(2) 4-6 This contemporary immigrant tale follows a Beijing girl as she reunites with her parents and younger sister in California after five years of separation. Lina Gao, ten, thinks that her father is a successful microbiologist who owns a big house. Reality kicks in when the fifth grader discovers that her father is a farm worker, the family lives in a cramped apartment, and her mother sells bath bombs online in hopes of covering the back rent. Yang does a skillful job in portraying Lina's multitude of emotions. There's the sadness of leaving her grandmother behind in a Chinese nursing home and the isolation and loneliness stemming from language barriers. Issues of racism and class come up when her parents struggle to be paid fairly and to get updates on their green card applications, Lina is teased at school, and a graphic novel with an Asian American protagonist is targeted for censorship. The most poignant scenes occur as Lina slowly removes the "invisible thread" that prevents her from freely expressing herself, especially when ESL teacher Mrs. Ortiz tells her that even though immigrants are "burdened with a lot of guilt," it is important to remember that "your dreams matter. You matter. Never forget that."

Reviewer: Michelle Lee | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(2) YA Growing up in the slums around Mumbai, India, seventh grader Minni has been raised to follow the rules and stay out of trouble, but she can't keep quiet when she spots injustice. She dreams of going to college but keeps bumping up against the realities of poverty that make that nearly impossible. The narrative focus is on Mumbai's unstable, often non-potable water supply and the lack of indoor plumbing in Minni's neighborhood. When her brother spies the “water mafia” siphoning water illegally, he is sent away for his safety, while their mother goes to the country to recover from a serious illness. This leaves Minni to obtain water and boil it, take on her mother's job as a maid, and struggle to attend school full time. Her own sleuthing leads to a shocking conclusion about corruption and Mumbai's water resources. Bajaj's suspenseful novel peels back the curtain on modern-day class and caste inequities and how they create a cycle of poverty that spirals through generations. Minni's thirst for what's right steers the novel toward an optimistic conclusion in which one person can bring about big changes.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Javari Harris "felt like I had landed on an alien world" upon arrival at STEM camp in Horsewhip Hollow, West Virginia. He's "a thousand miles from home" (Bushwick, Brooklyn) and facing two weeks at Appalachian Ridge Christian College. Gifted at math, he's one of the few Black students at the camp and has already experienced a racist encounter on day one. When he befriends Cricket, a local Black boy ("light-skinned, kinda gold, with brown freckles on his face and hazel-colored eyes"), Javari is introduced to a community of Black people--Affrilachians--who have lived in the mountains for generations. Moore (The Stars Beneath Our Feet, rev. 11/17) packs his narrative with themes of racism, wealth and privilege, environmental degradation, opioid addiction, homelessness, and cancer, and he carries it all off with well-rounded characters, lively dialogue and action, and often beautiful sensory prose: "A hundred, no thousands, of tiny yellow and orange lights were winking on and off... It was like being planted in the middle of a silent fireworks show."

