(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jeanette Gonzales. When a young girl named Paloma makes a trip with her mother to visit their family in Trinidad, she struggles to bridge the differences between herself and her cousins. But when her warm tante Janet tells her about their family’s ancestral history, tracing the ennobling story of the Caribbean’s African past, including Black people’s ongoing attempts to reunify after colonial partitions, Paloma feels reassured that fragile familial bonds can be strengthened with time and effort. With a rich, full-bodied text and inviting digital illustrations that incorporate many authentic, Afrocentric cultural details, this is an important story for instilling diasporic confidence, consciousness, and connection in Black Caribbean children, and for teaching all readers about the achievements of precolonial African civilization.

Reviewer: Summer Edward

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Adelina Lirius. Two British teenage sisters speak out against single-use plastics; a twelve-year-old in Indonesia organizes to prevent flooding; a seven-year-old South African boy advocates for endangered species. With minimal text and engagingly detailed illustrations, this book introduces twelve young eco-activists from around the world. Each inviting double-page spread offers one or two brief paragraphs outlining an individual's focus and initiatives. Additional information appears in smaller-type captions whimsically integrated into the illustrations. Ten things that "help to save the planet," ten ways "to make your voice heard," and a list of related websites conclude a book with lots of appeal to browsers and visual learners.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn