(1) YA Edited by Patrice Vecchione and Alyssa Raymond. This piercing poetry collection's sixty-four pieces (many previously published) in a variety of forms mourn loss, celebrate survival, and explore breaking and remaking self and home. The poets--immigrants and refugees themselves, or from immigrant households--tackle topics including racism, displacement, assimilation, and resilience. The contributors all offer timely, culturally specific frames for the universal struggle of growing into oneself. Appended with brief poet biographies. Ind.

Reviewer: Anastasia M. Collins | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(2) YA The Trump administration's 2017 repeal of DACA put photojournalist Kuklin and this work-in-progress in an awkward place: would she be exposing her nine interviewees, undocumented all, to possible arrest and deportation? The book was postponed, photographs of the subjects removed, and names replaced by first initials. Kuklin includes an array of circumstances that may broaden readers' understanding, conveying the difficult choices undocumented immigrants face at every step of their journeys. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2019

(3) YA Twenty-one female YA authors offer personal essays about moments and life experiences that shaped their feminist worldview. The timely topics covered include the intersection of race and gender, sexual assault and rape, issues around weight and body image, and the experience of growing up a girl in an immigrant family. Engaging, emotional, and perfectly attuned to today's young women, this feminist collection promises to make an impact. Websites.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(1) 4-6 This timely and powerful anthology was created to help young people cope with the hate currently being unleashed against, among others, people of color, people with disabilities, and those of different faiths. More than thirty essays, poems, and letters are presented on beautifully designed and -illustrated double-page spreads by fifty-two contributors in all. The accessible presentation will pull kids in; the wisdom inside will keep them engaged--and, hopefully, motivated. Ind.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2018

(3) YA Photographs by Wendy Ewald. This unique photo-essay uses the alphabet to present a snapshot of the immigrant experience. Photographer/editor Ewald collaborated with real teenage immigrants from a Philadelphia high school to choose a word for each letter; each entry includes a definition, translation in the teen's native language, a related personal anecdote, and a photographic portrait representing the word. The result is powerful and extremely relevant to young Americans' lives.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(3) YA Leah, Simon's friend from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, stars in a story of their friend group's last few months of high school. Leah, who hasn't told others she's bisexual, slowly falls for her once-estranged friend Abby but worries about a variety of repercussions. Frequently funny, this novel is also socially aware, addressing issues of race, class, and body image in addition to sexuality.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(3) PS Only yellow birds or blue rabbits live in the Land of This or That...until a green half-bird, half-rabbit hatches. Is it this, or that? It says "both," but the others name it "Neither" and banish it. Then Neither finds the Land of All, where "all were welcome!" Bright colors, adorable creatures, and a dynamic design make this story of inclusion both useful and enjoyable.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(3) YA In this young adult adaptation of the bestselling adult nonfiction title, White Rage, Anderson (with Bolden) seamlessly paints a picture of American racism that is difficult to deny. Through five distinct time periods, the authors take readers on a lucid journey through eras of racial progress and the ensuing white backlash that followed each. Appended with a discussion guide. Reading list. Ind.

Reviewer: Monique Harris

(3) PS Illustrated by Amy June Bates. Although it begins small, a "big, friendly" red umbrella fantastically expands to protect and comfort everyone--big and small, human and not--during a city rainstorm. "There is always room." This low-key, simply told story about kindness and acceptance is an effective allegory for our times. Kids will enjoy identifying the sets of legs under the umbrella in the watercolor, pencil, and gouache illustrations.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(4) PS Berger's appealing collage art shows a boy trying to fly a kite and a girl trying to cross a stream "When the winds are wild / And the path unclear." Though some young readers may want more of a story about the two kids, the book's ultimate message about the power of love, community, and togetherness is nevertheless admirable and timely.

Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey

(3) YA Darkest Minds series. Five years after the events of The Darkest Minds trilogy, tensions are rising around the reintegration of Psi kids into society. After a public event goes horribly wrong, Zu goes on the run with Roman and Priyanka, two mysterious Psi teens with secrets of their own. This fast-paced dystopian novel delves into very contemporary concerns of power and morality, with forthright conversations about how to effect social change.

Reviewer: Ariel Baker-Gibbs

(4) K-3 Illustrated by EG Keller. Vice President Pence's daughter's (real-life) pet bunny relates falling in love with another boy bunny, to the consternation of overbearing, obnoxious, in-charge (read: president) Stink Bug: "Boy Bunnies Marry Girl Bunnies...This Is the Way It Has Always Been. You. Are. Different. And Different Is Bad." As satire, this is lots of fun (and effective: "Stink bugs are temporary. Love is Forever"); as a picture book, it's a little scattered. Adorable progressive-leaning critters populate the illustrations.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) PS Illustrated by Keturah A. Bobo. In this ode to female self-confidence and -love, little girls from across the racial spectrum play, fight, hug, read, perform, and much more beneath a series of florid platitudes in rhyme. Designed to imbue power and praise vulnerability, a well-meaning but thin text is buoyed by Bobo's warm, emotive, and inclusive acrylic paintings.

Reviewer: Robyn Bahr

(3) K-3 Reds, Blues, and Yellows (stick-limbed orbs with faces) lived "in color harmony" until discord led to a walled-off, divided-by-color city. When a Blue and a Yellow fall in love, marry, and create a new color (green), there's outrage ("Colors shouldn't mix!") before there's acceptance. This clever book's point about the folly of prejudice is reinforced by the visual loveliness when secondary-color offspring appear.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Shane Devries. Immersive watercolors enliven an original fairy tale about a little deaf boy who uses his unique communication skills to save his village from an angry dragon and a belligerent king. The illustrations, in a warm coral-and-lavender palette, incorporate common signs ("'Thank you,' they said with dancing hands"). Despite its disability-as-heroism device, the engaging story is worthwhile for its different protagonist and message of tolerance.

Reviewer: Robyn Bahr

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Rebecca Cobb. After the war comes, the young orphan narrator journeys with other refugees until she reaches a town where she attempts to go to school; a teacher turns her away, telling her, "There is no chair for you to sit on." Based on a real event, this timely eye-opener, supported by mood-attuned pencil and watercolor art, concludes with a lionhearted boy's act of kindness.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) 4-6 Colored by Rebecca Nalty. In a standalone companion graphic novel to Cosmic Commandos, black girl Zoe--a young inventor, monster-movie fanatic, and loner--accidentally dons a magic ring and calls forth city-eating monsters. Simultaneously saving the city and her new monster friend, Zoe finds greater social acceptance. Adorable, energetic full-color comics and appealing subject matter (monsters! robots! wish-fulfillment!) help to balance the heavy-handed insistence that Zoe should make friends.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(4) K-3 This timely alphabet book looks at the history and contributions of immigrants in the United States. Each page represents a different letter and a word beginning with that letter that relates to diversity and immigration. In addition to the (sometimes awkward) rhyming verses for each word, a few paragraphs of further information are provided along with original art created by one of several included illustrators.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Jay Cover. Walls have their uses, this book argues: they support houses, display art, etc. But some walls aren't so desirable: "They keep out the people / we'd like to meet, / or who'd like to meet us, / if it weren't for concrete!" Holdgrafer's rhymes disregard meter, but the book's (timely) message of inclusivity--boosted by blocky, jollity-filled art--is architecturally sound.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 A solid black dot reports, "I have friends... / Life is good. We have housing... / and food to eat." A hollow black dot remarks that "there are lots and lots of us too" but with insufficient housing and food. What to do? When the types of dots band together--to, for instance, create two hands reaching for each other--it's just one example of this outsize book's large-scale humanism.

Reviewer: Nell Beram