Compestine, Ying Chang. Growing Up Under a Red Flag: A Memoir of Surviving the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Xinmei Liu, Illus. Rocky Pond, 05/2024. 40pp. Picture Book. Trade $19.99. 978-0593533987. GRADES 1–4. HIGH ADDITIONAL. A young girl’s account of how the Cultural Revolution transformed her life. Striking, full-page, [continue reading]
Melissa McAvoy
Wildfire Review
Anderson, Ferin Davis. Wildfire: The Culture, Science, and Future of Fire. Addl. Creator Stephanie Sammartino McPherson. Twenty-First Century, 04/2024. 144pp. Nonfiction. PLB $38.65. 978-1-7284-2400-2. GRADES 7–12. HIGH ADDITIONAL. Catastrophic fires grab the headlines, but the villainization of fire ignores indigenous and scientific knowledge of its [continue reading]
Exclusion and the Chinese American Story Review
Blackburn, Sarah-SoonLing. Exclusion and the Chinese American Story. Race to the Truth. Random House/Crown, 03/2024. 288pp. Nonfiction. Trade $12.99. 978-0-593-56764-7. Paper $8.99. 978-0-593-56763-0. GRADES 5–8. LOW ADDITIONAL. What is the story of Chinese American history told from a Chinese American perspective? In an effort to expand the narrative [continue reading]
Remember This Review
Polak, Monique. Remember This: The Fascinating World of Memory. Valéry Goulet, Illus. Orca, 03/2024. 96pp. Nonfiction. Trade $26.95. 978-1-4598-3412-5. GRADES 5–7. UNSATISFACTORY. Thirteen chapters packed with intriguing information and diverting examples attempt to explain how memories work, what happens in the brain, why some things are [continue reading]
When Forests Burn Review
Marrin, Albert. When Forests Burn: The Story of Wildfire in America. Knopf, 03/2024. 256pp. Nonfiction. Trade $24.99. 978-0-5931-2173-3. GRADES 8–12. HIGH ADDITIONAL. You might think a book about wildfire would start with flames, and it does, but before the story gets going our conversational narrator [continue reading]
Kill Her Twice Review
Lee, Stacey. Kill Her Twice. G.P. Putnam, 04/2024. 400pp. Fiction. Trade $19.99. 978-0-593-53204-1. GRADES 7–12. ADDITIONAL. In 1932 teenaged Gemma Chow, like many Angelenos, burns with a spirit of reinvention, but with her dad ill and her mother expecting, practical matters rule until Gemma, and [continue reading]
Down to Business Review
Scurlock, Fenley. Down to Business: 51 Industry Leaders Share Practical Advice on How to Become a Young Entrepreneur. Addl. Creators Jason Liaw. Random House, 03/2024. 416pp. Nonfiction. Trade $19.99. 978-0-593-65159-9. PLB $22.99. 978-0-593-65160-5. GRADES 5–10. HIGH ADDITIONAL. Two fifteen-year-old friends and award-winning entrepreneurs interview fifty-one diverse innovators, executives, [continue reading]
Chang and the Elephant Review
Nhuyēn, Trang. Chang and the Elephant. Jeet Zdūng, Illus. Translation help from Vietnamese by Hoãng Duy. Saving H’Non. Dial, 10/2023. 128pp. Graphic. Trade $23.99. 978-0-5934-0673-1. Paper $13.99. 978-0-5934-0672-4. GRADES 4–7. OUTSTANDING. A young Vietnamese wildlife conservationist, Chang, helps save an abused Asian elephant named H’non from a lifetime of cruel servitude. [continue reading]