(3) YA This emotionally devastating scrapbook-like collection contains essays, poems, journal entries, artwork, and photographs from survivors of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Several accounts describe the events as they unfolded, but the bulk consists of writing and art by students (and a few teachers) processing life after loss. Reproductions of the original handwritten contributions are featured throughout. A hard but important read. Reading list, websites.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(3) YA This compelling and inspring collection is comprised of personal essays by various students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, who survived the mass shooting in February 2018 and became gun-control activists. Their stories take us from the day of the tragedy to the massive protest known as March for Our Lives and their ongoing campaign for commonsense gun laws.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(3) YA A collection of reporting by the journalism students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on the 2018 shooting at their school. "Extraordinary Acts" pieces highlight heroic survivors; others cover the day of the attack, the March for Our Lives movement, and life in the media spotlight. Edited by MSD teachers Falkowski and Garner, the teens' writings are insightful and moving. Includes an insert of color photos.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA Illustrated by Yelena Bryksenkova. A collection of short, emotionally honest poems divided into four sections chronicle Instagram-famous teenage poet Kaufman's journey from the darkness of depression, self-harm, and abusive relationships to recovery and empowerment. Specific traumas are left fairly vague, allowing teen readers to imagine their own hurts along with the author's and feel less alone. Occasional spot drawings punctuate the text.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) YA With Lori and Wayne Earl. John Green dedicated The Fault in Our Stars to Esther Earl, who, in her own words, "went through a life changing experience known as Thyroid Cancer." This posthumous collection (with a moving introduction by Green) gathers her musings and drawings, which span her illness. Reflections by family and friends both before and after her death at sixteen are also included. An ultimately hopeful offering.

Reviewer: LIly Kessinger

(4) YA Harrop--a British teen with an online following--invites readers to see the world through her eyes with this sketchbook-style diary. Illustrations of scenes and objects from Harrop's everyday life are uniquely stylized and intimate. The accompanying commentary is too scattered and off-the-cuff to add much to the arresting images, but young artists may find creative inspiration in this appealing, browsable collection.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald

(4) PS This slim volume presents a selection of the wishes that children submitted to a radio program. Cartoony illustrations effectively picture scenes from the fantastical ("I wish that I could fly to Mars and look for alien bones") to the poignant ("I wish that my granny can see again"). The tone is uneven and a little too precious.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(3) YA Sarah, a fourteen-year-old slave, is haunted by dreams of being kidnapped from Africa ten years before and of her mother’s murder. Yearning for freedom, education, and love, she escapes the plantation to start a new life in Ohio as Anna, a free black woman. This lengthy, wide-reaching story hits on many slave-narrative themes; an author’s note helps determine fact and fiction.

Reviewer: Juliet S. King

(3) YA This anthology celebrates the creative work of noteworthy high school writers. Originally published in Hanging Loose magazine, the one-hundred-thirty-plus poems and stories provide a forum for young adults to discover their voices and share their perspectives on various issues relevant to adolescents. A few teachers also discuss how they approach working with high-school-aged writers.

Reviewer: Aishah Abdul-Musawwir

(4) K-3 Translated by Elisa Amado. Illustrated by Isol. Each of these twelve blank verse poems describes a pet: a monkey, a marmot, Hurricane the dog who pops soap bubbles with her tail, a "tiny, / very tiny, / teeny tiny" hamster, etc. Unfussy line drawings with splashes of color perfectly match the poems, which were created in collaboration with children from Latin America and occasionally strain for a childlike voice.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(4) 4-6 This admirable book, published to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, features children's responses, many poetic, to the declaration's thirty principles. The accompanying color and black-and-white photos of people from many lands could stand alone, but between their small captions and some font and graphics acrobatics, the layouts are off-putting. Websites. Ind.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) 4-6 In this look at young lives shattered by the Iraq War, Iraqi refugees (most living in Jordan) ranging in age from eight to nineteen tell their stories of displacement. The narratives are clear-eyed and wrenching, underscoring the damage that war inflicts on its most innocent victims, the children. A cogent introduction and a map provide context for readers. Websites. Glos.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) YA In this creatively structured memoir, autistic teen Ginsberg presents his everyday life as a series of TV episodes, complete with listings of songs for the "soundtrack" accompanying the action. Blaze's observations on navigating social interactions at school, home, and out in the wider world are sometimes poignant, other times humorous, and always unique.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann

(3) 4-6 From a nine-year-old's snippet of a poem ("You may think / I am a shadow, / But inside / I am a sun") to a Mexican teenager's bilingual verse about crossing the border into the United States, this collection of poetry is both beautiful and mature. Well-chosen and effectively varied children's art is an additional draw.

Reviewer: Chelsey Philpot

(3) YA Written by teens who participated in workshops run by WritersCorps in San Francisco, the Bronx, and Washington D.C., these poems cover a wide range of topics including family, friendship, school, culture, politics, and love. Most of the poems are unpolished, but they are honest, passionate, and sometimes insightful. Writing teachers will find this collection useful for inspiring their own students.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) K-3 Students from Hunter College Elementary School in New York City wrote poems, or "word riffs," to accompany photographs of children around the world at play. The brief poems reveal their authors to be astute observers; snapped by world-class photographers, the pictures (some black-and white, some color) underscore the universality of play as a form of expression.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) YA Teens of different ethnicities and sexual orientations share their thoughts about romance, which are as multifaceted as love itself. Blunt or coy, funny or bittersweet, tender or biting, these free-verse poems about sex, lust, jealousy, being gay, betrayal, and other topics reverberate with energy, raw emotion, and sometimes explicit language. With authenticity and honesty, the memorable pieces speak directly to teens.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(2) 4-6 Ellis interviews American and Canadian children whose parents have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Chapters begin with an introduction; the rest is told in the children's words. Especially interesting is their honesty about what happens when the parent comes home. Readers will empathize with these young people whose lives have been upended by circumstances beyond their control. Websites. Ind.

Reviewer: Robin L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2008

(3) 4-6 Photographs by Tony O'Brien. This book consists of succinct first-person accounts of the realities and aspirations of Afghani children and teens interviewed by O'Brien and Sullivan. The volume is artfully designed, with stirring photographs providing a portrait of the country and its people.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA Fifteen-year-old Bat-Chen Shahak was killed by a suicide bomber in Tel Aviv. She left behind a diary, poems, and letters about love, death, war, and peace. Bat-Chen also wrote about school, friends, boyfriends, and hopes for the future. Her writing is naive but touching, with hints of maturity that never had a chance to bloom. Photographs and drawings add immediacy.

Reviewer: Amy Kellman