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Banna

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A Good Neighborhood: A Novel By Therese Anne Fowler Cover Image
$27.99
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ISBN: 9781250237279
Published: St. Martin's Press - March 10th, 2020

AVAIL. 2/4/20

When the Whitman family moves into a close-knit North Carolina neighborhood, it looks like a good fit. Initial contact with the folks whose property abuts theirs – an ecology professor and her son – seems promising. But issues and differences seep into the relationship of the families, one white and one black/biracial. Different voices narrate the tale, adding to the depth and nuance of the portraits of all involved. Despite considerable foreshadowing, each turn of the plot takes your breath away. A must read: I guarantee your book club will have its most passionate discussion of the year. Or maybe ever.

- Banna


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Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know By Malcolm Gladwell Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780316478526
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Little, Brown and Company - September 10th, 2019

Gladwell serves up another spellbinding book. A judge has a few minutes to evaluate a defendant: bail or no bail? This face-to-face encounter should help the judge decide, but a computer algorithm turns out to be a better predictor of reliability. Scores of people who met Bernie Madoff found him trustworthy. Police officers and civilians make snap judgments about each other that can turn out to be horribly wrong. Neville Chamberlain met Adolph Hitler and was sure his word was good. With his uncanny ability to make scholarly data not only accessible but engrossing, Gladwell explores what we know – and don’t know – about strangers.

-Banna


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Dominicana: A Novel By Angie Cruz Cover Image
$26.99
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ISBN: 9781250205933
Published: Flatiron Books - September 3rd, 2019

Ana’s parents want her to marry Juan, who will take her from her small town in the Dominican Republic to New York City; the marriage will benefit her family in a number of ways. But she’s 15, he’s twice her age, and she doesn’t love him. In fact, her heart lies elsewhere. But she agrees, and readers are swept along on her challenging journey: learning English and whom to trust, finding her “self” in a traditional marriage that has many demands and few rewards, and (spoiler alert) becoming a very young mom. An exceptional, nuanced look at the lives of a complex cast of characters - people whose stories are far too rarely told. 

-Banna


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The Last Palace: Europe's Turbulent Century in Five Lives and One Legendary House By Norman Eisen Cover Image
$28.00
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ISBN: 9780451495785
Published: Crown - September 4th, 2018

In 1924 Otto Petschek commissioned the construction of a most unusual palace. Born into a wealthy Prague banking family, Petschek, passionate about art and architecture, obsessed over every detail of the design, furnishing, and landscaping. Eisen uses this amazing building as the foundation for recounting 100 years of Czech history through the stories of four of its residents (including a conflicted German colonel and a movie star), plus the story of the author’s mother, a Holocaust survivor. Eisen, a former Ambassador to the Czech Republic, lived in the palace himself. This meticulously researched tale is absolutely riveting.

-Banna


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Walking with Miss Millie By Tamara Bundy Cover Image
$8.99
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ISBN: 9780399544576
Published: Nancy Paulsen Books - July 3rd, 2018

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

Alice has moved with her mother and younger brother to Rainbow, Georgia from Columbus, Ohio to take care of her grandma, who has dementia. And the almost-11-year-old is not happy about it. She hopes they won’t stay, she hopes her father will return to the family, but she is anxious and doubtful about both. After eavesdropping (on a party line; it’s 1968), Alice is forced by her mother to apologize to her next-door neighbor. An interracial, intergenerational friendship blossoms slowly, believably, in this tender and moving novel.

-Banna


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The Someday Suitcase By Corey Ann Haydu Cover Image
$9.99
ISBN: 9780062352767
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Published: Katherine Tegen Books - January 8th, 2019

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

When Clover, a 10-year-old science geek, learns about symbiosis, she thinks it perfectly describes her and Danny, who lives next door. They’ve known each other from birth and what they are goes beyond friendship. But when Danny becomes ill and doctors can’t figure out why, the dynamic changes. Clover’s sure she can use science to help him, but something magical is going on, too: whenever she’s with him, Danny gets better, but when they’re apart he declines. This deeply moving story of friendship, science, and growing up demands our attention . . . and plenty of Kleenex.

-Banna


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Three Women By Lisa Taddeo Cover Image
$27.00
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ISBN: 9781451642292
Published: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster - July 9th, 2019

With stunning candor, depth, and clarity Taddeo explores the impact of desire on the lives of three women. Maggie’s alleged to have had a relationship with her married high school teacher. Lina’s husband hasn’t kissed her in years, and the void is unendurable. Beautiful and privileged Sloane is married to a man who enjoys watching her have sex with other men. In many fine books you understand and empathize with the characters. In Three Women, you inhabit them. This is a groundbreaking and enlightening work of nonfiction that everyone will be talking about.

-Banna


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Witness (Scholastic Gold) By Karen Hesse Cover Image
$8.99
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ISBN: 9781338359671
Published: Scholastic Paperbacks - April 30th, 2019

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

Based on a real, little-known piece of history, Hesse’s book tells the story of the Ku Klux Klan trying to establish a foothold in a small Vermont town in 1924. Eleven people tell their truths in a series of free-verse poems. Two of those voices belong to newcomers to the town: Leonora, a 12-year-old African American girl, and Esther, a 6-year-old German Jewish immigrant. Accompanying voices belong to people of various ages and circumstances, those who welcome the Klan, some who distrust it, some who are outright opposed. The stories are nuanced and moving; readers are left with insight and hope.

