Genre: Realistic Fiction

Pippa Park Raises Her Game

Pippa Park’s seventh-grade year is looking bleak. With her failing math grade, Pippa’s older sister Mina is thinking about restricting her from trying out for the basketball team. However, a scholarship allows Pippa to reinvent herself by transferring to the prestigious Lakeview Private (as long as she keeps her grades up).  

At first, everything seems to go smoothly; she makes new friends, establishes herself as a star player on the basketball team, and even improves her math grade through tutoring sessions with the school’s resident jock, Eliot Haverford. Pippa has officially invented herself as “cool.” But the cost of her newfound popularity is her family and former friends. Pippa starts to ignore her best friend Buddy, who is “uncool” by her new friends’ standards. Most of her friends come from privileged backgrounds, so Pippa feels pressure to hide the fact that she’s being raised by her sister, Mina, who owns a laundromat. In addition, Pippa absolutely can’t let anyone know about her crush on Eliot Haverford, or that she hails from Victoria Middle School, the public school that is Lakeview Private’s number one enemy.  

Soon, Pippa’s lies start to catch up with her, and an anonymous cyberbully starts to send her threatening messages online, exposing the truth of Pippa’s past. Her friendship with Buddy is ruined, her new “friends” turn against her due to her interest in Eliot, and her scholarship falls into jeopardy when her math grade plummets. Additionally, her desire to learn more about Eliot has caused a rift in his family.  

Overnight, Pippa’s life falls apart. Pippa says, “I got caught up in this idea that I could be someone different . . . I kept thinking that if I just made myself into someone else, then one day I would become [popular]. I would be Eliot’s girlfriend. I would belong at Lakeview. But I never will. It’s not my world.” Mina’s husband, Jung-Hwa, reassures Pippa by saying, “Everyone makes mistakes. . . This will pass eventually.” This advice, though simple, helps Pippa reassess the situation and start to make amends for the things she can change, like apologizing to Buddy. Soon, she is able to embrace her past, repair her friendships, and start anew – this time, as her true self – at Lakeview Private. 

Pippa Park Raises Her Game is a story about self-acceptance. Middle school is a trying time – both an opportunity to reinvent oneself and a challenge to figure out who you are. Pippa believes that trying to be cool will make her happy. But she discovers that accepting herself, her background, and her flaws gives her more happiness than trying to fit the mold of a typical Lakeview Private student. Pippa is a relatable character because she’s similar to middle school kids who are trying to find their identity, and caving to societal pressures. Pippa is a bit impulsive, which gives the story more action than a typical middle school novel. The overall plot is simple but has enough layers to be interesting and keep readers guessing until the end. Pippa’s love for basketball (and her knack for getting into trouble) makes this story entertaining.  

Pippa is also Korean American, and her family occasionally speaks in Korean, which is Romanized from the Korean alphabet in the book. The language makes sense in context and is paired with Pippa referencing Korean cultural touchpoints, like snacks, Kpop, Kdramas, and Chuseok, which Pippa explains is like a Korean Thanksgiving. Other characters do occasionally commit microaggressions against Pippa, making comments on various aspects of her Korean identity. For instance, one of Pippa’s teammates smells the kimchi that Pippa brings for lunch. When Pippa explains what it is, the girl says, “I was wondering what that smell was.” In the text, it is not meant kindly, and it deters Pippa from bringing her family’s leftovers for lunch in the future. Although these moments aren’t the focus of the text, they present a real battle that Pippa must deal with at her new, upper-crust, and presumably white school. 

Pippa’s shame and acceptance of her culture is another point of contention with her Lakeview identity. She says, “The shame I’d felt about Jung-Hwa’s homemade lunches, irritation at his clumsy gestures of affection, and embarrassment at his grimy clothes – they all sent a wave of guilt over me. He was the kindest man I’d ever known. Why did any of the rest of it matter?” Pippa thinks that being cool means not associating herself with her family or her origins, but ends up wondering why she should have to be ashamed of her family to fit in. Overall, Pippa ends up being a layered, yet relatable narrator who learns that embracing her identity – not running from it – leads to more genuine happiness.  

