Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
Mariam Hassan is the only Muslim girl in her new school — her new Catholic school. In Hail, Mariam by Huda Al-Marashi (published 2026), she comes to a new understanding about her religion and how she can relate to the world around her as she navigates a difficult situation. Although there are so many things
Fictional writer Alma Cruz is done with her writing career when she builds a cemetery for her unfinished stories. In The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez (published April 2024), Alma’s story drafts, which have been buried in boxes in the ground or burned, now speak out from the ground. At once a celebration
Kristin Hannah has done it again. Her novel, The Four Winds (published 2025) captures a unique era of America history within a loveable story about strong a strong woman overcoming hardship. The Four Winds is a primarily a novel of the Dust Bowl, and how one family sought for their own American dream in the
Sai is Apprentice to Paiyoon, master mapmaker, in the middle grade novel The Last Mapmaker by Christine Soontornvat (published 2022). She hides her undesirable identity as a girl from the Fens, the daughter of a con-man. When the Queen announces an award to the explorers who find and map the Southern continent, Sai sees her
The Sky Beneath Her by Mary Ellen Taylor (published 2026) was a short impulse read for me, a historical fiction mixed with contemporary fiction novel that I normally wouldn’t pick up. It alternates between Tula in the modern day and a number of characters in 1942 who are on board the Oceanus ship, hoping to
I greatly enjoyed the compact On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (reviewed here), which gave a brief look at twenty ways tyranny begins to appear in government. So, I was hoping for something similar in Timothy Snyder‘s On Freedom (published 2025). He gave a nice explanation of what freedom means and entails, but it was not
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna and the Race to Understand Our Genetic Code by Walter Isaacson (with Sarah Durand; published 2022) is the bestseller nonfiction adapted for young readers. It details the life and work of one of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry winners, a woman who managed to learn to edit genes at the
Outside In by Deborah Underwood (illustrated by Cindy Derby, 2020) is a lusciously illustrated picture book that captures the beauty of nature by observing how it comes into our modern lives. The illustrations stand out to me, as they are created with watercolor, graphite, and dried flower stems in ink. I love the combination of
Talk about meta! The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill (published 2022) is a novel written as if a writer (Hannah) is writing a novel about a writer (Winifred) writing a novel. While Winifred, or Freddie as she known, is writing her novel, she must solve a real mystery of her own about a
Amaze! Amaze! Amaze! Yes, I’m writing about Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (published 2021). I read it in 2022 shortly after it came out, and I desperately wish I’d reviewed it before the movie came out, so I could give you my movie-free perspective. After I watched the movie, I did listen to it
Middle grade novel Big Tree by Brian Selznick (published 2023) tells the story of two sycamore tree seeds (Merwin and Louise) using a mix of illustration and text. In their journey from seed to tree, they encounter dangers as well as other creatures, including a butterfly, small microscopic creatures in a seashell, a seaweed, ferns,
Native Nations: A Millennium in North America by Kathleen DuVal (published 2024, Random House) is a sweeping overview of some of the many nations of Native Americans throughout history. It begins by looking at the societies that thrived long before European contact and continues looking at major nations through to today. It is a comprehensive
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