-Banna


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The Season of Styx Malone By Kekla Magoon Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781524715953
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Published: Wendy Lamb Books - October 16th, 2018

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

Caleb, this splendid story’s narrator, wants only to be outstanding in some way; his parents and younger brother seem devoted to being ordinary and inconspicuous. Then one summer the brothers meet Styx Malone, a teenage foster child, who’s anything but ordinary and seems to have all the answers – and all the schemes. The three boys get into mischief, sometimes borderline illegal, and readers become willing co-conspirators. All the main characters are black, and how refreshing it is that race is just one aspect of their very realistic and complicated lives.

-Banna


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Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster By Jonathan Auxier Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781419731402
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Published: Amulet Books - September 25th, 2018

MIDDLE GRADE FICTION

This magnificent book, set in Victorian London, will take your breath away. Orphaned, Nan was taken under the wing of a chimney sweep. But he disappeared when she was 6, leaving behind only a strange, warm piece of charcoal. Now 11, Nan works for a brutish boss with a group of other child sweeps. After surviving a hideous chimney fire thanks to her magical “char,” who morphs into a protective golem, Nan’s grit and the compassion of a teacher who nurtures her love of reading help her find her way. This magical blend of history, social consciousness, fantasy, and splendid writing must be read.

-Banna


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Donna Has Left the Building By Susan Jane Gilman Cover Image
$28.00
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ISBN: 9781538762417
Published: Grand Central Publishing - June 4th, 2019

Don’t be fooled by the breezy tone of the book’s opening. Donna, 45, is a Subaru-driving, smart-alecky suburban mother of two teens. She demonstrates and sells high-end kitchenware. When she comes home early one day to find her husband . . . well, you have to read it. Her response? Her past as a pink-haired, punk rocking rebel takes over; she embarks on a consistently startling solo road trip that ultimately – after mishap upon mishap – takes her halfway around the world. The focus sharpens and the tone deepens. This flawed but fascinating character is my new best friend, and I’m delighted to share her with you.

-Banna


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The Night Library By David Zeltser, Raul Colón (Illustrator) Cover Image
By David Zeltser, Raul Colón (Illustrator)
$17.99
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ISBN: 9781524717988
Published: Random House Books for Young Readers - April 2nd, 2019

PICTURE BOOK

Books, libraries, and Patience and Fortitude, the stone lions in front of the NYC Public Library’s main branch: this stunning picture book has them all. A young boy is disappointed to receive a book for his birthday; he prefers toys and games. That night he’s awakened by deep purring beneath his window. It’s Fortitude, who whisks him away to the library. The books there remind him of stories his late grandfather read to him, and they magically form an image of the old man. The boy’s love of books returns before Patience carries him home. The last spread, which I won’t spoil, will elicit a shiver, tears, or both.

-Banna


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Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen By Mary Norris Cover Image
$25.95
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ISBN: 9781324001270
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - April 2nd, 2019

Caution: Norris’s love of all things Greek is rhapsodic (from the Greek rhapsōidia, to sew [songs] together), encompassing language (both ancient and modern), history, mythology, scenery, and ouzo, and it’s highly contagious. Sail with her to Greece and the Greek islands, visiting familiar and obscure sites and taking abundant side trips to other aspects of her life as an endlessly curious student, autodidact (also from the Greek), and copy editor at The New Yorker. You’ll begin planning your first or next trip to Greece before you’re halfway through this exhilarating book.

-Banna


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The Guest Book: A Novel By Sarah Blake Cover Image
$27.99
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ISBN: 9781250110251
Published: Flatiron Books - May 7th, 2019

“At the end of old money, there is real estate.” In 1935, a wealthy WASP couple buy an island off the coast of Maine. The island comes to enthrall, define, and obsess three generations of the Milton family, and the current generation must confront the costs, both financial and psychological. The unearthing of family secrets challenges assumptions and memories: the Miltons, products of their times, were not immune from their eras’ racism and anti-Semitism. The scope of Blake’s novel is huge, and so is her talent. Absorbing and enlightening, the book will revisit you long after the final page.

- Banna


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Sidetracked By Diana Harmon Asher Cover Image
$16.99
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ISBN: 9781419726019
Published: Amulet Books - August 22nd, 2017

MIDDLE GRADE FICTION

Joseph might as well walk around wearing a target, there’s so much material for bullies. He’s ADD. Small and skinny. Clumsy. Distracted. Phobic. Also, Jewish. He starts seventh grade with very low expectations, but two things begin to rock his world. His Resource Room teacher convinces him to join the school’s new track team (he’s a terrible runner, but begins to challenge himself), and a new kid – a very athletic, confident girl, also something of a misfit, befriends him (and punches his nemesis in the face!). Joseph’s voice is authentic, funny, and moving; you’ll love hanging out with him.

-Banna


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Sadie: A Novel By Courtney Summers Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781250105714
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Wednesday Books - September 4th, 2018

YOUNG ADULT FICTION
This book will keep you glued to its pages, barely breathing. It’s told in two voices, each recounting the murder of a 13-year-old and the disappearance of her 19-year-old sister. One voice is that of Sadie, the older teen. The alternating voice is a podcast, trying to fit clues together and answer all the unanswered questions. Summers doles out the jigsaw pieces slowly, agonizingly for us readers. But the story is alarmingly relevant, and Sadie is a passionately determined, grievously damaged heroine for the ages.

