During this pandemic, but otherwise as well, we each try to find our place in life and how to reach it. Especially for older kids, that can often be a tumultuous task.

Reading books that address this in a variety of ways can help a child understand that he is not the only one struggling to find his way, and such books can assist him on his own journey forward. The books reviewed today do just that, and that’s good medicine.

Books to borrow

The following book is available at many public libraries.

“The Crow-Girl: The Children of Crow Cove” by Bodil Bredsdorff, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 155 pages

Read aloud: age 9 and older.

Read yourself: age 9 – 10 and older.

A girl lives with her grandmother in a small house by the sea. They have no neighbors, and while their existence is simple, it is filled with peace and great love. The girl’s grandmother has taught her many valuable lessons in life: about people, intuition, survival, the power of hope and perseverance and the joy of life.

When her grandmother dies, two crows beckon the girl to journey away from her home — a journey that leads to the very things her grandmother taught her: both good people and bad, the will to survive, and ultimately finding what lies deepest in her heart.

An exceptional literary work, this selection offers readers an extraordinary experience of what it is to be human and finding your place in the world.

Librarian’s choice

Library: Brandywine Community Library, 60 Tower Drive, Topton

Library director: Heather Wicke

Youth services coordinator: Yvonne Albright

Choices this week: “Make Way for Ducklings” by Robert McCloskey; “The Extraordinary Egg” by Leo Lionni; “Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures” by Kate DiCamillo

Books to buy

The following books are available at favorite bookstores.

The Unadoptables” by Hana Tooke, Viking, 2020, 275 pages, $17.99 hardcover

Read aloud: age 8 – 12.

Read yourself: age 9 – 12.

The Little Tulip Orphanage in 1800s Amsterdam was not the lovely place that the name implied. In fact, the matron of the orphanage, Elinora Gassbeck, presided over the orphans with an iron fist and did not tolerate anything but absolute adherence to her rules of conduct.

One summer, five babies arrived in unconventional means over a period of a few months. None of the babies had been abandoned according to the strict Rules for Baby Abandonment. This annoyed Gassbeck to such an extent that the babies, whom she named Egbert, Lotta, Sem, Fenna and Milou, were on her “list” from that day forward.

Over time, those five children became close friends. While all the orphans hoped for someone to adopt them, Milou felt certain that her parents would one day return and take her home. But while Milou waited, she and her friends, now age 12e, had been declared by Gassbeck as unadoptable and said they had one more chance to be chosen at the next lineup or she would cast them out of the orphanage. The children decided that no matter what, they would stay together.

As it turned out, the “last chance” lineup was immediate. The adopter, Bas Rotman, decided to adopt all five children, but Milou sensed something sinister about him and knew they must escape before that happened. What followed was a hair-raising dash along the back alleys and frozen canals of Amsterdam, into the countryside and to an old windmill with an abandoned puppet theater. All the while, Rotman is intent on finding the children, while the children are intent on finding Milou’s parents and staying together as a family.

Full of mystery, intrigue, action and danger, “The Unadoptables” is ultimately a novel of friendship, love and what family really means.

“Before the Ever After” by Jacqueline Woodson, Nancy Paulsen Books, 2020, 166 pages, $17.99 hardcover

Read aloud: age 10 – 12.

Read yourself: age 10 – 12.

“Used to be I said my dad was home and people would come running to my house. Now it feels like they’re trying to run away.”

That’s because ZJ’s dad was a pro football star and a hero to millions, but now, ZJ’s dad is not the same man he used to be. Increasingly ZJ’s dad gets migraine headaches, sometimes his hands shake, he forgets a lot of things and can be really moody. The doctors think that maybe it’s because he had so many concussions playing football, and until they can figure out what is really going on, he’s off the field.

ZJ and his friends miss ZJ’s old dad, and ZJ longs for answers and for his dad to return to who he once was. But throughout his fear and anxiety, ZJ realizes his friends aren’t trying to run away from him; they have his back 100% because that’s what friends do.

Told in verse, “Before the Ever After” is a powerful, beautifully written exploration what it is to adapt, face change and move forward despite uncertainties.

Nationally syndicated, Kendal Rautzhan writes and lectures on children’s literature. She can be reached at kendal@sunlink.net and kendal.rautzhan27@gmail.com.