(2) K-3 Illustrated by Gardiner Kate. When Francis's family plants Gaawaandagoonce ("little spruce" in Ojibwemowin) in her grandmother's garden located alongside Gichigamiing (Lake Superior), the tree and baby Francis are almost the same height. The two grow together: "While Francis learned to walk on two little feet, the spruce tree walked in her own way -- stretching her roots out into the ground, where they talked to roots of other trees." Grandma knows that "trees, like people, are stronger together," which is why Gaawaandagoonce was planted near older spruces. Drouillard's inviting text naturally weaves information about trees' root systems and species' interconnectedness into a story about adjusting to change. When Francis's grandparents eventually need to move from their Grand Portage home, the family brings the little spruce to Francis's aunt's house. They carefully and lovingly transplant the tree, but acclimating is tough. Slowly, she connects with the other spruces and begins to feel at home again. Children who have had to move to a new place will relate to Francis and Little Spruce. The gouache and colored-pencil drawings' limited palette is a good match for the text's contemplative tone. An author's note explains that the story is based on a real spruce tree, and Drouillard discusses the importance of land and the significance of its loss for the Ojibwe people. Two Anishinaabe uses for white spruce and a glossary of the Ojibwemowin words included in the story are also appended.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) YA Sixteen-year-old Samira feels restricted by the watchful eyes of her tight-knit Sudanese American community, especially those of her protective mother. The community has labeled her a "bad girl" because of a false rumor that a boy started years ago. Now, while trying to sneak out to a party with friends, Samira is caught by her mom and grounded. Forbidden from leaving the house, she turns to an online poetry forum to stay connected. She begins chatting with an older poet, Horus, with whom she quickly finds herself falling in love. She begins to question him, though, when he pretends her poem is his. Through vivid free-verse poetry, text messages, and emails, Elhillo (Home Is Not a Country, rev. 7/21) creates a realistic picture of a teenage girl trying to push against unfair perceptions. She also highlights the fears of parents who are trying to raise children in a foreign country. In addition, the book offers a glimpse into the world of poetry and how young artists may be manipulated by older ones. Readers will appreciate the believable portrayal of a teen who is dealing with complex issues of family, friendship, and romantic love.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Darika Lovelace is spending the summer in Trinidad with her grandmother; she feels like her dad and stepmother don't want her around because she has been getting in trouble. She also misses her mom, who left two years earlier. When she arrives in Trinidad, she notices a strange woman looking at her; she asks about it, but Granny brushes her off. Later, Granny asks her to clear out her mother's childhood room and finish the mural her mom started. While painting the mural, Darika begins to have strange visions of her mom trapped in a tree she painted. Darika learns from some neighborhood kids that she is a witch and must save her mother. Howard mixes Trinidadian folklore with present-day issues to create a fast-paced adventure. Her descriptions of the island are vivid and create a strong sense of place; references to popular video games add appeal. Fans of Baptiste's Jumbies series will enjoy this accessible page-turner.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) 4-6 In this novel set in O'ahu, Hawai'i, Clara is having a rough start to sixth grade and wishes she could move to Arizona to live with her dad. Her best friend, Leo, has not spoken to her since the beginning of the school year, and Clara, confused and hurt, wishes she knew why. One night, she asks the 'umeke, a wooden bowl that her family has passed down for generations, "What are boys thinking?" The next day, Clara can hear the thoughts of all the boys around her. Clara tries to use her new abilities in helpful ways but ends up causing more trouble. When her Tutu (grandmother in 'olelo Hawai'i, or the Hawaiian language) has a serious asthma attack, Dad wants to move both Clara and Tutu to Arizona, and Clara finds herself using her Clairboyance (Tutu's name for the ability) to convince her dad to move back to Hawai'i instead. Kahakauwila's middle-grade debut introduces readers to the history, culture, and language of Hawai'i. Characters smoothly switch among English, Creole English, and 'olelo Hawai'i, and Tutu teaches Clara how to care for the land (flora and fauna are vividly described) and the ancestors. Readers are reminded of the importance of family, history, and culture in the context of an entertaining tween narrative. A welcome addition to Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander literature for young people-.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Kristy Cameron. Renowned Indigenous storyteller Locke (Lakota and Anishinabe) provides an engaging retelling of a Lakota legend. Wakhán Thánka (the Great Spirit) creates the world in seven days. After sending power to the East, South, West, and North, Wakhán Thánka creates mountains, trees, plants, animals, and water. On day five, the ancestors are put into motion in Grandfather Sky; on day six, ­Grandmother Earth receives the gift of creation. Finally, on the seventh day, Wakhán Thanka makes the greatest gift: the human spirit. But where to put it? Buffalo, Bear, and other animals have ideas, but in the end Wakhán Thánka places it at the center of all. "The intersection of everything in this universe, this creation, is within each one of us. We have the responsibility to guard this ­precious gift as it does not belong to us but to Wakhán Thánka." Locke's lively text and Cameron's (Métis) brightly colored and textured stylized illustrations bring a dynamism to the tale. A list of Lakota words in the text is appended.