- Banna


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You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P! (Scholastic Gold) By Alex Gino Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780545956246
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Published: Scholastic Press - September 25th, 2018

MIDDLE GRADE
When her sister is born Deaf, Jilly reaches out to a Deaf chat room friend for counsel; she’s surprised that he resents being reduced to just one characteristic. He’s a whole person. He’s also Black. So is her aunt’s wife, an issue with some family members. This book will heighten kids’ awareness of microaggressions, good intentions gone awry through cluelessness, and social justice. A wonderful read, and the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. (Why did I capitalize Deaf? Read the book!)

- Banna


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Mascot By Antony John Cover Image
$16.99
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ISBN: 9780062835628
Published: HarperCollins - September 11th, 2018

MIDDLE GRADE

Two key components of Noah’s identity changed in a heartbeat: the car crash that took his father’s life also left this talented, passionate Little League catcher paralyzed and in a wheelchair. So who is he now? A good friend, a new friend (who is probably on the autism spectrum, though this isn’t specified), his physical therapist, and a formerly grouchy old neighbor help Noah answer that question. Fans of Wonder, El Deafo, and Cammie McGovern’s books will love this one!

- BANNA


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Behold the Dreamers: A Novel By Imbolo Mbue Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780525509714
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - June 26th, 2017

Jende Jonga is a Cameroonian immigrant living with his family in Harlem. Clark Edwards, an executive in a top Wall Street firm, lives with his family in the lap of luxury. When Jonga becomes Edwards’s chauffeur, their worlds intersect. An interesting set-up, and here’s one more thing: it’s 2007, and Edwards works for Lehman Bros. Uh oh. We know what’s coming. No, actually, we have no idea -- which is what makes this debut novel, a study of race, class, real estate, immigration law, and fierce family love, an absolutely enthralling read.

- Banna


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The Night Tiger: A Novel By Yangsze Choo Cover Image
$26.99
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ISBN: 9781250175458
Published: Flatiron Books - February 12th, 2019

Set in 1930’s Malaysia, this remarkable novel has a number of recurring motifs: twins, medicine, dreams, the eerie space between life and death, tigers, the five Confucian virtues, and – oh, dear! – severed fingers. But don’t shy away; embrace this absorbing adventure in a time and place that will be new to most readers. Ji Lin, who works in a dance hall to pay off her mother’s gambling debts; her stepbrother, Shin, a medical student; and Ren, an 11-year-old orphan who lives by his considerable wits, will take you by the hand and walk you through this extraordinary world.

- Banna


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Hey, Kiddo: A Graphic Novel By Jarrett J. Krosoczka Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9780545902472
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Published: Graphix - October 9th, 2018

YOUNG ADULT

For teens raised by grandparents, for teens who have an absent parent or one struggling with addiction and/or incarceration, for teens who like graphic novels or memoirs, for teens and adults who . . . well, you name it. This book is for all teens and adults. Krosoczka is both brutally and tenderly candid about his unusual coming-of-age story, and the friends, extended family, teachers, artistic talent, and loving, eccentric grandparents who guided his growing up. Throughout the book are drawings, letters, and artifacts from those years, giving this remarkable memoir even greater intimacy and immediacy.

- BANNA


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Three Pennies By Melanie Crowder Cover Image
$7.99
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ISBN: 9781481471886
Published: Atheneum Books for Young Readers - May 29th, 2018

Now 11, Marin was abandoned by her birthmother at age 4. She persists believing that they’ll be reunited and that the I Ching will lead to their reconnection. She’s survived a series of foster homes by being compliant and invisible, but now that her mother has relinquished parental rights, a prospective adoptive mother (an Asian-American lesbian doctor) has appeared. Marin’s world (along with San Francisco’s tectonic plates) is shifting, and she must decide: does she dare abandon a cherished illusion? Take a huge risk? An element of mysticism, beautiful writing, and nuance make this a must read.

- BANNA


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Out of Left Field (The Gordon Family Saga #3) By Ellen Klages Cover Image
$16.99
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ISBN: 9780425288597
Published: Viking Books for Young Readers - May 1st, 2018

MIDDLE GRADE

Katy’s the best pitcher in the neighborhood, so good that the boys welcome her to their pick-up games. But it’s 1957, and to try out for Little League she has to pretend to be a boy. She wins a spot, but is outed by a rival team member. Her well-reasoned protest letter to Little League officials gets a condescending, factually inaccurate response: baseball "has always been the sole province of male athletes." She suspects this isn’t true, and her quest to find out coincides with a school assignment. Her journey is fascinating – she actually meets some of the players! – and the history is thorough and well documented. Katy doesn’t just pitch, she rocks!

- BANNA


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The War Outside By Monica Hesse Cover Image
$34.99
ISBN: 9780316316699
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Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers - September 25th, 2018

YOUNG ADULT

The teens couldn’t be more different: Haruko, Japanese American, is outgoing, popular, and compliant; Margot, German American, is reclusive, mistrustful, and analytical. But what they have in common is more important: they’re very bright, observant members of families in turmoil, and in 1944 they’re living in an internment camp for “enemy aliens.” A secret and unlikely friendship becomes a lifeline for both of them. Like Hesse’s Girl in the Blue Coat, this riveting novel takes readers where we’ve never imagined going, with twists, turns, and startling intensity. The book is mesmerizing, empathetic, and incredibly timely in its treatment of injustice and fear of “the other.”

- Banna


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The Moving Toyshop (The Gervase Fen Mysteries) By Edmund Crispin Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781448216871
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Published: Bloomsbury Reader - May 1st, 2018

It’s back in print! Hooray! Nobody writes intelligent, witty detective fiction like mid-20th-century Brits, and this book is a prime example. A poet goes to Oxford on holiday; arriving late and unsure of the address of his temporary digs, he stumbles into a toyshop – only to discover a woman’s corpse. Almost at once, he’s knocked out. Regaining consciousness the next morning, locked in a back room, he’s alarmed to discover that the shop is now a grocery and he’s arrested for trespassing and theft. Luckily an old friend, literature professor Gervase Fen, helps him sort it all out. Literary mystery at its best!

- Banna


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The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel By Heather Morris Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9780062870674
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Published: Harper - September 4th, 2018

A tender, uplifting love story set in the depths of hell: the contradiction makes this book un-put-downable. Although it’s presented as a novel, Morris met with Lale Sokolov, the title character, several times a week for three years to get all the facts and nuances of his story. His facility with languages led to the assignment to tattoo numbers on the arms of prisoners brought to Auschwitz from all over Europe. His years in the camp presented him with many opportunities to help his fellow inmates, but those opportunities were freighted with ethical dilemmas and the risk of his own life and others’. Through it all, his love for Gita, whose arm he tattooed, remained steadfast and intense. A riveting look at the Holocaust through a most unusual lens.

- Banna


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Inkling By Kenneth Oppel, Sydney Smith (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Kenneth Oppel, Sydney Smith (Illustrator)
$17.99
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ISBN: 9781524772819
Published: Knopf Books for Young Readers - November 6th, 2018

MIDDLE GRADE

A splotch of ink separates itself from a cartoonist’s sketchbook. Hmm. And then the splotch and the book take off: Inkling can move, and boy, does he – absorbing ink from books, posters, newspapers, and comics, learning how to draw and communicate with the cartoonist’s son, Ethan, in the process. This comes at a good time. The family is grieving the death of Ethan’s mother; his father has writer’s block and has shut down emotionally; his sister, who has Down syndrome, has fallen almost completely under Ethan’s care. And Ethan’s been lying to his classmates about his ability to complete his part of a group project. A warm and resonant look at a family in crisis, and a wildly suspenseful ride!

- BANNA


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The Night Diary By Veera Hiranandani Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780735228511
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Kokila - March 6th, 2018

MIDDLE GRADE

Nisha’s world is fracturing, and her family’s in turmoil. It’s India in 1947; this 12-year-old and her twin brother are trying to make sense of India’s independence and partition. They’re caught in the middle: their father’s Hindu, and their late mother was a Muslim. Where do they belong? Her brother, an artist like their mother, provokes their father’s anger by his ebullient nature and inability to focus on schoolwork. Nisha’s shyness is painful – she can express herself only in the diary letters she writes to her late mother. As the family flees for their lives, Nisha’s deep feelings and ability to express them sweep the reader along on a suspenseful journey that will be eye-opening for today’s kids.

- Banna


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The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl By Stacy McAnulty Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781524767570
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Random House Books for Young Readers - May 1st, 2018

MIDDLE GRADE

In second grade, Lucy was struck by lightning. She survived, but experienced acquired savant syndrome; she’s now a math genius, as well as having OCD and synesthesia, a condition that leads her to see numbers as colors. (Though Lucy is fictional, this rare condition is a real thing.) Now that Lucy’s 12, her grandmother, who’s raising her, insists she spend a year in middle school, make one friend, and join one activity – a real challenge for this solitary home- and self-schooled girl. Lucy is a wonderfully candid and observant narrator, and a terrific guide through this extraordinary book. Great choice for fans of Wonder and Counting by Sevens!

- BANNA


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A Carnival Of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety By Donald Hall Cover Image
$25.00
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ISBN: 9781328826343
Published: Ecco - July 10th, 2018

What an honor to be at Donald Hall’s side as he wanders, strolls, and occasionally shuffles through the last ninety years of his life in and outside the world of poetry. Hall observes everything and remembers everything – moving you to tears, but leavening his tales with wit and sparkle. This consummate storyteller enthralls us with anecdotes from his family’s 150-year history (in the farmhouse in which he still lives), remembrances of many of the celebrated poets and others he’s known, confessions of mistakes and omissions, paeans to his late wife (poet Jane Kenyon), and generous helpings of sex.

- BANNA


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Ghost Boys By Jewell Parker Rhodes Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780316262286
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers - April 17th, 2018

With exceptional candor and compassion Rhodes addresses the events surrounding the shooting of Jerome, an unarmed, 12-year-old black boy, by a white police officer. Among the things make this book a stunning and essential read: the back stories that provide a visceral understanding of the characters and events, and Rhodes’s decision to let the ghost of Emmett Till accompany Jerome’s ghost as he observes the aftermath of the shooting among his family and friends. Jerome is visible only to the police officer’s anguished daughter as she struggles to understand her father’s action. Emmett Till’s story provides both a necessary history lesson and a context for current events. This is truly a must-read for every student, teacher, and parent.

