By Super Kitty
 
We are what we eat, as the old saying goes, but how many Americans really know what goes into their food? In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan explores the modern food chain, and the ever-growing gap between our food and us. Interviewing farmers and visiting factories, he pieces together the story of plants and animals as they make their way through the modern food processing systems and onto our plates.
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This book really changed the way I look at processed and fast food. I knew they were unhealthy and so on, but I had no idea what a toll it takes on the environment for them to be produced, and what a toll it takes on us to eat them. The beginning of the book, while interesting, is a little slow at times; once you get into it, though, it’s fascinating. The Omnivore’s Dilemma gave me a whole new perspective on the food industry, and I think that it’s an important book for kids (and adults!) to read—I would highly recommend it to readers ages 10 and up. 

By Super Kitty

In Someone Like Me, Julissa Arce tells of her experiences growing up as an undocumented immigrant in San Antonio. When her family first moved to America, none of them spoke fluent English, but Julissa learned quickly and eventually graduated high school in the top five percent of her class. During weekdays, she was a normal high schooler, doing homework and going to cheerleading practice, but on the weekends she and her parents would work long days at festivals, selling funnel cakes to support their family. As she got older, Julissa became ever more aware of how limited her future was—colleges rejected her because she didn’t list a social security number in her applications, and she lived in constant fear of deportation. Yet her extraordinary intellect and hard work paid off, and she eventually became first a Wall Street executive, and then the writer, speaker, and activist which she is known as today.

I’ve been wanting to read Someone Like Me for a while, and it didn’t disappoint. It’s far too easy when hearing about the lives of undocumented immigrants to lose sight of the individual stories and personal struggles that countless Dreamers experience, and this book focuses on the humanity of those fighting for citizenship. The writing is engaging, and the story timely and powerful. Julissa Arce describes the many struggles she faced as a young undocumented girl, from her difficulty getting into college (despite her stellar grades) to the way it sometimes felt as though her family was falling apart. The experiences which she recounts are often harrowing, but it’s also a story of courage and hope. I would highly recommend Someone Like Me to readers ages 10 and up, and it’s perfect for parents and kids to discuss, or as a book group selection. And for readers who enjoy memoirs/autobiographies, be sure to check out our reviews on Find Where the Wind Goes, Farewell to Manzanar, and I am Malala.​

By Piranha T.

One of the best parts about fantasy novels are their unique worlds. I love opening a book and discovering a whole new universe between its pages, a place interwoven with magical creatures, complex histories, and unique landscapes. But when you’re the writer, how do you create that kind of world? For many aspiring authors, the question is—where do you start?

In Storyworld First: Creating a Unique Fantasy World for Your Novel, young adult author Jill Williamson proves that you don’t have to invent a language like J. R. R. Tolkien to create a unique, varied storyworld. Throughout this book, she relates different elements of worldbuilding—rules of magic, basic histories, creating interesting creatures, and more—interwoven with strategies for brainstorming and incorporating those details into your story. To any writer looking to take a deeper look at the setting of their story (even if it isn’t fantasy!), I’d highly recommend Storyworld First.
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Note: Jill Williamson is also the coauthor of Go Teen Writers, which is an excellent book about writing, revising and even publishing before you’re an adult.

By Super Kitty
 
In Fly Girls, P. O’Connell Pearson tells the forgotten story of the women pilots who worked for the military during World War II. In the United States, planes were being produced at an incredible rate, and the army needed them—and fast.

To allow as many pilots as possible to fly in combat, two accomplished pilots named Jacqueline Cochran and Nancy Love proposed a program where female aviators could fly planes from factories to bases. Woman were taking on what were traditionally men’s jobs all over the country, but if a woman wanted to work directly for the military, only specific roles were open. While not all of them consisted of traditionally ‘feminine’ work, many people thought women flying combat planes, particularly the heavy bombers, was going too far.

But women were not afraid to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), despite the hard conditions and difficult standards (often much higher than those required of male pilots), and one thousand, one hundred and two of them flew for their country until the program was shut down in 1944.
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Fly Girls tells a fascinating story, and one I can’t believe I didn’t know about. More than eleven hundred women worked ferrying planes from 1942 to 1944, and yet this is a piece of history largely forgotten. It also gave me a different perspective on World War II and the suffragettes; how far we have come since then, but also how far we have to go before women will have complete equality with men. The writing is engaging, and it reads like a story, which I for one quite appreciated, as many similar books tend to be on the drier side. I was impressed by the amazing women the story centered around—now forgotten, many battles might have ended differently were it not for the young pilots who risked their lives flying for their country. I would recommend it to readers ages ten and up looking for interesting and inspiring history, about war, planes, and the women who flew them.    

By Super Kitty
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In this lively, vivid memoir, Mae Jemison tells of her inspiring journey, from a young girl growing up in the south to an astronaut and becoming the first woman of color in space. Written in an engaging, entertaining style, she recounts her life up until shortly after she resigned from NASA, including her escapades as a child and young adult, her experiences as a doctor in Africa, and, of course, her training and historic spaceflight as an astronaut at NASA.

I’ve been interested in Mae Jemison for a while, and recently ended up doing a school report on her, which led me to this book. I loved it for several reasons. First of all, the author’s way of writing makes you feel like you’re being told all these stories by an older sister or cousin, proud of some things, amused by others, and rolling her eyes at some of her more humorous attempts at various skills and projects. It didn’t feel like the story was being written down to younger readers at all, which I also appreciated.

Find Where the Wind Goes is usually categorized as Young Adult, and I think that readers ages ten and up will likely enjoy it the most. Mae grew up in the south during the 1960s, and while she did not directly experience violence, it was not uncommon at the time in the black community. There were dangers that were a part of her childhood, and while there’s certainly nothing graphic or anything, I think that it’s just one of those books that’s better once you’ve learned about that period in history.
The story is wonderful and often amusing, and the narration feels informal and fun: this is a book I would recommend to fans of not just history or space travel, but also those looking for a story about making friends, taking chances, and following your dreams.  

Note: If you enjoyed this book, I recommend learning more about Mae Jemison’s work after she left NASA—she’s done some really interesting stuff, in science, work for social justice, and more!