Table of contents for July 2023 in Booklist Reader

Ever Green: Saving Big Forests to Save the Planet. By John W. Reid and Thomas E. Lovejoy. 2022. Norton. Preserving Earth’s five remaining megaforests will keep carbon out of the atmosphere, protect biodiversity, and support Indigenous peoples. Reid and Lovejoy expertly illuminate the intricately webbed fecundity of vast forests in New Guinea, the Congo, the Amazon, North America, Russia, and elsewhere across northern Europe. Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. By Suzanne Simard. 2021. Knopf. Forest ecologist Simard interleaves her family’s history as British Columbia loggers with detailed accounts of her revolutionary findings about the ways “mother trees” nourish and protect seedlings and “continuously gauge, adjust, and regulate” their support of the entire forest through a finely calibrated web that mirrors our own neural network and…

Fiction Canary Girls. By Jennifer Chiaverini. Morrow. Chiaverini’s latest historical tale follows the women of a British WWI–era munitions arsenal who form a soccer team and unbreakable bonds. Crook Manifesto. By Colson Whitehead. Doubleday. Following Harlem Shuffle (2021), this installment of Whitehead’s Harlem crime saga takes place in the 1970s as New York roils with civil unrest and store owner and family man Ray Carney finds himself dragged back into the city’s underworld. Cutting Teeth. By Chandler Baker. Flatiron. The prime suspects in a teacher’s murder are her darling, four-year-old students in Baker’s satirical, vampire-toddler thriller. Flags on the Bayou. By James Lee Burke. Atlantic Monthly. In Union-occupied Louisiana in 1863, an enslaved woman accused of a terrible crime goes on the run accompanied by an abolitionist schoolteacher in this…

Light Bringer: A Red Rising Novel Pierce Brown (Del Rey Books) NoveList readalike: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesch Prom Mom: A Novel Laura Lippman (William Morrow) NoveList readalike: Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel Hello, Stranger Katherine Center (St. Martin’s Press) NoveList readalike: The Life Lucy Knew by Karma Brown Silver Nitrate Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey) NoveList readalike: The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman A Twisted Love Story Downing, Samantha (Berkley) NoveList readalike: The Woman Inside by E.G. Scott Business or Pleasure Rachel Lynn Solomon (Berkley) NoveList readalike: Bet on It by Jodie Slaughter The Summer Girl Elle Kennedy (St. Martin’s Griffin) NoveList readalike: Bellinger Sisters series by Tessa Bailey Crook Manifesto: A Novel Colson Whitehead (Doubleday) NoveList readalike: Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson Find out more…

Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay. By Susan Hood. Illus. by Sally Wern Comport. 2016. Simon & Schuster. Gr. 1–3. In the poor town of Cateura, Ada learns to play the violin in Favio Chávez’s “Recycled Orchestra,” so named for the improvised instruments Chávez built from objects in a landfill. All That Trash: The Story of the 1987 Garbage Barge and Our Problem with Stuff. By Meghan McCarthy. Illus. by the author. 2018. Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman. Gr. 1–4. In 1987, Lowell Harrelson wanted to experiment with decomposing garbage as an energy source, so he loaded 3,186 tons of garbage onto a barge—upon which he became stranded. The Amazing Collection of Joey Cornell. By Candace Fleming. Illus. by Gérard Dubois. 2018. Random/Schwartz & Wade. K–Gr. 3.…

Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disasters. By Serhii Plokhy. 2022. Norton. Plokhy reviews lessons learned from the most serious nuclear disasters since the end of WWII, noting that radioactive pollution persists for generations. The Carbon Footprint of Everything. By Mike Berners-Lee. 2022. Greystone. Berners-Lee’s argues that everyone on Earth needs to adopt a five-ton lifestyle, referring to a person’s carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) footprint per year; in the U.S., the average person’s CO2e footprint is about 21 tons per year. The Climate Book: The Facts and the Solution. Ed. by Greta Thunberg. 2023. Penguin. Thunberg’s commitment to explaining the perils of climate change propels this compendium of concise essays by the activist and a host of scientists, environmentalists, and journalists, all dedicated to extending our scientific understanding…

Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America. By Eliza Griswold. 2018. Farrar. The Pennsylvania towns Amity and Prosperity were supported first by coal and then by hydraulic fracking for natural gas, but when single-mother Stacey Haney allowed fracking on her land, her son became sick and farm animals died due to water and air pollution. Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth. By Rachel Maddow. 2019. Crown. Maddow investigates the oil and gas industry within the shadowy nexus of commerce, politics, and corruption, examining offshore drilling, transnational pipelines, and hydraulic fracking, even exposing a connection between Oklahoma oil fields and Putin’s Kremlin. Cobalt: Cradle of the Demon Metals, Birth of a Mining Superpower. By Charlie Angus. 2022. Anansi. Silver was…

Approaching and celebrating the 250th anniversary of America’s independence, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and PBS Books are joining together to produce Visions of America: All Stories, All People, All Places, a digital-first series of videos and virtual conversations that explores our nation with a renewed interest in the places, people, and stories that have contributed to the America we live in today. Visions of America kicked off on June 21 and will continue on July 19 and August 16. In total, there will be three virtual conversations hosted by PBS Books with IMLS Director Crosby Kemper and his invited guests. Topics discussed will include the significance of the America250 project, the durability of the U.S. Constitution, and the 75th anniversary of the desegregation of the military.…