- Banna


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Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race By Reni Eddo-Lodge Cover Image
$27.00
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ISBN: 9781408870556
Published: Bloomsbury Circus - November 7th, 2017

The provocative title pulled me in, the eye-opening content kept me there. Fortunately, Eddo-Lodge’s thoughtful essays belie the title: she’s talking to all of us about race, and it behooves us to listen. Racial issues in history and right up to  today in Britain have significant (and often dispiriting) differences from and similarities to their American counterparts. For instance, Britain had a 271-year history of slavery but, because the plantations were in the Caribbean and not on British soil, "most British people saw the money without the blood." This book is an essential contribution to the ongoing conversation about race.

- Banna


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Audacity By Melanie Crowder Cover Image
$12.99
ISBN: 9780147512499
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Viking Books for Young Readers - January 5th, 2016

YOUNG ADULT

Free-verse historical fiction? I wasn't so sure. And then I got swept into this magnificent telling of the bravery, grit, and indomitability of real-life Clara Lemlich, an unstoppable force in the fight for workers' rights in the early 20th century. The obstacles she overcame would have discouraged  anyone else: strenuous family objections, being fired and blacklisted by many employers, rampant sexism, and horrific beatings, all of which she endured to be a relentless warrior on behalf of sweatshop workers. An afterword gives us more of her inspiring story through the real-life voices of her children and grandchildren. Magnificent!

- Banna


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Just Like Jackie By Lindsey Stoddard Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062652911
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: HarperCollins - January 2nd, 2018

MIDDLE GRADE

A magnificent debut novel! Robinson has a lot going for her: in-depth knowledge of auto mechanics, baseball, and maple sugaring; a wonderful grandpa (her only family), a strong sense of social justice, and a loving heart. But this biracial fifth-grader's explosive temper keeps getting her into trouble, and Grandpa is repeatedly summoned to school. His increasing dementia scares her: she fears she'll be taken away from him if others see how fragile he's become. Furthermore, he's always refused to tell her anything about her deceased mother, and she's afraid he'll lose those memories before he can share them. Brilliant book with indelible, complex characters.

- Banna


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Ban This Book: A Novel By Alan Gratz Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780765385567
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Starscape - August 29th, 2017

MIDDLE GRADE

Amy Anne, a go-along-get-along fourth grader, would definitely raise a few eyebrows if she spoke aloud all the thoughts she shares with us. Outwardly she takes the path of least resistance both at home, where her rambunctious twin sisters and overextended parents seem to consume all the oxygen, and at school, where a librarian appreciates and abets her book passion. A line is crossed when a parent has Amy Anne’s favorite book, and then some more, removed from the shelves. Amy Anne and a small group of friends create the Banned Books Locker Library, giving other students access to these wonderful books, which leads to her suspension . . . and to very creative activism she didn’t know she had in her. A terrific book for enthusiastic readers, and a great blueprint for kids who want to effect change. Another big plus: Amy Anne’s family is black.

- BANNA


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Feathers By Jacqueline Woodson Cover Image
$8.99
ISBN: 9780142415504
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Nancy Paulsen Books - January 7th, 2010

MIDDLE GRADE

It’s 1971, and the arrival of a new student – the only white kid in the sixth grade – leads Frannie to examine many things she’s assumed or ignored. The boy is gentle and self-contained, with hair that curls to the middle of his back; his classmates promptly dub him Jesus Boy. Suddenly race, class, religion, and prejudice are front and center, and Frannie must decide how she feels and what she’ll do. Her close-knit family, which includes a deaf older brother, takes her seriously and supports her journey of discovery. Emily Dickinson’s “’Hope’ is the thing with feathers” illuminates Frannie’s quest in deeply moving ways. What a thoughtful, respectful book to put in the hands of middle-grade kids!

- BANNA


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Meet Me at the Museum: A Novel By Anne Youngson Cover Image
$23.99
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ISBN: 9781250295163
Published: Flatiron Books - August 7th, 2018

A middle-aged English farm wife impulsively writes to a Danish archaeologist. As schoolgirls, she and her best friend were fascinated by a book he wrote and resolved to visit his museum. Following her friend’s death, her grief leads her to contemplate visiting the museum alone. The archaeologist, too, has died, but when her letter is answered by the museum’s curator, a beautiful, philosophical, tender correspondence ensues. Their increasingly personal letters share thoughts, hopes, regrets, and fears at this time in their lives when they have “More behind us than ahead of us. Paths chosen that define us. Enough time left to change.” The two gradually become part of each other’s lives. This transporting debut novel reminds me of all I felt when I first read 84,Charing Cross Road and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – it’s that good.

