Review: Mary Underwater by Shannon Doleski

Mary Underwater by Shannon Doleski

Mary Underwater
Shannon Doleski
Amulet
Published April 7, 2020

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About Mary Underwater

Mary Murphy feels like she’s drowning. Her violent father is home from prison, and the social worker is suspicious of her new bruises. An aunt she’s never met keeps calling. And if she can’t get a good grade on her science project, she’ll fail her favorite class.

But Mary doesn’t want to be a victim anymore. She has a plan: build a real submarine, like the model she’s been making with Kip Dwyer, the secretly sweet class clown.

Gaining courage from … Continue reading

Review: Puritan Girl, Mohawk Girl by John Putnam Demos

Puritan Girl, Mohawk Girl by John Putnam DemosPuritan Girl, Mohawk Girl
John Putnam Demos
Amulet Books
Published on October 31, 2017

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About Puritan Girl, Mohawk Girl
Inspired by Demos’s award-winning novel The Unredeemed Captive, Puritan Girl, Mohawk Girl will captivate a young audience, providing a Native American perspective rather than the Western one typically taught in the classroom.

As the armed conflicts between the English colonies in North America and the French settlements raged in the 1700s, a young Puritan girl, Eunice Williams, is kidnapped by Mohawk people and taken to Canada. She is adopted into a new family, a new culture, and a new set of … Continue reading

Review: Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee and Susan Elizabeth McClelland

Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee

Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea
Sunju Lee and Susan Elizabeth McClelland
Amulet Books
Published September 13, 2016

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About Every Falling Star

EVERY FALLING STAR, the first book to portray contemporary North Korea to a young audience, is the intense memoir of a North Korean boy named Sungju who is forced at age twelve to live on the streets and fend for himself. To survive, Sungju creates a gang and lives by thieving, fighting, begging, and stealing rides on cargo trains. Sungju richly re-creates his scabrous story, depicting what it was like for a boy alone to create a … Continue reading

Review: Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate

Seven Ways We Lie by Riley RedgateSeven Ways We Lie
Riley Redgate
ABRAMS Kids/Amulet Books

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Everyone has a secret to hide. Olivia seems like a girl who has it together. She knows what she wants, and she’s not afraid to say so. At home, she watches her father and sister sink deeper into isolation following her mom’s disappearance, and for once, there’s nothing Olivia can do to fix it. Matt’s parents never stop fighting, and his little brother too often ends up caught in the cross-fire. After months of tuning out his parents’ battles in a haze of pot smoke, is it too late for Matt to confront them? Claire can’t let … Continue reading

Review: In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

In the Shadow of Blackbirds
Cat Winters
Amulet Books
Published April 2, 2013

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After Mary Shelley’s father’s arrest as a traitor, Mary Shelley flees to her aunt’s home in southern California. There she hopes to find safety from the ugliness of war and the Spanish Influenza epidemic. When Mary Shelley arrives, she learns the flu epidemic is as alive and dangerous as it was in her Oregon hometown. She also discovers her childhood sweetheart, now a US soldier, apparently missing.

With so many families grieving loved ones lost to war or disease, many people turn to Spiritualism, seeking help from famed photographer who claims to capture spirits of dearly departed in his portraits … Continue reading