(3) YA Willow's owner seems benevolent, and she knows other plantations are worse. But with the influence of free black man Cato, Willow's view of the world and her own future shifts. Hegamin depicts the spectrum of experiences suffered by the enslaved and their many survival strategies in this thoughtful novel about a fifteen-year-old African American young woman coming to terms with slavery and patriarchy in 1848.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera. A mother entrusts her daughter to those who will help her escape slavery. Frightened and sad, the girl is comforted by her mother's quilt, embedded with hidden messages of strength and love. The text conveys the pathos of slavery and one family's desperate quest for freedom. Atmospheric acrylic paint and textile collages extend the narrative. Reading list.

Reviewer: Henrietta M. Smith

(3) YA Opal, an African American high school senior, reexamines her life after her best friend (and first love) Marianne commits suicide. Hegamin alternates Opal's contemporary story with that of a runaway slave who died in the same ravine where Marianne was found. This quiet, sad book is peopled with interesting, complex characters.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) YA Pemba is unhappy to move from Brooklyn to a lily-white Connecticut town. Her attitude eventually thaws when she's befriended by former Black Panther/library researcher Abraham--and after she starts seeing a ghost. Pemba describes these encounters in lyrical poems (written by Nelson) and first-person narration, including some false-sounding street lingo ("Don’t get me wrong, Harriet Tubman is my homegirl").

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz