timely and powerful book.

During a hockey game, Trent accidentally hits a boy with an undiagnosed heart defect in the chest with the puck, killing him. Written off as a troublemaker, Trent is an understandably angry kid, but when he meets Fallon, a girl with a scarred face, he begins to open up. With genuine characters, relatable—often painfully so—family dynamics, and a tender portrayal of burgeoning friendship, this is a heartrending yet hopeful tale.

An anxious tween with a new baby brother begins dreaming about otherworldly wasps. As the real and surreal begin to blur, the Queen makes a stunning offer: she can take away the sickly baby, who suffers from a congenital condition, and replace it with a perfect changeling. A suffocating sense of dread pervades this deeply layered psychological thriller, as the boy’s nightmares leach into his daily life.

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.

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.