Review of Buffalo Dreamer, by Violet Duncan

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Historical, Starred Review 0

Buffalo Dreamer

by Violet Duncan
read by Ashley Callingbull

Listening Library, 2024. 2 hours, 10 minutes.
Review written February 16, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2024 National Book Award Finalist, Young People’s Literature
2026 American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book, Middle Grades

Buffalo Dreamer is short and sweet and packs a lot of power.

12-year-old Summer and her family are traveling to Canada to the reservation where her mother grew up for their annual vacation. Summer’s looking forward to wonderful times, riding horses with her cousin and enjoying her grandparents and her extended family.

But when she crosses the border into Canada and nears the reservation, she starts having vivid dreams about a girl running away from a residential school. Meanwhile, modern equipment has been brought to the residential school where Summer’s grandfather went to school – and they have found bodies of kids buried there.

Could Summer’s dreams be showing her what really happened?

This book navigates the line between talking about horrific abuse in the past and expressing confident joy in the present – and the power of connection between the generations.

violetduncan.com

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Review of Good Soil, by Jeff Chu

Christian, Nonfiction Review, True Stories 0

Good Soil

The Education of an Accidental Farmhand

by Jeff Chu

Convergent, 2025. 317 pages.
Review written March 24, 2026, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com

Good Soil is a memoir about Jeff Chu’s time as a student and worker at the Farminary – a farm owned by Princeton Theological Seminary that hosted classes.

The book is meditative about spiritual things and about issues he was dealing with in his life. His parents didn’t accept his husband, but he tried to maintain a relationship with them. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life and was looking for direction, and toward the end of his time there, his good friend Rachel Held Evans passed away, and then the friendly Farminary dog did, too.

I read this slowly, absorbing the lessons as a daily devotional reading. It helped me look at the natural world with fresh eyes. I newly appreciate how compost reminds us that even in death, there is life and nourishment.

I think most of all, I appreciate this story. It’s a story of how when Jeff Chu was at a loss, God showed up and helped him find what he needed and new friends to be with him along the path. I appreciate how working with his hands in the dirt enhanced the work and study he was doing with his mind.

byjeffchu.com
convergentbooks.com

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Review of The Faraway Inn, by Sarah Beth Durst

Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Faraway Inn

by Sarah Beth Durst
read by Soneela Nankani

Listening Library, 2026. 11 hours, 2 minutes.
Review written April 21, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’ve loved Sarah Beth Durst’s books for years, so I’m delighted that now they’re hugely popular at the library. The only catch is that it takes longer for a hold to come in. Today I ordered more print copies for the library than my initial purchase because demand was so high – I’m happy that others have found this wonderful author.

The Faraway Inn is an inn deep in the wilds of Vermont. Sixteen-year-old Calisa hasn’t been there since she was very small, when her Mom Kate had a falling-out with Calisa’s great-aunt, Auntie Zee. But now Calisa needs a refuge after she discovered her long-time boyfriend cheating on her. She needs to rethink her whole future and where she’ll apply to college – because it’s not going to be with him. Mom Kate suggests Calisa stay at the Faraway Inn and help out Auntie Zee for the summer.

But apparently Auntie Zee was not in on the plan. She tells Calisa she’s going to have to leave, then gives in that she can stay three days. This is despite the fact that she can obviously use some help. The yard and garden are completely overgrown, inside is rundown, the front porch breaks when Calisa steps on it, and the only staff is Jack, the son of the groundskeeper. The groundskeeper left on a supply run and hasn’t returned.

Auntie Zee tells Calisa there are two rules in the inn: No opening doors without permission, and no asking questions. Calisa quickly accumulates lots of questions. She tries asking Jack, but he’s evasive.

The beginning of the book felt slow to me, because it took Calisa forever to figure out there was magic going on. I had to remind myself that she didn’t know she’s a character in a fantasy novel, so she wasn’t primed for it like I was as a reader. But the book becomes delightful after the magic becomes impossible to ignore, and it’s more a matter of finding out how it works to solve some tough problems – like finding Jack’s dad. And getting the inn in better shape for guests. Yes, there’s some romance, but it stays sweet and low-key.

