Orgo Runners: The First Run, by R.J. Furness, is a fast-paced short read that still manages to feel epic. Furness brings us post-apocalyptic fiction for younger readers. The story is set hundreds of years after a new ice age wiped out most of humanity. Now, instead of living spread-out over […]
King and King, written by Linda de Hann and illustrated by Stern Nijland, queers the traditional fairy tale.
What Makes Girls Sick and Tired, written by Lucile De Pesloüan and illustrated by Geneviève Darling, will be published March 19 by Second Story Press. It’s a brief and simple text that pairs minimalist illustrations of diverse girls and women with short descriptions of forms of discrimination, stereotyping, and oppression […]
Nikki Barthelmess’s debut novel The Quiet You Carry is a serious drama that follows teenage protagonist, Victoria Parker, as she negotiates the foster care system. Victoria is a hardworking student who lost her mother to cancer when she was a young teenager. Her father remarried and Victoria lives with him […]
UnStoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army Written by Art Coulson Illustrated by Nick Hardcastle Published by Capstone in 2018
I want to introduce readers to a small press worth following – My Family!/Dodi Press. My Family! specializes in reading material featuring diverse lesbian and gay parents swimming, vacationing, and preparing for science fairs with their happy children. The fact that the families are headed by same-sex parents is clear […]
Ahni and Her Dancing Secret Written by Shereen Rahming Illustrated by Jeff Vernon Published by Read and Glow Books in 2016
A few kids. A crash landing. An island that may or may not be inhabited (or possessed). It’s the stuff of a story we don’t seem able to stop telling. William Golding’s 1954 version, Lord of the Flies, lives on in our collective imagination, resurfacing in songs by Iron Maiden […]
In Elsa Takaoka’s picture book Yumi’s Extraordinary Collection, the title character, a Japanese American girl around eight-years-old, is looking for the perfect collection. Like her grandmother, Yumi is a story-teller, but unlike her grandmother Sayuri, Yumi tells stories through her art. To connect with her sick grandmother Yumi begins drawing […]
Amy Asks a Question… Grandma – What’s a Lesbian? (1996) was written by Jeanne Arnold and illustrated by Barbaba Lindquist, partners and co-founders of the book’s publisher, Mother Courage Press. Amy, a young girl with lesbian grandmothers, is called a lesbian at school when her and some girl friends hug […]
Raise Them Righteous 