As a school librarian, I believe in using books to teach empathy to children and teens. Reading about perspectives that are outside of our everyday lives encourages us to be curious, ask questions, and seek information about unknown worlds. I am also guided by the educational concept of “windows and mirrors,” the idea that educators need to be aware not only of who is in their classrooms but also who is in the stories they study. “Books are sometimes the only place where read

British author, Matt Haig, is an advocate for mental health awareness. This advocacy informs his novel The Midnight Library as he delves into real life struggles with depression through a fictional world with infinite choices. His midnight library is the space between life and death. In this magical library, time stops, allowing a person to take a journey through alternating life choices and to try out other lives. My full review is on bookclique here.

Compelling historical novels make me want to read all night! THE EXILES by Christina Baker Kline is a fabulous story of three women in colonial Tasmania and Australia. The remarkable resilience and tenacity of women is the focus of Christina Baker Kline’s latest novel, The Exiles, in which Kline delves into the historical reality of female convicts who were sent from England to Tasmania and Australia in the nineteenth century. My full review is on bookclique blog here.

Kate Quinn's new WWII historical fiction book THE ROSE CODE is my favorite book I read last year. I had an advanced reading copy, it will be published in March 2021. This phenomenal novel is about three women w ho worked at Bletchley Park, offers readers insight into the secret lives of WWII cryptographers. Bletchley Park was where the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) worked to break the German code for the Enigma machine. Their efforts towards breaking the code hel