(2) 4-6 In August 1965, the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts is "a volcano aching to erupt." Twelve-year-old Eden Louise Coal, who lives just outside of Watts, is looking forward to the visit of her thirteen-year-old cousin, Winter Robeson, from Sunflower, Mississippi. Though Winter has a long list of things he wants to do, Eden realizes he is really there to find his father, who disappeared from Watts ten years earlier. Winter's visit affords some cultural comparisons, as when Winter notes, "Y'all got a little Jim Crow here too, huh?" after Eden tells him she has only one white neighbor left after white flight claimed all the others. Eden plans to be a songwriter, and the verse novel's text frequently achieves lines Eden herself would relish: "She's like a musician / who has forgotten her notes," Eden says of an elderly friend with dementia. The first-person narrative is unusually dense in thematic layers for such a short novel--neighborhood, family, friends, music, social justice, and dreams--themes that Eden begins to weave into songs by story's end. This is a nuanced story, told from the heart and rooted in Woods's (Zoe in Wonderland, rev. 7/16) own experiences in 1965 Watts, as related in the author's note.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

(2) 4-6 African American eleven-year-old Zoe is shy around others but has a big imagination. A Madagascan astronomer comes to her father's exotic plant shop, touching off events that help her grow out of her shyness. Woods balances serious issues with humor; Zoe's character is relatable and encouraging to those who are trying, like Zoe, to understand themselves and the world around them.

Reviewer: Mary Burkey | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2016

(3) 4-6 Eleven-year-old Violet, whose African American father died before she was born, has always felt different from her white mom and half-sister. Then Violet meets her paternal grandmother, and the two quickly form a strong bond that fills a void in each of their lives. Woods carefully fuses an affirmation of familial love's healing properties to a gentle exploration of cultural and racial identity.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(2) 4-6 This spare, moving novel voiced by an almost-twelve-year-old African American narrator covers five days before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. Packing, boarding up windows, checking on neighbors, making and unmaking plans as the situation changes--all are perfectly captured by Woods. The authentic New Orleans setting works as a powerful character, adding an extra dimension to the compelling story.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2011

(3) YA The students in a tenth-grade creative writing class reveal their lives beyond their Los Angeles classroom. Issues they deal with include immigration, racism, sexual assault, illness and injury, poverty, and insecurity. The short chapters, told in alternating narration, are effective in providing a slice-of-life peek at each teen's reality and their interactions with classmates and others.

Reviewer: Amanda Mc. MacGregor

(3) 4-6 Eleven-year-old Sally and her family must overcome tragedy to find refuge from slavery among the Seminoles in the Florida swamps. Sally composes little songs that provide comfort and help her transition to an uncertain but hopeful future. The first-person narration is in standard English and conversations are in the vernacular of the time and place, with Sally's strong voice ringing through.

Reviewer: Christina Dorr

(2) YA Opening with the title character's funeral, this novel about an innocent teen victim of gang violence then flashes back through the months leading up to her murder. This modern-day morality tale has about as much subtlety as a made-for-TV movie, but the suddenness with which the tragedy occurs is sobering, and readers will feel acutely the injustice of Emako's untimely death.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2004

(3) 4-6 It's 1953, and a dazzling tenth-birthday gift inspires narrator Leah and her Louisiana­based African-American family to visit wealthy Aunt Olivia in racially integrated Los Angeles. Leah embraces freedom and urbanity, but when tragedy forces her and her sister to become Olivia's permanent charges, she reconsiders her humble origins. This naturalistic novel has the pace of a memoir and the pull of a good story.

Reviewer: Nell Beram