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) YA Jay has lived for three years in Karloff Country, a Disney World–like resort in Virginia whose guests include the world's super-wealthy. It's billed as "The Funnest Place Around," and it is, since outside the walls in this near-future world the planet is devastated by poverty, hunger, wildfires, droughts, riots, and violence. The narration alternates among Jay and his friends Zeke and Connie, also Black and also Helpers at the amusement park; and Seychelle Karloff, biracial heiress to a multi-billion-dollar fortune. After an apocalyptic series of events, the friends come to realize that Karloff Country has been deliberately positioned as a refuge for the "prophets of finance and politics who saw society's collapse coming" and a "doomsday prison" for the Helpers, and they put themselves at risk by joining a rebellion. Giles skillfully places the four friends in the midst of a brutal upheaval with strong racial overtones, as Karloff Country, so meticulously perfect at the beginning of the novel, is dismantled and the world inside the walls begins to look like the devastated world outside. With elements of adventure, science fiction, horror, and even a bit of romance in a broken world, Giles keeps readers wondering who can and cannot be trusted throughout this page-turning novel.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) 4-6 Eleven-year-old June, an accomplished viola player; her little sister, Maybelle; and their mom land in Huey House, a family shelter in the Bronx, after they lose their apartment. There June meets Tyrell, a boy who loves listening to classical music and is a three-year resident of the shelter. Glaser (The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street rev. 11/17, and sequels) writes with warmth and understanding about the complexities of family housing instability. Chapters alternate between June's and Tyrell's points of view. Tyrell offers June a new community, and June brings music to Tyrell. The drama unfolds as the mayor's proposed policy for ending homelessness actually threatens the children's safety net, and the protagonists work together to convince the mayor to rethink her plan. With sympathetic characters, a satisfying ending, and young people who take strong action to help themselves and others, the novel is readable and engaging and provides a valuable glimpse into a complicated social issue.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Victoria Tentler-Krylov. Growing up during the Great Depression, young Kip Tiernan saw her grandmother open their home to those in need, handing out food, shoes, and other items to "good men who have come upon hard times." As an adult, she worked for Warwick House in Boston, a service organization and shelter. "At that time, shelters were only for men. Women had to disguise themselves to get a meal and a bed." Tiernan began to fight for women experiencing poverty and homelessness ("Again and again, she heard this answer: homelessness isn't a women's problem"). Finally, in 1974, she was able to open Rosie's Place, the country's first shelter for women, still in operation today. McDonnell's straightforward and informative text incorporates well-chosen quotes that further demonstrate her subject's iron-willed determination, questioning of the status quo ("Who decides who gets the condo and who gets the cardboard box?"), active listening, and deep empathy ("The face of homeless women is our face. She is our mother, our sister, our daughter and she deserves more than three hots and a cot"). Tentler-Krylov's (Building Zaha, rev. 3/21) watercolor and digital illustrations, featuring soft colors and rounded edges, emit warmth and beautifully depict the healing power of human connection. Appended notes (including sources) tell more about Tiernan's life and times and explain some of the structural causes behind homelessness.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2022

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Luisa Uribe. Cateura, Paraguay: a town built on a landfill. Families survive by working as gancheros digging through mountains of trash in hopes of finding recyclable cardboard, plastic, and metal to resell. From this town, with the help in 2006 of Favio Chávez, an environmental engineer who was also a musician, comes a children's orchestra using instruments made from the trash their homes are built upon: "oven trays, old drain pipes, door keys, metal forks and spoons, X-ray films, bottle caps, glue canisters, plastic buttons, paint canns." While Oliver's text centers Chávez (an outsider who is set up as a bit of a savior in the narrative), the artwork effectively positions the children of Cateura as the emotional focus of the story. Uribe's digital art is warm and inviting; ­ever-present sunshine seems to flood the outdoor setting, highlighting the musicians and their remarkable instruments. "'The world sends us garbage,' Favio says. 'We send back music.'" An inspiring picture book that demonstrates how environmentalism and the arts can unite to bring joy to an entire community. Back matter includes further details about Chávez and the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura as well as a bibliography that helpfully includes links to videos where readers can see and hear the orchestra perform.

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) YA Nigerian sisters Cheta and Zam could not be more different. Fiery, outspoken Cheta takes the brunt of their mother's severe physical and mental abuse, while quiet, withdrawn Zam attempts to keep her head down to avoid them both. The sisters' life paths diverge when Zam is welcomed into their wealthy aunt and uncle's mansion in Abuja and Cheta is left behind at their parents' rural home. Eventually, Cheta leaves and finds herself trying to survive in desperate circumstances as a result, while Zam deals with the aftermath of a frightening incident in the family. In her riveting debut novel, Onoseta draws readers into a story of a contemporary family grappling with myriad issues in a variety of ways. The compelling tale, with alternating narration by the two sisters, boasts a complex, multifaceted cast. The rich cultural, linguistic, and social customs of Nigerian life are on full display, transporting readers into diverse lives and homes. While the difficult themes of abuse, familial dysfunction, classism, and colorism, among others, are front and center, the sisters' stories take readers on a rewarding journey from brokenness toward wholeness and healing.

