This heartbreaking novel about fear and loss is so beautifully written. Connor's mom has cancer and he is incredibly afraid that she will die, but doesn't realize the full extent of his fear, and how it is impacting him.

This brilliant novel hit me hard and will stick with me for a long time. Leo is 16, and the story's begins on the one year anniversary of her older sister's, Nina, death. Told from the one year anniversary back to the moment she died, we see the ways her family has dealt with their grief and sorrow. The "big" moments of grief are shared with brutal honesty and I was sucked into their story from the first page to the very last sentence. I listened to the audiobook of this story and the narrator was phenomenal and spot on with how she told this story. One of the best books I have read this year by far.

I have had this on my shelf for quite a while and I’m so glad I have finally read it. There is so much to unpack in this story and I could see this creating a lot of discussion in a classroom. Set during WWll, this novel-in-verse is about a family who has to deal with an “unteachable” child. When Henry is 4 he gets a terrible ear infection and loses his hearing. His family work hard to help him, and try to find a school that will be able to teach him. They are told that having such a child at home would be too much for them. His parents would like him to go to the school the deaf but after a misguided test by an intolerant adult, Henry is deemed “feebleminded” and his parents are coerced to send him to the state school. Reluctantly they take him there. At this “school” Henry is abused and is is not cared for well. There is no attempt to try to teach him to communicate. A few years into his stay a new staff member arrives because many of the previous ones have enlisted in the war. This young man is a conscious objector to the war and this is his duty in lieu of him refusing to enlist. He is a kind and gentle man who sees the true potential in Henry and works to change Henry’s future, because he is in no way “feebleminded”. This is such a powerful story about kindness and a interesting lesson in history.

A wonderful Romeo-and-Juliette-esque YA romance with a Vietnamese spin and, thankfully, a much less tragic ending. I highly recommend this book!

I am late to the party with this book but oh what a book it is! Addressing intolerance, police brutality, racism and bias, this book knocks it out of the park. Powerful and thought-provoking, and 6 years after being published, this book is even more pertinent now. A definite must read!

I didn't expect this book to hit me like it did. Between Misbah's story in decades-ago Pakistan and her son's story in current-day California, the pain they both feel from dealing with the same problem emanates throughout the book. Add in the story of best friend Noor, and the secrets she hides, this story is a masterpiece.

Such an engrossing and attention-grabbing book. A class of middle schoolers head on a field trip to some nearby caves. While below ground, an earthquake strikes and they are all trapped. Where this might sound like the start of a tragic story, it turns fantastical as they discover an unknown Underworld, where danger lurks, and challenges arise, around every corner. A book surely to captivate the attention of many middle-grade, and older, readers.

This is such a powerful and important young adult book. Johnson says at the end that he never had books like this to help him answer the questions he had growing up, nor did he have someone to look to for guidance as he tried to figure out who he was. I hope this books finds its way to all those kids out there wondering and questioning their identities so they know that they are not alone.

Mary is an alleged child killer. She was a child when she, allegedly, killed a baby. Mary has spent the last 6 years in “baby jail” and in a group home. She finds herself pregnant, living with other violent girls in a home where no one is safe, rarely sees her toxic mother, and is in desperate need for her truth to be told. This book is both disturbing and captivating, and one I won’t soon forget.