Sandip Wilson
The novels in verse reviewed in this column have characteristics that appeal to readers of all ages such as engrossing content, the visual qualities of the lines on the page, the different poetic styles and structures that authors use, and the rhythm of the language that make them good choices for both reading aloud and independent reading. 

​And Then, Boom! Lisa Fipps. (2024). Nancy Paulsen.
Eleven-year-old Joe endures the unpredictability of his mother, who regularly takes off and leaves him and his grandmother in dire circumstances. Joe adores his grandmother, who provides for and shares wisdom and humor with him despite what he calls the “and then, BOOM” times, which “are all about the moments when something happens that changes everything.” When his friend Nick notices that he and his grandmother are living in her car, he tells Joe of a mobile home for rent in his park. Boom, things are looking up, and just as suddenly, boom, life takes a devastating turn, and Joe is living alone. The back matter of this tense novel of friendship, resourcefulness, and accepting support includes a website of teaching resources and an acknowledgment of people associated with the book including Lisa Fipps’ grandmother, the model for Joe’s Grandmum. (Gr 3 Up) 

​The Boy Lost in the Maze. Joseph Coelho. Illus. by Kate Milner. (2024). Candlewick.
Seventeen-year-old Theo, who wants to locate his unknown father, writes a series of poems for his English project in which he focuses on the Greek mythological hero Theseus’ search for his father. In chapters written in multiple poetic forms from the points of view of Theo, Theseus, and the Minotaur, Joseph Coelho’s coming-of-age novel recounts the individual journeys of Theo and Theseus to find their fathers as well as the minotaur’s story of being misunderstood as a monster. After Theo meets with the man he thought was his father but is not, he realizes that his life parallels that of Theseus, who faced challenges and humiliation during his six labors. Kate Milner’s evocative illustrations, done in ink, elaborate on the characterization of their individual struggles. In the back matter, Coelho discusses the varying interpretations, including his own, of the Theseus story. (Gr 6 Up) 

​Bright Red Fruit. Safia Elhillo. (2024). Make Me a World.
Samira Abdullahi, a playful and adventurous 16-year-old Sudanese American, defies the rule-ridden adherence to cultural customs her mother and aunties want from her and is grounded except for attendance at a summer poetry workshop where she finds solace and release in writing poems. When she meets a fellow poet, Horus, in an online chat, he asks her to write a poem for him. Delighted and encouraged by this older man’s interest, sending him a poem leads Samira into a relationship she did not expect and separates her from friends who warn her about him. Happy to be secretly meeting Horus at a local poetry slam, she is shocked at his behavior and has to make decisions about her writing and associating with him in this beautiful novel about friendship, family, misguided romance, and finding one’s place in the world. (Gr 9-12) 

Deep Water. Jamie Sumner. (2024). Atheneum.
Since her depressed mother abandoned their family several months ago,12-year-old Tully Birch, who has been swimming competitively since she was six, has been secretly training to complete the 12.1-mile swim across Lake Tahoe. At six on a July morning, Tully sets out to make the swim with her best friend, Arch Novak, rowing alongside in a kayak as her spotter. She is hopeful that the news of her becoming the youngest swimmer ever to complete the Godfather swim (named for the mansion in the Godfather movie) will bring home her mother, who had always encouraged her to attempt the famous marathon challenge. During the six-hour swim, Tully reflects upon her life, training program, and relationships with her father and mother. When a storm threatens their safety on the water, Arch firmly takes a stand in spite of Tully’s opposition to ending the swim in this fast-paced verse novel about friendship, family, and the meaning of strength and commitment. (Gr 6-8)

​Force of Nature: A Novel of Rachel Carson. Ann E. Burg. Illus. by Sophie Blackall. (2024). Scholastic.
Growing up in a poor Pennsylvania family, Rachel Carson (1907-1964) began writing about the natural world at a young age. Although challenged by teachers who argued that women had few opportunities in science, Rachel studied zoology in graduate school and took a job as a marine biologist to help care for her struggling family, settling them in a house in Maine. Noted for her scientific narrative, Carson, who won the 1952 National Book Award for Nonfiction for The Sea Around Us and was a finalist for The Edge of the Sea (1956) and Silent Spring (1963), stated “Literature and science are but different sides of the same coin—both disciplines seem to illuminate life.” Ann E. Burg’s verse biography (written in first person) about this important writer, biologist, and environmental activist includes an author’s note on her research and additional information on Carson’s life and work. (Gr 3 Up) 