Reviewer: Monique Harris | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) 4-6 In this companion to Amal Unbound (rev. 11/18), Omar, son of Amal Khan's house servant, wins a full scholarship to attend seventh grade at Ghalib, "one of the most prestigious schools in Pakistan." There, Omar dreams of joining the soccer team and astronomy club, but he quickly learns that all of the "SBs" (Scholarship Boys) must maintain an A-plus average and cannot join any extracurricular activities their first year. They must instead do chores (grounds maintenance, kitchen work, laundry duty), all tasks that are deliberately intended to remind them of their status. As a result, many SBs lose their scholarships and become "Ghost Boys" who never return to school. Omar, inspired by the work and activism of real-life contemporary Pakistani artist Shehzil Malik (who created the eye-catching jackets for this book and Amal), challenges the system instead of accepting its cruel logic. By speaking up about the unfair conditions and forming a community with other students, he reveals how Ghalib makes it impossible for underprivileged students to succeed. An uplifting story about an underdog whose work ethic and "stubbornly optimistic" outlook drive him to make real change for himself and others while gaining the confidence that no matter what other challenges life brings, Omar "will be okay."

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

(2) YA Cristian has grown up under the dictatorship of Ceauşescu in Communist Romania. Now it's October 1989, and he's conditioned to life in his family's cramped apartment; to queuing for meagre, awful food; and to whispering indoors to avoid the surveillance of the brutal secret police, the Securitate. Then a Securitate agent blackmails him into becoming an informant. The agent has the power to destroy his future and family, so what can Cristian do? At the cost of trust, friendship, and romance, he must play along--at least until he joins the thousands of Romanians who rise up to overthrow Ceauşescu and the Securitate. Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray, rev. 5/11; The Fountains of Silence, rev. 9/19) paints a nuanced picture of the effects of the deprivation, anxiety, and fear created and upheld by Ceauşescu's tyrannical rule. In quick, economical language, she provides historical detail and shows readers a context in which one contraband can of Coke can result in a police report, but also one in which the courage and solidarity of youth can change a country's oppressive regime. Back matter includes photos, an author's note with historical background, and a note on research and sources.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022

(1) 4-6 This is a neatly constructed story of two parallel characters. Gladys is a small, bright, intense eleven-year-old with a sensitive nature and quirky clothing sense. Her mom runs an in-home daycare. Jude, also eleven, is big for his age, the son of a single mother and the frequent caregiver for his little brother. Their stories are told in alternating chapters (in different typefaces) and come together when each encounters True, a neglected dog in the neighborhood. True's rescue forms the core of the action. Springstubb (The Most Perfect Thing in the Universe, rev. 9/21) does a masterly job of creating two distinct voices and sustaining our interest in the two main characters equally. A supporting cast of flawed adults and hilarious preschoolers rounds out the picture. The setting--a town formerly prosperous but now on the skids, where folks are just scraping by, with subtle reference to the opioid crisis and the collapse of the manufacturing economy--is one that is underrepresented in contemporary middle-grade fiction, and it mitigates against the potential soppiness of a dog-rescue story. The writing is fresh, sharp, and authentic: "This could be trouble, said his brain. Open the door, said whatever the opposite of a brain was." It's Because of Winn-Dixie (rev. 7/00) for a new generation.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) YA In this stark and searing sort-of love story, two Pakistani American teens living in a California desert town struggle to choose connection over isolation when family crises strike. Salahudin--artsy, aimless, and anxious--feels the weight of the pressures posed by his sick mother, his alcoholic father, and the crumbling motel they own, which barely pays the bills. His ambitious and science-minded estranged childhood friend, Noor, needs a hefty scholarship to escape the domineering uncle with whom she lives, but gets rejections instead. Through chapters that alternate between their first-person perspectives, Sal and Noor tell intertwining stories of their urgent attempts to steer their own lives without support from family or their majority-white community. Sal's mother--whose potent flashbacks of her immigration when she was young are interspersed throughout--is a reliable model of faith and optimism for both teens; her sudden death at first draws Sal and Noor closer, but grief and guilt soon lead Sal to a cascade of risky, tension-raising decisions that threaten their futures. While some descriptive language, especially dreamy Sal's, borders on melodramatic, the tight focus on each teen's emotional experience reveals a rich layering of determination, trauma, anger, and integrity underneath their raw reactions. This is a brutal depiction of the toll taken on some young marginalized and working-class people trying to conquer the odds; watching Sal's and Noor's devastating loneliness finally give way to glimmers of hope is both satisfying and affecting.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022

