Thirteen-year-old Julia keeps a deeply personal journal describing her life near the Mexico -United States border. Over the course of approximately two years she discloses her fears, her uncertainty, and the longings of her heart. Detailed lists and commentary reveal her life, her everything.
Living in Juárez with father, mother, and younger brother Willy, Julia’s life experiences a seismic shift when her father begins working for the mafia. She assumes that he is a courier. Suddenly the family has a new car, a new house, and many luxury items. But wealth has a downside.
Mamá is no longer her confidant. Her mother's primary objective is to protect and care for her husband. In an attempt ​to shield her children from the mob's influence and possible retribution, she sends Julia and Willy to live with family in El Paso: Aunt Tia, Cousin Jose, and their dementia- afflicted great grandmother.

A picture book blending images and text to describe and define a color,  Black is a Rainbow Color is rhythmical verse punctuated with rhyme.  The poetry has a singing quality, inviting reading and responding aloud.

Individuals pictured throughout the pages have a variety of skin tones and physical features. All share a noble heritage. 

Isabella Crawford leads a double life. At home she is the daughter of her white father, a Marine killed in action and her Puerto Rican mother, who ekes out a living as a nurse's aide, moving her family from place to place.
Now the family resides in Virginia where Izzy has received a scholarship to attend a prestigious Catholic high school and sing with the school's premier vocal group. She has her father’s green eyes and can "pass" at school, borrowing clothing from her best friend to supplement her meager wardrobe. She informs classmates that her mother is a nurse.

This generously-sized picture book celebrates the life and legacy of the second woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice.

Using her trademark format, biographical narrative interspersed with appropriate quotations,  Rappaport recounts important events in the life of this influential woman. 

The U.S Constitution serves as a backdrop for the cover’s close-up portrait of the Associate Justice. Looking directly into the faces of readers, Ruth is clear-eyed and resolute. ​Opening pages feature Ruth as a young girl, her childhood filled with books and school activities, music and traditional Jewish observances.

A variety of illustrators capture the individual’s essence in each of Rappaport’s beautifully presented biographies. The artist's style is appropriate to the subject. The realistic Frederick Douglass portrait is rendered in somber tones. Helen Keller is positioned in profile, rather than a direct full face. John Lennon’s glasses reveal the title in his left lens and a mirrored reflection of the words in his right lens. Each portrait could be a framed work of art. Discover this glorious series.

Captivating life stories. Memorable quotations. Gorgeous art. Stellar series.

There are traditional youth organizations with badges, bake sales, and award ceremonies. But what about those who don't fit neatly into a group structure?  is there a place for them?

Meet four girls who appear to have little in common. Lane DiSanti, artist and instigator, lives with her wealthy grandmother while her parents work out an impending divorce. Ofelia Castillo, aspiring journalist  struggles under the watchful eye of over-protective Cuban American parents.  Cat Garcia feels pressure from her close-knit family to participate in a local contest. She'd rather spend her time birdwatching. Gourmet chef Aster Douglas lives with her African American grandfather, a researcher and retired college professor.  Her widowed mother is overseas.

Thirteen-year-old Patricia "Sweet Pea" DiMarco is experiencing some significant changes. Her parents have agreed to an amicable divorce and will live on the same street in similar houses to minimize their daughter's discomfort with this new family dynamic.
She is simultaneously negotiating a falling-out with her former best friend and the repercussions from thoughtlessness toward her new best friend. This girl is headed for a world of hurt.
Then there's her neighbor, the eccentric advice columnist Miss Flora Mae who leaves town and asks Sweet Pea to forward advice requests and then deliver the answers to the newspaper editor. Sweet Pea succumbs to temptation and reads letters addressed to Miss Flora Mae. She decides to dispense her own advice and sets up an elaborate scheme to impersonate Miss Flora Mae in print. Sometimes the plan works. Sometimes it doesn't. How she extricates herself from a situation of her own making, salvages damages friendships, and rebuilds trust makes for a humorous, heartwarming tale.

Stacey Lee addresses racism, worker's rights, immigration, and women's suffrage from a unique perspective: a Chinese girl living in Atlanta Georgia in the late 1800s.
​Seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan loses her job as a milliner and must return to the demeaning life of a lady's maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. She and immigrant Old Gin secretly live in a tunnel beneath a newspaper printer's shop. She faces discrimination on several fronts. She’s an orphan, female, and Chinese .

