Stories that Shape Us
A place where CL/R SIG reviewers share annotations and insights on books that matter.
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Nancy Brashear and Carolyn Angus Here is a baker’s dozen of our favorite books for older readers published in 2025 that did not receive Children’s Literature and Reading reviews—books we would like to see added to middle school and high school library collections.  Away (Alone #2). Megan E. Freeman. (2025). Aladdin. In this companion to Alone (2021), the entire community of Redhawk, Colorado, is rounded up overnight because of “imminent threat.” Herded onto trains and with phones confiscated, they are transported to Camp Rogers, an evacuation center with armed guards. It is there that four young people (ages 11 to 14) meet, their suspicions melding them into an investigative group searching for the truth, especially after the governor’s Council for Displaced Coloradans pressures their families to sell their homes. As evidenced through their multiple points of view augmented by introspective free-verse poetry, film scenes scripts, journal articles, letters, radio broadcast transcripts, newsletters, camper interviews, and incident command advisories, they uncover an unimaginable conspiracy and devise an ingenious scheme to save their families, city, and state. (Gr 6-8)  Bold Words from Black Men: Insights and Reflections from 50 Notable Trailblazers Who Influenced the World (The Bold Words #2). Tamara Pizzoli. Illus. by Desire Cesar “El’Cesart” Ngabo. (2025). Denene Millner. In this companion to Bold Words from Black Women (2022), Pizzoli spotlights 50 Black men from a variety of backgrounds and experiences including Olivier Rousteing, Nelson Mandela, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Jesse Owens. Each inspiring entry includes a digitally-created portrait of the person on either the recto or verso page of a colorful double spread with his quotation in bold print, brief biographical information, and a statement about the quote on the opposing page. The final double spread cements the book’s message with the words “BELIEVE IN BLACK MEN” in bright orange against a vivid turquoise background. (introduction) (Gr 6 Up)  The Corruption of Hollis Brown. K. Acrum. (2025). Harper. In this novel-in-verse horror story, troubled 17-year-old Hollis Brown, who feels trapped in dead-end rural and haunted Rose Town, encounters Walt Eidelman, a 100-year-old ghost from the 1900s who has body-hopped into more than 200 people over the decades. Before Walt possesses Hollis’s body and moves into his mind, they make a deal: Hollis gets a personality “do-over” from Walt, and the ghost-visitor gets a safe place to “ride” inside him. The boys learn to work together amidst growing romantic feelings, and, with the help of Hollis’s two best gal friends, they must find a way to break Rose Town’s curse for a better future for all. (resources for recipes in the text, author’s note) (Gr 9-12)  Fascinating Fungi: Nourishers, Killers, Connectors, and Healers. Karen Latchana Kenney. (2025). Twentieth-First Century. Kenney provides an intriguing account of the evolution of fungal organisms once classified as plants but now recognized by scientists as belonging to their own kingdom, the Fungi Kingdom. The engaging format of short chapters with interest-catching titles, informative text boxes, and captioned full-color photographs and diagrams explores the diversity of species in the fungal world. In the final chapter, “Planet Savers, Future Builders,” Kenney considers some of the possibilities of mycorestoration as scientists continue to discover ways to use fungi to help solve environmental problems and restore balance in nature. (ways to connect with mycophiles, glossary, source notes, selected bibliography, further resources, index) (Gr 6 Up)  How the Word Is Passed: Remembering Slavery and How It Shaped America (Young Readers Edition). Clint Smith. Adapted by Sonja Cherry-Paul. (2025). Little, Brown. Cherry-Paul’s engaging and accessible adaptation of Smith’s How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery in America (2021) takes readers on a tour of landmarks and monuments to explore the legacy of slavery in America: Monticello Plantation, the Whitney Plantation, Angola Prison, Blandford Cemetery, Galveston Island, New York City, and Senegal’s Gorée Island. Smith’s personal account of visits to these historical sites and the conversations he had with people he met encourages reflection on how the history of enslavement in America relates to our present-day lives. (author’s note, afterword, glossary, selected sources, index) (Gr 6 Up)  The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze. Derrick Barnes. (2015). Viking. Black 13-year-old Henson Blayze, a talented football player who is only an eighth grader, is recruited for Midnight High School’s varsity team of mostly white boys in Great Mountain, Mississippi. After a stellar performance during the first half of the Midnight Marauder’s opening game, Henson is outraged to learn that his ten-year-old friend, Menkah Jupiter, has been badly beaten by state troopers. When he informs the cheering crowd at halftime that he is heading to the hospital to see the boy, they turn on him. “Just. Play. BALL!” In the midst of Henson’s fall from grace, racial dynamics create high tension and a near-death experience, and his father’s revelation about the family trust and legacy forces Henson to make hard choices about his future. (author’s note) (Gr 6-8)  The Invisible Wild. Nikki Van De Car. (2025). Running Press Teens. Sixteen-year-old Emma Arruda, who lives on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, comes