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The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X. R. Pan , 472 pages. Little Brown and Company, 2018. $19  Language: PG-13 (6 swears); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: G. BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ESSENTIAL  AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH Leigh is a sophomore in high school when her mother commits suicide on an afternoon she is away with her best friend Axel. Leigh soon starts seeing a large red bird and is convinced it is her mom trying to get a message to her. The bird leads her to make a trip to Taiwan to visit her estranged grandparents. There, through mystical experiences, she learns about her mother’s past and her experiences with depression. Leigh emerges from these experiences with a better handle on her grief, her sense of guilt, and her relationship with her dad and her friends.  This is a brilliantly crafted book. Leigh describes the world around her and inside of her through colors; this adds a beautiful layer to the text. While the nature of suicide makes the content of this bo...

How We Got To Now: Six Innovations That Made The Modern World by Steven Johnson , 152 pages. NON-FICTION. Viking (Penguin), 2018. $20 Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: PG; Violence: G. BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS, HS - ESSENTIAL  AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE This book is a young reader adaptation from a New York Times bestseller and covers the discoveries and innovations surrounding glass, cold, sound, cleanliness, time, and light. Each chapter covers one of these topics and includes a comprehensive history with the logistical details embedded in the timeline. The chapters also contain a number of photographs and illustrations. There are a lot of attention grabbing anecdotes in each section.   My entire family loved this book. We jumped around the book, each taking a turn picking a topic, and learned a lot in the process. One of the anecdotes that we have retold to other people we read in the chapter on light and it tell the story of how whale oil was used to make cheaper candl...

The Flight of Swans by Sarah McGuire , 437 pages. Carolrhoda (Lerner), 2018. $19. Language: G; Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS- ESSENTIAL AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH The princess Andaryn despises her stepmother, a beautiful enchantress. Ryn’s love for her captivated father and the kingdom propel her into high adventure as she uses all her intelligence and strength to rescue her brothers, turned into swans for six years, while she must remain mute to all or they die. She uses all her creativity to hide from those who seek her and her brothers harm while communicating with the outside world without words. As the years progress, Ryn grows into a mature woman full of wisdom. As the end of the six years draws to a close, Ryn must find the way to defeat the enchantress and return her family safely to their throne. Sarah McGuire penned a delightful narrative of the Grimm Brothers, “Six Swans”. The fantasy world created in this story is clear and the adventure absorbs the r...

Fawkes by Nadine Brandes , 448 pages.  Thomas Nelson, 2018.  $17. Language: G (1 swear, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: g; Violence: PG (some deaths, battles) BUYING ADVISORY:  MS – ADVISABLE; HS - ESSENTIAL AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH Thomas Fawkes may have the Stone Plague, but he is sure that when he gets his Color Mask he will bond with Grey and be able to conquer his disease.  His father, the legendary protector Guy Fawkes, refuses to send his mask, however, and Thomas must trudge to London to find his parent, whom he has never met, and force the gift from him.  In London Thomas finds  a whole different world – one of rebellion and intrigue.  Keepers like Thomas and his father, believe that a person should only bond with only one color.  Igniters, on the other hand, believe that every color should be available to every person with talent.  And the King is an Igniter who is allowing Keepers to be hunted dow...

Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte , 432 pages.  Putnam (Penguin), Feb 2019. $18. Language: PG-13 (21 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: PG (implied sex, some LGBT content); Violence: PG -13 (assassinations, some graphic) BUYING ADVISORY:  HS - ESSENTIAL AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH The land of Quadara has been ruled by four queens for generations.  Keralie, 17, is just a trickster and a thief living on the fringes near the capitol.  When her boss, Mackiel goads her into stealing from a messenger, she doesn’t realize she is plunging herself into treachery that may see all four queens dead.  High fantasy lovers will have a great time riding this wave of tension and emotion. Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS

Survivors Club: The True Story of a Very Young Prisoner of Auschwitz by Michael Bornstein and Debbie Bornstein Holinstat, 344 pages.  Farrar Straus Giroux, 2017.  $17.   Content: Language: G; Mature Content: G; Violence: PG-13.   BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS – ESSENTIAL   AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH    Michael Bornstein was the youngest child to survive Auschwitz.  In this harrowing story, Michael tells of his family’s experience in Poland during World War II.  Michael was born shortly after the war started, but through research among his family members he paints a vivid picture of the losses suffered by Polish Jews.  He explains his father’s role as a mediator between the German soldiers and the Jewish community and his mother’s strength in the work camp as well as Aushwitz.  After Aushwitz is liberated, Michael tells of some of the hardships of coming home and moving on.   I devoured this book in two days.  I listen...