Pippa Park Raises Her Game is good for basketball fans and students who are looking for a novel that doesn’t only focus is basketball. Pippa’s story is not uncommon, and it’s important that young readers learn to recognize and empathize with these themes. Although the dialogue sometimes feels a bit young for middle schoolers, the story doesn’t lose impact because of it. Young readers will be able to take away many lessons from this book, especially about staying true to oneself and improving self-esteem. If you’re looking for a book with similar themes, check out I’m Ok by Patti Kim and The Comeback: A Figure Skating Novel by E.L. Shen. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • Eliot’s grandfather and grandmother died in a car accident. Eliot’s grandparents’ car “ran off the road” leaving “their little baby son an orphan.” It’s described once briefly, “some maniac ran their car off the road.” This is mentioned a few times. 
  • Mina is Pippa’s older sister who raised her. In many ways, Mina is like Pippa’s parent. Mina is angry at Pippa one day and says, “I have half a mind to really bring you up by the hand . . . The tips of Mina’s fingers twitched, like she was thinking about giving [Pippa] a good slap.” 
  • Jung-Hwa, Mina’s husband, brings news that Pippa’s mom has been in a car crash in Korea. Jung-Hwa says, “She’s in the hospital, in critical condition.” Mina explains later that, “She ran a stoplight. Another car slammed right into her. After it hit the passenger side, her car spun out of control, and she had a head-on collision with a light pole.” Pippa’s mom survives the crash. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • Pippa calls herself an “idiot” for telling her name to a stranger, “Oh man! I definitely wasn’t supposed to tell him my name. I wanted to hit my palm against my forehead. Idiot!”  
  • Light language is used occasionally throughout the book. Terms include lousy, stupid, and jerk. 
  • Pippa is Korean American, and some of the people she meets are openly racist towards her. For instance, Pippa struggles with math and one student in class says to her, “Aren’t Asians supposed to be good at math?”  
  • Pippa mentions other backhanded racist comments that people often say. For example, Pippa is talking about Disney movies and mentions that most people think that Mulan is her favorite because they say, “You look just like her!” 
  • A classmate of Pippa’s, Caroline, comments on Pippa’s skin tone, inadvertently being racist. Caroline says to Pippa, “You do look a little sick. Or maybe you’re always this washed-out.” The other girls reprimand her, but don’t address why what Caroline said was rude. 
  • Another girl comments on the medical care that Pippa’s mom is receiving in Korea. She says, “I’m sure there are really good doctors in Seoul. My dentist is Korean —  he’s great.” 

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen!

Vivy Cohen is determined. She’s had enough of playing catch in the park. She’s ready to pitch for a real baseball team.

But Vivy’s mom is worried about Vivy being the only girl on the team, and the only autistic kid. She wants Vivy to forget about pitching, but Vivy won’t give up. When her social skills teacher makes her write a letter to someone, Vivy knows exactly who to choose: her hero, Major League pitcher VJ Capello. Then two amazing things happen: A coach sees Vivy’s amazing knuckleball and invites her to join his team. And VJ starts writing back!

Now Vivy is a full-fledged pitcher, with a catcher as a new best friend and a steady stream of advice from VJ. But when a big accident puts her back on the bench, Vivy has to fight to stay on the team. 

Many readers will relate to Vivy, who often struggles with understanding other people. Because she is autistic, Vivy often feels stupid, worthless, and weird. Even though it is difficult for her to discuss her feelings, she tries to use positive communication skills. However, when Vivy joins the baseball team, one of the players, Kyle, often makes mean comments to her. Even though the comments are hurtful, Vivy doesn’t tell her coach or her parents. Unfortunately, VJ Capello is the only person she confides in, and despite his advice to tell an adult, Vivy refuses to do so. 

Much of the story revolves around baseball practice and games. In addition, the story also includes some interesting baseball facts. Vivy’s love of baseball is clear and her determination to play despite her mother’s protest is admirable. Through baseball, Vivy becomes more confident and is also able to make a friend. Despite the baseball action, some readers may have a difficult time navigating through Vivy’s inner dialogue. Readers will gain insight into autism and understand Vivy’s emotions, but sometimes Vivy’s feelings are described in great detail which makes the story drag. 

Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen! is a must-read for any reader who wants to understand autism. However, the story will also appeal to any reader who loves baseball as well as those who feel different. Through Vivy’s experiences, readers will learn the importance of perseverance. In addition, the story highlights the importance of talking to a trusted adult. However, one of the most impactful lessons is not to make assumptions about other people. At one point, Vivy’s dad reminds her, “Don’t assume things without talking to someone about it first.” A Boy Called Bat would be an excellent book to pair with Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen! if you want to learn more about autism. However, if you want a winning baseball book, Soar by Joan Bauer hits it out of the park. 

Sexual Content  

  • Vivy’s brother reveals that he is dating another boy. Afterward, Vivy thinks, “I don’t think my parents are bigots. One of my dad’s friends from work is gay, and our rabbi is married to another woman.” Her inner dialogue goes on for half a page. 

Violence  

  • During practice, Kyle grabs Vivy’s ponytail, and “he tugged it. HARD.” Vivy starts yelling. “Everything was bad. I felt Kyle’s slimy hand on my hair long after he pulled away. It oozed from the tips of my hair down to the base of my spine.” The coach calms Vivy down. However, Vivy doesn’t tell him about Kyle’s bullying.” 
  • After practice, Vivy “finds a note in my duffel bag. . . It was written on yellow notebook paper in black Sharpie: GO AWAY, FREAK.” 
  • During a game, one of the players puts “a gigantic wad of already-been-chewed gum right in the middle of the webbing.” 
  • During a baseball game, Vivy is pitching when “the ball rocketed straight off the bat. Toward me. . . I froze. The big white boulder roared right toward my head, filling up my sight. . . It hit me in the forehead.” Vivy has to go to the hospital and has a concussion.  
  • After Vivy’s accident, she tells her parents, “There’s only ever been one person who got killed by a baseball. That was a hitter, not a pitcher. In 1920 Carl Mays hit Ray Chapman with a pitch and he died later that day.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • In her inner dialogue, Vivy often calls others names such as jerk, stupid, coward, buffoon, loser,  
  • When Vivy joins the baseball team, her teammate Kyle bullies her. At school, Kyle says, “I thought my father got a regular girl for our team, but it’s even worse. We have ourselves a monkey-girl. She can’t even eat a sandwich. Or talk like a real person.” Another boy from the team, joins the group and calls Kyle and his friends “losers.” 
  • Kyle calls the catcher on his team “shrimpy.” 
  • Klye makes fun of Vivy saying, “I’m Vivy and I can’t pitch to the big scary boy because I had mush for brains even before I got hit in the head.” Later, he continues to harass her by saying, “Hey, monkey-girl . . . I thought for sure you’d switch to softball. Or the Special Olympics.” 
  • In a letter to Vivy, VJ Capello writes: “There’s no excuse for such cruelty and I know too well how much it hurts. Even if the people hurling the insults are utter buffoons like Kyle. . .”  
  • After a bad game, Vivy thinks, “I totally sucked.” 
  • Heck is used five times. 
  • Freaking is used twice. 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • Vivy’s dad “always says that he has two religions—Reformed Judaism and baseball.” 
  • Vivy’s family is Jewish and occasionally she talks about a religious holiday. 

Life in the Balance

Veronica Conway has been looking forward to trying out for the All-Star softball team for years. She’s practically been playing softball since she was a baby. She should have this tryout on lock. Except right before tryouts, Veronica’s mom announces that she’s entering rehab for alcoholism, and her dad tells her that they may not be able to afford the fees needed to be on the team.

Veronica decides to enter the town talent show in an effort to make her own money, but along the way she discovers a new hobby that leads her to doubt her feelings for the game she thought she loved so much. Is her mom the only one learning balance, or can Veronica find a way to discover what she really wants to do with her life?

Life in the Balance takes a close look at how alcoholism affects Veronica, as well as her family and friends. When Veronica’s mom goes into rehab, Veronica is embarrassed so she doesn’t tell anyone. This, in addition to softball tryouts, adds a lot of stress to Veronica’s life. Since the book is written from Veronica’s point of view, readers get an inside look at her struggles. Often, Veronica worries that her behavior may hurt her mother and force her to revert to drinking alcohol. Readers who know someone who has been affected by alcoholism will learn positive ways to cope. However, because most of the story revolves around Veronica’s inner turmoil, there is little suspense or action.

Readers who want a fast-paced sports book will be disappointed by Life in the Balance, which has no play-by-play softball action. While Veronica says that she loves playing softball, trying out for the All-Star softball team only brings her stress. This is partly because Veronica’s family has a history of playing softball. This includes Veronica’s mom, her grandmother, and her great-grandma, who played in the All-American Girls Softball League during World War II. Unfortunately, Life in the Balance’s only softball action is when Veronica goes to practice, but even none of the scenes are described in detail.

Readers affected by alcoholism will be able to relate to Veronica’s struggles and gain insight into the importance of getting professional help. Readers who aren’t interested in the topic of alcoholism will have a hard time finishing the book because of its singular focus and slow pace. If you’re looking for a more exciting book that deals with alcoholism, check out The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade by Jordan Sonnenblick. For a fast-paced softball story that also deals with middle school angst, catch a copy of Much Ado About Softball by Rajani LaRoca and Out of Left Field by Ellen Klages.

Sexual Content  

  • During a “Growing Up” lesson at school, the teacher “didn’t separate the girls and the boys because he wanted to make sure kids questioning their gender would be comfortable.” 
  • One of Veronica’s friends’ “parents kiss a lot in public, which makes us blush and avert our eyes.” 

Violence  

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Veronica’s mother is an alcoholic who enters rehab after she goes to work drunk. Veronica’s mom says, “I drank a bit too much during my lunch meeting. I hadn’t quite, um, gotten back to normal, and the client I was meeting with noticed what was going on. She, uh, told my boss.” 
  • Veronica and her dad go to the rehab center to visit. While taking a tour, Veronica’s dad says, “This reminds me of the dorm room I had senior year of college. . . The kitchen was such a mess, too, always covered in empty beer bot—” Veronica thinks her dad looks upset, “like just mentioning the word beer he’ll get in trouble.” 
  • Veronica takes Tylenol for a headache. 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • One of Veronica’s friends gets a psychic reading from her aunt, who says, “The future is looking bright and the people [she] loves won’t let me down.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

A Soft Place to Land

Janae Marks’ novel follows twelve-year-old Joy as she and her family move from their house into a much smaller apartment building. After her dad loses his job, their family can no longer afford a lot of things that they previously were able to, and this only adds to Joy’s sadness and confusion about living somewhere new. Joy admits that she feels “sad that my family had to move.” 

One of the major themes in this book is families facing financial struggles and how children perceive it. Because of their new financial difficulties, Joy notices that her parents are arguing a lot. When Joy overhears her parents arguing, Joy becomes extremely upset and she feels she needs to reassure her younger sister, Malia, that her parents are not going to separate.  Joy’s parents continue to argue, and after her father spends the night away “to get some space,” Joy worries that they will get a divorce.  

Because of how open she is about her feelings and struggles with change, Joy is an extremely empathetic character. At first, Joy is focused on how much she misses her family’s previous home. Joy explains, “I wish we were back in our real home, where Mom and Dad got along . . . I wish I’d known that last Christmas would be our last in the house.” However, through making friends with Nora, another girl who lives in the building, Joy is able to make new memories. For instance, Joy and Nora meet up with other kids who live in the apartment complex to play board games in a place they call “the Hideout;” this time with other kids makes Joy feel included. Joy says, “I’m so glad I have the Hideout now, too, and these four friends.” 

Joy learns an important lesson about how even our closest friends can secretly be going through a rough time. For example, Nora appears to be fine on the surface, and Joy tells Nora, “I told you what was going on with me, and I thought you’d talk to me about your stuff, too.” Nora reveals, “I miss my dead mom, okay? I wish she was here, but she’s not, and she’s never going to come back.” Joy realizes after their fight that, “It was wrong of me to expect you to tell me about your problems, just because I told you about mine . . . I promise I’ll be there for you, but if you don’t want to talk about something, we won’t.” This important realization makes both girls feel more confident in their friendship. Nora and Joy’s friendship leaves readers with a positive outlook on new environments and the possibility of making friends in a new place. 

