Written by Alan Gratz, illustrated by Syd Fini (pub. Scholastic Graphix, 2025)
Continue reading “Refugee: The Graphic Novel | Review”I see it now, Chabela. All of it. The past, the present, the future.
All my life, I kept waiting for things to get better. For the bright promise of mañana.
But a funny thing happened while I waiting for the world to change. It didn’t. Because I didn’t change it.
I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.
By Don Brown (Clarion Books, imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, this format 2025)
Continue reading “83 Days in Mariupol: A War Diary | Graphic Novel Review”Could Mariupol, and Ukraine, survive? As Russian rockets threatened the city, Ukrainians resisted, and with a heroic combination of sacrifice and bravery, the besieged city endured…for months. But it all came at a steep cost.
Welcome to our monthly book recommendations post for April! Both health and house have improved, which means we’re back to our regular recommendations. Take a look below at what we were reading over the previous month!
Continue reading “Monthly Book Recommendations: April 2025”
By Patrice Lawrence (pub. Scholastic, 2025)
Continue reading “People Like Stars | Book Review”On clear nights, we saw swirls of stars above the trees. I asked Ari how big the sky must be to fit in all those stars. She said that they looked close together to us down on Earth, but really they were far, far apart from each other.
Maybe all these people are like stars. It seems like they’re together, but really they’re alone like me.
By James Fox (Scholastic, 2024)
Continue reading “The Boy in the Suit | Book Review”I pulled again on Morag’s wrist, so hard I felt my veins popping out of my forehead. Why couldn’t they just let her go? I wished Morag and I had the power to turn invisible. I wanted us to run away and forget all about this stupid funeral.
That’s when the camera flashed. Bright white, right in our faces. “Oh dear,” a man’s voice sneered. It was the newspaper photographer from earlier. “What’s going on here, then?”
By author Emma Reynolds and various illustrators listed at the end of the review (published by HarperAlley, September 2023)
Continue reading “Drawn to Change the World | Book Review”This book is not about putting the sole responsibility on young people’s shoulders to fix this crisis. It’s about celebrating the activists who are doing incredible things, and encouraging whoever is reading this book that you can make a difference too, no matter your age. You are not too old, and you are not too young, to begin.
By Nicola Davies (published by Firefly Press)
The sounds of hard breathing and the scrunch of footfalls enclose them as they run. There are shouts behind, voices yelling orders, more shots. Harlon gives Xeno and Ash a stream of small orders and encouragements to stop them thinking.
In Harlon’s head, her ma’s voice speaks.
When you are in danger, the most dangerous thing is to wish you weren’t. Accept the reality of danger, then you can survive it.
Climb, she tells herself. Get away.
Continue reading “The Song That Sings Us | Book Review for Older Readers”
Written by S.F. Said, illustrated by Dave McKean (published by David Fickling Books)
Continue reading “Tyger | Book Review”‘Nothing is ordinary,’ said the tyger. ‘Everything is extraordinary. In all of infinity and eternity, that flower exists only in this world; this precise position in space and time. Everywhere else, there is a different flower, or no flower at all. And the same is true of you. Nothing special? You are miraculous beyond measure, both of you.’
By Hannah Durkan (published by Hachette Children’s Group)
‘Who … Who are you?’
This made Zeina bristle. He had seen her just as many times as she had seen him and yet he had no idea who she was. This was just like Aboves; people like Zeina were merely part of the scenery – completely forgettable.
‘Who am I? NOBODY, that’s who!’ She knew she could get into trouble for talking to him this way. After all, he was technically her father’s employer.
Continue reading “Zeina Starborn and the Sky Whale | Review”
By K.L. Kettle (published by Little Tiger)
No. Focus on the Chancellor. I bow, full charm turned up, squeezing down the fear in my gut. This is about you, Vik.
The Chancellor’s sweet, slow tones offer her reserve. “One merit,” she says.
The silence is loud enough: no one’s going to outbid her.
I think the woman I’m meant to kill may have just saved my life.
Continue reading “The Boy I Am | Young Adult Book Review”