Nancy Brashear and Carolyn Angus
As in previous years, we prioritized the identification of outstanding trade books with curriculum connections and considered the diversity of reading interests in looking back at the bounty of informational books, biographies, poetry, and folklore published for children and young adults in 2025. Here are our best-of-the-year picks.

Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa. Sara Andrea Fajardo. Illus. by Juliana Martinez-Neal. (2025). Roaring Brook.
Fajardo’s playful language, peppered with Spanish and Quechua words, and Martinez-Neal’s equally lively mixed-media artwork tell how Peruvian agronomist Alberto Salas (b.1943) has played “potato hide-and-seek” in the Andes as he collected wild species for his research on preserving the diversity of potatoes needed in the cultivation of this important food in our changing world. (glossary, information on Salas and potatoes, author’s and illustrator’s notes) (PreK Up) 

American Spirits: The Famous Fox Sisters and the Mysterious Fad that Haunted a Nation. Barb Rosenstock. (2025). Calkins Creek.
American Spirits is an intriguing, well-researched biography of the Fox sisters, “the Rochester Rappers,” whose holding of séances to communicate with deceased spirits made them key figures in the 19th-century Spiritualist Movement. (excerpt of “The Medium Statement” made by Maggie Fox, author’s note, source notes, bibliography, index, images) (Gr 6 Up) 

​Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers’ Rights. Ashley Hope Pérez (Ed.). Illus. by Debbie Fong. (2025). Holiday House.
Fifteen authors contribute short stories, poems, graphic narratives, and essays to this anthology dealing with the alarming increase in book challenges and book bans in the United States. Editor Pérez and illustrator Fong intersperse a wealth of related information including book lists that encourage teens to read banned books and join the “fight for readers’ rights.” (selected sources, resources) (Gr 9-12) 

Black Diamond Kings (Sports Royalty #6). Charles R. Smith Jr. Illus. by Adrian Brandon. (2025). Candlewick.
Smith’s latest collection of Sports Royalty[BS1] [CA2]  poems pays tribute to 12 outstanding legends of Negro league baseball including Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige, John Henry “Pop” Lloyd, James “Cool Papa” Bell, and Norman “Turkey” Stearnes. Brandon’s stylized hand-sketched and digitally-painted illustrations complement the spirited wordplay, imagery, rhythm, rhyme, repetition, riffs, and varied forms of Smith’s poetry. (“Player Notes” and “More About the Negro Leagues”) (Gr 3 Up)

Celtic Myths: Meet the Gods, Creatures, and Heroes of Celtic Legend (Ancient Myths). Martin MacIntyre. Illus. by Katie Ponder. (2025). DK.
MacIntyre introduces readers to traditional stories told by the Celts of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany. This accessible collection that includes retellings of 20 myths and profiles of ancient gods, heroes, supernatural beings, as well as additional information on storytelling and the Celtic Nations and their histories, is beautifully illustrated by Ponder’s colorful, stylistic artwork. (pronunciation guide, glossary, index, sources, further reading) (Gr 3 Up)   

Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown. Candace Fleming. (2025). Anne Schwartz.
Fleming traces the rise and fall of charismatic Jim Jones (1931-1978), who founded a cult-like church in Indiana in 1955. As his paranoia and delusions escalated amidst conflicts with the government and disaffection of church members after relocating Peoples Temple to California, Jones moved his followers to Guyana to build Jonestown—a supposed utopia that became the site of the 1978 mass murder-suicide of 909 people. (archival photos, key figures, author’s note, source notes, bibliography) (Gr 6 Up)

A Forest Song. Kirsten Hall. Illus. by Evan Turk. (2025). Random House Studio. “Into the forest, dark and deep, / With miles to go before I sleep . . .” Turk’s vibrantly colored and textured illustrations dramatically set the scene for Hall’s cento poem in which she uses words and phrases from the poems of other writers to tell the story of a young child’s adventurous exploration of the natural world. (author’s note, list of the poets and the lines they wrote, “About Cento Poems” and “Write Your Own Cento Poem”) (PreK Up)  

Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Sandra Dieckmann. (2025). Candlewick.
Author-illustrator Dieckmann retells 20 fairy tales including familiar ones such as “Sleeping Beauty,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” and “Hansel and Gretel” along with lesser-known ones such as “Mother Holle,” “Jorinda and Joringel,” and “The King of the Golden Mountain.” The inclusion of some unexpected twists and modern touches in Dieckmann’s writing style and her stunning artwork (colorful decorative borders, full-page illustrations, and spot art) make the classic stories of the Brothers Grimm appealing to today’s young readers. (afterword) (PreK Up)  

The History of We. Nikkolas Smith. (2025). Kokila.
“Let us travel back to the start, so far back that all of our roots begin to tell the same story.” Smith’s lyrical text and poignant acrylic paintings chronicle the origin and history of humankind. Keeping the focus on Africa as the cradle of civilization, he communicates in a child-friendly manner that we all have a common beginning and shared future. (timeline, detailed author-illustrator’s note) (PreK Up) 

How Sweet the Sound: A Soundtrack for America. Kwame Alexander. Illus. by Charly Palmer. (2025). Little, Brown.
Alexander’s melodic free verse poems and Palmer’s vibrant artwork invite readers to celebrate the role of Black culture in the history of American music from the talking drums, chants, and praise songs of “the motherland” (West Africa) to the soundtrack of present-day America. “… the sweet sound of people / surviving and thriving / all the while learning / to love themselves / by singing it LOUD and Proud.” (end notes) (PreK Up) 

Hurricane. Jason Chin. (2025). Neal Porter.                                                                “A storm is raging over the Atlantic Ocean.” While meteorologists monitor the path and intensity of the tropical cyclone, the residents of Hatteras Island, North Carolina, prepare for its expected landfall as a hurricane and make plans to evacuate the barrier island. Once the hurricane moves on and it is safe to return home, the community begins the long task of cleaning up. (end notes, diagrams, maps, further reading, selected sources, author-illustrator’s note) (PreK Up) 

Insectarium (Welcome to the Museum). Dave Goulson. Illus. by Emily Carter. (2025). Big Picture.
This latest Welcome to the Museum book invites readers to discover the diverse world of insects by touring an insectarium. Each of the seven galleries (chapters) include rooms (double spreads with an ink-and-digitally-colored plate of insects on the recto page and general information and a key to the plate identifying the insects by common and scientific names on the verso page). (index, biographical notes on “the curators”—Goulson and Carter), “To Learn More” websites) (Gr 3 Up) 

Just in Case: Saving Seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Megan Clendenan. Illus. by Brittany Cicchese. (2025). Charlesbridge.
Buried deep underground on an island in Norway only 800 miles from the North Pole is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which holds a “treasure priceless” of more than 580 million seeds--just in case. Clendenan’s accessible text, enhanced by Cicchese’s artwork, tells the story of the international conservation project of saving samples of seed varieties from seed banks around the world. (more about seed preservation, author’s note, resources for kids, bibliography) (PreK Up) 

My Presentation Today Is About the Anaconda. Bibi Dumon Tak. Trans. by Nancy Forest-Flier. Illus. by Annemarie Van Haeringen. (2025). Levine Querido.
“Hello. I’m an earthworm and my presentation today is on the anaconda.” An earthworm and 19 other anthropomorphic animals make oral presentations on their favorite species. Each presentation contains scientific information about both the subject and the speaker while also cleverly portraying the kind of classroom chaos that may occur on a day when students make oral reports—especially when the speaker ends by asking if there are any questions. (index) (Gr 3 Up) 

​Nightmare Jones: Poems. Shannon Bramer. Illus. by Cindy Derby. (2025). Groundwood.
Bramer’s weirdly imaginative collection of 28 expressionistic storytelling poems about monsters, hybrid creatures, and human fears and Derby’s dark mixed-media illustrations (described as “created with powdered graphite, watercolor, gouache, color burst powder, pastels, and lots of puddles”) will have teens who like poetry and artwork that is eerie and nightmarish returning to Nightmare Jones again and again and pondering the sense—or nonsense—of this beautifully-crafted book. (Gr 9-12)  

