Check out these titles new to our children’s area and recommended by our Outreach Librarian, Katie.
The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon
Subhi is a refugee. He was born in an Australian permanent detention center after his mother and sister fled the violence of a distant homeland, and the center is the only world he knows. But every night, the faraway whales sing to him, the birds tell him their stories, and the magical Night Sea from his mother’s stories brings him gifts. One night, Subhi sees a scruffy girl on the other side of the wire mesh, who appears with a notebook written by the mother she lost. Unable to read it herself, Jimmie asks Subhi to unravel her family’s love songs and tragedies that are penned there. Can Subhi and Jimmie find comfort and freedom as their tales unfold? Maybe, but not until each has made choices that could change everything.
Train I Ride by Paul Mosier
Seemingly alone in the world, Rydr is on a train heading east, leaving California and heading to Chicago to live with a relative she’s never met. She brings with her a backpack, memories both happy and sad, and a box, containing something very important.
As Rydr meets her fellow passengers and learns their stories, her own story begins to emerge. It’s one of sadness and heartache, and one Rydr would sometimes like to forget. But as much as Rydr may want to run away from her past, on the train she finds that hope and forgiveness are all around her, and most importantly, within her, if she’s willing to look for it.
Projekt 1065 by Alan Gratz
At the height of WWII, Michael O’Shaunessey, son of the Irish ambassador to Nazi Germany, lives with his family in Berlin. But Michael, like his parents, is a spy. He joins the Hitler Youth, taking part in their horrific games and book-burning, despising everything they stand for but using his insider knowledge to bring important information back to his parents and the British Secret Service. But things get even more complicated when Michael must work to infiltrate a secret Nazi mission – Projekt 1065. He must prove his loyalty to the Hitler Youth at all costs -even if it means risking the lives of his family… and himself.