June’s whole concept of home is shaken when her widowed mother and younger sister must move into a homeless shelter. The embarrassment and the struggles are real. The girls must rise early to get to their school. Mother is noncommunicative and June’s greatest joy, playing the viola, is out of the question. So everything is left to June to navigate the waters of the homeless shelter. She alo ...

The Newbery Medalist ("Out of the Dust") tells the searing story of a young Aleut girl who, with the residents of her village, is forced to leave her home and enter an internment camp after the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands during World War II.

This character-driven plot focuses on the emotions the daughter of mixed-race parents goes through when she receives a racist note at her new middle school. Anger, confusion, fear, frustration fog her steps to justice. Streamlined writing walks readers through Yasmin's difficult choices that ultimately lead to maturity and restoration within her community of friends, teammates, parents, and school ...