The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts (Young Readers Edition). Loren Grush (with Rebeca Stefoff). (2025). Simon & Schuster.
In 1978, [NB1] Sally Ride, Judy Resnick, Kathy Sullivan, Anna Fisher, Margaret “Rhea” Seddon, and Shannon Lucid were the first women chosen to be members of NASA’s Astronaut Corp. Grush’s collective biography tells the inspiring stories of these astronauts who were the first six American women to fly in space in spite of the overwhelming challenges they faced in the originally male-dominated field of astronautics. (photographs, author’s note, timeline, brief biographies, sources) (Gr 6 Up)

White House Secrets: Medical Lies and Cover-Ups. (Medical Fiascoes #4). Gail Jarrow. (2025). Calkins Creek.
Jarrow presents an intriguing account of the medical secrets of nine U.S. presidents—James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Joseph Biden—during their time in office. She also addresses questions about the public’s right to know about a president’s health that are raised by the history of these White House secrets. (photographs, timeline, glossary, author’s note, source notes, bibliography, index) (Gr 6 Up)

White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote History. Ann Bausum. (2025). Roaring Brook.
Lie #1: “Slavery was a compassionate institution.” Lie #20: “We erase history when we remove symbols of the Confederacy.” Bausum confronts the 20 lies, misinformation that emerged in the South before, during, and after the Civil War, which perpetuate the “Lost Cause” narrative and continue to distort the accuracy of U.S. history. (archival photographs, author’s note, research notes and acknowledgments, timeline, source notes, bibliography, index) (Gr 9-12) 

​Words with Wings and Magic Things. Matthew Burgess. Illus. by Doug Salati. (2025). Tundra. 
Young readers are pulled into this illustrated poetry collection through seven portals (Welcome, Wonders, Wild, Wheee!, Whoops & Whallops, Windows, and Whispers & Well Wishes). Each of Burgess’ worlds includes seven imaginative poems accompanied by Salati’s lively mixed-media illustrations that splash across double spreads, pop up in vignettes, or appear on a page following a poem. (title index) (PreK Up) 

A World Without Summer: A Volcano Erupts, a Creature Awakens, and the
Sun Goes Out. Nicholas Day. Illus. by Yas Imamura. (2025). Random House Studio.
Day’s compelling narrative brings the deadliest volcanic cataclysmic event [NB1] in human history—the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa—to life. Tambora’s devastation created a global climate crisis including extreme weather, famine, disease, and death. And amidst the dark days and stormy skies that followed, Mary Shelley wrote her horror novel Frankenstein (1818). (bibliography, source notes, index) (Gr 6 Up)

Nancy Brashear and Carolyn Angus
 
As we have done in previous years, we considered the diversity of reading interests of children and young adults and the identification of outstanding trade books with curriculum connections our priorities in looking back at the bounty of nonfiction published in 2024. Here are our best-of-the-year picks of informational books, poetry, and folklore.

​Amazing Immortals: A Guide to Gods and Goddesses Around the World. Dinah Williams. (2024). Abrams.
Williams introduces readers to more than 80 deities in this expansive volume of mythological lore that is beautifully illustrated by 17 artists from around the world. Entries cover the special powers, adventures, and family trees of the gods and goddesses along with “Fun Fact” and “In Modern Times” sidebars. (further reading, notes about the author and the artists, bibliography, index) (Gr 6 Up) 

​Black Girl You Are Atlas. Renée Watson. Illus. by Ekua Holmes. (2024). Kokila. “Black girl you are Atlas. The way no one expected you to be the fulfillment of prophecy. But it is you, always, who holds the world up.” In this poignant, semiautobiographical collection of 38 poetic entries, Watson explores issues of sisterhood, gender, race, and class through the reflections of a maturing Black girl, Renée, accentuated by Holmes’ vibrant mixed-media collage artwork. (Gr 6 Up) 

​Call Me Roberto!: Roberto Clemente Goes to Bat for Latinos. Nathalie Alonso. Illus. by Rudy Gutierrez. (2024). Calkins Creek.
Sports journalist Alonso tells the story of how Spanish-speaking Afro-Puerto Rican Roberto Clemente (1934-1972) persevered through racial discrimination after joining the Major Leagues at the age of 19. Playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates for 18 seasons, Clemente won numerous awards and gained recognition as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. (author’s note, photographs, glossary, timeline, bibliography, illustrator’s note) (PreK Up) 

