Category: The Kids Are All Right

Recent media attention has cast a light on water inequality, particularly on native lands. One of the most prominent cases has been on the Standing Rock Reservation, located in North Dakota and South Dakota. When the proposed pipeline for the Dakota Access Pipeline was moved to enter reservation land, millions of people protested the construction. This beautiful picture book is an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption.

This absolutely gorgeous picture book is about change and community. When a young girl moves from the country to a small town, she feels lonely and out of place. But soon she meets an elderly woman next door who shares her love of arts and crafts. Can the girl navigate the changing seasons and failing health of her new friend? The illustrations reveal the theme of change beautifully through the scenery and the intergenerational relationship between the girl and her neighbor.

Acclaimed author Cynthia Leitich Smith writes a stunning chapter book, perfect for newly independent readers. The book centers around one questions: What do Indian shoes look like? While some people might say moccasins, Ray Halfmoon prefers hightops. But Grampa Halfmoon likes moccasins, so Ray wears them. After all, it’s Grampa Halfmoon who’s always there to help Ray get in and out of scrapes—like the time they teamed up to pet sit for the whole block during a holiday blizzard! You should definitely check out this beautiful intergenerational story!

This wonderful middle grade book is about 10-year-old Regina Petit who lives with her family on the Grand Ronde reservation in the 1950s. But when the federal government signs a bill into law that says Regina’s tribe no longer exists, Regina becomes “Indian no more” overnight, even though she was given a number by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that counted her as Indian, even though she lives with her tribe and practices tribal customs, and even though her ancestors were Indian for countless generations. The family moves to Los Angeles, and Regina has to adjust to a whole new life without her tribal community and land.

This exciting fantasy middle grade novel is about seventh grader Nizhoni Begay. When she meets Mr. Charles, her dad’s new boss at the oil and gas company, he’s alarmingly interested in Nizhoni and her brother, Mac, their Navajo heritage, and the legend of the Hero Twins. Nizhoni, who has always been able to detect monsters, knows he’s a threat, but her father won’t believe her. When Dad disappears the next day, leaving behind a message that says “Run!”, the siblings and Nizhoni’s best friend, Davery, are thrust into a rescue mission that can only be accomplished with the help of Diné Holy People, all disguised as quirky characters.

This is a beautiful picture book that tells the story of a celestial friendship. Eridani is a human girl and her best friend Acamar is a constellation of a boy, and both secretly long to be like the other.

This cute picture book is almost completely wordless, telling the story of a penguin who takes a solo journey around the world after the ice floe it’s standing on breaks loose.

This picture book makes for a cute bedtime read, with rhyming prose that follows various woodland creatures to bed for the night.

This adorably illustrated picture book is originally from Israel, about a cat (Snoozie) and dog (Sunny) who are best friends. When they discover a little dog living alone (So-So), they invite her to join them in celebrating Snoozie’s birthday, widening their pair to a trio.

For people who want a scientific primer from the Science Guy himself is this nonfiction book all about the natural universe. This is a broad look at science from the human body to the solar system, animals, plants, climate change, and more.

This graphic novel follows Cici, a girl from Taiwan who moves to Seattle with her parents. Left behind was her grandmother, who Cici misses dearly and hopes to bring to the U.S for her birthday. So Cici signs up to participate in a junior cooking contest that will cover the airfare. This is funny, heartwarming, and packed with delicious foods.

This delightful picture book is about a ghost who loves to do all the typical things: walk through walls, make objects fly, and glow in the dark. However, he’s also incredibly shy, which makes it difficult for him to make friends. The Day of the Dead is approaching, and he really wants to invite his friends, but how? I love these illustrations and the color palate is to die for! (See what I did there?)

This early chapter book series follows protagonist Sam Graves, who has just discovered that his school is alive! Sam must defend himself and his fellow students against the evil school! Is Sam up to the challenge? He’ll find out soon enough: the class play is just around the corner. Sam teams up with friends Lucy and Antonio to stop this scary school before it’s too late!

This is another early chapter book, perfect for newly independent readers. Desmond Cole is a fearless eight-year-old who runs his own ghost patrol business. The narrator, Andres Miedoso, is Desmond’s best friend… but he’s afraid of everything. The two friends live in Kersville, where ghosts and spirits live all over the town. Some kids get haunted, and that’s when the Ghost Patrol needs to report to duty! This is a funny, sweet series about friendship, the perils of owning a business, and the unpredictability of ghosts and spirits.

In the second book of the Spirit Hunters series (aimed for middle grade readers ages 8 – 12), Harper Raine finds it hard to relax when her parents take the whole family to a remote tropical island for vacation. As Harper starts to have visions of the resort’s history of disappearances and discovers more about the island’s dark and fabled past, she must use her newly acquired spirit hunting talents to save everyone on the island from murderous spirits on the attack.

