A World of Changes, Choices, and Difficult Transitions
Editor’s Note

This issue presents reviews of books with the potential for deep thought as well as inquiry. For younger readers, there are books such as Life According to Dani and The Upside Down Boy/El Niño de Cabeza, showing us the world through the perspectives of children who must negotiate life changes that seem too big for them. For older readers, there are books like Beck, I am Not a Dunce, Sunny, and The Bone Sparrow, which present both current and historical situations that young people have had to overcome on their way to belonging (to others and to the world). Finally, there is Half a Man and Talking Leaves, two stories that present readers with situations that will both enlighten as well as provoke inquiry into historical events that changed the world.

The books in this issue contain difficult situations that readers may find disconcerting. The world is filled with such disequilibrium, and by reading the truth of others’ experiences and situations, we have the opportunity to make choices that might lead to more acceptance, more kindness, and more understanding that can change the world.

Readers are invited to submit reviews for our next issues:

Winter 2017-2018: (Submission Deadline: November, 30, 2017) “The World in the Early 20th Century”. Review books that present the years between 1900 and 1936 in any part of the world. Books about global topics such as world-wide immigration, the Great Depression, WWI, the Great Migration, the Russian Revolution, Spanish influenza pandemic, opening of the Panama Canal, Chinese Communism establishment, the race to the North Pole, and Hitler’s ascent to power, and open up this time period around the world to readers.

Spring 2018: (Submission Deadline: January 30, 2018) – Open Issue. Submit reviews of recent children’s and young adult books that highlight intercultural understanding and global perspectives.

Summer 2018: (Submission Deadline: April 30, 2018) – Moral/Ethical Dilemmas: Books that highlight dilemmas of conscience or situations that present aspects of communities and societies that conflict with traditional thinking or ways of behaving.

Happy and Thoughtful Reading!

Holly Johnson, Editor
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH