Claribel Ortega

How could her home not want her anymore? All for something she could not help. (237)

On the night of the Black Moon Ceremony, Seven Salazar and her best friend Poppy hope to be placed in House Hyacinth, but swear they'll be best friends no matter what - but then, only Poppy is placed in House Hyacinth, and Seven becomes a Spare, along with mean classmate Valley and new girl Thorn. As Spares, they'll never be full witches, and even worse, if they don't bind into a coven, they'll remain witchlings forever, with all their magic stripped from them - a fate so terrible Seven never even considered it before. Desperately, Seven invokes the Impossible Task: if the three of them can complete it, they can remain Spares. The only problem is right there in the name...it's impossible.

The Ravenskill town Gran declares that the girls' task is to defeat a Nightbeast. But as they work toward that goal, they discover that they're up against an even worse enemy: someone is controlling the Nightbeast, and that person has it in for Spares.

Creative and immersive world-building and magic, realistic interpersonal relationships (especially friendships), a few surprising twists and turns, and a tight time frame with high stakes - the girls will be turned into toads if they cannot defeat the Nightbeast in three weeks.

There are already two sequels!

CW: Valley's dad is abusive, but Seven reports what she's learned to her mother, who tells Valley's mother, who gets herself and Valley out of that situation.… (más)

This book is about a young named Yasmin and her journey towards self-acceptance of her curly hair. Her and her mom try to maintain her hair weekly or even daily. Her classmates are very judgmental and make rude comments towards her hair. Until one day she found a hair treatment to maintain her hair and everyone was complementing it and told her how great she looked, boosting her self confidence.

This book would be great for 4-5 graders. It is a graphic novel that can have an some intense moments where students this age can relate to being bullied by their classmates. But learning that you are born beautifully and knowing your importance and who the true people are in your life. This book has great encouragement.… (más)