Wishtree is a sweet story about loving your neighbor and taking action in the face of injustice. Red, a 216-year-old raggy tree, is our narrator; the community ties wishes to Red's branches once a year. Interesting nature facts and vocabulary are casually woven into this beautiful narrative. I would have liked this to be a tad longer so the friendship between Stephen and Samar could have been fleshed out more. If insta-friends are a thing, these two were it. But I otherwise really enjoyed this gentle early middle grade novel.

The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle is a middle grade novel that follows two girls as they begin to trust each other and develop a friendship. Reema is a Syrian Muslim refugee, and Caylin is a school bully with a difficult family life. They are united by the discovery of an injured mother fox and her newborn kits behind their apartment complex, as well as a shared talent for running. Difficult themes (war, death, bigotry, alcoholism, bullying) are treated honestly, in a manner appropriate for the book's somewhat narrow target age (10-12). It's a moving story told in Reema and Caylin's alternating perspectives, with the mother fox's perspective making periodic appearances in verse. 20% of the author royalties of…

I felt wary about checking out The Pants Project because, as far as I can tell, this is not an #ownvoices book and, honestly? I'm kind of tired of cis authors writing what feels like the same trans story over and over again. (Also, the wording of the synopsis raised some flags for me.) But I'd heard good things about this middle grade novel, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I ended up reading this straight through! I could not put it down. I loved the characters and the representation (a trans main character, a happy, close-knit family with two moms, and a secondary character with a disability). I enjoyed the storyline and above all, the hopefulness! Everything about…