Review: Malcolm and Me by Robin Farmer

Malcolm and Me by Robin Farmer

Malcolm and Me
Robin Farmer
SparkPress
Published November 17, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Malcolm and Me

Philly native Roberta Forest is a precocious rebel with the soul of a poet. The thirteen-year-old is young, gifted, black, and Catholic—although she’s uncertain about the Catholic part after she calls Thomas Jefferson a hypocrite for enslaving people and her nun responds with a racist insult. Their ensuing fight makes Roberta question God and the important adults in her life, all of whom seem to see truth as gray … Continue reading

Author Q&A with Robin Farmer

Author Q&A with Robin Farmer

Author Q&A with Robin Farmer

When I received an opportunity to review MALCOLM AND ME, I was so moved by the description of the book that I knew I was going to read it even before I reached the end of the email. I didn’t expect to ALSO have the amazing opportunity to do a Q&A with the author, Robin Farmer, whose own experiences inspired this amazing story. I’m super excited to share her answers with you today.

First, here’s a little bit about the book in case you aren’t familiar.

Malcolm and Me by Robin Farmer

Continue reading

Review: Take Me with You by Tara Altebrando

Take Me with You by Tara Altebrando

Take Me with You
Tara Altebrando
Bloomsbury YA
Published June 23, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Take Me with You

Eden, Eli, Marwan, and Ilanka barely know each other beyond having a class or two together. But when they are all summoned via messaging app to an empty classroom after school, they find a small cube sitting on a desk. Its sides light up with rules for them:

Do not tell anyone about the device. Never leave the device unattended.
And then, Take me with you . . . or else.

At first they think it’s some … Continue reading

Review: In the Neighborhood of True by Susan Kaplan Carlton

In the Neighborhood of True

In the Neighborhood of True
Susan Kaplan Carlton
Algonquin Young Readers
Available April 9, 2019

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF TRUE

After her father’s death, Ruth Robb and her family transplant themselves in the summer of 1958 from New York City to Atlanta—the land of debutantes, sweet tea, and the Ku Klux Klan. In her new hometown, Ruth quickly figures out she can be Jewish or she can be popular, but she can’t be both. Eager to fit in with the blond girls in the “pastel posse,” … Continue reading

Review: Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan

Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan

Watch Us Rise
Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published February 12, 2019

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About WATCH US RISE by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan

Jasmine and Chelsea are sick of the way women are treated even at their progressive NYC high school, so they decide to start a Women’s Rights Club. They post everything online—poems, essays, videos of Chelsea performing her poetry, and Jasmine’s response to the racial macroaggressions she experiences—and soon they go viral. But with such positive support, the club is also targeted by online trolls. When things … Continue reading

Review: Breakout by Kate Messner

Breakout by Kate Messner

Breakout
Kate Messner
Bloomsbury
Published on June 5, 2018

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Breakout

Nora Tucker is looking forward to summer vacation in Wolf Creek–two months of swimming, popsicles, and brushing up on her journalism skills for the school paper. But when two inmates break out of the town’s maximum security prison, everything changes. Doors are locked, helicopters fly over the woods, and police patrol the school grounds. Worst of all, everyone is on edge, and fear brings out the worst in some people Nora has known her whole life. Even if police catch the inmates, she worries that home might never feel the same.

Told in … Continue reading