Tell It to Me Singing by Tita Ramirez Life is not turning out the way Mónica Campo intended. Pregnant with her first child and newly engaged to a nice guy, Mónica can’t stop thinking about her ex-boyfriend Manny, despite all the ways their relationship went wrong. But things get even more complicated when Mónica’s mother develops … Read more
Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah “Calling for a Blanket Dance” is a moving tale of the power of heritage and generational connections. Author Oscar Hokeah stitches together a series of distinct narrative vignettes to create a unified story; one deeply profound and heartbreaking, yet also uplifting and inspiring. The thread running throughout … Read more
Thunder Song: Essays by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe’s debut memoir, Red Paint, was all about healing. Her new book, Thunder Song, is all about embracing contradiction—about both charting a new path and staying rooted. These carefully crafted, multi-layered essays explore themes that are dear to LaPointe’s heart: her queer and indigenous identity, activism, and family history. … Read more
The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai From childhood favorites to special meals with friends or family, few things bring us back to the past as immediately as the smell or taste of a particular dish. But sometimes foods become lost to time and circumstance, and that’s where Nagare and Koishi Kamogawa come in. From their … Read more
This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets; edited by Kwame Alexander In 2020, poet Kevin Young, current director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and poetry editor for the New Yorker, published “African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song.” Young’s 1,110-page anthology is a comprehensive array of Black poets from … Read more
The Night Parade: A Speculative Memoir by Jami Nakamura Lin “Maybe this isn’t a story about ghosts, but a story about telling a story about ghosts.” This genre-defying memoir uses multiple storytelling traditions to make sense of mental illness, motherhood, and grief. Jami Nakamura Lin, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at seventeen, has always struggled … Read more
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling Schoolchildren across the country have heard the story of Sacajawea, and can readily recall her association with the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 – 1806. She is commonly referred to as the expedition’s interpreter. One has the impression of a beautiful, competent, wise young woman who … Read more
Hula by Jasmin ‘Iolani Hakes Now that winter has finally arrived in Whatcom County, readers might enjoy a literary escape to warmer climes, and “Hula: a Novel” by Jasmin ‘Iolani Hakes is the ticket. Set primarily in Hilo, Hawai’i, “Hula” conjures the glittering ocean, the sizzling sun and misty rain, and the fragrant and colorful hibiscus, … Read more
Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki High school best friends Zee and Dani have always dreamed of visiting New York City together. In Roaming, they reunite in Manhattan for spring break after their freshman year at separate colleges. Tagging along is Fiona, a glamorous new friend from Dani’s dorm who would rather see the “real” New York … Read more
Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater It began with a meme. A single image that an Albany High junior saw as edgy, intended to court his friends’ dark sense of humor. Soon that meme was a private Instagram account. The content grew … Read more