upon a non-sensible teen she nicknames “Hilo” living in a shack in the woods and agrees to secretly help him stay hidden. Emma realizes that she has reawakened her lost childhood gift of seeing the menehune, the legendary spirits and original island inhabitants, whose home is threatened by construction in the old forest in which they have always dwelled. When menehune leader, Koa, expresses his anger at Hilo and Emma for perceived slights against nature, he declares that the only way he will forgive them (and lift Hilo’s curse) is by their stopping the deforestation and development before the sacred land of the menehunes is destroyed—or by finding a new solution. (author’s note) (Gr 9-12)  The Last Bookstore on Earth. Lily Braun-Arnold. (2025). Delacorte. In this post-apocalyptic world, 17-year-old Liz has not left the suburban New Jersey bookstore where she worked (or its upstairs apartment) throughout the year following the acid-rain Storm that killed her family and destroyed the town, leaving it deserted and without electricity or water. Occasional travelers stop by to trade food, batteries, or other useful items for books, stories, and mail. When an intruder, Maeve, breaks into the store, Liz reluctantly lets her stay, unaware of the angry gang in pursuit of her. Using Maeve’s construction skills, they work on Liz’s repair to-do list, and, together, they raid deserted stores and homes for supplies. When the gang finds them and a second Storm hits, Liz and Maeve must use their wits to survive. (Gr 9-12)  Mindworks. Neal Shusterman. (2025). Simon & Schuster. The intriguing design of the jacket of Mindworks, “an uncanny compendium of short stories,” will grab the attention of both fans and those new to the writings of Schusterman, a master at crafting speculative fiction. The 43 short stories are organized in seven sections with equally intriguing titles: Forces of Nature; Angels, Demons, Monsters, and a Tree; The Wheel of Destiny; Attics, Basements, Windows, and Walls; The Living, the Dead, and the Undecided; I’m Not Myself Today; and You Reap What You Sow (The World of Scythe). Because of its length, moving around in Mindworks, rather than a straight-through reading, should be most satisfying. (Gr 6 Up)  Phenomenal Moments: Revealing the Hidden Science Around Us. Felice Frankel. (2025). MiTeen Press. Science photographer and Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Frankel introduces readers to a collection of full-color photographic images related to patterns in the world around us. Phenomenal Moments includes five themed sections: light and shadow, form, traces, transformations, and surfaces. Each section includes five or six entries with two double spreads: a strip of a photograph of an object or scene and the question “What Do You See?” set against a solid-color background followed by a double-spread page with a close-up photograph and “Moment” (why and how she made the photo) and “Phenomenon” (the science involved in what you see) text boxes. (“About the Chapter Openers”) Gr 6 Up)  The Raven & Other Writings (Monstrous Classics Collection). Edgar Allan Poe. (2025). Aladdin. This collection of writings of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1848), who is best known for his classic gothic horror short stories and poems, includes 11 chilling and macabre tales (such as “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”) and16 poems (such as “The Raven,” “To One in Paradise, and “Annabel Lee”). Two other new books in the Monstrous Classics Collection were published simultaneously: Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow & Other Stories and Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera.” (Gr 6 Up)  (S)kin. Ibi Zoboi. (2025). Versify. Inspired by Caribbean magical folklore, (S)kin, a fantasy-in-verse told through the first-person points of view of two teens in alternating chapters, entwines the fates of Black 15-year-old Marisol (and her mother, Lourdes), poor recent immigrants from Haiti, and 17-year-old Genevieve (and her father—a professor of the occult, stepmother, and twin baby half-siblings) in Brooklyn. Marisol and Lourdes come from a proud ancestral line of soucouyants (skin-shedding, flying fireball witches who sip on the life force of their victims); Genevieve, whose biological mother was a Black woman, lives with her privileged White family and battles daily against burning skin. After Lourdes and her daughter move into Genevieve’s home to help with the babies, dark secrets are exposed, fiery nights and revenge explode, and the girls literally get to see the world through each other’s eyes. (author’s note) (Gr 9-12)  Who Owns the Moon?: And Other Conundrums of Exploring and Using Space. Cynthia Levinson & Jennifer Swanson. (2025). Margaret Quinlin. Levinson and Swanson address a series of intriguing questions such as “Why go back to the Moon now?” and “So how can people govern themselves and others to maintain peace and order there?” The format of the narrative text with informative insets and text boxes accompanied by a wealth of captioned photographs and diagrams offers readers a timely and accessible history of space exploration and the present-day conundrums related to new technologies to get to the Moon and how to govern activity in space as well as opportunities for space-related careers. (acronyms, authors’ note, picture credits, source notes, further resources, bibliography, index) (Gr 6 Up) Nancy Brashear is Professor Emeritus of English at Azusa Pacific University, in Azusa, California. Carolyn Angus is former Director of the George G. Stone Center for Children’s Books, Claremont Graduate University, in Claremont, California.
