Jennifer's Picks
Frizzy
Ortega, Claribel A., author
2022
Marlene stops straightening her hair and embraces her natural curls. With a few hiccups, and a dash of embarrassment, she slowly starts a journey to learn to appreciate and proudly wear her curly hair.
I want to eat your pancreas
Sumino, Yoru, author
2018
A high school boy finds the diary of his classmate - only to discover that she's dying. Yamauchi Sakura has been silently suffering from a pancreatic disease, and now exactly one person outside her family knows. He swears to her that he won't tell anyone what he learned, and the shared secret brings them closer together in this deeply moving, first-person story that traces their developing relationship in Sakura's final months of life.
The one and only Ruby
Applegate, Katherine, author.
2023
Ruby's story picks up a few months after the events of The One and Only Bob. Now living in a wildlife sanctuary, Ruby's caretaker from the elephant orphanage in Africa where she grew up is visiting. Seeing him again brings back a flood of memories both happy and sad of her life before the circus, and she recounts the time she spent in the African savannah to Ivan and Bob.
The remarkable journey of Coyote Sunrise
Gemeinhart, Dan, author
2019
Living on the road in an old school bus with her dad after losing her mother and sisters, 12-year-old Coyote devises an elaborate plan to convince her father to make a first trip home to Washington state in five years, a journey marked by an eclectic group of passengers they meet along the way.
Repairing the world
Epstein, Linda, author.
2022
Grieving over the sudden death of her best friend, eleven-year-old Daisy finds it hard to get excited about things like her new baby sister and her community service project for Hebrew school, but new middle school friends and supportive family members help Daisy discover a way to move forward.
What unbreakable looks like
McLaughlin, Kate, 1971- author
2020
Lex was taken-trafficked-and now she's Poppy. Kept in a hotel with other girls, her old life is a distant memory. But when the girls are rescued, she doesn't quite know how to be Lex again. After she moves in with her aunt and uncle, for the first time in a long time, she knows what it is to feel truly safe. Except, she doesn't trust it. Instead she trusts what she shouldn't because that's what feels right. She doesn't deserve good things. But when she is sexually assaulted by her so-called boyfriend and his friends, Lex is forced to reckon with what happened to her and that just because she is used to it, doesn't mean it is okay. She's thrust into the limelight and realizes she has the power to help others. But first she'll have to confront the monsters of her past with the help of her family, friends, and a new love.