The Salt Princess

Written by: Anoosha Syed

First line: Under a sky studded with diamond, surrounded by hills as green as emeralds, lived four princesses in the Kingdom of Zammarud.

Why you should read this book: Princess Amal, the youngest of four sisters, is funny and free and loves pranks and says exactly what she thinks, which, everyone predicts, will get her in trouble one day. And one day it does, when her father is so deeply and publicly embarrassed by her plain spokenness that he banishes her. Fortunately, in her banishment she meets and falls in love with a handsome prince who encourages her to think up a new prank, one to make her father see how much she loves him.

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's presented as being a traditional Pakistani story, but it's also a traditional European story most fairy tale aficionados have read before and this version does not seem to bring anything different for the tradition. 

All Is Nat Lost

Written by: Maria Scrivan First line: Hi, I'm Natalie! My class is learning about American independence so, Midway Middle School is taking a trip to Philadelphia Why you should read this book: Nat really wants to join her class for an overnight trip to Philadelphia, but her parents worry so much about whether she's responsible that she's afraid they won't let her go especially after she loses her bike. When they finally agree, Nat is overjoyed, and everything seems to be going well until she loses her phone and she and her friend lose the rest of the group! Now it's Nat and Flo in the big city, frantically trying to complete the scavenger hunt and find their way back to the rest of their class.

Why you shouldn't read this book: I imagine there is a species of parent that would lose their minds over a story about two pre-adolescent girls who get lost in a big city and not only does nothing bad happen to them, things work out pretty well.

Garlic and the Vampire

Written by: Bree Paulsen

First line: I tried to wake you so it's your fault if you're late today. 

Why you should read this book: Garlic, an anthropomorphic vegetable given life by Witch Agnes along with numerous other fruit and vegetable folks, is clumsy and anxious but dedicated to her work: providing garlic to the people of the village. One day, chaos and terror arrives in the form of a vampire inhabiting an ancient castle in the woods, and the other vegetables decide that Garlic, who naturally repels vampires, must go into the woods to investigate. Can Garlic overcome her fear and anxiety and defeat an enemy whose name strikes fear into her heart in this cozy tale of unearned terror? 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's a little bit silly, even for a children's vampire story.

American Animism: Stories

Written by: Jamey Gallagher

First line: She returned to work at the cryptid museum a week after the attack.

Why you should read this book: This one's a wild ride, and although there are certain themes that seem to recur through the unconnected stories, every one direct the reader to a different place with a different conclusion. Strange creatures, doomed relationships, tourist attractions, ghosts, and drug-fueled escape, both casual and chronic populate these fast-past short stories. Often, I have trouble with short fiction because I have to work to get into the story and then suddenly it's over, but these stories allowed me slip immediately into each world and then seemed to conclude at the perfect moment.

Why you shouldn't read this book: There is a fair amount of violence toward women, not gratuitously so, but not exactly pleasant either.

Kosher Soul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew

Written by: Michael W. Twitty

First line: When I first started talking about this developing this book, a fellow African American food writer asked what it was about, saying, "So you're not writing about Black [food], you're writing about Jewish [food]." 

Why you should read this book: Twitty goes on to explain that he is writing about Black Jewish food, because there are Black Jewish people and this is the second in a three-book trilogy (the first being The Cooking Gene) about the "intersections between food and identity." It takes the form of a series of essays and "mayseh" (stories) about the numerous threads that create Blackness and Judaism, and the food traditions that arise where these identities come together. Making the point that, while often overlooked as anomalies, Black Jews exist and the Black Jewish tradition in America is strong and stretches back centuries and encompasses a vast smorgasbord of flavor and ingredients; this book, of course, includes numerous delectable looking recipes.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You might need to have a previous interest in cooking or foodways or culinary history or at least intersectional identities to get into this one.