Ma, the Japanese concept of the silence between sounds, is always there, if you know where to look.
Robin
This book is Shakespeare-inspired, funny, thoughtful, filled with scenes showing cheerleading as a hardcore sport -- and the story of how one teenager and her community deal with rape.
Sarah
This beautifully illustrated book of important women scientists in history goes beyond Marie Curie and Elizabeth Blackwell and introduces us to 50 women we should all know about. You might be surprised by how many you don’t know.
Dina
France, 1242. One young priest-in-training, one Jewish boy, and one peasant girl hiding prophetic visions are thrown together on a quest to escape persecution and save precious holy texts from being destroyed. Based on years of exhaustive research, The Inquisitor's Tale features gorgeous illustrations in the style of historical illuminated manuscripts, a dog saint, a dragon with literal killer farts...and a deeply moving story that asks difficult questions with flair. Every page is a gem. Absolutely phenomenal.
Rebecca
Kelly Barnhill is an enchantress and her magic is to weave stories that catch you, pull you in, and never let you go. She takes age-old truths and weaves them together to form a dazzling tapestry of story. The result is brilliant; timeless and new and fascinating, filled with perfect small moments and large encompassing truths...some of which are the same thing.
Marika
Not just another YA version of A Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Inspired by the original tale, but diverging in the various forms of magic that haunts this story, from ancestral power to a desert demon, and the powerful women at its core. Every thread of this will keep you entwined and reading and wanting more.
Tildy
Allen Dulles, avuncular pipe-smoking intelligence mandarin, turns out to have been a shocking figure with admiration for major Nazis,no patience with American democracy, suspiciously peripheral to the Kennedy assassination and on and on. Devil indeed!
Gary
I guarantee that after reading this book you'll want to buy it, cut out the pages, and frame your walls with these beautiful illustrations. Or just keep it as a regular book to share with friends.
Heather
Bedridden by a debilitating illness, Bailey’s world is confined to just her immediate surroundings. But the gift of a wild snail opens to her a wide world of wonder and her acute observations helps us appreciate the small miracles that live all around us.
Dale
Lucia is your new favorite character. Her father is dead, her mother is catatonic, her aunt is just barely scraping by, and she is far too smart for her own damn good. A sharp wit, an aversion to bullshit, and completely confident in herself, she is the person we wish we were as teenagers. I agonized over my choice this year, but, in the end, Jesse Ball is a genius and Lucia is a fighter and it seems like a good idea to start 2017 with a genius and a fighter.
Josh
