Reviews written by Kristie Lowry, Promotions Manager

“A good friendship is like a work of art.” Megan and Cass have been friends forever. Their families vacationed together since they were young, and the two girls could count on seeing each other every summer at the lakeside cabin their parents rented. It was...

Four very different high school girls plan to spend one month together in GIRLS OF JULY, and they each have very different goals for that month. Britta is fun, chatty, an actress--and sick of her mom's new boyfriend "joking" about her looks and body. She just wants to get away....

Sam Jones and Zoe Miller are seniors in high school, but they've never had a reason to communicate during their years in school together. Sam is a nerd. She wants to be an aerospace engineer, and she's artistically talented, too. She also has only one friend, and she prefers to...

Michigan Manning just wants to play hockey. Unfortunately, the high school she attends in the upper peninsula of Michigan has cut the women's hockey team at the start of Michigan's junior year, and she and her teammates are left to find other ways to play the sport that they love....

Alma knows that if good girls were girls with no questions, she wasn't a good girl. She has SO MANY questions. Most of them revolve around her dad. All she's been told is that he died when she was a baby, and no one will even tell her where he's...

Five elephants march along the pages of Kevin Henkes's picture book, A PARADE OF ELEPHANTS. As they make their way through their day, they offer an opportunity for counting, exploring opposites, and easing one's way into bedtime. The illustrations are simple with a pastel palette, and the...

In THE ROUGH PATCH, Evan's best friend is his dog, and they do everything together. Author and illustrator Brian Lies details their fun and friendship with bright and cheerful scenes throughout the first part of the book. The joy Evan and his dog share in each other is evident as...

Esme feels alone. Her much-loved grandfather died, her dad deserted the family, her mom has mentally checked out, and her grandmother is a hard woman who doesn't have time for the kindness Esme craves. When Esme discovers dinosaur bones coming up out of the dirt...

Most books about a school shooting would start with the horrific event at the center of story, but EVERY MOMENT AFTER takes place 11 years after a gunman kills sixteen first graders and their principal at the high school graduation for the class. Cole Hewitt and Matt Simpson are two...

Pine the porcupine and Boof the bear became friends in the first book of this series, PINE & BOOF: THE LUCKY LEAF by author and illustrator Ross Burach, and they're back for more fun and adventure in PINE & BOOF BLAST OFF. BLAST OFF begins with...

I'LL LOVE YOU TILL THE COWS COME HOME is a silly and sweet take on the children's book trope of unconditional love. It begins with the declaration that the love will last until the cows come home--from Mars--and it continues with yaks in a fire truck (or Cadillac), sheep on...

I AM HUMAN is a picture book written by Susan Verde and illustrated by Peter Reynolds that gently explores what it is to be human--both the good and the bad--and ways to learn and grow as a result of challenges and mistakes. The text is comprised of simple sentences, but...

The Summer Olympics will take place again in July 2020, and all eyes will turn to Tokyo, Japan as they host the world and spotlight their country and their culture. The United States will send twelve of its best basketball players to compete in the games, and the U.S....

Nine-year-old Astrid is the only child in her Norwegian village, and she's called the little thunderbolt by the adults living in Glimmerdal. The nickname is appropriate; Astrid is a dynamo and she barrels through life with exuberance and heart. Astrid's best friend is Gunnvald--a 70-something neighbor who...

Since they were little, Lizzie Porter and Emily Lonergan were inseparable and best friends. Now Emily is almost sixteen-years-old, and she's had to learn how to live life without that friendship after Lizzie's death from cancer a year before. That adjustment has been hard on her, and Lizzie's family has...