Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
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
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
Ava and her mother look forward to the one day of the week in the picture book Saturday by Oge Mora (published 2019). Every week they spend Saturday together doing fun things like visiting the library, having picnics, and getting their hair done. On one particular Saturday, everything seems to go wrong for the mother
Mary Bennet finally gets her own story and happiness in The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow (Henry Holt, 2020). Mary the easily ignored middle daughter of the family at the center of Pride and Prejudice, and I’m sure many readers of the classic novel skim over her role. She’s annoying and reflects badly on
The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder (published posthumously in 1971) is the author’s “rough draft” of one more book about her early life, in this case the first four years of her marriage. Because it was only discovered after her death and was published in essentially the same form it was found it,
Fern is trying to find her way back to the only home she remembers in middle grade novel The Wrong Way Home by Kate O’Shaughnessy (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2024). Fern has lived on the Ranch since she was six, so when her mom sneaks her away, she is shocked and distressed. As she
Twelve-year-old Rosie can see color when she hears music and she hears music when she sees colors. Her perfect “echoic” or audio memory mean that she is surrounded by constantly music, including in her thoughts. In the beginning of her story in The Color of Sound by Emily Barth Isler (Carolrhoda Books, 2024), Rosie is
What was Anne Frank like before she started her famous diary? How did she get along with her sister, her mother, and the changing world around her? When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary by Alice Hoffman (Scholastic, 2024) is intended to give us a glimpse into this real girl
The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2024) begins with two hungry kids alone in an apartment, the building super banging on the door, warning that they will be evicted the following day. Right away, the issues are real in this middle grade novel. Sixth grader Hank has
The picture book Look by Gabi Snyder (illustrated by Samantha Cotterill; Paula Wiseman, 2024) is a work of art. Illustrated with photographs of hand-made three-dimensional collage sets, Look gives a visual exploration of patterns along with text that encourages the young reader to “look” around for details. The text and art seamlessly harmonize. A red-haired
I Would Teach You to Fly by Sarah Asper-Smith (Sasquatch Books, 2022) shows mother animals caring for and teaching their baby animals. I Would Teach You focuses on parents of all divisions of the animal kingdom, all of whom are teaching their young. In a sweet bedtime tone, I Would Teach You ends with the sweet
Hi. I’m gonna tell you about a book, but not just any book. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (HarperCollins, May 1981. It’s about a family who needs a mother, but Anna and Caleb, the kids, wonder if Sarah, the new mother will stay. She misses her home, the ocean, and her family. In
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