​Clever Crow. Chris Butterworth. Illus. by Olivia Lomenech Gill. (2024). Candlewick.
Butterworth’s accessible text and Gill’s stunning realistic illustrations invite readers to learn about the characteristics and behavior of crows. Most of the more than 100 species of crows are plain birds. They are not “fancy fliers.” They caw rather than sing. They are intelligent and playful. Eighteen members of the crow family are shown on the back endpaper; their eggs are pictured on the front endpaper. (more about crows, index) (PreK-Gr 2) 

​A Deathly Compendium of Poisonous Plants: Wicked Weeds and Sinister Seeds. Rebecca E. Hirsch. Illus. by Eugenia Nobati. (2024). Zest.
This fascinating guide, illustrated with botanical drawings and photographs, includes historical anecdotes and scientific information about 22 poisonous plants from aconite to white snakeroot and one “fighting fungus,” ergot. Hirsch offers a cautionary word to the wise in the prologue and ends with a reminder that “plants deserve a healthy dose of respect.” (glossary, source notes, bibliography, further information, index) (Gr 9-12) 

​​The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II. Candace Fleming. (2024). Scholastic Focus.
Fleming tells the intriguing story of ten young women who worked on around-the-clock shifts at Bletchley Park intercepting German radio transmissions, breaking ciphers, and cracking codes to provide critical information to the British government and military about Nazi plans during World War II. (author’s note, bibliography, source notes, index) (Gr 6 Up) 

​Evidence!: How Dr. John Snow Solved the Mystery of Cholera. Deborah Hopkinson. Illus. by Nik Henderson. (2024). Knopf.
During the 1854 cholera epidemic in London, Dr. John Snow (1813-1858) proves that the disease is water-borne, not air-borne. When he traces the outbreak to the Broad Street community water pump shared by everyone who became infected, Snow removes the pump handle and saves lives by stopping the spread of cholera. (notes on Broad Street pump, Dr. Snow, and infectious diseases; resources) (PreK Up) 

​The Evolution of an Idea (Discovering Life’s Story #2). Joy Hakim. (2024). MITeen. After beginning with the development of classification systems of living organisms by Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) and Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), Hakim covers the scientific discoveries of how living organisms adapt and change over time and how traits are passed from generation to generation made by Charles Darwin (1809-1882), Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), and others. (further reading, source notes, bibliography, index) (Gr 9-12) 

​Folk Stories and Tall Tales: A Treasury of Traditional Stories from Across North America. Claire Cock-Starkey. Illus. by Zanna Goldhawk. (2024). Kane Miller.
This beautifully illustrated collection of folklore is organized into six chapters: “Origin Stories,” “Animal Stories,” “Nature Stories,” “Tricksters,” “Folk Heroes,” and “Tall Tales.” Each chapter includes a two-page introduction to the type of storytelling and five stories shared by groups of people from across the North American continent. (glossary) (PreK Up)  

​The Great Wolf Rescue: Saving the Red Wolves (Sandra Markle’s Science Discoveries). Sandra Markle. (2024). Millbrook.
Markle covers the work of the North American Red Wolf Recovery Program (established in 1973) to save red wolves. Captive breeding programs in zoos and wildlife refuges and pup fostering with red wolf moms in the wild have been successful in reintroducing the once endangered species to the wild. (author’s note, “Did You Know?” facts, glossary, source notes, resources, index) (Gr 3 Up) 

​Guts for Glory: The Story of Civil War Soldier Rosetta Wakeman. Joanna Lapati. (2024). Eerdmans.
This stunning picture book biography tells the story of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman (1843-1864) who, disguised as a man, volunteered for the Union Army’s newly formed 153rd New York Regiment as Lyons Wakeman. (author’s note, more about Wakeman and the Civil War, timeline, excerpts from Wakeman’s letters, glossary of items in a Civil War soldier’s pack pictured on the endpapers) (Gr 3 Up) 

