Reviews written by Kim Baccellia, Staff Reviewer

It's November 1914. Eighteen-year-old Clara Ketterling-Dunbar has fought alongside her suffragette sisters, but nothing prepares her for exploring the Antarctic. Told in journal format, Clara describes her journey as the only woman crew member of The Resolute. Her experiences in the suffragette movement taught her to fight, but will they...

After a horrific incident, Calvin and his family leave Chicago and settle in a new White suburban housing development in Levittown. Calvin misses his friends and resents that his father insists they 'pass' as White to have a better life. It's 1955, a year after Brown vs. the Board of...

Amber Brown and her best friend Justin Daniels have been friends since preschool. He helps her in their third-grade class with fractions. She whispers in his ear when he needs help during reading time. Then word comes that his family is moving to Alabama. Amber wishes and crosses her fingers...

It's the first day of school and almost sixteen-year-old Kat Evans wants to organize a bit of activism on campus. Her attempt at feminism brings hilarious results. Her friends help her along the way. Kat tries to get the attention of a new student, Hot Josh, but she wonders if...

Isabeau and her five friends used to be inseparable until they weren't. Now only Reuel stays at her side. All the girls shared many things, including the same birthday. Then on the night of Iz's birthday, things take a tragic turn. Reuel goes missing. Then she comes back but isn't...

Seventeen-year-old Eleanor is shy but loves numbers. Her classmates call her 'Nervous Nelly'. She's a math whiz but she has other worries. She worries about her Jewish relatives in Europe as the war rages overseas. And she blames herself for her father's stroke. Then during a chance encounter at Math...

St. Bernadette's is a stellar school with an equally stellar reputation. It also has a dark secret. Girls who scream. Khadijah is silent after a traumatic incident. Her friends look out for her. Rachel is an overachieving girl with an overbearing mother. Both find their fates intertwined as they look...

Former best friends Naya Morgan and Yana Bunpraserit always felt out of place in their small Oklahoma town. When both are inducted into the exclusive society of Yatesville High's top recent graduates, they're offered a chance to go on a yacht trip to Bermuda. Only something sinister is underfoot. Along...

It's 2001 and Omid tries to make sense of his recently arrived Iranian grandparents. He starts high school and has a crush on Emily a girl who introduces him to theater and Shakespeare. Omid's parents are from Iran and expect the best from him. Then 9/11 happens and he witnesses...

What worked: Horrific dystopian world where undocumented citizens are rounded up and forced into labor camps. This novel follows the first book SANCTUARY where readers are introduced to a world that goes topsy-turvy and where a nightmare world comes to those not deemed citizens of the US. ...

What worked: Intriguing paranormal world-building where a girl finds she plays a part in a tragic past. This novel introduces readers to Estela who after a horrific accident ends up in Spain with an aunt she knows nothing about. The gothic atmosphere grows with evocative hints of her true heritage....

What worked: Thrilling post-apocalyptic romance where not even a plague can stop love. This story had me glued right from the start. Fifteen-year-old Rory and Mara shared a kiss. Then hours later the plague hits. In this case, those bitten by the deadly virus become 'Ticks'. It's kind of like...

What worked: Fascinating portrayal of what was behind the process of ancient mummies. There's a lot to love about this non-fiction factual account of one part of ancient Egypt. Published in collaboration with the British Museum, the author goes step by step on what was involved in the mummification process....

When eleven-year-old Winna's younger sister Tupelo breaks her glasses, Winna's grandfather gives her some older glasses that once belonged to her great-aunt Estelle. Through these lenses, Winna can see the ghost of Estelle. She also finds out about a history that involves Estelle's grandmother Winona some hundred years ago. Winona...

Noni Reid is beyond upset when her mother, Dr. Radiance Castine, a renowned scholar of Black literature, uproots her from their Boston home to move to a Virginia town. Noni has to give up a prestigious internship, and her friends. Noni hasn't forgiven her mother. To make matters worse...