New from Here

too soon!? oh man. But actually I think this will be great for kids trying to process the pandemic–it perfectly captures a lot of early pandemic weirdness and confusion that I'd already kind of forgotten about (the rush for hand sanitizer) as well as the anti-Asian racism on display. I think Kelly Yang is so good at showing how big challenges (pandemic, racism, immigration law, etc) face kids who have very little power and managing to show a realistic way that kids can react and effect as much change as possible–her books are furiously shining lights on injustices and showing a little bit of hope. like no Knox and his siblings aren't going to single-handedly solve racism and the pandemic but they can raise awareness and make things a little better in their community. I just think it's such a fine balance and she nails it in a way that's engaging and important for kids to read.