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(1) 4-6 Eleven-and-a-half-year-old Delilah "Dally" Peteharrington's mother wants to prepare her to take over the family business. Every afternoon, she meets with tutors to learn "important business-ish things," but what she really wants is to go on adventures like the ones her grandfather took her on before he died. When her mother refuses to let her sign up for Adventure Club at school, Dally decides to take matters into her own hands. She sneaks into her grandfather's study to find the envelope he left for her -- which she is not supposed to open until she turns twenty-one. Inside is a map that leads Dally to a secret library; from there, she can go back in time. With each visit to the past, Dally learns more about the Peteharringtons and how they got their wealth. Magoon adeptly and naturally weaves issues of race, class, and gender into a creative fantasy adventure. Readers will enjoy time-traveling with Dally and learning her family secrets, and many will especially enjoy Dally's time as a pirate. A family tree shown near the end of the book helps make connections among the many characters.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) 4-6 Blue Stars series. Illustrated by Molly Murakami. In their first graphic novel collaboration, Magoon and Smith introduce readers to cousins Riley Halfmoon and Maya Dawn. Riley is used to being surrounded by her Muscogee cousins and aunties. Maya is an only child and lives in Japan with her parents, who are on active duty. The girls both move to Urbanopolis to live with their paternal grandmother when Riley's mom gets a new job and Maya's parents get a new assignment. At first they find sharing a room to be a difficult adjustment; when school starts, the two continue on their separate paths until they realize the vice principal plans to cut afterschool programs for more detention space. The girls work together to expose his plans and to "be the stars" their grandmother wants them to be. The story and illustrations are a wonderful representation of a multiracial (the cousins' paternal grandmother is Black; Riley's mom is Muscogee, and Maya's mother is white) and multigenerational family. The graphic novel format, with varied panel layouts in the digital illustrations, helps create a fast-paced adventure middle-grade and middle-school readers will appreciate.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Tonya Engel. On the first day of spring, Yaya and her mother get up before the sun to go to the sea. Mommy tells Yaya to "pick out the shiniest dimes. We are going to take them to Mama Ocean and make a wish." Three of Mommy's friends accompany them, and after a long ride on the subway, they are finally at the beach. The mother and her friends have white clothes and towels, and each has special gifts for Mama Ocean. The women walk into the ocean and share their gifts with her before quickly dressing and heading back to the city without looking back. The picture book conveys the joy of welcoming spring and of rituals that African Americans have adopted and adapted from their ancestors. Engel's brightly colored paintings evoke the love, joy, and excitement that surround the moment. Marable's straightforward storytelling captures the voice and perspective of a young child. An author's note shares that the book is based on a real trip the author and her friends made to perform a ritual for Mama Ocean.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) YA Smith (The Blossom and the Firefly, rev. 3/20) and Wein (Stateless, rev. 3/23) introduce readers to the Black men and women who fought to desegregate aviation. The book opens in 1919 with fifteen-year-old Cornelius Coffey attempting to take his first plane ride at an air show in Nebraska. The pilot reluctantly takes the young Black man up and tries to discourage him with daredevil antics -- but Coffey loves it and knows he wants to fly. Fast forward: Coffey meets Johnny Robinson, a Black mechanic who also longs to be a pilot. The two move to Chicago and apply to the Curtiss-Wright School of Aviation. They are accepted -- but then not allowed to enroll after the school finds out they are Black. Following much struggle, Coffey and Robinson are admitted in 1929 and complete their course. With two other young Black aspiring pilots, Janet Harmon Bragg and Willa Brown, they open an aviation school for Black students. Along with the experiences of each individual pilot, there is also a thorough discussion of the historical context surrounding them, including the Great Depression and WWII. Photographs of Coffey, Robinson, Harmon Bragg, and Brown appear throughout the text. An authors' note explains the research process, and source notes are provided for this thorough and absorbingly written history of the early days of aviation.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) YA Fifteen-year-old Ezra Cloud wishes he were on the rez at Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation with Grandpa Liam. Instead, he is stuck in northeast Minneapolis, being bullied by Matt Schroeder. When Matt's house burns down just hours after they have a fight, Ezra's father worries about suspicion falling on his son and decides that Ezra should go to the rez to be with his grandparents in Canada while the police investigate. As Ezra learns more about Ojibwe culture and activities (including hunting and trapping), he begins to heal from the loss of his mother a year earlier and let go of his long-held anger toward his father. He also learns family secrets that change how he understands himself and those around him. In his introspective and compelling debut YA novel, Treuer weaves Ojibwe history and traditions with contemporary concerns for Ojibwe teens. Readers also bear witness, via the grandfather character's memories, to the violent impact of the residential schools on families and children. Back matter includes an Ojibwe glossary and an author's note that acknowledges changes made to real-life stories and customs for narrative effect.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(1) YA Boulley returns to Sugar Island, Michigan, in 2014, ten years after the events of the multi-award-winning Firekeeper's Daughter (rev. 5/21). This novel's protagonist is Daunis's sixteen-year-old niece, Perry Firekeeper-Birch. Perry reluctantly joins her more-driven twin sister, Pauline, on a summer internship at the tribal museum (laid-back Perry had wanted to spend the summer fishing). At the internship, Perry learns about the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and also discovers that a local college has a large, uncataloged collection of human remains and artifacts that likely belong to her tribe, the Sugar Island Ojibwe. When a professor shows her the bones of a teen known as the Warrior Girl, Perry knows she must get them back to the tribe for a proper reburial, even if it involves illegal means. Boulley skillfully weaves in not only the issue of stolen Indigenous artifacts and remains but also that of missing Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people. Through Perry, readers learn how lack of federal resources and inadequate federal laws make it nearly impossible to investigate missing-persons cases on tribal land. Another powerful, vividly characterized, riveting page-turner from Boulley that will keep readers rooting for the resourceful Perry on her quest to return the Warrior Girl to her rightful resting place and for Perry's personal growth as she finds her life's passion and purpose.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2023

(1) K-3 Brantley-Newton highlights the bonds, both visible and invisible, that connect family members. Anyiaka's older sister, Sorie, has light brown skin like their mom's and grandma's. Anyiaka's darker skin causes her to wonder about her place in the family. "Everyone in my family is so beautiful and so smart. And then there's me." With the help of family portraits (mostly illustrated with a couple of interspersed photographs) and a set of nesting dolls representing the women in their family, Grandma shows Anyiaka­ that her mahogany skin and thick hair come from her great-grandmother: "Our family has been workin' to make oonuh for years and years." In addition to Grandma's dialect, digital drawings provide more context to the story, set among the Gullah Geechee of South Carolina's Sea Islands. The bold-hued images depict a loving intergenerational family with deep roots. An author's note discusses Brantley-Newton's own Gullah Geechee roots and the group's long history­ on the Sea Islands.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(1) YA Kiki, who is Black and Cree, has been gone for five months when the book begins, and the police have stopped looking for her. Her friend and fellow First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Student Association member Berlin, a high achiever living with depression, and Cam, Berlin's longtime childhood rival, feel Kiki's loss profoundly. When Berlin thinks she sees Kiki outside Pink Mountain Pizza, where she and Cam work--and where much of the story is set--the two put aside their dfferences to search for her. They're assisted by new coworker Jessie, whose abusive father, a developer, is trying to buy Pink Mountain Pizza out from under Joe, one of the few Black business owners in town. Their social media campaign to raise awareness and save the store garners much support but also provides a platform for people to attack Joe, bringing to light issues of capitalism and anti-Black racism. Kiki's page-turning story and her mother's earlier disappearance provide multiple angles on the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People. Through a well-characterized ensemble cast, Ferguson (The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, rev. 5/22), who is Michif/Métis and white, addresses the myriad difficult topics facing her characters with sensitivity and care.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu. A young Black girl notices a sparrow looking at her while she is enjoying time in the park with her mother. The mother tells her daughter, "I see that little birdie there / She knows the time has come / there's something in the air." She reveals that the girl's grandmother could fly, and that she "saw the old-time ways" in the little girl. Thinking of her grandmother's wondrous ability, the girl takes her mother's hand: "they could fly / they could fly / They could slip the bonds / of earth and fly so high." Giddens's lyrical text is based on her song of the same name; in her author's note, she says the song itself was inspired by Virginia Hamilton and the Dillons' The People Could Fly[cf1[]. The story reminds children of their connection to the past and their ability to transcend their present, and Uchendu's digital illustrations add to the hopeful and loving feel of the text. The cover shows the mother gazing adoringly at her daughter, who is looking at the sky. Pink and yellow silhouettes of their ancestors surround the pair. The interior illustrations are joyous and luminous in places. When the mother and daughter take flight, white swirls that look like wings protect them. Pair with Woodson's The Year We Learned to Fly (rev. 1/22); this is an evocative interpretation of a popular African American folktale.