​Home (Spectacular STEAM for Curious Readers). Isabelle Simler. Trans. by Vineet Lal. (2024). Eerdmans.
Simler takes readers on a worldwide tour of the homes of a diverse group of 27 native animals from the weaver ant to the Sumatran orangutan. Stunning double spreads feature colorful digital images of the animals and their dwellings and information-packed poems told from their points of view. (originally published in French; notes on the animals, glossary, resources) (PreK Up)  

​My Antarctica: True Adventures in the Land of Mummified Seals, Space Robots, and So Much More. G. Neri. Illus. by Corban Wilkin. (2024). Candlewick.
Neri’s engaging field guide to Antarctica, “the most extreme place on Earth,” is a record presented in the form of a scrapbook filled with captioned color photographs, cartoons, maps, diagrams, and interest-catching lists of his adventures while based at McMurdo Station with scientists and support staff. (author’s note, “Antarctica,” sources, index) (PreK Up) 

​The Observologist: A Handbook for Mounting Very Small Scientific Expeditions. Giselle Clarkson. (2024). Gecko.
The Observologist is an intriguing handbook for curious readers on how to find tiny animals, plants, and fungi and notice interesting details in the world around them. An introduction on observology, the study of looking, is followed by sections of sketchbook-like drawings and facts about four perfect places for mounting mini scientific expeditions: a damp corner, pavement, a weedy patch, and behind the curtains. (index) (Gr 3 Up) 

​One Long Line: Marching Caterpillars and the Scientists Who Followed Them (Discovery Chronicles). Loree Griffin Burns. Illus. by Jamie Green. (2024). MIT Kids.
Jean-Henri Fabre (1823-1915) concluded that pine processionary caterpillars are born with the instinct either to lead or follow. A century later, Terrence Fitzgerald (b. 1941) studied tent caterpillars, which don’t march in orderly lines but still arrive together at their destination, and came to a different conclusion about the behavior of “marching caterpillars.” (glossary, further reading, source notes, bibliography) (Gr 3 Up) 

​A Planet Is a Poem. Amanda West Lewis. Illus. by Oliver Averill. (2024). Kids Can.
Lewis’ creative exploration of poetry and astronomy includes 14 poems in different poetic forms. For example, “O Sol! O Helios!” is a sonnet to the Sun, and “What’s in a Name?” is an acrostic poem for Neptune. The poems are set on gatefold flaps of Averill’s impressionistic double-spread illustrations. Opening the flaps reveals scientific facts as well as information about the chosen poetic form. (writing activity, glossary, sources) (Gr 3 Up)  

​Poemhood: Our Black Revival. Amber McBride, Taylor Byas, & Erica Martin (Eds.). (2024). HarperTeen.
This anthology explores the history, folklore, and diversity of the Black experience through the contributions of Black poets “who are now ancestors” (James Baldwin, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Langston Hughes, Etheridge Knight, Audre Lorde, Claude McKay, and Phillis Wheatley) and 27 modern poets. Each poem is accompanied by an outro, a brief closing section written by the editors about the poem. (biographical notes) (Gr 9-12) 

​Represent: The Unfinished Fight for the Vote. Michael Eric Dyson & Marc Favreau. (2024). Little, Brown.  
Represent tells the story of the ongoing fight for “people power” in the United States. Dyson and Favreau’s informative, well-researched account chronicles the battle for equality of representation that comes with the right to vote, which began with the American Revolution and continues to the present day. (“People-Power Ideas,” “What You Can Do,” timeline, bibliography, source notes, index) (Gr 9-12)  

​Spirit Sleuths: How Magicians and Detectives Exposed the Ghost Hoaxes. Gail Jarrow. (2024). Calkins Creek.
During the rise of Spiritualism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many people turned to mediums, psychics, and fortunetellers seeking connections with their dead loved ones. Jarrow’s engrossing narrative tells how “super sleuths” such as magician Harry Houdini (1874-1926) and private detective Rose Mackenberg (1892-1968) exposed the supposedly “mystical feats” of spiritualists as hoaxes. (timeline, glossary, “More to Explore,” author’s note, source notes, bibliography, index) (Gr 6 Up) 

​Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools. Dan SaSuWeh Jones. (2024). Scholastic Focus.
Jones, a member of the Ponca Tribe, chronicles his family’s experiences with Chilocco Indian Agricultural School during its operation as an American Indian boarding school in Oklahoma for more than 100 years. Little Moon was four when she was taken from home and placed in Chilocco after its opening in 1864. Jones was on the maintenance crew when the institution closed in 1980. (bibliography) (Gr 3 Up) 

The Unlikely Hero: The Story of Wolf 8 (Young Readers’ Edition) (Chronicles of the Yellowstone Wolves #1). Rick McIntyre & David A. Poulsen. (2024). Greystone Kids.
McIntyre and Poulsen’s narration, with informational insets by National Park Service Ranger McIntyre, begins with the 1995 reintroduction of wolf packs including Wolf 8’s family to Yellowstone National Park and ends with Wolf 8’s death. An afterword by Ojibwe John Potter tells an origin story of the wolf. (Gr 3 Up) 

​Unlocking the Universe: The Cosmic Discoveries of the Webb Space Telescope. Suzanne Slade. (2024). Charlesbridge.
Unlocking the Universe introduces readers to the world’s most powerful telescope. Designed by a team of scientists beginning in 1989, the Webb was launched from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana on December 25, 2021. NASA began releasing awe-inspiring images of the Webb’s spectacular discoveries in July 2022. (author’s note, diagram of the Webb’s light-detecting instruments, information about NASA’s four earlier “great observatories,” resources, bibliography) (Gr 3 Up) 

​Virus Hunters: How Science Protects People When Outbreaks and Pandemics Strike. Amy Cherrix. (2024). Harper.
This scientific exploration focuses on the discoveries of “disease detectives” (nowadays trained as epidemiologists) who identified viruses and addressed outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics of viral diseases including hantavirus, cholera, influenza, smallpox, HIV/Aids, and Covid-19. In the epilogue, Cherrix considers how the solving of such clinical mysteries gives hope to the survival of humankind. (bibliography, endnotes) (Gr 6 Up)

​Water: Discovering the Precious Resource All Around Us (Spectacular STEAM for Curious Readers). Olga Fadeeva. Trans. by Lena Traer. (2024). Eerdmans.
“How much water is there on earth?” In Fadeeva’s exploration of the science, history, and other topics related to water, more than 25 questions are pursued with fact-filled responses overlaid on illustrations created with acrylic paint dripped and diluted with water. The book concludes with the thought-provoking question, “How can we protect our planet’s water?” (originally published in Russian) (Gr 3 Up)

​Wildlife Crossings: Protecting Animal Pathways Around the World. Catherine Barr. Illus. by Christiane Engel. (2024). Candlewick.
After introducing the Earth’s ancient crisscrossing paths “made by 8.7 million species searching for food, water, mates, and safe places to breed,” Barr considers how seven animals from around the world (elephants, hedgehogs, birds, gibbons, fish, bears, and cougars) need these links to nature, which have been disrupted by humans, for survival along with efforts of scientists and citizen scientists to protect these pathways. (PreK Up)  

​Nancy Brashear and Carolyn Angus
 
As we finished the weeding of books published in 2023 from our bookshelves to make room for new releases, we became aware of the nonfiction books for older readers we had read but not reviewed that were too good to miss. Here are ten of these books that we would love to see in every middle school and high school library. 

Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed. Dashka Slater. (2023). Farrar Straus Giroux.
“Looking back, it’s hard not to wonder how the whole thing could have prevented.” Slater’s first sentence in the prologue sets readers up for contemplating the consequences of their own online activities as they read the true story of the private Instagram account with racist and sexist memes created by a junior at Albany High School in the small town of Albany, California. The nonfiction narrative, presented from multiple perspectives in 15 parts from “Before” to “Making It Through,” chronicles the complexity of effects that the discovery of the social media account in 2017 had on the lives of the girls targeted by the posts and the teenagers who followed them, as well as parents, student body, teachers, administrators, and the community of Albany. More generally, Slater also considers timely issues of accountability and complicity in the internet culture and its effects on the mental health of young people. (note on sourcing, acknowledgments, endnotes) (Gr 9-12) ​

