Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara (out Aug 3): Aki Ito is just like any other gal in 1944 Chicago, or at least that’s what she wishes. The war rages on in both Europe and the Pacific, young men are drafted, and rations are tight, but Aki is also Nisei, first generation Japanese-American. Her family was recently released from Manzanar and relocated to Chicago where her sister, Rose, had been sent months before. The day before Aki and her parents arrive in Chicago, Rose is killed by a subway train. The police say she committed suicide, but Aki doesn’t believe it and vows to find out just what happened to Rose Ito. A beautifully rendered snapshot of a tragic time in American history, a heartbreaking crime that speaks volumes to today, and a gutsy heroine who fights for truth, from herself and the world that has turned so topsy-turvy.

-Linda

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy (out Aug 3): In the remote Scottish Highlands, Inti Flynn and her team of wolf biologists have reintroduced wolves into the landscape in a rewilding effort. Amidst conflict with local farmers who fear the wolves’ return, Inti must confront the bleak and seemingly endless mess that is the present, while being haunted by the ghosts of her past and her own fears over facing her future. Inti yearns to stay in the wild with her wolves even as she consistently has to deal with humans, butting heads with the closed-minded, frightened locals and sparring with the enigmatic police chief after a resident’s disappearance is blamed on the wolves. The way McConaghy writes packs a multitude of intense punches that you won’t soon forget. Her language brings Scotland’s frozen forests to life around you in this poignant story that’s both a love letter to wildness and to deep character exploration. It will leave you stunned.

-Karen

Displacement by Kiku Hughes: Sixteen-year-old Kiku has never given much thought to her Japanese heritage. But when she takes a trip to San Francisco to visit her grandmother’s old house, she is sent back to the 1940s to a Japanese internment camp. Without warning, Kiku becomes stuck in the past and lives through the injustices of racism and xenophobia. She learns about the conflict between the generations of Japanese Americans, those who immigrated to America, and those born here. She faces the confusing and hard choices the Nikkei had to make – to fight for freedom or fall in line to see another day. Along with Kiku’s journey comes a lesson about memory and how important it is to connect to the tragedies of the past so that we don’t repeat them again. This is a story of finding hope where hopelessness lies in every corner, beautifully illustrated with images that tug on the reader’s senses to capture Kiku’s dark but enlightening experience. -Rachael