Juno Valentine and the Magical Shoes by Eva Chen (Juno Valentine #1)

Illustrated by Derek Desierto 3 stars While looking for her favorite shoes, Juno is transported into a magical consortium featuring the shoes of famous women. She tries on the shoes of Frida Kahlo, Sally Ride, Misty Copeland among others, until finally finding the perfect fit, taking inspiration from her magical journey. Loved the concept. Great…

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Ghost Roast by Shawnelle Gibbs and Shawneé Gibbs

Illustrated by Emily Cannon 3 stars An interesting blend of history and the paranormal with plenty of mystery and secrets. Chelsea has worked hard to shake her past as the “Ghost Girl”. She’s got new, popular friends at her fancy, new school and everything is going just fine. Until she’s forced to work at Ghost…

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Tap! Tap! Tap!: Dance! Dance! Dance! by Hervé Tullet

3 stars A fun, interactive book that sends your hands dancing. The book becomes the dance floor and you are the star. Turn the page and follow the actions to explore movement, creativity, and art. Great for learning and practicing verbs such as twirl, bounce, weave, freeze, and fall, adjectives like light, wild, big, small,…

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Everybody Has a Body by Molli Jackson Ehlert

Illustrated by Lorian Tu 3 stars A sweet book with straightforward text and wonderful illustrations centered around body neutrality. A wonderful exploration of what bodies can do and how people use their bodies everyday. Bodies are described in terms of how they look and feel, their different needs, and what they do in neutral terms….

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Once There Was by Corinne Demas

Illustrated by Gemma Capdevila 3 stars Soft and lush. Magical and dreamy. Poetic and lovely. Follow the main character through a cyclical rotation of dreaming she is a princess, a horse, a mountain, and the sea, to name a few. The delightful repetition of the text is soothing and smooth while the illustrations are utterly…

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Rumaysa: A Fairytale by Radiya Hafiza

Illustrated by Rhaida El Touny 3 stars A fun new twist on the classic fairy tales Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Sleepy Beauty. Told through interconnected stories, the book follows Rumaysa who is locked away in a tower where a witch makes her spin straw into gold. I really enjoyed the endings in this book. The heroines…

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The Knight Blooms Behind Castle Walls Vol. 1 by Maranari Yuduka

Translated by Margaret Ngo 3 stars A sweet, slice-of-life adventure that follows Rosa, a young girl with a mysterious past who’s training to be a knight. Follow Rosa as she bonds with the knights at Castle Claustra, interacts with the royal family, carries out page duties and mundane tasks, and makes some unexpected friendships. Throughout…

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Mazie’s Amazing Machines by Sheryl Haft

Illustrated by Jeremy Holmes 3 stars A fun, high-energy story about the power of engineering, creative thinking, and problem solving. Mazie loves using engineering to help solve her family’s problems. But when she encounters a problem that seems too big to handle on her own, her family puts their heads together to engineer a solution….

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Black Roses: Odes Celebrating Powerful Black Women

by Harold Green III Illustrated by Melissa Koby 3 stars Such a great idea for a poetry collection. Pulling from various fields including sports, politics, music, art, and activism, Green highlights powerful Black women who have impacted and inspired him. This includes women such as Tarana Burke, Misty Copeland, Kamala Harris, Janelle Monáe, Nikole Hannah-Jones,…

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A Dreidel in Time: A New Spin on an Old Tale

by Marcia Berneger Illustrated by Beatriz Castro 3 stars A fun, quick read about the origins of Hanukkah complete with adventure and time travel. Reminiscent of the Magic Treehouse books. All Devorah and Benjamin want to do is open their Hanukkah presents. But they’re in for a surprise when their family gives them an old…

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