Isabel in Bloom. Mae Respicio. (2024). Wendy Lamb.
In 1999, 12-year-old Isabel immigrates to the US to join her mother, who left her behind at the age of five in the Philippines to become a nanny in New York. Although joyous over their reunion, Isabel feels out of place in San Francisco, where her mother has relocated. Initially an object of derision and exclusion at her new middle school, she finds a sense of home in her discovery of a jasmine plant in the derelict garden on the school grounds. With her teacher as an ally, she joins the Culinary Club, takes the lead in reviving the Garden Club, and prepares dishes she loves for a fund-raising project at the neighborhood Asian American Senior Center. Isabel comes to realize that she can create home wherever she is. Back matter includes information on Filipino immigrants, the challenges of racism, and the forms of poetry in the novel. (Gr 3 Up)

Louder Than Hunger. John Schu. (2024). Candlewick.
Jake, bullied in the sixth grade, wished he could disappear. In the seventh grade, he stopped eating, convinced by an internal Voice that he was worthless and undeserving. Now an eighth grader, Jake is receiving treatment for anorexia nervosa. While hospitalized, the Voice tells him to trust no one, so he resists help from therapists and doctors until a teacher encourages his artwork and another patient shares writing time with him. When he visits a musical theater with his mother on a day pass, Jake remembers his love of theater and wonders if he has more in his life than the Voice as he begins to learn to accept support and manage his anguish. Back matter for this gripping first-person semiautobiographical novel in verse includes an extensive author’s note on writing the novel about Jake’s “disordered thinking and eating” based on his own experiences as a young person and resources. (Gr 6 Up)

Mid-Air. Alicia D. Williams. Illus. by Danica Novgorodoff. (2024). Caitlyn Dlouhy.
Black eighth grade friends Isaiah and Darius compete with each other, although Isaiah is always the one who holds back to the more intrepid Darius. With their friend Drew, they decide to break the Guinness record of the longest bicycle wheelie on a rugged, steep hill. As they are ordered to leave the neighborhood by a stranger, Darius, not hearing Isaiah’s warning of an approaching car, is hit and killed. Isaiah keeps quiet about the loss, heeding his globe-trotting photographer father’s words to toughen up and not cry, and grows angrier as Drew distances himself. Taking his parents’ option to spend the summer with Aunt Terri and Uncle Vent in North Carolina, Isaiah finds solace and friendship in helping his great aunt with her garden and expressing his love for plants in this complex novel of overcoming sorrow and guilt, finding friendship, and embracing self-discovery. (Gr 6 Up) 

​One Big Open Sky. Lesa Cline-Ransome. (2024). Holiday House.
In 1879 Mississippi, Lettie and her family leave their home with other families, traveling by foot and covered wagon to St. Louis and then west in this historical verse novel chronicling the experiences of families during the Black Homesteader Movement. Told from the points of view of three women (dreamer Lettie with her hopeful perspective; her mother Sylvia, who worries over care for her family; and Philomena, a young companion resisting the restrictions on women), this heartful story chronicles the perils, tragedy, and hopes of the families traveling to Nebraska as they face the unknown. In an extensive author’s note, Lesa Cline-Ransome provides historical context for her story of the first great migration that occurred during the Reconstruction Era when families traveled from the South to St. Louis and points west to claim what was theirs under the Homestead Act of 1862. (Gr 3 Up) 

​Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams: A Novel in Verse. Shari Green. (2024). Andrews McMeel.
Set in Leipzig in the German Democratic Republic during the unsettled months of 1989 leading up to the Berlin Wall coming down, 16-year-old Helena and her best friend and fellow pianist, Katrin, lead comfortable lives with weekly piano lessons with Herr Weber and hopeful futures in music. When Katrin and her family do not return from their vacation to Austria on open-border day, Helena visits her friend’s apartment to find the German Stasi smashing Katrin’s piano. In this lyrical historical verse novel with many musical references, Helena keeps her dreams secret since words make a person vulnerable to arrest. Pondering what more might be possible for her family, she joins her father in the political movement against the current status in East Germany. Back matter includes an author’s note providing information on the historical period, a glossary, and selected sources. (Gr 9-12) 

