Review: Don’t Look Back by Achut Deng and Keely Hutton

Don't Look Back: A Memoir of War, Survival, and My Journey to America by Achut Deng and Keely Hutton cover shows a landscape with a sky barely at sunrise. Over that is an image of a girl's face so that the sky shows through it.

Don’t Look Back: A Memoir of War, Survival, and My Journey to America
Achut Deng and Keely Hutton
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux

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About Don’t Look Back

In this propulsive memoir from Achut Deng and Keely Hutton, inspired by a harrowing New York Times article, Don’t Look Back tells a powerful story showing both the ugliness and the beauty of humanity, and the power of not giving up.

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Review: The Deadlands: Trapped by Skye Melki-Wegner

The Deadlands: Trapped by Skye Melki-Wegner cover shows a profile of a carnotaurus made from a landscape showing a triceratops, two small flying dinosaurs and a small walking dinosaur at the top of a mountain.

The Deadlands: Trapped (The Deadlands #2)
Sky Melki-Wegner
Henry Holt & Co.
Published October 3, 2023

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About The Deadlands: Trapped

Wings of Fire meets Jurassic Park in The Deadlands: Trapped, the second book of this action-adventure series by Skye Melki-Wegner about five outcasts ― and former enemies ― who are the only hope to save their warring kingdoms from impending doom.

As bloody battle rages on between the two surviving dinosaur kingdoms, Eleri and his fellow … Continue reading

Review: Champion of Fate by Kendare Blake

Champion of Fate by Kendare Blake

Champion of Fate (Heromaker #1)
Kendare Blake
Quill Tree Books
Published September 19, 2023

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About Champion of Fate

Behind every great hero is an Aristene.

Aristene are mythical female warriors, part of a legendary order. Though heroes might be immortalized in stories, it’s the Aristene who guide them to victory. They are the Heromakers.

Ever since she was an orphan taken in by the order, Reed has wanted to be an Aristene. Now, as an initiate, just one challenge stands in her way: she must shepherd her first hero to glory on the battlefield. Succeed, and Reed will take her place beside her sisters. Fail, … Continue reading

Review: The Deadlands: Hunted by Skye Melki-Wegner

Deadlands: Hunted by Skye Melki Wegner cover shows the silhouette of a tyrannosaur head partly filled with a jungle of plants. The dinosaur's teeth hold the word hunted.

The Deadlands: Hunted (The Deadlands #1)
Skye Melki-Wegner
Henry Holt & Co.
Published April 4, 2023

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About The Deadlands: Hunted

Wings of Fire meets Jurassic Park in this action-adventure middle grade debut series by Skye Melki-Wegner about five outcasts ― and former enemies ― who are the only hope to save their warring kingdoms from impending doom.

“My favorite middle grade book of the year.” ― New York Times -bestselling author Amie Kaufman

Battle rages between the dinosaur kingdoms of Cretacea.

When the … Continue reading

Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu by Erika Lewis

Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu by Erika Lewis

Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu (Academy for the Unbreakable Arts #2)
Erika Lewis
Starscape
Published July 25, 2023

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About Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu

Kelcie Murphy is back in another action-packed middle grade adventure, Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu, the second book in Erika Lewis’s magical series infused with Celtic mythology, The Academy for the Unbreakable Arts.

It’s hard having a father who’s an infamous traitor. It’s even harder having a mother who’s an omen of doom.

After a summer away, Kelcie Murphy is excited … Continue reading

Review: Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

The Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

Descendant of the Crane
Joan He

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About Descendant of the Crane

In New York Times and Indie bestselling author Joan He’s debut novel, Descendant of the Crane, a determined and vulnerable young heroine struggles to do right in a world brimming with deception. This gorgeous, Chinese-inspired fantasy is packed with dizzying twists, complex characters, and intricate politics.

TREASON

For princess Hesina of Yan, the palace is her home, but her father is her world. He taught her how to defend against the corruption and excesses of the old kings, before revolutionaries purged them and their seers and established the dynasty anew.

Before he died, he was supposed to teach … Continue reading