Overall, Marks’ novel excellently showcases Joy’s changing perspective on her family’s move. Initially admitting that she is frustrated with their move to the smaller apartment, Joy explains, “I hate that so much is out of my control.” This allows many readers to sympathize with Joy, even if they have not gone through a similar situation. Plus, many young readers will relate to the overwhelming feelings that come with big life changes.  

The ultimate focus of this novel is the importance of family and friendship. As Joy says, it is important to recognize that even when you are struggling, “You are not alone.” Joy’s growing friendship with Nora is central to the book and highlights how readers can find happiness and friendship in new situations. Joy’s realization at the end of the novel leaves readers with an important message: “I still miss our house, and our memories there, but what made it feel like home were my parents and sister.” Joy recognizes that friends and family are what shape her happy memories, not necessarily the specific place where she is.  

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • While walking her neighbor’s dog, Ziggy, Joy loses her grip on his leash, and he runs away. Ziggy is lost for several days and is ultimately found, but not in good health. “There is Ziggy, lying down on a bean bag chair next to the bookshelf. He looks weak, and like he can’t get up . . . he’s dehydrated.” Ultimately, Ziggy is brought to the vet and gets the treatment he needs to get better. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

On Air with Zoe Washington

Marks’ novel follows fourteen-year-old Zoe as she begins her summer job working at a local bakery, where she and her biological father, Marcus, begin to bond over their love of baking. Marcus has recently been exonerated, after being previously incarcerated for most of Zoe’s childhood. Zoe and Marcus decide to open a barbecue food truck together, but first, they have to reckon with the systemic obstacles facing Marcus as an exoneree. Though Marcus is entitled to compensation from the state as an exoneree, Zoe quickly realizes that this process often takes a very long time. Marcus explains, “My lawyer is already working on it, but he told me not to expect compensation anytime soon,” as the state can make obtaining this compensation difficult.  

Because Marcus was in prison for so long, he does not have credit in the eyes of the bank and thus he is denied a loan to open a business. After this setback, Zoe begins researching how the lives of exonerees are affected after they are released from prison. Zoe finds that for many exonerees, “the original conviction was still on [their] record, and [they] had a hard time getting a job.” Zoe believes that “it didn’t seem fair. Was it really justice if [exonerees] couldn’t get back to living a regular life?” This realization motivates Zoe to start a podcast, which she calls “On Air with Zoe Washington.” For her podcast, Zoe interviews exonerees and lawyers who frequently work with them. Zoe hopes to help amplify exonerees’ voices on how being incarcerated affects their lives.  

Zoe is a determined, hard-working, loveable character that readers will be drawn to immediately. She not only wants to help her biological father open his business, but she also wants to help raise awareness for the systemic obstacles that affect formerly incarcerated individuals. Zoe uses her podcast as a platform to bring attention to the fundraising page she and Marcus created for their food truck business, and how they intend to hire previously incarcerated people to work with them. Throughout the book, Zoe learns from the people she interviews on her podcast, as well as from Marcus, the importance of not making assumptions and judgments about individuals. Marcus reminds Zoe of the people he met in prison and the importance of second chances, especially when it comes to finding work after incarceration.  

Marcus is also an extremely empathetic character. He helps Zoe become more open-minded towards the idea of hiring previously incarcerated people. Marcus explains that he met many people in prison who “weren’t innocent of their crimes but served their time and are ready to do better.” However, prisoners struggle to find jobs after their release because “people on the outside judge. They think ‘Once a criminal, always a criminal.’ But if they were more open-minded, they’d see that’s not the case for a lot of folks.” Marcus helps Zoe realize that “previous offenders were like many of us—worthy of another chance.” Zoe learns that if she wants things to be better for Marcus, she also has to try to make things better for others.  

Overall, On Air with Zoe Washington emphasizes the importance of not being judgmental towards others. Marks maintains the familiar characters from the first book in this two-part series, From the Desk of Zoe Washington. Though this second novel could be read as a stand-alone book, Zoe’s journey in reconnecting with Marcus and helping him prove his innocence is central to From the Desk of Zoe Washington, and frequently referenced in this novel as well.  