​Ultraviolet. Aida Salazar. (2024). Scholastic.
Eighth grade, straight A student Elio Solis loses his heart to the lovely Camellia, an art student at his school in East Oakland, California. When he promises to stand up for her, she tells him, “I am not a cut flower” but shows her affection with a kiss that makes him see ultraviolet colors everywhere. Having learned conflicting lessons of patriarchy from his father, who cooks for his family and tends lovingly to Elio’s little sisters but relishes the violence of a cock fight, makes Elio question what being a man means. When Camellia breaks up with him for failing to show empathy when she has terrible menstrual cramps, Elio becomes hateful and vengeful toward her. Later, rethinking the toxicity of his nastiness toward her and her new boyfriend, Chava, he decides to apologize in this coming-of-age novel in verse of learning the meanings of being a man, friendship, and family. (Gr 6 Up) 

​Wings to Soar. Tina Athaide. (2024). Charlesbridge Moves.
In 1972, ten-year-old Viva, her older sister, Anna, and mother are Indian refugees exiled from Uganda to England under the regime of Idi Amin, who plan to immigrate to Canada. Miserable in an English resettlement camp, their lives become more difficult when Viva’s father does not come before they are forced to leave the camp. They move in with another family in a racist and xenophobic London community that hates immigrants and reflects the “Make Britain Great Again” campaign by jeering for her family to go back where they came from. Viva is angry when her mother does not stand up to the torments when a brick comes through the window of their tiny, dingy apartment, but the family manages to move back to the community of friends in the camp in this semiautobiographical novel of family, friendship, resilience, and new beginnings. (Gr 3 Up) 

​Nancy Brashear and Carolyn Angus
 
The diversity of animals around the world captures the attention of people young and old. The recently published books in this column invite readers to learn about the characteristics and behaviors of various animals that inhabit the land, sea, and sky and to consider their relationships with humans. 

Animal Superpowers! (Amazing Animals #2). Amy Cherrix. Illus. by Frann Preston-Gannon. (2024). Beach Lane.
Amy Cherrix’s companion to Animal Architects (2021) presents a diverse group of ten animals and their survival adaptations—their superpowers—in a child-friendly format. Against the background of Frann Preston-Gannon’s vibrant, double-spread illustrations (rendered with acrylic paint and ink and collaged digitally) of the animals in their natural habitats, Cherrix introduces each animal with text boxes of interesting facts. A turn of the page reveals the name of the animal’s superpower and an explanation of how it supports survival in nature. For example, the barn owl’s superpower is its supersensitive hearing, the mimic octopus can hide in plain sight, and dogs are super sniffers. Back matter includes a call for humans to use our superpower, action, to improve the lives of the world’s animals; notes on specific human activities that impact each of these amazing animals; and selected sources. (PreK-Gr 2)
—CA

Birds (Little Kids First Nature Guide #3). Moira Rose Donohue. (2024). National Geographic Kids.
“No matter where you live, you can probably see—and hear—birds!” The fact-filled text and close-up photographs of this nature guide provides basic information about birds (their habitats, anatomy, eggs, and chicks) and bird-watching before profiling 20 birds ranging from fluttering hummingbirds, bright blue jays, and hopping robins to crafty crows, outstanding owls, and clever gulls. Each entry includes a brief introduction and a “Check Me Out!” text box listing the bird’s common name, size, home, food, and sound and photographs of several related species. For example, “Peck, Woodpeckers!” describes how the Pileated Woodpecker jabs at trees with its beak searching for insects under the bark as well as spotlighting the Acorn Woodpecker, Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, and Eurasian Wruneck. Back matter includes a “Flightless Birds” section, “Can You Speak Bird?” and “Move Like a Bird!” activities, a glossary, and an index. (PreS Up)
—NB

Clever Crow. Chris Butterworth. Illus. by Olivia Lomenech Gill. (2024). Candlewick.
“Wherever you are right now, there’s sure to be a crow or two nearby.” Chris Butterworth’s accessible text presented in several font sizes invites young readers to learn about the characteristics and behavior of crows. Most of the more than 100 species in the crow family are plain birds like the black American crow. They are not “fancy fliers.” They croak or caw rather than sing. They are intelligent. They can solve problems and use tools, remember things, and know how to play. Olivia Lomenech Gill’s stunning, double-spread illustrations, done in mixed media, feature realistic portraits of crows. Eighteen different members of the crow family are shown on the back endpaper, and their eggs are pictured on the front endpaper. Back matter includes a “Learn More About Crows” section and an index. (PreK-Gr 2)
—CA