(2) YA Engle (Enchanted Air, rev. 7/15; Soaring Earth, rev. 3/19) once again revisits her Cuban heritage and demonstrates an abiding appreciation of nature in this historical verse novel set during the "Período especial," the euphemistically named "special period in times of peace." In 1991, Cuba is hosting the Pan American Games and putting on a prosperous face for the rest of the world, but the Cuban people are starving, due to U.S. trade embargoes and the abrupt halt in aid and food imports from Communist allies after the Soviet Union's collapse. Two teenagers who have resisted joining the "voluntary" summer labor programs are brought together by a scruffy stray dog as they scavenge for seaweed, shorebird eggs, and any fruit, fish, or fowl they can find, hunt, or steal to ease their relentless hunger. At its heart, this is a tender love story, lyrically presented in alternating poetic voices (including broader observations in third-person poems from the dog's perspective), but it is also a coming-of-age narrative for the impressionable protagonists, exploring duty to country and family, the consequences of living with hunger and fear, and the costs of individual freedom and ambition. A deeply felt and engrossing look at a time when the grandparents lived "on a menu of memories" while the new generation survived "on nothing / but wishes."

Reviewer: Luann Toth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Fahmida Azim. "Water can trick us," believes eleven-year-old Samira, recounting how the river had swallowed her grandparents as her family fled persecution in Burma. As unregistered Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, mired in poverty, resented by locals, and under constant fear of deportation, Samira's family lives in the shadows. Selling snacks on the beach to support her loved ones, Samira feels the acute loss of home, family, and c­ommunity. As she befriends other girls like her, and they learn to surf in secret, her relationship to water changes from ­trepidation to exhilaration. When she decides to take part in a surfing competition, Samira must navigate stringent gender norms; happily, the girls band together to uplift one another. Interspersed with black-and-white sketches, the spare verse contrasts Samira's carefree past and her present-day reality. Exploring fear and freedom in equal measure, the author presents a complex picture by relating the historical oppression and political exclusion of the Rohingya with Samira's trauma and the challenges of resettlement. Samira's ability to be both "grateful and angry" gives her a multifaceted personality that draws readers' empathy. Samira's story (one of few that highlight the plight of the Rohingya refugee community; see also the 2019 picture book The Unexpected Friend) is a testament to how inner courage and the spirit of sisterhood can help brave any storm.

Reviewer: Sadaf Siddique | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

(2) YA Trell has the ability to communicate with the dead through letter-writing. Her skill brings comfort to the loved ones of the deceased and much-needed income to Trell. The teen is the breadwinner for an extremely neglectful and abusive household consisting of her unemployed mother and Mom's revolving door of unappealing, sometimes violent boyfriends. One of the dead she communicates with warns Trell to stop her supernatural activities. But when she discovers that she can actually raise the dead, it's hard to resist this lucrative prospect, as she is desperate for anything that might alleviate the horrifying emotional and physical violence she suffers at home (and hesitant to ask for help, as she fears being ­separated from her mother). Lewis's debut straddles the line between fantasy and horror, the latter coming from both the life this protagonist was born into and the dark magic she ushers in. Compellingly written with nuanced, fallible characters, the story is intense and at times heart-wrenching; relationships with a friend and a guidance counselor offer some bright spots for Trell. Alongside issues of poverty, parental neglect, and abuse, the novel provides welcome positive examples of resilience, friendship, vulnerability, and growing into one's personal power.

Reviewer: Monique Harris | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(1) YA Sandler (The Dust Bowl Through the Lens, rev. 1/10; Imprisoned, rev. 7/13) shows how a band of intrepid photographers set out to picture America during the Great Depression and ended up establishing documentary photography as "a major creative field of art." Franklin Roosevelt created the Resettlement Administration, later renamed the Farm Security Administration (FSA), to support families about to lose their farms. Within the FSA was the Historical Section, staffed by out-of-work photographers sent out to document families' struggles. Headed by Roy Stryker, the FSA attracted such now-legendary artists as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Gordon Parks, Russell Lee, and Ben Shahn. Sandler organizes his chronicle by region--the South, ­Midwest, West, and Northeast--to ­survey the two-hundred-thousand ­pictures compiled from all across America and together providing a visual record of a "certain way of life just before it ceased to exist." Beautifully reproduced images in both ­black-and-white and color, with informative captions and lively quotations accompanying many of them, augment Sandler's authoritative and elegantly written text. Add this fine volume to other superb accounts of the Great Depression: Jerry Stanley's Children of the Dust Bowl (1992), Elizabeth Partridge's Restless Spirit (rev. 3/99), Russell Freedman's Children of the Great Depression (rev. 1/06). Back matter includes profiles of the key figures who contributed to "what is widely regarded as the largest, most captivating and compassionate photographic ­collection ever compiled," extensive source notes, a bibliography, photography credits, and an index (unseen).