There’s also some fun magic wildness in the guests from other realms, and it ends up being a happy story full of magical possibilities. And like Sarah Beth Durst’s other books (Go back and read them if you’re only discovering her now!), it’s a whole lot of fun.

sarahbethdurst.com

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Review of The Sky Was My Blanket, by Uri Shulevitz

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

The Sky Was My Blanket

A Young Man’s Journey Across Wartime Europe

by Uri Shulevitz

Farrar Straus Giroux, 2025. 154 pages.
Review written April 29, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

The Sky Was My Blanket is the last book written by the brilliant Uri Shulevitz, completed months before his death in 2025. In it, he uses first person perspective to tell the incredible story of his uncle’s adventures during World War II as they were told to him.

His uncle Yehiel was born in Warsaw during World War I, so his first memories are of being hungry. I hadn’t really appreciated how little time passed between World War I and World War II (especially for people in Europe) until I read this book, because when this child who was born during World War I left home at fifteen and a half, he quickly got embroiled in war. However, he survived the experience, and the family he left behind did not.

Be aware that this book is written for kids using simple language and short chapters, but the topic is war, so it’s appropriate for upper elementary and middle school kids who can handle heavy topics. There’s nothing graphic, but Yehiel did plenty of fighting in trenches and on battlefields, and many of his friends and family died.

Yehiel originally left because he felt his father was oppressive and he wanted to see the world. He left without money or luggage or papers. At first he traveled across Europe from Jewish community to Jewish community and found work and strangers to help him. He was hoping to make his way to the Holy Land, but in Vienna, he took some wise advice and trained to become a leathersmith while also attending Hebrew school. He left Vienna in 1933 when Hitler came to power in Germany and Nazi swastikas started showing up in Austria.

Next, after a winding journey, he joined his brother in Paris, but after losing his job, joined a friend in Barcelona and learned to be a tailor. However, a year later, Franco attacked government troops and started the Spanish Civil War. Yehiel signed up to fight against him with other international soldiers.

And that’s how the rest of the story goes – he traveled from one country to another, sometimes fighting, sometimes resisting, sometimes just trying to survive. After the war, Uri and his father – Yehiel’s only surviving brother – visited him in Paris and heard his amazing story, told in this book.

I’ve read plenty of novels set during World War II, but the opportunity to hear personal true stories is quickly closing. I’m glad Uri Shulevitz wrote this one down for young readers.

urishulevitz.com
mackids.com

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Review of Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter, by Heather Fawcett

Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter

by Heather Fawcett

Del Rey, 2026. 353 pages.
Review written April 14, 2026, from my own copy purchased via Amazon.com.
Starred Review

I love Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde books so much, that when I saw she had a new cozy fantasy novel coming out, I preordered my own copy. Sure, I can read the library’s book, but this is going to be a favorite I’ll want to come back to.

As with Emily Wilde, Agnes Aubert is an ordinary woman – but also very competent and single-minded – who encounters a man who is not quite human.

Agnes is a widow who runs a cat shelter with her sister in 1920s alternate-reality Montreal – but the shop she was renting to run her shelter was recently completely destroyed by two irresponsible magicians having a duel. She looks all over the city for somewhere to move her cats, but everywhere she looks is either too expensive or won’t allow so many cats.

So when a shop in an upscale part of town eagerly signs her up at a reasonable price, she does wonder what’s up. But she’s too desperate for her cats to have a roof over their heads to hesitate for long. But when it turns out that the most notorious magician in the world – the Witch King himself – is running a magic shop in the basement, she’s a bit alarmed.

It turns out the Witch King is socially awkward and allergic to cats. But even he can’t keep a determined cat out of his rooms. And his sister – also a powerful magician – wants a powerful artefact she says he has.

Well, Agnes is not surprised he can’t find it – his rooms are a disorganized mess! That’s something she can fix. And then maybe these magicians will get out of her life.