The book also raises awareness about the stigma and systemic obstacles facing formerly incarcerated individuals. This is highlighted through Marcus as he struggles to use new technology, and he isn’t “able to get exoneree compensation from the state, or any other assistance or loans.” The key takeaway of this novel is best exemplified by what Zoe explains: “I learned so much from all of [the people Zoe interviewed], and in the end, I was happy the panel topic had shifted to include prior inmates who had committed their crimes. Because they deserved grace, support, and a better life, too.”  

Readers who are interested in social issues such as the ones discussed in On the Air with Zoe Washington, should also read A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee and Clean Getaway by Nic Stone. 

Sexual Content  

  • Zoe’s best friend, Maya, tells Zoe about how she kissed her boyfriend, Trevor, for the first time. Maya says, “Trevor and I . . . we finally kissed.” Maya says the kiss was “kind of awkward the first few seconds, but it got way better after that.”  

Violence  

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Zoe talks with Hannah, a girl whose mom is incarcerated. Hannah says her mom’s “crimes are all drug-related like she got caught with drugs. Usually, she ends up in prison for a while, and when she gets out, she’ll agree to go to rehab . . . But then she ends up back on drugs, gets arrested again, and it’s this whole horrible cycle.” 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • Marcus leads Zoe and the rest of her family in prayer before their dinner. “Marcus closed his eyes and thanked God for the food and this opportunity to be together.” 
  • Zoe explains, “My parents and Grandma weren’t religious, so I hadn’t grown up going to church. Praying wasn’t usually something we did before eating. It felt right, though, to give thanks in that moment.” 

Lupe Wong Won’t Dance

Lupe Wong wants to be the first female pitcher in the Major Leagues.   

She’s also championed causes her whole young life. Some worthy . . . like expanding the options for race on school tests beyond just a few bubbles. And some not so much . . . like complaining to the BBC about the length between Doctor Who seasons.

Lupe needs an A in all her classes in order to meet her favorite pitcher, Fu Li Hernandez, who’s Chinacan/Mexinese just like her. So when the horror that is square dancing rears its head in gym? Obviously, she’s not gonna let that slide.  

Lupe Wong Won’t Dance examines middle school drama by focusing on Lupe’s struggles. Middle-grade readers will empathize with Lupe as she tries to navigate the complexities of a middle school’s social hierarchy. Even though Lupe doesn’t mean to make enemies, she often does because she doesn’t always think about the consequences of her actions. For instance, Lupe gets upset and makes hurtful comments to her best friend, Andy. In response, Andy begins hanging out with the popular soccer girls and stops talking to Lupe. The two eventually work out their differences, and Lupe learns that she needs to “try to listen to people more instead of worrying about myself and my own goals.” 

Lupe’s family life is an integral part of the story. Lupe misses her father, who died in an accident. She also questions her father’s decision to quit playing baseball to care for his family. Lupe is desperate to meet Fu Li Hernandez because he reminds Lupe of her father, and many of Lupe’s actions are based on her need to earn straight A’s in order to meet Fu Li Hernandez. However, Lupe Wong Won’t Dance doesn’t include any baseball action other than one short practice and when Lupe finally meets Fu Li Hernandez. Still, meeting Fu Li Hernandez makes Lupe realize, “My dad was no quitter. Fu Li’s smile was like Dad’s the first time I whistled. The same smile when I finger-painted my entire face and body. . . And it’s the same smile he had when I hit my first baseball.”  

Lupe Wong Won’t Dance uses humor and middle school drama to highlight the importance of being inclusive. While the story explores the discrimination of the past, it does so in a nonjudgmental way that reminds readers that it’s important to take this advice: “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” Another important lesson the story imparts is the importance of self-acceptance. As Lupe’s friend says, “I shouldn’t change just so people will like me.” 

Lupe’s story is perfect for middle schoolers, especially those who often feel out of place. Lupe Wong Won’t Dance acknowledges that others can be cruel while challenging readers to overcome their difficulties. In the end, the story encourages readers to be kind and inclusive to others, even those who are different than you. For more middle school reads featuring a protagonist who feels out of place, read Out of Place by Jennifer Blecher, Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros, and A Thousand Questions by Saadia Faruqi. 

