This wasn't exactly what I thought it would be (I thought there would be more specific lessons) but it did give me ideas on how to put more math-related language into my storytimes and other programs.

A powerful read about the history of African American peoples.

I didn't know anything about Shahn before reading this book (and I'm ashamed to say I'm not sure I had even heard of him). This book gave me a good idea of the kind of person he was and the art he did. Pretty awesome.

A powerful story retold in a graphic novel format. It illuminates a lesser-known part of WWII which we all should know.

A mystery about the opioid crisis and how it can sneak into our lives. Told from multiple perspectives, which illuminates one person's life and the ramifications it has for everyone around them.

This book takes the tale of a land where magic is considered evil. Princess Shiori does have some magic, which she keeps hidden from her family. When she discovers her stepmother is also magical, she races back to tell her family. Desperate to keep her secret, her stepmother casts a spell on her--she has to wear a wooden bowl on her head, and cannot speak (unless she wants to kill one of her brothers). Additionally, her six brothers are turned into cranes. Shiori and her brothers are banished to a distant part of the kingdom, where they eventually take refuge in the land of Shiori's former betrothed. The audio spun out in front of me and I loved it.

Oooh the twists and turns in this one! It's a good mystery that examines what it's like to be German and wake up and realize that Nazism is wrong. I think that's an important thing for a lot of us to look at and examine. I know I'm guilty of thinking things could be so black and white.

I feel like this is a denser April Henry novel in a way. It's about a girl named Rachel Chavez who survives a break-in at her house, and has become obsessed with horror as a way to deal with her trauma. She and her mom move to help get away from it all, and at her new school she has trouble making friends, until she learns about the Mary Shelley Club, a horror club that pulls pranks on people. She makes friends, but the pranks get crueler and crueler. What's really going on?

Fans of horror will enjoy this one. It wasn't entirely my jam, but I can see it having many fans.

What does it mean to be "one of the good ones"? Does it mean you deserve to be remembered? What if you made a mistake in your life? Does that make you less worthy of life? That topic is explored by Moulite, particularly as it affects black women. We do hear about what happens to them in terms of police brutality less often than we hear about black men. This story weaves in different narrators to illustrate its point, from Kezi the "good" sister to Happy the "bad" sister. I really liked it.

I thought the descriptions of hunger and slow starvation were really powerful. I also liked the singing dog.