In the poetic picture book When You Breathe by Diana Farid, illustrated by Billy Renkl (Cameron + Company, 2020), the author, a physician, describes the connections between the wind and air around us and the breath that sustains our lives. Beginning with a breath that “fills the upside tree” in our lungs, Farid continues the

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Kid Trailblazers by Robin Stevenson, illustrated by Allison Steinfeld (Quirk Books, 2022) includes brief biographies of “changemakers and leaders,” focusing on events and habits formed in each of their childhoods. I loved that some of those highlighted were from around the world. The biographies were full of pertinent information without being overwhelming. Colorful pictures accompany

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In Julieta and the Diamond Enigma by Luisana Duarte Armendariz (Tu Books, 2020), nine-year-old Julieta is caught in a scandal when she and her father witness the Regent diamond being stolen. When Julieta accidentally lets the thief out of the building and she and her father are suspected, she is determined to free themselves from

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg Couldn’t Drive? by Dan Gutman (Norton Young Readers, 2022) is a part of the Wait! What? series by the creator of the popular My Weird School series (and a number of other fun middle-grade books). In this kid-friendly middle-grade biography, two kids, named appropriately Paige and Turner, teach the reader all about

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Note: I received a digital copy of the book for review consideration. Cloaked in Courage by Beth Anderson, illustrated by Anne Lamelet (Calkins Creek, 2022) tells the unique story of Deborah Sampson, a woman who pretended to be a man and joined the army during the Revolutionary War to help fight for freedom. Subtitled Uncovering

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The Cool Code by Deirdre Langeland, illustrated by Sarah Mai (Clarion Books, 2022), is an amusing graphic novel about a formerly homeschooled eighth-grader who creates an app to help her be “cool” in her new school. Zoey enters school worried about how to make friends, and in the end, she finds the true meaning of

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In Nothing is Little by Carmella Van Vleet (Holiday House, 2022), middle schooler Felix begins to come to terms with himself, his place in his family, and his identity as a person. His story is driven by his own search for the identity of his absent father, with “detective work” he hides from his mother

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I did always wonder what the COVID-19 pandemic would have been like from the very beginning, even when no one yet knew what it was in Wuhan, China. I only have my experience, watching the progression of the disease through the world before our own world shut down. Morning Sun in Wuhan by Ying Chang Compestine

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