Published by Quill Tree Books

Summary:  Ash is starting at a new school after a bullying incident over their gender.  Daniel is tired of hiding the fact that he feels things deeply and cries easily.  The two of them bond over their shared love of a dog that Daniel is secretly trying to rescue.  When they meet, Ash is dressing and acting more like a girl, and a budding romance soon develops.  But, as has happened before, Ash begins to feel more like a boy, and has to decide how much to reveal to Daniel.  Both have to learn to stand up to parents and other kids who have certain expectations for them, and to learn that, even though each of them possesses seemingly contradictory parts of their personalities, both can be true.  368 pages; grades 5-8.

Pros:  Ash and Daniel are two well-developed characters with the daunting tasks of taking on gender norms and toxic masculinity in middle school.  Readers will be rooting for both of them as they gradually come to accept who they are and learn to speak up for what they need from those around them.  Their unconventional romance (which remains somewhat ambiguous to the end) is sweet and based on true friendship and caring about one another.

Cons:  The men, especially the dads, were pretty terrible throughout the book.  Daniel’s dad gets a bit of redemption at the end, and Ash’s mom is able to explain some of her dad’s clueless behavior, but it would have been nice to have some more nuanced portrayals.

Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Summary:  In this follow-up to Love Like Sky, Georgie and her mother return to Mom’s hometown of Bogalusa, Louisiana to take care of Aunt Vie, who is losing her memory to Alzheimer’s.  For many years Vie was a fixture at her diner, which is now being run by her two sisters.  When Georgie finally gets permission to help at the diner, she meets Markie, a 12-year-old girl in foster care, who, despite a limb difference (she’s missing part of one arm), is able to be a better waitress than Georgie feels she can ever hope to be.  When Markie asks Georgie to help her to find her real mother, Georgie finds herself in situations that push the boundaries of what she knows is right, even as she is trying to organize a talent show to raise money for Alzheimer’s.  Mid-summer, her best friend Nikki comes for a visit, and Georgie finds herself in an even more delicate balancing act as she’s pulled in different directions by her old friend and her new one.  As the summer ends, Georgie deals more or less gracefully with many changes and new discoveries, hopefully paving the way for book 3.  Includes an author’s note with additional information about Alzheimer’s.  336 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  Georgie’s story perfectly captures summer life in a small Southern town, with memorable characters and settings.  Black history and civil rights lessons are woven seamlessly into the plot.  There aren’t a lot of children’s books about Alzheimer’s, and this story does a great job portraying a character with the disease, and assuring readers that the person is still who they always were despite their memory loss.

Cons:  There are also few books about characters with limb differences, and I wish there had been more about Markie’s.