Sexual Content  

  • In order to get out of square dancing, Lupe researches the song “Cotton-Eyed Joe” and discovers the song’s origins. A YouTube video explains that the song refers “to a man making his rounds with the ladies. . . Why are his eyes white as cotton?. . . if one listens carefully to the words, poor ol’ Cotton-Eyed Joe’s eyes were whited out by chlamydia or syphilis—”  
  • After watching the YouTube video, Lupe looks up chlamydia and discovers it’s “a widespread, often asymptomatic sexually transmitted disease caused by chlamydia trachomatis” and syphilis is “a sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochete bacterium treponema pallidum.” 
  • Lupe’s mom asks her if she’s gay. Lupe replies, “I don’t know. I’m only twelve. I thought I’d figure it out in a few years.” 
  • On an online forum discussing students being forced to learn how to square dance, someone writes, “Outrageous! Should we bring back petticoats and chastity belts?”  

Violence  

  • When Lupe was in second grade, she saw her classmate Zola picking her nose. Lupe began calling Zola “the Green Goblin” and the name stuck. “She eventually found out I was the one who started the Green Goblin nickname and hasn’t spoken a word to me since.” 
  • While practicing her pitching, Lupe’s brother Paolo “takes me out at the knees. The wind is knocked out of me a little. He hoisted me back up by the waist of my jeans, giving me a wedgie.”  
  • When Paolo learned how to square dance, he was partnered with a popular girl. And at the time, his mom was making the kids take “Crock-Pot leftovers for lunch” which caused Paolo to fart a lot. “It’s hard to hide a fart when you do-si-do and spin around. . . between hand sweats and farting. . . she told everyone. . . It’s taken two years for everyone to stop calling me Flutterbutt.” 
  • In the PE locker room, Lupe finds her locker decorated in shaving cream that reads Guadapoopy. When Coach Solden sees it, she goes to wipe it off the locker. “Coach spins back around and one foot slips on remnant shaving cream. Her foot flies up in the air, and she tries to catch herself with one arm. She falls to the floor with a thump and a small crack. Lips pursed together, noises burble from her mouth that sound like cusswords in an alien language.” The coach broke her arm in the fall. 
  • Lupe’s mom tells her about Coach Becky Solden’s square dancing experience. “One by one, as a joke, the boys approached her and then passed her by for other girls. She was the only girl left. . . Just like the rest, [Bruce] walked up to her, but he stopped and bowed. . . Just before Becky touched his hand, Bruce jumped back and ran towards the boys’ locker room screaming. . . For the entire two weeks, we danced, every time a boy danced with Becky, he made monkey noises under his breath. . . Even some of the girls made monkey noises and pretended to scratch their armpits.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • When researching the song Cotton-Eyed Joe, one article says “he could have gotten his cloudy eyes from alcohol poisoning.”  

Language  

  • Variations of crap are used frequently. 
  • Heck is used occasionally.  
  • There is frequent name-calling such as jerk, dorks, doofus, idiot, nimrod, whiner, klutz, and others. 
  • When Lupe shows the school principal pictures of a “cropped, magged-up version” of an eye, the principal says, “Oh, gawd.” 
  • Samantha, a mean girl, calls Lupe “Guadaloopy.” Samantha also calls Lupe’s friend Andy, “Anda-loser.” In return, Lupe calls Samantha “Sam-o-nella.” 
  • During PE, Samantha whispers loudly, “Word is [Lupe’s] parents found her at the dump. That’s why she smells like a blowout diaper.” 
  • Lupe comments on “Skanky Potato Head.” 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • Before dinner, Lupe’s family prays. Her brother says, “Thank you God, for all that we have. Bless this interesting food to our bodies. And please help Lupe with her cleanliness so she can be next to you . . .” 
  • Before dinner, Paolo prays, “God, thank you for our grandparents who can cook. . . And thank you for giving Mr. Montgomery pinkeye so my algebra test is postponed. And help Lupe through puberty and bless this food.”  
  • Lupe thinks about her father. During Qingming, “the Chinese version of Dia de los Muertos . . . Grandma Wong takes us to the cemetery to burn paper things that represent what she thinks Dad needs in the afterlife. This year she burned a paper house and fake money. [Lupe] snuck in a paper baseball and bat.” 

