December Recommendations

Novels:

In SONG OF THE CURRENT, by Sarah Tolcser, Caroline Oresteia comes from a long line of wherry folk, who listen when the river god speaks in the language of small things. But the river god hasn’t called her yet, and she’s afraid he never will. When her father is arrested for refusing to carry a shipment for the Margravina’s soldiers, Caroline knows she’s ready to take the helm of the family boat. Romance, magic, and a strong heroine make this one fun read. (YA)

FAR FROM THE TREE, by Robin Benway, recently won the National Book Award in the YA category. Grace, Maya, and Joaquin are siblings who share the same birth mother. When Grace has a baby at sixteen, who she puts up for adoption, she suddenly needs to find out about her biological family. (YA)

THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE, by Cynthia Hand, is a witty modern take on A Christmas Carol. Mean girl Holly Chase is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve, but chooses to ignore their warnings until it’s too late. She ends up working for top-secret Project Scrooge as the Ghost of Christmas Past, trying to get others to mend their ways before it’s too late. She's bored out of her mind, until one year a Scrooge turns out to be totally hot… (YA)

Picture books:

TONY, by Ed Galing, illustrated by Erin E. Stead, depicts the quiet beauty of a long ago, pre-dawn ritual: a horse named Tony, "all white,/ large, sturdy,/ with wide gentle eyes/ and a ton of love,” pulls a wagon loaded with milk, butter, and eggs, and is met every morning by the narrator. Exquisite!

In FLASHLIGHT NIGHT, by Matt Forrest Esenwine, illustrated by Fred Koehler, three kids, having a sleepover in a tree house, find that their flashlight beam "opens up the night.” The rhyming text takes the kids (and readers) on a spectacular adventure, and the art has plenty of details to pore over in this ode to imagination.

And in THE WAY HOME IN THE NIGHT, by Akiko Miyakoshi, a city-dwelling bunny in her mother’s arms is carried “through the quiet streets,” catching glimpses of neighbors who are already home. Evocative text and a gorgeously rendered world where animals live in apartment buildings.

--Lynn