"Natalie Kusz’s often-overlooked but astonishing memoir follows the story of her family, who jumped in a car in California in 1969 and moved to Alaska to homestead off the land near Fairbanks, where temperatures in the winter regular drop to 40 below. Kusz, who is 6 at the time, is attacked (and almost killed) by a sled dog, but the most compelling parts of the book are her poetic, unflinching reflections on everything from daughterhood to motherhood to what it means to build your own home—literally, out of scrap lumber and visqueen."

"I found this book interesting, uncomfortably informative, addictive and necessary. “Looking for Palestine” is a memoir/coming-of-age by the young Najla Said, an actress, writer and daughter of the brilliant Edward Said (a Columbia professor and prominent advocate of Palestine independence), and Mariam Said (artist, writer and activist). I’ve seen Najla’s play of the same name, but her book took me even further into this young New Yorker’s quest to make some sense of all of her worlds. If your goal is to be immersed and moved, this is it."