The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters. New York: Amulet Books, 2014. 978-1-4197-1216-6

Summary

Olivia has very strong opinions, and her Father is not a fan of them. In fact, he dislikes how opinionated Olivia is so much that he hires a hypnotist, Henri, to make Olivia change. However, Henri very cleverly words his instructions telling Olivia to “see the world how it truly is” and the unexpected happens. Olivia starts seeing the people around her — friends, family, strangers on the street, how they truly are — and most often than not they appear to Olivia as monsters.
However, her father realizes what has happened and orders Henri to do it properly. So now Olivia has to work with Henri to make her father happy while making others see how horrible it is to have a voice and not be heard.

Summary

It’s a warm June day, and a very colorful parade is about to start! It’s a Pride parade, and everyone comes together to celebrate who they are. This Day In June includes end notes explaining the origination of Pride Parades and the meaning of the phrases used on each page. Included as well is a discussion suggestion/guide on how to talk with kids ranging in ages 3-18 about LBGTQ questions they may have.

Hiawatha and the Peacemaker by Robbie Robertson and David Shannon. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2015.

Summary

Hiawatha was having a rough time. His family was killed by the ongoing wars between the Iroquois tribes and hatred was festering in his heart. Then the peacemaker arrived, and told Hiawatha to let go of his hatred because if the five nations of the Iroquois did not come together they would destroy each other until no one was left. So Hiawatha became the messenger of the peacemaker and brought the five nations of the Iroquois together before war destroyed them all.

Summary

Libby and May are best friends who as kids invented Princess X, a comic they had no intention of sharing with anyone other than each other. But Princess X’s adventures come to an end when the car Libby and her mom are in goes off a bridge and Libby is presumed dead. However, May doesn’t accept that, she feels that she would KNOW if Libby is dead, so she knows that Libby is still alive somewhere. After some years go by May finds out that Princess X has become a hugely popular online comic… but she isn’t the one who published it, proving that Libby is still alive. So May, with the help of the hacker-boy who lives upstairs, follows the clues in the comic that only she would understand in order to find and save her best friend.