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Nancy Brashear and Carolyn Angus Here are 20 of our favorite books for younger readers published in 2025 that did not receive Children’s Literature and Reading reviews—books we would like to see added to classroom, school, and family library collections.  The Faerie Isle: Tales and Traditions of Ireland’s Forgotten Folklore. Síne Quinn. Illus. by Dermot Flynn. (2025). Candlewick. In this collection of 16 Irish myths and legends, faeries (“good people”) manifest in many forms, each introduced by its English and Gaelic name followed by a description of its origins, behaviors, and temperament; insets with related facts; and a traditional story. For example, the entry “Mermaid (Maighdean Mhara)” provides background on the aquatic creature followed by a short tale, “The Northern Lights.” Other faeries celebrated in this lavishly illustrated book include a wailing banshee, faerie dog, lucky leprechaun, seductive selkie, and headless horseman. (foreword, glossary, sources) (Gr 3 Up)  Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure!: The Graphic Novel. Jeff Brown. Adapted by SB Wilson. Illus. by Corey Egbert. (2025). HarperAlley. In this full-color graphic novel adaptation of Brown’s Flat Stanley (1964), after being accidentally flattened by a bulletin board that falls from his bedroom wall, Stanley discovers some advantages to being flat. For example, he is able to travel across the country by mail in an envelope and fly like a kite. However, bullied for being different, Stanley doesn’t want to be flat forever, and his brother comes up with an ingenious idea to restore his former round shape. (PreK Up)  A Gift of Dust: How Saharan Plumes Feed the Planet. Martha Brockenbrough. Illus. by Juana Martinez-Neal. (2025). Knopf. Brockenbrough’s lyrical text and Martinez-Neal’s exquisite mixed-media artwork in which scattered golden specks of dust move across the pages tell the history of a Saharan dust plume and its route from North Africa to the Amazon—a wind-blown gift of dust that sustains “what lives today / and what will be born . . . / tomorrow.” (more information about dust, resources for further study) (Gr 3 Up)  The House on the Canal: The Story of the House that Hid Anne Frank. Thomas Harding. Illus. by Britta Teckentrup. (2025). Candlewick Studio. Harding’s spare text paired with Teckentrup’s exquisite illustrations tracks almost 400 years of history for the tall, narrow building at 263 Prinsengracht, Amsterdam, in which Anne Frank and seven other Jews hid during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. The original structure, built in 1635, which Anne Frank called “the old house on the canal,” has served as a home, barn, business, warehouse, hiding place (its annex), and, currently, the Anne Frank Haus museum. (opening note, detailed timeline) (Gr 3 Up)  How to Say Goodbye in Cuban. Daniel Miyares. (2025). Anne Schwartz. This historical fiction graphic novel (a memoir of the author’s father, Carlos Miyares) begins in 1956. Twelve-year-old Carlos and his family live in the Cuban countryside until Papi wins the lottery and they move to a city where he fulfills his dream of owning a furniture workshop. After Fidel Castro returns from exile and begins the Revolution to overthrow the government of President Batista, the Miyares family’s business is seized, and Papi ‘disappears’ for one year before returning to help his family, along with others, escape to Miami, Florida, on a fishing boat to begin a new life. (author’s note) (Gr 3 Up)  Interrupting Chicken Saves the Nutcracker (Interrupting Chicken #4). David Ezra Stein. (2025). Candlewick. Papa is taking Chicken to see The Nutcracker. Reminded not to interrupt the performance, of course, she does—three times before they are kicked out. When Papa discovers that the little red chicken has put the nutcracker in his backpack, he explains that the show can’t be finished without it. They return to the theater, and she gives the onstage narrator “What HaPPiND To The NUTCRAKER” by ChiKN to read to the audience. (game) (PreK Up)  In the World of Whales. Michelle Cusolito. Illus. by Jessica Lanan. (2025). Neal Porter. Cusolito’s lyrical third-person text and Lanan’s blue-toned underwater scenes