The Bookshelf

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

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Monster by Walter Dean Myers
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I like to imagine a world where this is required reading for high schoolers. Where kids know what is like for their life to be left in the hands of someone who doesn’t understand you and doesn’t try to. This is a hard read, I put it down several times just to breathe, but it is one that will stick me just as Hate U Give and Dear Martin did.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers, (List Price: $15.99, Amistad Books for Young Readers, 9780064407311, March 2019)

Reviewed by Olivia Schaffer, The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia

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Ground Zero by Alan Gratz

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Ground Zero by Alan Gratz
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Alan Gratz is the master at posing historical fiction in a compelling and propulsive way for middle-grade readers. I love the way he went back and forth between a boy fighting for his life in the tower and a girl fighting for her own life in the aftermath of 9/11 overseas. It was touching and eye-opening in a way that younger readers have not experienced the events of 9/11.

Ground Zero by Alan Gratz, (List Price: $17.99, Scholastic Press, 9781338245752, February 2021)

Reviewed by Olivia Schaffer, The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia

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Clear by Carys Davies

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Clear by Davies, Carys
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Clear is a quiet, short novel, with bite-sized chapters that lend themselves to quick reading, but the writing! Oh, the writing. Caryn Davies has written a beautiful story of survival and loneliness and resilience; set in the 1800s on a remote island between Scotland and Norway, John Ferguson — a Presbyterian minister — has been sent on a mission to clear the island of its last inhabitant. Davies took her sparse cast of characters in directions I wasn’t expecting, and I feel I’ll be thinking of them for years to come. (For fans of The Vaster Wilds.)

Clear by Carys Davies, (List Price: $24, Scribner, 9781668030660, April 2024)

Reviewed by Annie Jones, The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia

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Dear William by David Magee

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Dear William
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David Magee’s profoundly personal memoir grabbed my attention from the first page and wouldn’t let go. Dear William is part Southern story, part family story, and it opened my eyes to a crisis I didn’t know enough about. My heart broke into a million pieces while reading it, but I’m so glad I did.

Dear William by David Magee, (List Price: $28.00, Matt Holt, 9781953295682, November 2021)

Reviewed by Annie Jones, The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia

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The Last Rabbit by Shelley Moore Thomas

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The Last Rabbit
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The Last Rabbit has the heart of The Velveteen Rabbit with the mischief of Peter Rabbit. It is sure to be a new classic for children of all ages! This is the beautifully told story about a little rabbit, the last of four sisters, trying to find her path in life while realizing family is all around.

The Last Rabbit by Shelley Moore Thomas (List Price: $16.99, Wendy Lamb Books, 9780593173534, 2/9/2021)

Reviewed by Olivia Schaffer, The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia

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Who is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews

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Who Is Maud Dixon?
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For those who loved Social Creature and Gone Girl: Florence Darrow, our desperately dark protagonist, has been fired from her editing job and taken on the position of an assistant to the infamously anonymous Maud Dixon. What should be a privileged position turns into something completely the opposite after a horrible work trip to Morocco. Who is Maud Dixon? will keep you guessing ’til the end and even after you’ll still be asking questions (in the absolute best way possible).

Who is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews (List Price: $28, Little, Brown and Company, 9780316500319, 3/2/2021)

Reviewed by Olivia Schaffer, The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia

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Small Room, Big Dreams: The Journey of Julián and Joaquin Castro by Monica Brown, Mirelle Ortega

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Small Room Big Dreams
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Small Room, Big Dreams is the story of Joaquin and Julián Castro, identical twin brothers born in San Antonio. Raised from a young age by their grandmother to love books and their mother to understand the importance of participating in their community through politics, Joaquin and Julián have dedicated their lives to service and improving their communities. I hope this book inspires children to become involved in their communities and dream big!

Small Room, Big Dreams: The Journey of Julián and Joaquin Castro by Monica Brown, Mirelle Ortega (List Price: $18.99, Quill Tree Books, 9780062985736, 5/4/2021)

Reviewed by Beth Seufer Buss, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington

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the fortunate ones
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A Winter 2021 Read This Next Title!

I just finished The Fortunate Ones and am a little breathless with it. Part political intrigue, part A Separate Peace, the novel spans decades across elite boarding schools and the halls of Washington, but what captures the reader is Charlie, the narrator at the book’s heart. I fell in love with Charlie’s voice and story, and it’s him I kept turning the page for. I loved this book.

The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington (List Price: $26.95, Algonquin Books, 9781616206802, 1/5/2021)

Reviewed by Annie Jones, The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia

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