More Deadly than War by Kenneth C. Davis, 291 pages.  NON-FICTION  Henry Holt and Company, 2018.  $20.   Content: Language: G; Mature Content: G; Violence: PG-13.   BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS – ESSENTIAL   AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE    This book takes a look at how the Spanish Flu affected the outcome of World War I.  The Spanish Flu was called many different names as it affected people throughout the world, but the death toll was the highest since the Black Plague.  As soldiers were going off to war, they infected each other in training camp and as people came to celebrate in parades.  Within the cities in the United States, people didn’t know how they were spreading the disease, so it continued to grow.  The flu came in three different waves and the world since has learned many ways to help prevent the spread of epidemics.   I couldn’t put this book down.  It has fantastic illustrations and reads quickly...

The Island at the End of Everything by Kiran Millwood Hargrave ,  235 pgs, Alfred A. Knopf (Random), $16.99  Language: G(0 swears, 0 “F”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: G  BUYING ADVISORY:  MS, HS - ESSENTIAL AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE Amihan grew up on the Philippine island named Culion Island, a leper colony. Her own mother is a leper, but Ami is immune herself. When the Philippine government comes to the island and sets up a new system of government there, Ami is taken away to the mainland. It is there she meets Mari and they form a plan to get back to Culion. Will they find a way back, or be forever lost in the turmoil of life? I loved this story is was a touching story about the value of home and the meaning if family. Mature content is PG because it dies talk about leprosy a lot and children being taken from parents.  Student Reviewer: Julia M(10th grade)

Everything Else in the Universe by Tracy Holczer , 252 pgs, G. P. Putnam’s Sons (Penguin), $16.99  Language: G (0 swears, 0”F”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: G  BUYING ADVISORY:  MS, HS - ESSENTIAL AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE Lucia Mercedes Evangeline Rossi and her father have always been a team, until he is drafted to Vietnam and comes back with no left arm. Lucy is determined to do anything for her father, but he has become moody. In her loneliness, Lucy meets Milo, a boy with a secret, and together they dig up a Purple Heart in Lucy's backyard. What follows is the unraveling of a mystery. The biggest mystery, however, is the question as to whether Lucy’s father will ever come back to her.  This was a sweet story of family cares and issues. Lucy's courage to push forward while her best friend, her father, is distant is admirable. Mature Content is PG because there is talk of the issues of an amputee war returner.  Student Reviewer: Julia M(10th grade)...

The Unwanted : Stories of the Syrian Refugees by Don Brown , 105 pages. NON-FICTION, GRAPHIC NOVEL Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018. $18. 1328810151 Language: G (0 Swears, 0 'f'); Mature Content: G Violence: PG  BUYING ADVISORY: MS,  HS - ESSENTIAL  AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH  The plight of the Syrian refugees is chronicled in this well researched, age appropriate graphic novel. Spanning from 2011-2018 we see that violence and fear has caused these people to abandon their homes and leave at great personal loss. Taken advantage of by smugglers, and unwanted by the countries they pass through and into, the families are living in refugee camps, hiding along the way, and drowning in the ocean with only a lucky few landing in a place they can live and work in peace.  Don Brown is a master at taking something super complicated and paring it down to the essentials without losing the impact of the message (see Drowned City).  There were a lot of numbers thrown at us, ...

Price of Duty by Todd Strasser , 177 pages.  Simon, 2018. $18. Language: PG-13 (21 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: PG (one passing scatological reference); Violence: PG-13 (some blood and shooting) BUYING ADVISORY:  MS – OPTIONAL, HS - ESSENTIAL AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH Jake may have come home for the Middle East a war hero, but he feels like anything but.  His demons haunt him night and day.  His girlfriend has been faithful, but is she ready to live with a man fundamentally changed?  And Jake has big decisions to make – is he willing to go AWOL and not return to that nightmare.  It would devastate his grandfather, who is a very big deal in their military proud town, but it might just save his life. There cannot be enough books that shed light on the honest costs of war.  Not only is this essential to have in your library, but it should also be taught. Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS

You Are Mighty: A Guide to Changing the World by Caroline Paul , illustrated by Lauren Tamaki , 113 pages. NON-FICTION. Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2018. $18. Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: PG; Violence: G BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS, HS - ESSENTIAL.  AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE This book seamlessly combines information on activism, examples of activism, and advice for activism in one place with black and red illustrations throughout. This book is organized around 19 steps for getting involved that include steps like, “Change Your Habits,” “Write a Letter,” and “Invent Something.”    My favorite thing about this book is the examples of real kids making a real difference. Even as an adult, I feel like there is very little I can do to affect societal change, but I genuinely felt like individuals can indeed make a difference after reading this book. I value books for their ability to take an overwhelming concept and humanize it and make it accessible, and this book ...