Berry Song. By Michaela Goade. Illus. by the author. 2022. Little, Brown. PreS–Gr. 2. A young Tlingit girl and her grandmother sing as they forage for wild berries in Alaska, and the poetic, alliterative text encourages responsible stewardship of the environment. Black Beach: A Community, an Oil Spill, and the Origin of Earth Day. By Shaunna Stith and John Stith. Illus. by Maribel Lechuga. 2023. little bee. PreS–Gr. 3. After an offshore drilling accident near the Santa Barbara Channel, oil covers a beach near Sam’s home. Angry, Sam and her neighbors bring awareness to their damaged shoreline and inspire the first Earth Day. City Streets Are for People. By Andrea Curtis. Illus. by Emma Fitzgerald. 2022. Groundwood. Gr. 3–6. After opening with such transportation problems as air pollution, the author…

Amazon Adventure: How Tiny Fish Are Saving the World’s Largest Rainforest. By Sy Montgomery. Illus. by Keith Ellenbogen. 2017. Clarion. Gr. 5–8. Sibert Medal–winning Montgomery goes in search of piaba, a bright, shy fish that entices humans and plays a large, surprising role in the preservation of the Amazon. The science and sociology are interesting and unusual, and the narrative itself enthralling. At Home with the Beaver: The Story of a Keystone Species. By Dorothy Hinshaw Patent. Illus. by Michael Runtz. 2019. Web of Life. K–Gr. 3. By cutting down trees to make a dam across a creek, a pair of beavers create a pond. In its center, they build their lodge, and thus their construction projects have changed their environment. Zoologist Patent clearly explains the concept of a keystone…

Nonfiction Bluebird Seasons: Witnessing Climate Change in My Piece of the Wild. By Mary Taylor Young. 2023. Chicago Review. It’s one thing to speculate about the potential effects of climate change. It’s another to witness the impact on one patch of land in the Colorado wilderness, where Young and her family have lived since 1999 and where she has witnessed decreasing populations of bluebirds, elk, and other species and more wildfires and extreme snowstorms. Burnt: A Memoir of Fighting Fire. By Clare Frank. 2023. Abrams. Frank recounts her 30-plus years as a firefighter in California, beginning at age 17 and ascending through the ranks all the way to California State Chief of Fire Protection, weaving together profiles of her family with moment-by-moment descriptions of fighting fires, hard-won victories, and excruciating…

Over and Under the Rainforest. By Kate Messner. Illus. by Christopher Silas Neal. Chronicle. K–Gr. 2. The eyelash palm pit viper is a small but extremely venomous snake in Central American rain forests. Because it’s arboreal, spending much of its time coiled around trees, you never want to grab trees while hiking in the rain forest! Into the Forest. By Christiane Dorion. Illus. by Jane McGuinness. Bloomsbury. K–Gr. 3. Sloths rarely touch the rain forest floor. Instead, they hang upside down from branches and sleep most of the day. Green algae grow on sloths’ thick fur, helping to camouflage them. Anteaters, Bats and Boas: The Amazon Rainforest from the Forest Floor to the Treetops. By Roxie Munro. Illus. by the author. Holiday. Gr. 2–5. On the Amazon rain forest floor, a…

Cinnamon. By Neil Gaiman. Illus. by Divya Srinivasan. 2017. Harper. PreS–Gr. 2. Gaiman’s original, richly illustrated fairy tale spins the story of Princess Cinnamon, who has pearls for eyes and doesn’t speak. Her parents offer great rewards to anyone who can get Cinnamon to talk, but it’s a man-eating tiger that takes the prize. Imelda and the Goblin King. By Briony May Smith. Illus. by the author. 2015. Flying Eye. K–Gr. 2. In a new spin on a classic story, clever Imelda bests the horrible goblin king who takes over the cheerful woods near her home. The lively, detailed artwork bears a wonderfully old-fashioned aesthetic that matches the story’s timelessness. The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess. By Tom Gauld. Illus. by the author. 2021. Holiday/Neal Porter. PreS–Gr. 3.…

All That’s Left to Say. By Emery Lord. Bloomsbury YA. Gr. 9–12. After her beloved cousin Sophie, a high-achieving private school student, dies of an opioid overdose, a grieving Hannah enrolls at Sophie’s school to investigate her death, upending her own plans in the process. I Am Not Alone. By Francisco X. Stork. Scholastic. Gr. 9–12. As a voice in his head warps his reality, 18-year-old Alberto begins to question his own involvement in a murder as he struggles to deal with schizophrenia. Like Lava in My Veins. By Derrick Barnes. Art by Shawn Martinbrough and Adriano Lucas. Penguin/Nancy Paulsen. K–Gr. 3. A superpowered kid encounters very familiar problems at school when a patient, compassionate teacher helps him master his fiery gifts in the latest from award-winning Barnes. Mixed Up.…