Chris recommends...

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender

Alyssa recommends...

The Forest of Stars by Heather Kassner

Ann recommends...

Lightfall: The Girl and the Galdurian by Tim Probert

Stefanie recommends...

Land of the Cranes by Aida Salazar

Betita’s life is turned upside down when her Papi isn’t there to pick her up from school. She later learns that there has been an ICE raid, and that her father was deported to Mexico, separated from her and her pregnant mother. When Betita and her mother try to visit him at the border, they end up getting detained and sent to a family detention center outside of Los Angeles, California. During this horrifically trying time for her and her family, Betita turns toward her love of poetry (and the book is fittingly written in verse), and the knowledge that her Papi has told her over and over since she was a young child--that she is a crane, descended from the Aztecs of Aztlan, and the land that they inhabit in the Southwestern United States is in fact, their promised land. A heart-wrenching but necessary read.

Allison recommends...

There Must Be More Than That! by Shinsuke Yoshitake

MaryJo recommends...

Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, illustrated by Luisa Uribe

Mitch recommends...

Little Bird by Cynthia Voigt, illustrated by Lynne Rae Perkins

Little Bird is a crow, the smallest in her flock. After an attack on her roost’s oak tree, she decides that she can recover her kin’s “luck,” a necklace that had been woven into the nest. So off she goes, and as with any quest, there are many dangers, adventures, and strange encounters, from sassy blue jays to peanut butter to a wise and witty goat. She returns home a kinder and wiser crow, ready for new adventures. Characters featured in Voigt’s earlier Davis Farm books—Angus and Sadie, Young Fredle, and Toaff’s Way—also make brief appearances, but you don’t need to have read the earlier books to enjoy this one. A fine for choice for solo readers, or as a family read-along.