- Banna


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The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (Oprah's Book Club Selection) By Anthony Ray Hinton, Lara Love Hardin, Bryan Stevenson (Introduction by) Cover Image
$26.99
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ISBN: 9781250124715
Published: St. Martin's Press - March 27th, 2018

Imagine spending 30 years on death row for a crime you didn’t commit. You can’t possibly. But Ray Hinton lived it and tells his story in such detail – with letters and documents that illuminate the painful, tortuous path of his case – and so compellingly that you’re with him every step of the way. If you’ve read Bryan Stevenson’s amazing Just Mercy (and if you haven’t, please do so at once!) you know how flawed the American criminal justice system is for defendants who are poor, persons of color, and/or children. The Equal Justice Initiative (founded by Stevenson) worked on this case for 16 years. Hinton’s story could be agonizing, but it’s not: his faith, the love of his mother and his best friend, his boundless optimism and imagination, and his efforts to improve conditions for other death row inmates (including the creation of a book club!) make this an inspiring tale of justice finally attained.

- Banna


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The Last Equation of Isaac Severy: A Novel in Clues By Nova Jacobs Cover Image
$25.00
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ISBN: 9781501175121
Published: Atria Books - March 6th, 2018

This debut novel is a literary surprise ball: clues and treasures pop out as you read, delightful, troubling, intriguing, and/or puzzling by turns. Hazel, the owner of a failing bookstore, has just lost her grandfather, a brilliant, widely respected mathematician. As her eccentric extended family gathers for the funeral, she receives a letter – filled with baffling instructions and puzzles – that Isaac mailed just before his death, which may or may not have been a suicide. Why did he choose her to confide in? Who stood to gain from his death? Was there indeed a last, spectacular equation? What and where is it? It’s rare for a book to be simultaneously character-driven and plot-driven, both clever and emotionally intense. Somehow, against all odds, Jacobs pulls it off.

- Banna


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Uncommon Type: Some Stories By Tom Hanks Cover Image
$26.95
ISBN: 9781101946152
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Knopf - October 17th, 2017

Tom Hanks, a writer? And a really good writer at that? Who knew?!  Here’s a fascinating collection of stories, widely varied in tone and content. His writing voice has the pin-point specificity of the many roles he’s capable of playing. Each of the stories has a typewriter in it, sometimes playing a major role, sometimes just a cameo. Did you know that Hanks is massively well-versed in typewriter history and mechanics and is, in fact, an avid collector? If you’re already a Hanks fan (is there anyone who isn’t?) you’ll be even more of one when you’ve read these terrific stories.

- Banna


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The First Rule of Punk By Celia C. Pérez Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780425290408
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Viking Books for Young Readers - August 22nd, 2017

MIDDLE GRADE

Oh, how I love this book! Malú is a bright, creative protagonist, who writes, draws, and assembles her own “zines” (included) that weave together her love of punk music, her efforts to make sense of her mixed heritage, and her burgeoning activism. Her mother, a college professor, wants Malu to be an ideal Mexican-American señorita; her Caucasian father runs a funky indie record store a thousand miles away and encourages her love of all things punk. Malú, a flawed but admirable 12-year-old, is terrific company; readers will cheer her on as she navigates a multitude of conflicting external and internal messages.

- Banna


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Wishtree By Katherine Applegate Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781250043221
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Published: Feiwel & Friends - September 26th, 2017

MIDDLE GRADE

Before I started the book I feared it might be a bit too sweet for me: the narrator is a 216-year-old oak tree on whom the townsfolk annually hang their wishes, and most of the characters are talking animals. “Uh, really?” I thought skeptically. Boy, was I wrong. The story’s center is an anonymous, hateful act against a Muslim immigrant family. This book is both entertaining and a deeply moving story of humans and animals coming together to demonstrate kindness and protection. How lovely for kids to chuckle, have tears in their eyes, and see cooperation and compassion triumph – all in one story!

- Banna


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Eternal Life: A Novel By Dara Horn Cover Image
$25.95
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ISBN: 9780393608533
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - January 23rd, 2018

Why would a physically and psychologically healthy woman want to die? Because she can’t. There’s an arresting premise: eternal life as a curse. Rachel traded the possibility of her own death 2,000 years ago to save the life of her first child. Over the course of two millennia she’s been through dozens of marriages and given birth to hundreds of children. Through it all she’s had an on-again, off-again intense and infuriating relationship with her first great love, the father of her first child. This is a novel like no other: its countless twists and turns can be startling, heart-wrenching, hilarious, philosophical, uplifting, disturbing, or thought provoking –  sometimes several at once. Book clubs will have a field day discussing this one!

- Banna


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The Stars Beneath Our Feet By David Barclay Moore Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781524701246
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Published: Knopf Books for Young Readers - September 19th, 2017

MIDDLE GRADE/YOUNG ADULT

This debut novel couldn’t be timelier or more powerful. Lolly is mourning the loss of his older brother to gun violence while trying to deal with his parents’ divorce, his too-often absent father, and his mother’s new partner, Yvonne. Mr. Ali, a counselor at his Harlem  after-school program, and Lolly’s close friend Vega help him navigate, but it’s Yvonne’s gift of Legos, retrieved from her job as a toy store security guard, that frees him to explore his creative impulses and work through his grief and confusion. The book, its narrator, and the neighborhood will stay in your heart long after the last page.