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(1) YA Drawing on her experience growing up in 1990s Brooklyn, debut author Velasquez paints a complex portrait of a strong-voiced teen in this compelling verse novel. Sarai, thirteen when the story begins, is poised to be the first person in her family to "make it"--to reach her potential, finish school, and leave Bushwick someday. But Sarai is skeptical: "If we can't take no one with us? / Isn't that just running away from everything that / made us?" The candid, clear-eyed poetry contains powerful inquiries about her diasporic Nuyorican identity and canny observations about the endemic social and racial inequities that surround her. As Sarai moves on to high school, her single mami shuffles their family from address to address, and the refrigerator is rarely full. Sarai and others in her family have unintended pregnancies, which bring complications including postpartum depression. Frank, provocatively titled poems chronicle the family's struggles ("We're Sorry the Welfare Office Is Closed and Will Reopen When You Have No Bus Fare to Get Here"), while others capture everyday joys with a buoyant, electric energy ("If Being Boricua in Brooklyn Is a Feeling--It's the Best Kind"). Together, these vignettes capture Sarai's multilayered, heart-rending, and hopeful coming of age. An afterword identifies those poems written in conversation with works by Cisneros, Woodson, Mariposa, and other greats.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

(2) 4-6 Born in prison in Chennai, India, to a Hindu mother falsely accused of stealing from her employer, Kabir has known only a harsh life behind bars. Upon his ninth birthday, he is released to the outside world. He wants nothing more than to find his Appa's (father's) family in the neighboring state of Bengaluru (Bangalore). All Kabir knows of his father is that he is Muslim; Appa didn't tell anyone of his marriage to Amma; and he stopped writing to them after he left India to work in the Gulf. When Kabir befriends Rani, a Kurava (Roma) girl, they team up to find Kabir's paternal grandparents, and the pace of the plot quickens. Short chapters and paragraphs guide the story to its bittersweet conclusion for both Rani and Kabir. As in The Bridge Home (rev. 1/19), Venkatraman portrays children's experiences of poverty and other social issues; here, she explores Hindu-Muslim animosity, how the Indian caste ­system predetermines social status, and how biased institutions interact with (and ultimately fail) those of lower caste. This earnest, heartfelt adventure will transport many readers to a different setting while guiding them to draw parallels with contexts closer to home. An author's note addresses the Roma community in India, water shortages, and incarceration rates in relation to caste.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(2) YA Senior Liz Lighty has successfully stayed out of the spotlight and off of Campbell County High School's new social networking app, Campbell Confidential. Being poor and Black in affluent Campbell has made her feel like an outsider. But when she is denied a seat in Pennington College's orchestra and a music scholarship at the institution, she decides to run for prom queen for the scholarship money that comes with winning. With the help of her best friend, she plans to become prom queen material. What Liz doesn't expect is to fall in love with another contender for the crown and to reconnect with her former best guy friend. Teen readers will relate to Liz's journey of self-discovery and acceptance. Despite themes of poverty, racism, and homophobia, the book remains lighthearted. Liz's snarky first-person narration adds to the humor, and references to popular culture help create an authentic teen voice. Screenshots from a cellphone introduce each week of competition and underscore the power of social media in the lives of teens today.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

(2) 4-6 This heartbreaking and resonant story of twelve-year-old best friends Asha (who is wealthy and Indian) and Yesofu (who is poor and Black) takes place during the Indian expulsion period in 1972 Uganda, which was part of President Idi Amin's Africanization policy. Athaide probes questions of nationalism, poverty, and privilege in original and compelling ways, and explores Asha's recognition that some differences cannot be easily bridged. Reading list, timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2019