tell the true story of a free diver’s experience witnessing the birth of a calf while photographing a pod of sperm whales in the Azores. A double gatefold beautifully conveys this human-and-whale connection. “Man and whales dance / an underwater ballet. / They twist and twirl, / spin and spiral.” (diagram of a whale’s anatomy; information on diving without breathing apparatus, whales, and resources; author’s and illustrator’s notes) (PreK Up)  Island Storm. Brian Floca. Illus. by Sydney Smith. (2025). Neal Porter. “Now take my hand / and we’ll go see / the sea before the storm.” Two young siblings set out alone on an adventure on their island. As the storm intensifies, they repeatedly ask each other whether they have had enough, or should try for more. “You pull on me, I’ll pull on you, and we decide to go on.” And they do so until a gigantic BOOM! sends them running for home. The storm continues to rage all night, but the next day the sea is calm and they play together on the shore—as their mother watches. (PreKUp)  The Littlest Drop. Sascha Alper. Illus. by Jerry Pinkney & Brian Pinkney. (2025). Anne Schwartz. When a wildfire starts, all the animals flee to the riverbank, but a tiny hummingbird takes action to save her nest. She fills her beak with the littlest drop of water and drips it on the fire, saying, “I am doing what I can.” After an elephant says, “Then I will do what I can,” all the others join in to douse the fire—and the hummingbird adds one last drop. (author’s note, illustrator Brian Pinkey’s note) (PreK Up)  Making Art. Diana Ejaita. (2025). Rise. This child-friendly picture book on making art invites readers to join a diverse group of young artists in exploring what art is and what it means to them by looking around to find ideas for what to make and what to use. In addressing the reader directly, artist-author Ejaita’s message is clear—art is for everyone and by sharing your art with others, you share yourself. “All of your art adds beauty to this Earth.” (PreK-Gr 2)  Max in the Land of Lies: A Tale of World War II (Operation Kinderspion #2). Adam Gidwidtz. (2025). Dutton. (Gr 3 Up) Jewish 13-year-old Max Bretzfeld, who was sent to England through Operation Kindertransport in Max in the House of Spies (2024), returns to Berlin as a child spy for British Intelligence (still accompanied by two mischievous spirits: Stein, a Jewish dybbuk, and Berg, a German kobold). Trained as a specialist in radio technology, Max is tasked with uncovering Nazi propaganda but also secretly searches for his parents. (author’s note, annotated bibliography) (Gr 3 Up)  Mushrooms and Company: How a Marvelously Moldy Network Supports Life on Earth. Geert-Jan Roebers. Trans. by Michele Hutchinson. Illus. by Wendy Panders. (2025). Greystone Kids. Roebers’ conversational and information-packed narrative and Panders’ colorful artwork, drawings of fungi (identified by their common names) and humorous cartoon-style images, as well as some captioned close-up photographs of mushrooms, make this compendium of organisms in the Fungi Kingdom accessible and engaging. The book ends with a “Do It Yourself” section of activities focused on mushrooms. (translated from Dutch; glossary, index) (Gr 3 Up)  The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli. Karina Yan Glaser. (2025). Allida. Parallel stories of two 11-year-olds facing adversity during nine moon cycles are presented through alternating chapters. In 731 CE, during the Tang Dynasty, when his family contract tuberculosis and are quarantined in Chang’An, China, Han Yu sets out alone on the dangerous Silk Roads trading route to make a delivery for his father and find a cure. In 1931, during the Great Depression, Luli Lee comes up with a clever plan to save her immigrant parents’ New York City Chinatown restaurant which faces foreclosure. Cultural themes, animal connections, and a scroll painting with a poem weave the children’s lives together as they help their families overcome these disastrous obstacles. (maps, author’s note, bibliography) (Gr 3 Up)  Oh Dear, Look What I’ve Got! Michael Rosen. Illus. by Helen Oxenbury. (2025). Candlewick. Rosen’s rhyming text and Oxenbury’s signature pencil-and-watercolor illustrations tell a story about a boy who goes shopping