With all the cats plus many mentions of good food (from the enchanted oven), “cozy fantasy” is the perfect description of this book, solidifying my conviction that it’s my new favorite genre. This one will make you smile. I hope it’s only the beginning of another series.

heatherfawcett.com
heatherfawcett.substack.com
randomhousebooks.com

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Review of The Brightness Between Us, by Eliot Schrefer, read by James Fouhey

Audiobooks, Science Fiction, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Brightness Between Us

by Eliot Schrefer
read by James Fouhey

HarperCollins, 2024. 11 hours, 3 minutes.
Review written February 8, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

The Brightness Between Us is a sequel to The Darkness Outside Us – and it’s very much a sequel. Don’t read the second without reading the first. The good news is that both are outstanding. I was lucky that I didn’t start the first until after the second was out, so the only waiting I did was for my hold to come in.

This book begins on a distant planet with Ambrose and Kodiak, the universe’s last two surviving humans – and now two children, Owl and Yarrow, who were born from zygotes sent across the galaxy in their ship. Yarrow turns sixteen at the start of the book, and Owl will reach that age soon. So far, they are the only children to survive out of many attempts.

Our fledgling human settlement is up against two major challenges in this book. First, external to them, is the fact that the planet where they live is prone to comet strikes. They need to make a bunker before the next one strikes. The second one is more personal to them. Yarrow has undergone a strange personality change since his sixteenth birthday. He’s getting intrusive thoughts about killing all his loved ones.

And then a beacon appears – falling from space – with lights specifically telling Ambrose and Kodiak to find it. Well, it lands somewhere out in the unexplored part of the planet, where Owl has been hoping to explore anyway.

And after the beacon appears, the narration takes us back to earth many thousand years in the past – to the original Ambrose and Kodiak shortly after they learned that their supposed mission to Titan was a ruse.

And in the process of going back and forth between the two time periods, we learn more about the original twosome (and I love that they ended up meeting each other and together trying to escape capture). But we also learn that there is a reason for some of the troubles of the colony – and why the beacon got sent to try to fix them.

Now, the whole thing about the sabotage – that was the first place in this whole saga where the science got hard for me to believe. Let me just say I’m skeptical about that whole part. And I also wasn’t thrilled to go back to the younger, more hedonistic and immature Ambrose character. But once I got past those things, it was good to again watch Ambrose and Kodiak learning to work together. And the situation certainly gave the characters on the planet challenges to overcome together.

And honestly, by the time the book was past about the halfway point, I found myself looking for more excuses to listen. These characters – in all their iterations – have firmly found a place in my heart.

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Review of While We’re Here, written by Anne Wynter, illustrated by Micha Archer

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

While We’re Here

written by Anne Wynter
illustrated by Micha Archer

Clarion Books, 2026. 32 pages.
Review written April 28, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

I was completely captivated by this picture book from my first reading – and find myself happily reading it over and over.

First, the artwork is colorful and beautiful. It’s done with collage papers, so everything from the tree trunks to the grass in the park has subtle patterns. Especially highlighted are the red tops and colorful skirts of our featured characters – a Black mother and her young daughter, all dressed up for a party.

In almost the first half of the book, all the spreads begin with the words “Hurry, Hurry.” And several of them end with “We have somewhere to be!” We see the mother is the one doing the hurrying – getting jackets zipped, out the door, on the train, through the park. The little girl, as little girls do, pays attention to the things she sees along the way

But when they get where they’re going – a picnic bench on a hill beside two trees, there are no words except for a HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner. There are some cups left on the picnic table and colored wrapping paper in the trash. There’s a balloon in the tree.

On the next page, the mother is checking her calendar:

Hurry, hurry,
check the date.

Yesterday.
Yesterday?

Yes, the little girl is clearly upset. But that’s where all the tension leaves the book. When we turn the page, we read:

We’ll head back home,
but while we’re here,
let’s take turns
rolling down the hill.

