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Middle grade readers will likely relate to Jen Wilde’s recent novel, Paige Not Found. Wilde’s book features eleven-year-old neuroatypical Paige Wells whose insecurities provide obstacles but whose courage is commendable. Paige dreams of being just like her favorite teacher Ms. Penny: “Happy, funny, wearing kooky glasses, and doing a job she loves” (38). When Paige discovers that she has a mechanical device in her brain to monitor her moods and serotonin levels, she is angry. Feeling like a lab rat because her parents signed on to a research trial with Nucleus, owned by tech giant, Elliot Preston, who is about to sell the failing companyRead More →

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With her superlative parkour skills, Yas is a Black Pakistani Spider Woman. A sometimes verbal neurodivergent White youth, Hansel (AKA Han) has a passion for secret infrastructure navigation. Always observant and detail-oriented, he also knows the value of paying attention. The Korean team member, a transgender boy named Daeshim (AKA Spider) has hacking skills and has earned fame for his technology wizardry and his “mad connections.” The fourth member, a biracial teen, Jax is the official puzzler and team captain who hashes out cryptology clues with his ability to see several dimensions by unraveling, detangling, and sorting. Each youth comprises a cornerstone of the cryptologyRead More →

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Author Christine Day claims to have written The Sea of Winter for young people who struggle with loneliness, a separation from friends, and uncertainty about the future. It is also for those learning to live with and recover from trauma. However, it’s not just a story for those who despair but for readers who can relate to athletes whose dreams are altered by injury. It’s for readers of Cynthia Leitich Smith, James Welch, and Jennifer Longo or for anyone struggling to find joy again and needing a reminder that pain is temporary. Twelve-year-old Maisie Cannon is a Makah/Piscataway girl whose sanctuary is ballet school. SheRead More →