Recently I wrote a review of Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes. I highly recommend this book for mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 9 to 12, possibly even older. I just became aware of a few other resources that go along with Tortilla Sun, that I thought you’d like to know about too.
If you want [...]

Everyone knows that Naima draws the most beautiful alpana patterns in her Bangladeshi village. But she wonders what good can come from her talent if she can’t help her father drive a rickshaw because she’s a girl. Money is tight for the family, and Naima worries that her mother’s heirloom bracelets will need to be [...]

Abbie Adams has a lot to worry about. Her little brother isn’t always good at controlling his magic, so she often has to use her own magic to reverse his spells and make his first-grade teacher and his classmates forget weird things they’ve seen. But sometimes she forgets to cover her own tracks well enough, [...]

Izzy and her mother have moved more times than she wants to remember. She’s just getting settled again when her mom announces she’s received a research grant to study in Costa Rica and Izzy will be spending the summer with her nana in New Mexico.
Izzy doesn’t know her grandmother very well, and she’s not at [...]

Pia is feeling down about having to adjust to a new home for herself and a new stable for her horse, Drummer, after her parents get divorced. She’s worried about making new friends with the other kids who ride, and she hopes Drummer gets along with the new horses too. When she takes a tumble [...]

Nick is tired of living in the Las Vegas hotel/casino that acts as the cover for his magical family. All he gets to eat is Russian food, all he does is practice magic, and his older cousins keep access to the outside world at a minimum for him. So he’s excited to think of a [...]

Ever since her mama left home two years before, Nyssa’s been adjusting to new situations. Not being with her mama all the time, getting to know her papa’s new wife, ignoring the comments of gossipy people in her small Louisiana town. She’s no longer sure how she fits into it all.
When her mama swoops in [...]

Joseph Calderaro is an “eighth-grade optimist” whose “bag of barbecue chips is always half full.” That is until he has a lousy 14th birthday and his teacher assigns a 1,500-word paper called Tracing Your Past: A Heritage Essay. The only trouble is, Joseph is adopted. Fourteen years ago he was left on the steps of [...]

Evie’s new neighbor Francesca is a free spirit who wears wild clothes, always seems to be upbeat, and has her own ideas about the importance of homework. First thrown together by Evie’s mom and Francesca’s aunt, the two of them soon bond over a school project and a little matchmaking. But Evie’s long time friends [...]

Fencing is Aliera’s life. Every day she goes to school then heads to fencing practice. She even fences on weekends when she’s not visiting her disabled cousin. Fencing makes her feel strong, and she’s good at it. She takes her fencing teacher’s lessons seriously, particularly the one that says to guard her heart. That’s why [...]