From there on out, party balloon in hand, the pair make the most of time together in a wonderful sprawling park, because “we have nowhere to be.” They go under a bridge, watch ducklings in the pond, enjoy sitting under a tree, and more.

And it’s all colorful and beautiful and full of love. Their outdoor time together exudes peace and we know it all adds up to a wonderful day.

This is going on my I’d-love-to-see-get-Caldecott-recognition list for this year.

This book just makes me happy.

annewynter.com
michaarcher.com

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Review of Orris and Timble: Star Stories, by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Carmen Mok

Animal Characters, Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Orris and Timble

Star Stories

by Kate DiCamillo
illustrated by Carmen Mok

Candlewick Press, 2026. 76 pages.
Review written April 22, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

Kate DiCamillo and Carmen Mok’s beginning chapter book series about a rat and an owl who are friends just got even sweeter.

All the books are gentle, recapping the details of the friendship and thinking about action before it happens. All the books have Orris and Timble telling stories to each other in their nightly meetings.

In this one, Timble invites Orris to fly on his back. Orris isn’t even a little bit interested. But little by little, we see that gently change. Until finally, the saying on Orris’s treasured sardine tin again motivates him to action: Make the good and noble choice!!

It’s all so wonderfully done, taking the reader along on the emotional as well as the physical journey. And with simple language for a beginning reader, too!

katedicamillo.com

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Review of Toilets of the World, by Patrick Kinsella

Art, Creativity, Nonfiction Review, Photography 0

Toilets of the World

100 Strange & Spectacular Thrones, Commodes, Loos, & Latrines

written by Patrick Kinsella
and Lonely Planet editors

Lonely Planet, 2025. 142 pages.
Review written December 23, 2025, from a library book.

When the nonfiction selector for our library system posted a Teams message about this book he was ordering (There may have been a request.), at least a couple of us couldn’t resist putting it on hold.

This is a book of photography – of toilets in far-flung, and usually gorgeous, corners of the world. There’s a glossary of toilet terms, a toilet timeline, and list of extreme toilets (the lowest, the highest, the oldest, the most expensive – that sort of thing). There’s even a list of ways to ask, “Where is the toilet?” in twelve different countries. You’ll find photos of toilets from all over the world. And an abundance of potty puns.

What can I say? I had to see this book for myself. A glimpse of the world from the point of view of the facilities. They indeed surprised and delighted me.

No, I will not be using this as a list to try and go visit – many were remote (such as the one on Mount Everest), and I’m happy that someone did it for me – and took a picture.

If you, like me, can’t resist taking a peek at these ravishing restrooms – you know who you are!

lonelyplanet.com

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Review of Silenced Voices, by Pablo Leon

Graphic Novel, Historical, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Silenced Voices

Reclaiming Memories from the Guatemalan Genocide

by Pablo Leon

HarperAlley, 2025. 240 pages.
Review written February 17, 2026, from a library book.
2026 Pura Belpré Honor Book, Young Adult
2026 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
Starred Review

Silenced Voices is a graphic novel with children on the front – that covers a horrific part of history, so this is firmly for teens, rather than children. The historical event was a genocide carried out by the Guatemalan government in the 1980s against indigenous people they claimed were helping the guerrillas.

The graphic novel focuses on the story of one character at a time. First, a boy in America who hears about a genocide trial of a former Guatemalan military leader and asks his mother about it – who’s never said much about growing up in Guatemala.

Then the bulk of the book is his mother’s story – how she barely escaped, with the help of her sister, when soldiers came and wiped out their whole village in horrible ways. But before she could get to safety, she and her sister split up, and they never saw each other again.

And there’s more in the present and in the past tying up that story. (I won’t give it away.)

This is a graphic depiction (literally) of a family and culture traumatized and victimized – showing the fallout into the next generation. But I appreciate the positive and optimistic framing of letting voices that were once silenced speak up and that injustice won’t stand forever. All in a compelling and powerful story.

artsypabster.com
harperalley.com

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