​The Great Wolf Rescue: Saving the Red Wolves (Sandra Markle’s Science Discoveries). Sandra Markle. (2024). Millbrook.
North American red wolves that flourished in the 1700s slowly disappeared until they were identified as an endangered species in 1973 and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Red Wolf Recovery program was established. Captive breeding programs in zoos and wildlife refuges that increased the numbers of pure red wolves have led to their reintroduction into the wild with tracking collars and camera traps so they can be studied, and pup fostering of red wolf babies with foster mom red wolves that have litters of the same age has proven a successful means for helping them to survive to “have a wild future.” Facts in white font are set against a backdrop of wolf photographs on pages with maps, charts, and a narrative in yellow boxes. Back matter includes an author’s note, “Did You Know?” facts, a glossary, source notes, resources, and an index. (Gr 3 Up)
—NB

​Komodo Dragons: Nature’s Biggest Lizard (Nature’s Most Massive Animals). Jackie Golusky. (2024). Lerner.
Emerging readers will be mesmerized by the Komodo Dragon, the largest lizard in the world, with its venomous saliva and deadly claws. Jackie Golusky’s informative text, accompanied by colorful, captioned photographs, describes how the female builds fake nests so predators don’t eat her clutch of up to more than 30 eggs, how baby lizards are about 16 inches long when they hatch and grow to be 10 feet, what their diet consists of, where they live, and how they need to be protected as their habitats are decreasing due to trees being cut down and climate change creating fewer places in which they can live. Insets provide additional facts (for example, “The Komodo National Park in Indonesia was created to protect Komodo Dragons”). Back matter includes a labeled photo diagram of a Komodo dragon, more fun facts, a glossary, resources, and an index. (PreK Up)
—NB

​Mysterious, Marvelous Octopus. Paige Towler. (2024). National Geographic Kids.
In naturalist and author Sy Montgomery’s foreword to this engaging book, she invites young readers to make friends with an octopus and “. . . shake hands—times eight!” In Mysterious, Marvelous Octopus, Paige Towler introduces a variety of octopuses portrayed in stunning photographs paired with informative rhyming verses and insets with additional intriguing facts. For example, these ancient cephalopods have existed on earth for more than 500 million years and were around millions of years before dinosaurs roamed Earth. After considering characteristics and behavior of this eight-armed marine mollusk such as its hidden beak, three hearts, amazing array of color and designs (from pink to brown to blue with spots, rings, stripes, and pearl designs), self-defensive mechanisms, and playful nature, Towler concludes, “. . . who could resist a creature as mysterious and marvelous . . . as THIS?” Back matter includes an octopus photo gallery of all the species included in the book and a glossary of key terms. (PreK-Gr 2)
—NB

​One Long Line: Marching Caterpillars and the Scientists Who Followed Them (Discovery Chronicles #1). Loree Griffin Burns. Illus. by Jamie Green. (2024). mit Kids.
Over one hundred years apart, two scientists studied the behavior of an unusual type of caterpillar that follows each other and came to different conclusions. After studying the pine processionary species for many years, French Jean-Henri Fabre (1823-1915) died believing they were born with the instinct either to lead, if at the front of the line, or follow, if not. That supposition was challenged a century later when Terrence Fitzgerald (b. 1941), an American, studied tent caterpillars, which don’t march in orderly lines but still arrive together at their destination. He applied his findings from experiments with tent caterpillars to pine processionaries with surprising results. Jamie Green’s illustrations, digitally created in muted green and gray tones, complement Loree Griffin Burn’s narrative in 11 short chapters with informational text boxes. Back matter includes a glossary, a “More About Jean-Henri Fabre and Terrence Fitzgerald” section, further reading, source notes, and bibliography. (Gr 3 Up)
—NB

1,000 Facts About Sharks. Sarah Wassner-Flynn. (2024). National Geographic Kids.
This collection of facts about sharks is organized in double spread sections with interest-catching titles and text boxes on full-color background photographs beginning with “10 Fast Facts About Sharks” (from “All sharks are FISH,” to  “A small number of sharks, like the salmon shark, are WARM-BLOODED. They can CONTROL THEIR BODY TEMPERATURE.”) on a photograph of a group of hammerhead sharks. The final sections are “50 Alarming Facts About Threats to Sharks” on a photograph of vulnerable lemon sharks and “15 Important Facts About Saving Sharks” featuring a photograph of a protester at a beach in Sydney, Australia, with a “Save Our Sharks” sign. Fact 1000 is “Thanks to conservation efforts, the great white shark—once thought to be in decline—has seen a recent population surge in the Pacific Ocean.” Back matter includes an extensive glossary, a three-page “Kinds of Sharks” section with information about classification and the evolution of sharks, an index, and sources. (Gr 3 Up)
—CA