An intelligent and resourceful young woman, she is determined to protect Old Gin and rise above her current circumstances. She finds a way, pseudonymously penning a local newspaper's advice column "Dear Miss Sweetie." Many questions are of the mundane sort: unruly children, troubled marriages, making a hat fit properly. She doesn’t stop there. Under the cloak of anonymity, she speaks out forcefully on racial and gender inequality. Her column is a success and newspaper subscriptions skyrocket.

The Year We Fell From Space is a searing portrait of a young girl in conflict.
​Liberty Johansen distances herself from her classmates when she refuses to participate in school playground activities such as marriages and excommunications. And she’s not afraid to let her views be known.
​It’s stupid...We’re in sixth grade. Having weddings is stupid.

​She shoulders a massive self-imposed burden, trying to keep her family together, attempting to maintain peace and a sense of normalcy in situations which are beyond her control.
She is fascinated with astronomy and creates her own star maps. Her interest in the stars becomes her safe place. She discovers an unusual rock and believes that it is a meteorite, sent from the skies directly to her. The rock becomes her solace, her companion, and her confidante.

Lib views herself and her world through the lens of her current circumstances: sixth-grade outcast, protector for her younger sister, and dutiful daughter to her separated parents.

Liberty's life is filled with hikes, gazing at the night sky, campfires, and s'mores. And smeelings.
​
Smeelings are "smells that make feelings."
I'm sending a toasted gooey s'more with lots of smeelings to King. Thanks for this poignant portrayal of a young girl and her family coping with mental illness. Its a story that has found a home in my heart.

Reynolds has penned a novel comprised of interconnected stories. Read independently they are insightful vignettes, zeroing in on the ten city blocks students attending Lattimer Middle School traverse each day. Collectively the stories reveal the hearts of those bound together by geography. The lives of these unique individuals intersect in unexpected ways.

In the push and pull of everyday life, we meet students affected by life-altering events such as sickle cell anemia, cancer, dementia, incarceration, and gay-shaming.

These ten blocks are jam-packed with a rich assortment of sensory details.

​Charlotte Brontë Before Jane Eyre is an insightful and well-researched portrait of young Charlotte Brontë.

Following the death of her mother, Charlotte is sent, along with her three sisters, to an austere boarding school. Both of her of older sisters die from "consumption" and the two younger girls are withdrawn from the school.

The four surviving Brontë children remain at home, where their imaginations take flight as they create an elaborate world based on a set of toy soldiers. They call their fantasy world Glass Town. It becomes the basis for their early ventures into writing.

Eventually Charlotte and Emily return to school and prepare to become teachers. Both girls find the life of a teacher and governess to be distasteful. They want to write. Assuming constant care of young charges leaves no time for these accomplished siblings to pursue their passion for writing. They receive this advice: women cannot support themselves as authors.

Finally the sisters determine that they will find a way to see their work in published form. All three women submit novels for consideration. Anne's Agnes Grey and Emily's Wuthering Heights are accepted. Charlotte's The Professor is rejected. Fortunately Charlotte receives this encouraging response: perhaps she might write another novel for consideration. She gets to work on a story set on the moors. The main character is neither wealthy nor glamorous. She has endured a painful childhood. Despite difficulties the heroine is determined to succeed. Her name is Jane Eyre.

Brontë writes, pouring her life and her heart into the work. When she is ready to submit her final clean copy of Jane Eyre she learns that if the publisher rejects the novel she must pay both sending and returning shipping fees. She risks a double payment if the novel is rejected. She decides to send the manuscript.

Fawkes line drawings and ink wash are an excellent medium for the pastoral British Isles ​setting.

Meet Glynnis Fawkes as she discusses two of her recent projects.

Emilia Rosa is juggling a plethora of problems. Let's start with family. Dad, a Marine who was deployed during most of of her childhood, returns home. He seems to be a different person from the father she remembers. Mami, who keeps Emilia focused and organized, will be away on an extended business trip. Abuela, her maternal grandmother has definite notions about Emilia’s life, including the need for a quinceañera. This is something she emphatically does not want.

Sixth grade is a struggle. Not because she isn't intelligent, but because she processes stimuli in a different way. She needs time and individual attention in order to complete her homework. Some school assignments are difficult to untangle without guidance from her mother.The noises associated with school rallies in the gym are a horrific assault on her senses.