to buy particular items and gets what he does NOT want—a parrot not a carrot, a cat instead of a hat, a goat not a coat, and so on until he asks for a cup and gets something he does want. “Oh dear! / / They gave me a pup! / A wriggly pup . . .” The story quickly becomes a guessing game, and ends with a delightful surprise. (PreS Up)  A Place Just for Me. Loredana Baldinucci. Trans. by Monica Meneghetti. Illus. by Melinda Berti. (2025). Greystone Kids. Silver, the smallest member of the large Mouse family (parents, five siblings, and grandparents), spends the day visiting the homes of neighborhood friends in hope of finding a place that is “quiet enough for him to do nothing at all.” None feel just right, so he heads for home and finds that Mom has a surprise for him, a cozy spot with a “Silver’s Quiet Space” sign in their home under an old elm tree. (translated from Italian). (PreK Up)  A Pond, a Poet, and Three Pests. Caroline Adderson. Illus. by Lauren Tamaki. (2025). Groundwood. In this beautifully-crafted picture book inspired by Matsuo Bashō’s “The Old Pond,” as the poet meditates at a pond, a carp, a lily, and a mosquito in turn try to attract his attention. However, it is a frog whose decision not to let the “three pests” and the pensive poet stop his midnight swim leads to his being immortalized in a poem. “Old pond— / Frog Jumps in. / Splash!” (author’s note) (PreK Up)  Real-Life Disasters (The Danger Files #1). Anna Crowley Redding. Illus. by Robbie Cathro. (2025). Candlewick. Redding invites readers to play disaster detective by giving access to the Danger Files of five disasters: the Great Chicago Fire (October 8-10, 1871), the sinking of the Titanic (April 15, 1912), the Spanish Flu pandemic (1918-1920), the Boston Molasses Flood (January 15, 1919), and the Hindenburg disaster (May 6, 1937). The narrative text with “Fact Files,” “Danger Clues,” and “Impact!” insets and Cathro’s cartoon-like illustrations are engaging. (author’s note, source notes, bibliography, index) (Gr 3-5)  This Is Orange: A Field Trip Through Color. Rachel Poliquin. Illus. by Julie Morstad. (2025). Candlewick. “We must begin with the orange. / So very orange. / So deliciously round and sweet.” Poliquin’s lyrical text, filled with facts and stories about the color orange, including the etymology of the word orange and its cultural and historical significance, is paired with Morstad’s mixed-media artwork created in a variety of orange hues. This intriguing “field trip through color” ends with a challenge to readers to find orange in their world. (PreK Up)  Where Are You, Brontë? Tomie dePaola. Illus. by Barbara McClintock. (2025). Simon & Schuster. Tomie dePaola’s picture book, published posthumously, is a moving ode to his dog, Brontë. Headings of ‘Where Are You, Brontë? complement vignettes in which his simple first-person text and McLintock’s illustrations (which reflect dePaola’s style) in paneled, full-page, and double-page spreads celebrate their twelve and a half years together—from Brontë’s arrival at the Chicago airport to as a puppy, to shared joyful days, to his maneuvering the world after going blind, to his death—a well as dePaola’s period of mourning, missing his beloved companion with his heart forever filled with special memories. (illustrator’s note) (PreK-Gr 2)  Xolo: How One Good Dog Saved Humankind. Dona Barba Higuera. Illus. by Mariana Ruiz Johnson. (2025). Levine Querido. In Higuera’s reimagining of the Aztec myth in which the feathered serpent god of wind Quetzalcoatl is credited with bringing humans back to Earth from the underworld, his twin brother Xolotl, the dog-headed god of lightning, death, and misfortune, tells his version of what really happened. “I had not only created man’s best friend. I was man’s best friend.” Johnson’s vibrant stylized artwork, inspired by the pre-Columbian Mexican Codex Borgia, for this captivating graphic novel is magnificent. (author’s note, illustrator’s note) (Gr 3 Up) Nancy Brashear is Professor Emeritus of English at Azusa Pacific University, in Azusa, California. Carolyn Angus is former Director of the George G. Stone Center for Children’s Books, Claremont Graduate University, in Claremont, California.
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