Readers Rally

Ketanji Brown Jackson is no stranger to overcoming
obstacles. When a high school guidance counselor told her she should set her sights lower than Harvard, she decided to go to Harvard for college and law school.

When she became a public defender and saw inequalities in the justice system, she used her legal skills to advocate for people who needed help, but couldn’t afford an attorney.

Ketanji’s path to the Supreme Court was unique: She’s the only current Justice to have been a public defender and one of a few who went to public school. Her story is powerful and heartening, and it’s a lesson in overcoming adversity by being true to yourself.

Nozomi, 12, lives in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1970. At the annual memorial ceremony for victims of “the flash” (the atomic bomb), when lanterns carrying victims’ names are floated out to sea, she notices one of the lanterns her mom releases is nameless. In the coming days, Nozomi and her friends learn their art teacher, Mr. Yoshioka, lost his fiancée in the bombing; the only thing he found was a comb he’d once given her as a gift. The students decide to organize an art show, encouraging classmates to talk to a survivor and create a piece of art based on that person’s story. One of Nozomi’s friends talks to Mrs. Sudo, who lost her husband in battle and her little boy in the flash and regrets that the last words she spoke to her son were in anger. Another learns that his aunt, a young teacher, perished in the bombing along with six of her students, whom she was trying to protect. And Nozomi talks to her mom, learning more about her mother’s past and people she lost. Nozomi’s curiosity about her mother’s story and the experiences of others creates a sense of mystery and tension in this quiet and deeply affecting novel, while the heartrending stories of loss that emerge invite full-hearted compassion among Nozomi and her friends, who see for the first time the depth of grief carried by their elders.

On the brink of her Quinceañera, and her official coronation, Solimar visits the oyamel forest to sit among the monarch butterflies. There, the sun pierces through a sword-shaped crevice in a boulder, which shines on her and sends the butterflies humming and swirling around her. After the magical frenzy, she realizes she's been given a gift—and a burden: she can predict the near future! She has also become a protector of the young and weak butterflies. This alone would be a huge responsibility, but tragedy strikes when a neighboring king invades while her father and brother and many others are away. The remaining villagers are taken hostage—all except Solimar. Can this princess-to-be save her family, the kingdom, and the future of the monarch butterflies from a greedy and dangerous king?

It is 1975 in Indiana, and the Wilkins Regional High School girls’ basketball team is in their rookie season. Despite being undefeated, they practice at night in the elementary school and play to empty bleachers. Unlike the boys’ team, the Lady Bears have no buses to deliver them to away games and no uniforms, much less a laundry service. They make their own uniforms out of T-shirts and electrical tape. And with help from a committed female coach, they push through to improbable victory after improbable victory. Illustrated in full color, this story about the ongoing battle of women striving for equality in sports rings with honesty, bravery, and heart.

A mystery told in the alternating voices of a fluffy orange cat, a former assistant librarian who may or may not be a ghost, and an 11-year-old boy centers on a forgotten library fire. A newly erected Little Free Library brings community reading and book exchange back to Martinville, and plenty of petting to Mortimer, the orange cat who stands sentry. Eleven-year-old Evan (white) borrows two books and discovers they’re both from the old library. The cards inside reveal one was last checked out by a now-famous mystery writer and returned on the day of the Martinville library fire 20 years earlier; the other was checked out by his dad. The ghosts of that library fire reside in the town’s history museum, unable to let go of the tragedy and find a way forward. Intrigued by one of his Little Free Library choices, How to Write a Mystery Novel, Evan begins to investigate the library fire and is surprised to discover a connection to his father and secrets of the past. With a hefty dose of ghostly intrigue but shy on scary chills, this short, entertaining novel offers satisfying puzzles and reveals, culminating in a win for fans of the both mysteries and the public library.