Going to school for the first time, or going back to school, can be a scary experience for many children, but especially for those who are afraid they won't be accepted for being different. These four titles can help reassure children that classrooms are welcoming to all.
How to Find a Missing Girl can be fun, silly, and fast-paced and defined by grief and hope. The feelings are still there. They can co-exist. I know they do.
If you think the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, the famine in Ukraine in the 1930s, and Brooklyn at that same time makes for an awkward tri-narrative, you are wrong. And if you also think that it would be highly difficult to weave three such perspectives together, there you are correct, but it can be done. The Lost Year proves as much.
Poetry and friendship. Family and legacy. The story behind the collaboration of Jerry Pinkney, Nikki Grimes, Brian Pinkney, and Charnelle Pinkney may be one of the finest you read all year.