(3) 4-6 Set in a predominantly Kurdish Iranian town in the mountains bordering Iraq, Mead's story addresses Saddam Hussein's attempt to eliminate the Kurdish people of Iran during the late 1980s. Thirteen-year-old Azad's lyrical first-person narrative weaves in political and social history and the importance of ethnic identity to his family and community. His anger and fear, maturity and childishness believably coexist.

Reviewer: Juliet S. King

(4) 4-6 Caught in the crossfire of the Sudanese civil war, Stephen and other boys from his burned-out Dinka village become refugees, suffering disease, thirst, fear of lions, hopelessness, and uncertainty. Though the dialogue is didactic and the horrors more told than evoked, Mead has done her homework on this topic and presents the boys' plight well.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(2) 4-6 Junebug and his family have left their tough New Haven neighborhood behind, but trouble follows as Junebug tries to stay friends with Robert, who's increasingly tempted by gang life. The themes are predominantly serious, but there is warmth in the relationships, humor in the dialogue, and complete simplicity in the writing style. Mead walks a delicate line between problem novel and everyday-life story, and does so with grace.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2002

(3) 4-6 In the spring of 1998, the life of eleven-year-old Zana, an Albanian Kosovar, is shattered when Serb militiamen murder her father and brothers. Injured herself, Zana learns to follow her father's wish: that she not let the Serb military "fill [her] heart with hate." Mead writes lucidly and honestly about a child of war. An introduction provides historical context.

Reviewer: Mary R. Holt

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Christy Hale. Billy and Emma, two macaws in a zoo, love doing "tricks for their snacks" until a robber steals Emma one night. Billy flies around the city and finds her caged in an apartment. With the help of a clever crow, Emma escapes and they all return happily to their other cage at the zoo. While illustrated with expressive artwork and appended with an author's note about bird behavior, the tone of the story is patronizing.

Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey

(2) 4-6 When her single-parent mother is called up from the army reserves to go to Saudi Arabia for the opening phase of the 1990 Persian Gulf War, seventh-grader Jasmyn must adjust to a newly chaotic life in her small Maine seacoast town. Mead paints an entirely convincing and involving picture of a realistically prickly heroine as she balances worry about her mom with resentment at being left behind.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 1999

(2) 4-6 In the sequel to Junebug, he and his mother and sister have moved from their housing project to an apartment building. Junebug faces up to bullying classmates and eventually becomes friends with the cranky retired minister his mother insists he spend time with. The characters are well drawn, and the many themes speak to the life of a young boy faced with many changes.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 1998