If you’re looking for a quick monthly roundup, check out the best 3 books I read in June! Here and Queer is a book that healed my inner queer teen who couldn’t figure out why the prospect of watching paint dry was more interesting than going on a date. Not joking. There are horrifically embarrassing…
Category: Mental Health
Graphic Novels: 4 New YA Releases!
I grew up loving comics (not superhero ones, other kinds). Reading Persepolis & Maus as a teen was transformative, I particularly love the way graphic novels convey memoirs. I wanted to share 4 YA graphic novels that help bring discussions about oppression and personal responsibility into the classroom or home learning space. Kisses for Jet…
Puberty & Menstruation
English Middle Grades Bodies summary I have a couple of books for that that can help tackle conversations with topics surrounding those awkward puberty years. Thinking back on being that age makes me cringe. Too many hormones, no one knows what’s happening and we have ALL the feelings about it. If you’re scrambling to find…
When I See Red
English 4+ Anger Social-Emotional Learning Mental Health Emotional Well-Being Britta Teckentrup summary I kid you not, as soon as I finished reading this book I immediately sent a picture of it to a bookish group chat with the sentence “holy shit this book is so good”. Perfection in a book. Our unnamed, ungendered main character…
Read This to Get Smarter: About Race, Class, Gender, Disability & More
English YA (12/13+) Education Anti-Oppression Blair Imani summary Y’all, think back to the person that you would go to for answers when you were a teen. Maybe they were an older sibling, maybe a friend’s older sibling. A cousin, a cool neighbor or babysitter. That one person who you could trust to not bullshit you…
Abrams Dinner Party & a YA Read!
English YA (13+) Food/Cookbooks LGBTQ+ Relationships Sex Positive YA Romance Humor summary Cheese. One of the best substances in the world. In my opinion, the more a cheese tastes like a barnyard the better. When I got the book Cheese, Sex, Death from Abrams Books as the next installment of #AbramsDinnerParty it was obviously a…
Nice White Ladies
English YA+ White Supremacy Complicity Unconscious Bias White Feminism Jessie Daniels summary “No amount of positivity, light, and love will help us defeat the patriarchy if white feminists can’t tolerate being criticized” (8). If you’re a white lady, you should be reading this book. If you’re a “nice” liberal white lady, you should be reading…
The Insiders
English & Spanish MG LGBTQ Friendship Bullying Queer Friendships Latinx Family Moving New School Fantasy/Magic Mark Oshiro summary Ahh middle school. Hormones, moving to new schools, wanting to look cool…secret rooms that respond to your needs? Maybe not for all of us, but for Héctor and his new middle school this seems to be the…
Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem
English 4+ Poetry Social Change Empowerment Music Amanda Gorman & Loren Long summary Change Sings joined the bookshelf ranks yesterday, and woah buddy it’s incredible. Amanda Gorman graced the inaugural stage and blew all of our minds with her powerful words, and she’s here to do it again with her picture book. Filled with hope…
The Proudest Color
English 4-8 Social-Emotional Learning New school BIPOC Narratives Self-Esteem Confidence Sheila Modir, Jeff Kashou, & Monica Mikai summary Zahra experiences her emotions as colors, and is about to start school. Something that Zahra understands is that while emotions are fleeting and sometimes unseen by those around her, her glowing brown skin is perceivable immediately. When…