Biology’s Beginnings (Discovering Life’s Story #1). Joy Hakim. (2023). MITeen.
In this first book of her new four-part series, Hakim delves into the history of human discoveries about life science and medicine. Each of the 12 chapters opens with two quotations and features the contributions of key figures from a particular era up to the late 1800s. For example, Chapter 4, “A Philosopher Named Bacon and a Bloody Doctor,” examines the profound effect on the field of life science of two of the “most important thinkers” in Elizabethan England: Francis Bacon (1561-1626) and William Harvey (1578-1657); Chapter 10, “A Big-Time Adventurer and a Quiet Scholar,” considers the collaboration of two German scientists, naturalist and explorer Baron Friedrich von Humboldt (1769-1859) and micropaleontologist Christian Ehrenberg (1795-1876), who explored and gathered specimens in Russia, central Asia, and Siberia in the 19th century when little was known about the microbial world. Hakim’s narrative is complemented by captioned portraits, photographs, diagrams, drawings, and artwork. The second volume of Discovering Life’s Story, The Evolution of an Idea, will be published in April 2024. (further reading, source notes, bibliography, index) (Gr 9-12) 

83 Days in Mariupol: A War Diary. Don Brown. (2023). Clarion.
This nonfiction graphic novel war diary opens with a map pinpointing the location of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine and the prologue, “Ukraine, Russia, and the Clatter of History,” setting the scene for a record of the 83-day siege of Mariupol. Brown’s panels of expressive pen-and-ink drawings portray the brave and heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people as well as the horrific death and destruction of the city beginning on February 24 and ending on May 17, 2022, accompanied by spare narrative text, speech bubbles, and primary source quotes. Russia’s invasion of Mariupol, a strategically-located port city on the Sea of Azov, results in 20,000 civilian deaths with 90 percent of the city destroyed. Brown states in the afterword that as of January 2023, Mariupol remains under Russian control. “Cold weather looms. Bombs, rockets, and explosive drones fall across Ukraine. Mariupol awaits liberation. Death is common currency. Peace seems far off.” (source notes, selected bibliography) (Gr 6 Up) 

Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam. Thien Pham. (2023). First Second.
Food memories play an important role in Vietnamese American Thien Pham’s graphic memoir. Each of the eight chapters is titled with the name of a dish associated with his family’s experiences as immigrants. He begins with his memory of being a five-year-old child fleeing war-ravaged Vietnam with his family in a small over-crowded boat and eating a rice and fish ball he clutched in his hand during an attack by pirates. The family survives in a refugee camp in Thailand where his mother cooks and sells bánh cuốn while they wait for relocation to the United States where their first American meal upon arrival in San Jose, California, was steak and potatoes. In other chapters, Thien Pham recalls discovering the American food he liked (strawberries and potato chips) or disliked (Salisbury steak in the school cafeteria), until in the final chapter, at the age of 41, he celebrates his new American citizenship by eating a fish and rice dish with his family. (photographs, endnotes) (Gr 6 Up) 

​Indigenous Ingenuity: A Celebration of Traditional North American Knowledge. Deidre Havrelock & Edward Kay. Illus. by Kalila Fuller. (2023). Christy Octaviano.
For millennia, Indigenous peoples across North America have made important contributions in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and other areas. In an introductory note, Havrelock and Kay share their vision of Indigenous Ingenuity to celebrate traditional North American Indigenous innovation and “to embrace the mindset of reciprocity, responsibility, and relationship.” A conversational text complemented by illustrations, charts, maps, photographs, sidebars, and activities introduces readers to chapters on sustainable land management and ecology; transportation; communications technology; agriculture and food technology; health sciences; textile technology, clothing, and fashion; architecture and civil engineering; hunting and combat technology; mathematics; arts, sports, and recreation; and traditional ecological knowledge for a sustainable future. In the epilogue, the authors end with the thought that the Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Ecological Knowledge celebrated throughout the book are not only a part of Indigenous history but North American history also. (map of Indigenous peoples’ cultural areas across the continent, cultural areas and peoples referenced, glossary, contemporary Indigenous science organizations, selected bibliography, source notes, index) (Gr 6-8) 

