Heather Brush

Nearly 25 years after the publication of Shiloh, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s beloved trilogy becomes a quartet with this Christmas-themed holiday companion.

Shiloh and his boy, Marty, are inseparable as always—except that Shiloh is afraid to cross over the bridge that leads to Judd Travers’ house. It’s been a year since Marty rescued Shiloh from Judd, and he seems to have found a soft spot in his neighbor’s harsh exterior. Amends have been made, and Marty has been spending time at Judd’s to help with the other dogs. The town even begins to see a very different man as well.

The community has also welcomed a new preacher to town, but soon Marty’s sister, Becky, begins to fear eternal damnation, and the preacher’s daughters, Rachel and Ruthie, seem to be afraid of their father. Marty has a lot of questions about the world but isn’t sure the preacher, who seems better versed in atoning for sins, is the one who can answer them. More questions arise when a fire starts in the neighborhood and accusations fly, blaming Judd for starting it.

The Prestons prepare for Christmas, the community helps those that suffered from the fire, and Marty continues to work in the veterinarian office, thinking he may want to be a vet and help animals. But one day, Ruthie and Rachel are too scared to go home, and Judd helps by sharing the story of his youth and the importance of dreams.

Naylor gently writes of compassion and understanding, the importance of love over fear and the bonds between dogs and their people. A bit of adventure and a few mysteries make A Shiloh Christmas perfect for cozying up in front of the Christmas tree.

George looks and dresses like a boy, but inside, she’s not a boy. Her family doesn’t understand, but George knows that she’s a girl. It’s hard pretending to be a boy, but it’s even harder when the class bully picks on her and starts fights. 

When it’s announced that the fourth-grade classes will put on a production of Charlotte’s Web, George decides to audition for Charlotte, so she can finally play a girl’s role in front of her friends and mother, but mostly so she can feel like her secret self is out in the open. Her best friend helps rehearse, and eventually George confides in her that she’s really a girl. Kelly is supportive and encouraging, but their teacher insists George can’t play a girl’s part. Fortunately, an open-minded principal shows readers that being transgender is just another part of being human, and that there are people who understand.

Debut author Alex Gino beautifully addresses the struggles of being a transgender youth. It’s an intense conflict to be one sort of person on the outside but feel like someone else on the inside, and this book recognizes and straightforwardly discusses LGBTQ issues, including family misunderstandings, peer support and public acceptance. Readers going through a similar experience will feel that they are no longer alone, and cisgender (non-transgender) readers may gain understanding and empathy. 

Positive messages echo throughout George and to the reader: Be you, whoever you are. 

This article was originally published in the September 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Twelve-year-old Kester Jaynes is locked up in a “school” for troubled children that is more like a jail with solitary lock-up and nothing but goop to eat. He’s been there for six years, living in drudgery, until one night when a flock of pigeons and a gathering of cockroaches insist he break out to save the last bit of wild. These creatures are the first Kester has encountered in years, since it seemed all the animals on Earth had died of the Red-Eye virus. They’re certainly the first he has communicated with. Kester can’t speak, but as he has just discovered, he can speak telepathically with critters.

The pigeons were sent to bring Kester to a place where, hidden from everything, animals somehow survive. The head of the group, the Wildness, needs Kester’s help; there has to be a cure, a dream told him so.

Bigger than even the virus, there is a darkness controlled by a corporation. All of the world’s crops have been torn out, all of the farm animals are gone, and all that is left to eat is a formula produced by Facto, the company in charge of everything.

This dystopian world is full of adventure for Kester, who meets a girl who guards her cat with a gun, rides on the back of a magnificent stag and faces the threat of danger in every chapter. Kester is a likable character, full of longing, self-doubt and, eventually, inner growth. Readers will root for him to face his challenges and to make a difference in the world.

Author Piers Torday reveals through the eyes of animals just how cruel humans are to the wild. Reminiscent of Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984, this tale is not light-hearted, but it has heart-touching moments, plenty of action, a powerful story and a white pigeon of whimsy.

In Hazelwood, Iowa, corn grows, people disappear, and magic happens. Jack’s parents are getting a divorce, and he is going to live with his aunt and uncle. He has so much to learn about living in this new place that his uncle gives him a book, “The Secret History of Hazelwood.” The book is full of weird stories that are mostly true—and that’s the scary part. But he has even more to learn about his family, and himself.

Jack has never had any friends; people just seemed to overlook him. When Hazelwood’s bully, Clayton Avery, gives him a knockout welcome, Jack meets Wendy—who is gutsy enough to stand up to Clayton when he’s bullying. Wendy, her brother Frankie, and their friend Anders quickly turn into Jack’s friends, and they all set out to unravel the weird tales about the town and why children have been disappearing. Some stories have a way of sucking you into them, and Jack is about to fill the lead role in this drama. Bad magic is happening, thanks to someone making a grave mistake and trying to fool the powers-that-be. The kids need to figure out how to fix, well, just about everything that matters.

With its ever-building suspense, unexplained vanishings and soul-stealing, The Mostly True Story of Jack is a wonderful page turner. Much is left to be divulged in the book’s final chapters as the mystery grows deeper (perhaps a bit too much for readers in the younger half of the suggested 8-12 age range). Will Jack and his friends be able to set things right and balance the forces of good and bad? Hazelwood, Iowa, is in for some strange happenings, and readers who settle in for the ride are rewarded with creepy thrills.