Salvatore and the Goats of Mount Etna (Listening to Animals #1). Uschi Müller. Illus. by Brittany Lane. (2024). David Suzuki Institute/Greystone Kids.
For the first time without Papa, Salvatore, who lives with his family on a goat farm at the base of Sicily’s Mount Etna, takes the goats to graze high up the mountain. The meadow is too quiet. Gina, the herd dog, starts barking, and all the goats begin tossing their heads and kicking their hooves. Remembering Papa’s “YOU herd the goats. They don’t herd you,” Salvatore tries to stop them as Bianca, the lead goat, and the others flee down the mountain in panic. Catching up with the goats huddled in a wooded area, he hears a loud rumbling. Mount Etna is erupting. With the help of Bianca and Gina, they all make it safely back to the farm. Uschi Müller, coordinator of ICARUS, a research project studying the “sixth sense” of animals, includes information about the true-life events that occurred in 2012 behind this beautifully crafted picture book. (PreK Up)
—CA

Sleepy: Surprising Ways Animals Snooze. Jennifer Ward. Illus. by Robin Page. (2024). Beach Lane.
“All animals sleep. But not all animals sleep in the same way.” Jennifer Ward provides information on the sleep behavior of 16 wild animals in an engaging text presented with a repeated “If you’re a . . .” followed by the name of the animal and a rhyming quatrain about its sleep behavior. Additional information is provided in smaller text. Readers will be surprised to learn how much the animals sleep each day ranging from light sleepers, the great frigatebird (45 minutes) and African elephant (2 hours), to deep sleepers, the little brown bat (20 hours) and koala (22 hours). Each entry is complemented by Robin Paige’s colorful collage-like portrait of the sleeping animal rendered in Photoshop. Back matter includes sections on the types of sleep in the book, pie charts of daily “average snooze” time for the wild animals as well as one for people at different stages of life, and selected sources. (PreK-Gr 2)
—CA

​The Unlikely Hero: The Story of Wolf 8 (Young Readers’ Edition) (Chronicles of the Yellowstone Wolves #1). Rick McEntyre & David A. Poulsen. (2024). Greystone Kids.
Rick McEntyre and David Poulsen’s narration begins with the 1995 reintroduction of wolf packs to Yellowstone National Park that included the family of Wolf 8, runt of the litter, and ends with the death of 8. Throughout 8’s life—from his infancy, to stepping into another pack as the adoptive father of its newborn pups (and, later, the biological father of many more), to protecting and providing for his family—his human-like characteristics such as influence, loyalty, wisdom, empathy, and playfulness are apparent. Each chapter includes an informational inset by National Park Service Ranger Rick McIntyre, who worked on the Yellowstone Wolf Reintroduction Project. Back matter contains an “Afterword: We Are All Related” by Ojibwe John Potter (who also created the pen-and-ink sketches of Wolf 8) telling the origin story of the wolf and a call for readers to cherish the interconnectedness of life. (Gr 3 Up)
—NB

Wild Brunch: Poems About How Creatures Eat. David L. Harrison. Illus. by Giles Laroche. 92024). Charlesbridge.
David L. Harrison’s playful, rhythmic poems and Giles Laroche’s intricate, double-spread illustrations done in cut-paper relief on hand-painted paper offer an introduction to the feeding behavior of 12 different animals. The collection is organized in three sections: “Swimming Eaters” (jellyfish, narwhal, piranha, and otter); “Land-Based Eaters” (aardvark, koala, African bush elephant, and hippopotamus); and “Flying Eaters” (turkey vulture, Mexican free-tailed bat, housefly, and seagull). Back matter includes additional information and a “Learn More” list of books for each eater as well as a final intriguing “Not an Eater at All” entry about the adult mayfly. “The mayfly doesn’t / bite or / chew or / pinch or / tear or / drink. / It can’t. // It lives only / a single day. / No need / for a mouth. / It needs only / to find a mate.” (PreK Up)
—CA ​