It’s not a secret that people compare American schools with other countries’ schools, and Chinese schools are known as some of the strictest in terms of exams—particularly their college entrance exams called gaokao. In Kelly Yang’s book Parachutes, this topic is introduced right away. We find out...
Juno Dawson is a prominent transgender activist and writer. Known for her fact-driven books, she focuses on topics teens wonder about or need to understand to live healthily. Mind Your Head offers vital mental health information, This Book is Gay examines sexuality, and Being a Boy dials in on just...
In Yolk, author Mary H.K. Choi portrays a pair of estranged sisters. They’ve grown apart following their childhood in Texas and now both live in New York City separately. June is three years older, very successful in her vile finance job, and Jayne is in college and a bit egregious and...
You know those books that you hug at the end? This is one of those books. All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven is just plain good—heartbreaking, sad, fun, eye opening, and well written. It has everything you need to make an impact on readers, especially those who struggle with mental health.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s also the last full month of school for traditionally-scheduled districts. I think mental health is the last thing on our minds as we rush through final units, encourage students to turn in missing work, improve those failing grades to passing ones, and...
My favorite thing about Lifting As We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Boxby Evette Dionne is that it’s accurate, and the author highlights Black women who fought hard during the Women’s Suffrage era to get women of color to the ballot box and voting in American elections. It’s not just...
In Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s Fighting Words, 10-year-old protagonist Della gives readers a front row seat to her daily life in foster care with her 16-year-old sister Suki who has been her main caregiver since she was born. Their life hasn’t been easy—with their birth mother far away,...
In recent months, the Taliban in the Middle East has taken over once again after American troops removed themselves. The first person I thought of was Malala Yousafzai and what in the world she was going to do about this. Her story is one of strength under impossible torture and pain.
The main character in The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré, Adunni, is on a personal journey to give herself the best life she can despite insurmountably hard circumstances. Her mother dies prematurely and her father needs to pay the bills in Nigeria, so Adunni is sold to a man as his third...
If we all trace our lineage back generation by generation, you will almost always find a fearless woman at the forefront of care, kindness, and the ability to multitask just about everything. Women are strong. We’ve fought for our right to vote, own our own property, and we are still fighting for...
