Review by: Shelby Dale DeWeese What would you do if you met a magical tiger? This is the situation that 12-year-old Lily finds herself in when she, her mother, and her sister Sam move from California to Washington state to live with Lily’s sick halmoni (grandmother). When they arrive in Washington, a magical tiger straight…
What do you do when everything is changing, but nobody will explain why? A Cuban-American middle school girl navigates big shifts in this Newberry Award winning novel from Meg Medina.
A sweet coming-of-age romance that includes, but does not center around, the heroine’s Korean heritage. To read this story is to fall in love with Lara Jean Covey, the boy who captures her heart, and her relationship with her two sisters.
Reviewed by Jennifer Langreck Do you remember believing in fairy tales or scary creatures when you were young? In Tracey Baptiste’s fantasy novel The Jumbies, Caribbean lore becomes reality. The twelve-year-old protagonist Corinne doesn’t have to believe in the creatures she hears about in the local stories, but she does have to confront them. The…
Reviewed by Kate Plager There’s a limited number of classic tropes featured in most works of adolescent realistic fiction. Drama about who will be named homecoming queen, parents’ pressure about college decisions, nervous and awkward first dates with a boy you have a crush on, trying to find your place in a high school run…
Children's Literature at UMN 