Encounters with creepy truck drivers and too many prying questions have made Manny smart enough to know that anyone who helps him usually wants something in return. Manny is a seasoned hitchhiker with strict rules-he never tells the people he rides with the truth about himself or his circumstances, he doesn’t get attached to anybody, and he always follows his instincts when it’s time to move on. Informed by their own experiences as a homeless queer Latinx youth, Oshiro blazes through the demeaning rhetoric with a searingly honest portrayal of seventeen-year-old Manny, who’s had to make his own rules negotiating a world that has left him unsupported and alone.

Recent political winds have pushed LGBTQIA+ issues to the forefront of cultural discussions, but rarely does the discussion include the perspectives of queer young people living in a society that seems all too ready to pretend they don’t exist, or worse, attempts to reshape their identities to appease people who have never had their best interests at heart. foster care system, and statistic after statistic show this is especially true for queer teens of color. It’s a sad reality that too many children fall through the cracks of an inept U.S. Polydoros, Aden Ring of Solomon. Inkyard, 2023 See this month’s Big Picture, below, for review. Oshiro, Mark Into the Light. Tor Teen, 2023 Kemp, Laekan Zea An Appetite for Miracles. Little, 2023 Hatke, Ben Reynard’s Tale: A Story of Love and Mischief written and illus. by Lauren Gibaldi and Eric Smith. Candlewick, 2023

9-12Įsbaum, Jill Stinkbird Has a Superpower illus. by Jennifer Harney. Little, 2023 Įagar, Lindsay The Family Fortuna. Candlewick, 2023 10-12ĭyckman, Ame How Dinosaurs Went Extinct: A Safety Guide illus. 8-12ĭe Leon, Jennifer Borderless. Dlouhy/Atheneum, 2023 Crespo, Alex Saint Juniper’s Folly. Peachtree, 2023

Ben hatke books