- Banna


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Refugee By Alan Gratz Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780545880831
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Scholastic Press - July 25th, 2017

In different eras and places, three children face death and seek refuge. Josef and his family are Jews in 1938 Germany, trying to escape the looming Holocaust. In 1994, Isabel, her parents, and two neighbors are desperate to flee Cuba’s destitution and political oppression. In the third story, set in 2015, Mahmoud and his family frantically try to get from Syria to Germany. There are similarities (each family initially leaves by boat, each grapples with conspicuousness and invisibility) and differences. Each of the dramatically crafted, interwoven stories gives the others context. An extraordinary, and extraordinarily timely, book.

- Banna


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What the Night Sings By Vesper Stamper Cover Image
$21.99
ISBN: 9781524700386
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Published: Knopf Books for Young Readers - February 20th, 2018

YOUNG ADULT

Gerta survived the Holocaust, just barely. But now what? She’s 17. Her parents are dead. She suspects her stepmother was responsible for her and her father’s arrest. Her father’s viola enabled her to survive, but the vocal career for which she trained seems unattainable. She lives in Bergen-Belsen, once a concentration camp and now a camp for displaced persons; her prospects are few and grim. Perhaps Palestine – if she can get there? If she remains in Europe, where? How will she live? The lives of survivors in the aftermath of the Holocaust are rarely examined, even more rarely in such depth and with such compassion. And never before, to my knowledge, so generously and beautifully illustrated.

- Banna


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Saving Marty By Paul Griffin Cover Image
$16.99
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ISBN: 9780399539077
Published: Dial Books - September 19th, 2017

MIDDLE GRADE

Not since Wilbur and Fern has there been such an engaging, endearing pig-and-child pair. Lorenzo has raised Marty from his piglet days – raised him as a dog, which Marty seems to believe himself to be. But as the pig tips the scales at 350 pounds, Lorenzo’s mother becomes increasingly insistent that he must go. Lorenzo’s best friend, Paloma, a Korean-American girl who has an extraordinary musical gift, and his grandfather help him arrive at a rousingly satisfying conclusion, creating impressive definitions of heroism along the way.

- Banna


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Beyond the Bright Sea By Lauren Wolk Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781101994856
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Published: Dutton Books for Young Readers - May 2nd, 2017

MIDDLE GRADE

Crow’s life is a good one. She lives on an island off Massachusetts with Osh, a painter, who adores her, and is tutored by their neighbor, Miss Maggie. Their lives are pleasant, predictable, and self-sufficient. But there’s a missing piece: Crow has no idea where she came from. Osh found her, just hours old, in a boat that washed ashore twelve years ago. The mainlanders she comes in contact with seem especially wary of her. Is it because she’s black, or something more? Bit by bit she pulls together fragments of her history in a fascinating, suspenseful, and hugely satisfying story.

- Banna


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George and Lizzie: A Novel By Nancy Pearl Cover Image
$25.00
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ISBN: 9781501162893
Published: Touchstone - September 5th, 2017

Petulant, querulous, delusional, and yet, somehow, lovable: that's our Lizzie. All her life she's been treated by her parents, experimental psychologists, primarily as a research subject. She's haunted by a dreadful adolescent misstep and by the memory of a boyfriend who disappeared. Enter George, the compassionate, affable product of a loving family. A mismatch? Perhaps, if you don't take into account persistence, goodness, a passion for football, and love. Pearl's debut novel is peopled not with characters but with living, breathing three-dimensional people who are about to become your best friends.

- Banna


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The War I Finally Won By Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780525429203
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Published: Dial Books - October 3rd, 2017

MIDDLE GRADE TO ADULT

It’s agony: you finish a book but you desperately need to know what happens next. Relief is at hand for readers of Bradley’s splendid, award-winning The War that Saved My Life. This sequel opens with 11-year-old Ada’s surgery for the clubfoot that severely limited her mobility and crippled her psyche. Evacuated from London to escape the Blitz, she and her brother were placed with Susan, a single woman. This newly created family now expands to encompass a young Jewish refugee from Germany, compelling the whole village to face their prejudices in the midst of continuing and increasing danger. Although this vivid depiction of World War II through the eyes of people far outside the spotlight is a sequel, it stands on its own just fine.

- Banna


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Survivors Club: The True Story of a Very Young Prisoner of Auschwitz By Michael Bornstein, Debbie Bornstein Holinstat Cover Image
$16.99
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ISBN: 9780374305710
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) - March 7th, 2017

MIDDLE GRADE TO ADULT

All Holocaust memoirs are important books, but this one is extraordinary. It’s beautifully, rivetingly written by a survivor and his daughter. Extensive research enabled Bornstein to fill in the blanks in his and his relatives’ memories; he was only four years old when his family was sent to Auschwitz. Although he tells his story in grim detail, this is ultimately a story of hope: many members of his family remarkably, improbably survived. It’s an excellent introduction or addition to any young (or not so young) person’s awareness of the Holocaust. Fewer and fewer survivors are left; there’s never been a more important time to learn this essential history.

- Banna


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Reading with Patrick: A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship By Michelle Kuo Cover Image
$27.00
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ISBN: 9780812997316
Published: Random House - July 11th, 2017

The child of Taiwanese immigrants, Kuo volunteered with Teach for America in Helena, AR, after college. On one level, this is a memoir of her time there. But this multilayered book delves deeply into issues of race, poverty, substandard education, and appalling criminal justice practices. At the book’s center, its beating heart, is Kuo’s relationship with one student. Kuo went to law school after leaving Helena; about to begin her law career, she learned that Patrick, who had begun to blossom in her class, was in jail, charged with murder. She returned to Helena and tutored him for seven months. Kuo’s book then adds yet another layer: a paean to the power of literature and the rewards of persistence.

- Banna


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The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness By Paula Poundstone Cover Image
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ISBN: 9781616204167
Availability: Out of Print
Published: Algonquin Books - May 9th, 2017

It’s Paula Poundstone, so yes, it’s laugh-out-loud funny on every page. But it’s a lot more: a fly-on-the-wall look at being the single parent of three kids, especially during the wonderful world of adolescence; tending a menagerie of sixteen cats and three ( maybe four?) dogs; and some actual insights into the various ways we pursue happiness (get fit! get organized! drive a Lamborghini!) and how they work out . . . or not. This book will give you bountiful balous of happiness, but you’ll have to read it to learn what that means.

- Banna


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The Lotterys Plus One By Emma Donoghue, Caroline Hadilaksono (Illustrator) Cover Image
$17.99
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ISBN: 9780545925815
Published: Arthur A. Levine Books - March 28th, 2017

MIDDLE GRADE

Families don’t get much more diverse than the Lotterys (a winning ticket inspired their chosen name): two gay moms, two gay dads, and seven homeschooled  biological and adopted children, all eleven of them of varying races and ethnicities. This exuberant, loving family is so inclusive you’ll feel a part of it from page one. A huge challenge arrives when a scowling, disapproving  grandpa from the Yukon, whose dementia means he can no longer live alone, moves in. You’ll be rooting without reservation for this family that’s constantly redefined “normal.”

- Banna


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Single Jewish Male Seeking Soul Mate By Letty Cottin Pogrebin Cover Image
$15.95
ISBN: 9781558618879
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Feminist Press - May 19th, 2015

On the eve of Zach's bar mitzvah, his parents, Holocaust survivors, make him promise he’ll one day marry a Jew and help replace the six million dead. He grows up and marries a Jew — who leaves him for another woman. He falls in love again, this time with Cleo, a brilliant black activist, daughter of a Baptist pastor, who, to his enormous discomfort, collects and displays racist memorabilia. An improbably couple, but a surprisingly good, challenging fit. What to do about his promise? His commitment to Judaism? His love for Cleo? This provocative book examines Zach’s and Cleo’s  conflicting commitments and agonizing choices from every angle.

- Banna


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The Hate U Give: A Printz Honor Winner By Angie Thomas, Amandla Stenberg (Foreword by) Cover Image
By Angie Thomas, Amandla Stenberg (Foreword by)
$18.99
ISBN: 9780062498533
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Published: Balzer + Bray - February 28th, 2017

YOUNG ADULT

It’s too awful; you have to look away. It’s too compelling; you have to look, to pay attention. That describes the shooting of unarmed people by police officers, and it most certainly describes Thomas’s debut novel. This book should be read by anyone who wants to understand the Black Lives Matter movement – and especially by anyone who doesn’t. Starr, our 16-year-old narrator, uneasily navigates two worlds, her mostly black and poor neighborhood and her mostly white private school. When her childhood best friend is shot and killed in her presence by a police officer, the tenuous balance she’s been able to achieve crumbles. Please, please read this excellent, important book.

- Banna


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Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America By Michael Eric Dyson Cover Image
$24.99
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ISBN: 9781250135995
Published: St. Martin's Press - January 17th, 2017

Listen up, white people. Despite undeniable progress, there’s still a lot of work to be done, work that has to be done by us. Dyson, a writer and a sociologist, is also an ordained Baptist minister and he incorporates elements of a worship service into this must-read book. He doesn’t finger-point or belittle us readers — in fact, he addresses us as “beloved” — but he presents historical and contemporary hard truths that we need to hear, accept, and act on. It’s too easy to react to some of these truths with indifference or defensiveness; we’ve been doing that far too long. Please, please suppress those instincts and read this necessary book with an open heart.

- Banna


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Chester and Gus By Cammie McGovern Cover Image
$16.99
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ISBN: 9780062330680
Published: HarperCollins - April 4th, 2017

MIDDLE GRADE

Chester knows what his purpose is: find his person, and be that person’s service dog. But when fear of loud noises derails his certification, he’s at sea . . . until Gus’s parents choose him to be a companion to their son, who has autism. It’s not what Chester had in mind, especially because Gus seems completely uninterested in him. A relationship slowly develops as boy and dog begin to communicate wordlessly. Love dogs? Fascinated by how kids who aren’t neurotypical navigate the world?  Just want a great story movingly told? This book’s for you.

- Banna


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The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher (Family Fletcher Series #1) By Dana Alison Levy Cover Image
$8.99
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ISBN: 9780385376556
Published: Yearling - July 14th, 2015

MIDDLE GRADE

The Fletchers have a host of ordinary problems: Sam, the jock, might try out for the school play, but worries about teasing; Jax has a major assignment he’s unable to complete; Eli’s transferred to a school for gifted kids that turns out not to be what he expected; and Frog is starting kindergarten with his imaginary friend Flare, a cheetah. The boys and their problems are vividly, lovingly drawn. But here’s what’s different: this multi-racial, multi-cultural family with two dads celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Diwali. Let yourself be embraced by this very real, very contemporary family.

-Banna