This middle grade book is for fans of scary stories! Claire is a scientist, and she definitely does NOT believe in ghosts. But when she helps her dad with his ghost-themed Chicago bus tours, she sees a boy with a sad face and dark eyes at the back of the bus. There’s something off about his presence, especially because when she checks at the end of the tour…he’s gone. But then the scratching starts. Voices whisper to her in the dark. And the boy with the dark eyes starts following her. Claire is being haunted. The boy from the bus wants something…and Claire needs to find out what before it’s too late.

For art fans comes this new installment in the Arabella series, this one about Princess Arabella giving her friends a tour of her very own museum. The art is all related to Arabella’s family and has lots of exhibits kids can actually interact with. The art is stylized (like Arabella’s pigtail dots on the cover), introducing kids to a variety of art styles.

This is a surreal and heartwarming picture book about Eric, an exchange student who goes to live with a family in the suburbs. His host family isn’t sure if Eric’s enjoying his time with them, and cultural misunderstandings abound. When Eric leaves suddenly, the family thinks they may have done something wrong, but instead find a sweet gift waiting for them.

In this sweet and colorful picture book, Trinity, an autistic trans girl, wishes for long hair. It’s hard, however, to grow it out because Trinity doesn’t like hair touching her neck. So Trinity’s mom fashions a colorful wig for Trinity to wear.

On her small island, Clara is looking forward to a summer spending time with her best friend Gaynah. But Gaynah’s been treating her differently, and Clara’s still unsure of herself after something happened last summer, when a hurricane hit, and Clara can’t remember any of it. But her summer might be looking up when a new girl arrives on the island.

This near-history read takes place in 2017, as Trump’s Muslim ban and a rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric and hate crimes are on the rise. When Noura’s family, refugees from Syria, arrive in the U.S, they’re scared but trying to make the best of it. Noura’s kind school ambassador is Jordyn, a white girl coping with anxiety after her mom’s miscarriage, and the two girls realize they have a lot in common.

This is a great pick for kids who love survival stories and even those who love a good friendship one, too. Sixth grader Lavender has been ditched by her best friend Marisol for the class mean girl, Rachelle, which makes the wilderness science camp she was so excited for a lot less exciting. When a prank goes wrong, Lavender, Marisol, Rachelle, and Lavender’s new partner John, are separated from the rest of the group and must work together to survive the treacherous Arizona landscape.

In this fun follow-up to The Last Last Day of Summer, the Alston boys–cousins Otto and Sheed–are forced to face the consequences of their last adventure. To stop the time freeze that stopped their entire town in its tracks, Otto and Sheed used Missus Nedraw of the Rorrim Mirror Emporium’s mirrors–without her permission. And unlike the rest of the town, Miss Nedraw remembers. But instead of punishing them, she asks for a favor instead. One of her prisoners has escaped, and she needs Otto and Sheed’s help to find them.

For anyone looking to explain or help little ones process grief, there’s this new picture book about a boy and the gorilla who helps him process his mother’s death. This is an honest and reassuring book about grieving that encourages that boy to open up to his father so they can both work through their grief together.

On their grandma’s birthday cousins Ginger and Chrysanthemum team up to make it special. But they each have their own ideas for how that should go. Ginger is impulsive and spontaneous while Chrysanthemum is calm and precise. When an accident with the cake threatens to send their grandma’s birthday into a spiral, the girls put their heads together to fix it.

When the librarian gives Kitoo a book about ice hockey, he’s enthralled, but in Kenya, it’s unlikely he’ll ever see hockey played in person. When Kitoo finds rollerskate, he practices skating until he’s good, and though he still doubts his ability to ever see ice in real life, with some help from his friends he gets to visit the only ice rink in East Africa.

There’s a lot of news out there right now, and it’s important that kids know how to parse credible from what isn’t. This nonfiction title goes into the history of news and propaganda, giving kids a nice primer into analyzing and understanding the news.

In 2018, twelve boys (all from the Wild Boar soccer team) and their coach were trapped inside a cave in northern Thailand. And the whole world watched as they were eventually rescued. This is the retelling of their experience, and the daring rescue, packed with suspense and tension.

If you thought all the spooky books had hit shelves already, here’s at least one more to get young readers in the mood for spooky season. Years after their parents left Straygarden Place, they warned their daughters Winnow, Mayhap, and Pavonine not to go outside. And they haven’t. Until one day Winnow ventures outdoors and falls ill. Now she’s turning silver and unable to speak, while it appears there’s another girl in their house, and Winnow’s droomhund (a little dog that has bonded to her) is somehow missing.

This final book in the Zora and Me trilogy, which is a fictional account of author Zora Neale Hurston’s life, follows best friends Carrie and Zora on a mystery. There’s a violent lynch mob threatening their hometown, while talk of grave robbers and hoodoo only ramps up tension in town where Zora’s father is running for mayor and her mother’s health is failing.