​Mission: Arctic: A Scientific Adventure to a Changing North Pole. Katharina Weiss-Tuider. Trans. by Shelley Tanaka. Illus. by Christian Schneider. (2023). Greystone Kids.
Weiss-Tuider takes readers on the largest expedition ever made to the Arctic, which polar and atmospheric scientist Markus Rex, the expedition leader, calls “the epicenter of climate change” in the foreword, “Frozen in the Ice.” The 2019 MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition aboard the Polarstern, a German icebreaker research vessel, took scientists from all over the world on a 13-month mission that began in September which involved a plan to let the vessel freeze in the sea ice and drift across the Arctic Ocean towards the North Pole to study changes in the Arctic climate system. This well-designed book is organized in three parts: “The Biggest Arctic of All Time,” “Climate Research on the Ice,” and “Our Arctic, Our Future.” Each part includes a series of double spreads packed with an informative text, maps, photographs, labeled drawings, logbook notes, and other insets. (glossary, acknowledgments, photo credits, index) (Gr 6 Up) 

Plague-Busters!: Medicine’s Battles with History’s Deadliest Diseases. Lindsey Fitzharris & Adrian Teal. Illus. by Adrian Teal. (2023). Bloomsbury.
Plague-Busters! is an engrossing (and at times, gross) history of the conquering of six of the world’s deadliest diseases: bubonic plague, smallpox, rabies, tuberculosis, cholera, and scurvy. Fitzharris and Teal share stories of the symptoms, theories on causes, treatments, and medical breakthroughs of these diseases with a dose of witty humor in the text and Teal’s cartoons and caricatures, done in black and white with touches of red. Each entry includes a “Bills of Mortality” section. For example, famous deaths from tuberculosis include 1553: Edward VI, King of England; 1642: Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu; 1817: Jane Austen, English author; 1845: President Andrew Jackson; and 1962: First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. In the afterword, the authors remind readers that new medical discoveries are often built on ideas that have come before and ask: “What will future generations think of us today?” (acknowledgments, selected sources, further reading, index) (Gr 6 Up) 

Shipwrecked!: Diving for Hidden Time Capsules on the Ocean Floor. Martin W. Sandler. (2023). Astra.
Sandler’s engaging narratives of seven historical shipwrecks are accompanied by captioned photographs, maps, archival images, and insets with related information. Each entry expands readers’ knowledge in specific areas of content. For example, the first chapter chronicles the underwater excavations at the site of the Antikythera shipwreck in the first century, which was discovered in 1900 by sponge divers in the channel between the Greek islands of Antikythera and Crete, and is recognized as the “cradle of underwater archaeology.” Among the artifacts collected in what was essentially a salvage operation of ancient Greek works of art was a mysterious device that became known as the Antikythera Mechanism, the world’s first computer. In a final chapter, Sandler describes nine additional shipwrecks, including the naval warship USS Monitor, which sank in stormy waters off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on December 31, 1862, that readers might want to explore further. (source notes, select bibliography, image credits) (Gr 6 Up) 

Wangari Speaks Out (Speak Out #3). Wangari Maathai. Commentary by Laia de Ahumada. Trans. by Susan Ouriou. Illus. by Vanina Starkoff. (2023). Groundwood.  
“Sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible.” Wangari Speaks Out presents the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech of environmental, social, and political activist Wangari Maathai (1940-2011), the first African woman and the first environmentalist to receive the prize, in an inviting format with pulled quotes printed in orange in a large font size and a stunning stylized illustration in orange, black, and brown on each double-page spread. Having grown up witnessing Kenyan forests being cleared and replaced by commercial plantations, Wangari was inspired to start the Green Belt Movement in 1977, which began with women planting trees in rural Africa and grew into an environmental and political battle. Since then, the movement has planted over fifty million trees in Kenya to improve the environment and people’s lives. In the second half of the book, de Ahumada provides commentary on key points of Wangari Maathai’s Nobel speech. (source notes) (Gr 6 Up)