Melissa McAvoy

Carson, Mary Kay. Urban Coyotes. Tom Uhlman, Illus. Scientists in the Field. Clarion, 08/2024. [80]pp. Nonfiction. Trade $21.99. 978-0-06327-147-0. GRADES 4–7. HIGH ADDITIONAL.          In the 1990s coyotes first started showing up in city neighborhoods, and animal control agencies were flooded with anxious complaints. Field scientists formed Chicago’s [continue reading]

Buchet, Nelly. Big Sister, Long Coat. Rachel Katstaller, Illus. NorthSouth, 03/2024. [40]pp. Picture Book. Trade $19.95. 978-0-73584-551-0. GRADES Preschool–3. OUTSTANDING. Intending the best day ever, a smiling, freckled, curly-haired teen sister and a rosy-cheeked, light-brown haired younger sister head out into an urban environment. The younger child [continue reading]

Brunelle, Lynn. Life After Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall. Jason Chin, Illus. Neal Porter, 06/2024. [48]pp. Nonfiction. Trade $18.99. 978-0-82345-228-6. GRADES Kindergarten–4. OUTSTANDING.          Readers follow an elderly blue whale as she takes her last meal, expires, and sinks to the sea floor. What happens [continue reading]

Stone, Tanya Lee. Remembering Rosalind Franklin: Rosalind Franklin & the Discovery of the Double Helix Structure of DNA. Gretchen Ellen Powers, Illus. Christy Ottaviano, 02/2024. [40]pp. Biography. Trade $21.99. 978-0-316-35124-9. GRADES 3–6. HIGH ADDITIONAL.          A true story, without a happy ending, reveals the life and personality of an [continue reading]

Simpson, Tonya. This Land Is a Lullaby: cistomawasowin oma askiy. Delree` Dumont, Illus. Translated into Cree by Dorothy Thunder. Orca, 09/2024. [32]pp. Picture Book. Trade $21.95. 978-1459836099. GRADES Baby/Toddler–2. HIGH ADDITIONAL. Using a text in English and Plains Cree, this original lullaby celebrates the relationship between children, ancestors, [continue reading]

Wong, Jack. All That Grows. Jack Wong, Illus. Groundwood, 03/2024. [32]pp. Picture Book. Trade $19.99. 978-1-77306-812-1. GRADES Preschool–2. LOW ADDITIONAL.             A pair of tan-skinned, dark-haired siblings journey through a neighborhood landscape in early summer. The older sister, a gardener, shares plant knowledge while the younger wonders. The [continue reading]

Teer, Samuel. Brownstone. Julia Mar, Illus. Versify, 06/2024. 320pp. Graphic. Trade $26.99. 978-0-3583-9475-4.Paper $18.99. 978-0-3583-9474-7. GRADES 6–10. OUTSTANDING. In the summer of 1995, fourteen-year-old Almudena is used to mothering her dancer mom; what she’s not used to is being dumped for the summer as free labor with a [continue reading]

Ruhlman, Michael. If You Can’t Take the Heat. Penguin, 06/2024. 320pp. Fiction. Trade $19.99. 978-0-5935-2344-5.GRADES 9–11. HIGH ADDITIONAL.          A gifted athlete, but not a gifted student, sixteen-year-old Theo’s privileged life is upended the summer before junior year, when a freak accident permanently sidelines him. [continue reading]