Hot Cocoa Hearts

‘Tis the season. . . for heartbreak? Emery Mason is not a fan of the holidays. She’s so over the tinsel, the shopping, and all the other trappings of the season. Unfortunately, this year, Emery is forced to work — as an elf! — at her parents’ Santa photo booth at the mall. There, Emery meets Alejandro Perez, who works at the hot cocoa shop next door and is always full of holiday spirit. Alex is cute, but he’s nothing like Emery’s real crush — the brooding and artistic Sawyer Kade. 

But the more time Emery spends with Alex, the more she realizes that she may not be the Grinch she always thought she was. Soon a blizzard, a Secret Santa surprise, and a family disagreement throw Emery’s world upside down. Can Emery embrace the magic of the holidays and find the perfect boy to kiss under the mistletoe?

Like Scrooge, Emery doesn’t believe in Christmas and she isn’t afraid to kill other people’s Christmas joy. Because of Emery’s bah-humbug attitude, readers may find it difficult to connect to her. Emery’s hatred of all things Christmas is connected to her grandmother’s death. Despite this, it’s hard to sympathize with a character who makes young children cry. Like Scrooge, Emery eventually finds the true meaning of Christmas and the happy ending shows that the holidays are about “the magic of believing. The sheer fun of giving the gift of that to other people, of sharing it with them.” Even though the story has a happy ending, the book’s negative tone takes much of the joy out of reading it.

Emery’s bad attitude isn’t the book’s only negative aspect. Emery idolizes her crush Sawyer and is ecstatic when he finally notices her. However, she soon finds that it’s difficult to be honest with Sawyer. To make matters worse, Sawyer doesn’t seem to understand Emery at all. As Emery spends more time with Alex, she begins to question what she really believes. The love triangle adds suspense to the story, but Sawyer acts more like a confident adult than a preteen which makes some of the scenes unbelievable. However, the scenes between Emery and Alex are full of sweet moments that middle-grade readers will enjoy.

Unfortunately, readers may have a difficult time connecting with Emery. While her grief over her grandmother’s death is understandable, Emery’s bad attitude hurts others. Despite this, Hot Cocoa Hearts teaches the importance of not making assumptions about others. In addition, the conclusion is super sweet not only because Emery finds the joy of Christmas, but also because Emery finds an unexpected community that jumps in to help her when needed. Readers who are looking for a more joyful holiday book to curl up with should read the Celebrate the Season Series by Taylor Garland. However, if you’re feeling a bit like Scrooge, Young Scrooge: A Very Scary Christmas Story by R.L. Stine gives the typical Christmas story a new twist.

Sexual Content 

  • Emery and Alex are at a spice store and suddenly she “wasn’t focused on the beans. I was looking at Alex’s mouth, at how soft and full his lips looked. And then a thought flashed through my head. What might it be like to kiss Alex?”
  • Emery goes on a date with Sawyer. Afterward, “he leaned toward me, and my eyes closed instinctively as my heart pummeled my chest. . . But at the last second, when we were so close I felt the warmth of his breath, I panicked and turned my face to the side. His lips brushed against my cheek.”
  • While at a holiday party, Emery finds Alex and puts mistletoe over her head. Then, she “stood on my toes and kissed him. The kiss was breathtaking and sweet.”
  • While at the mall, Alex “leaned close and gave [Emery] another sweet, lingering kiss.”

Violence 

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • When Alex gets sick, his grandfather had him “take a temazcal herb steam treatment.”

Language 

  • Omigod is used occasionally. 
  • Crud and darn are each used once. 

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • While working at the mall, Emery prays that none of her friends see her.
  • Alex’s grandfather has a sign on the wall that says, “Oh divine chocolate. . . we beat it with our hands in prayer, and we drink it with our eyes lifted to the heavens.”

Ice-Cold Birthday

A seven-year-old girl is excited about having a birthday party, but she’s a little worried because she often has bad luck. When the day of her party arrives, it starts out great! But then, it starts to snow and snow and snow. Then the electricity goes out and no one can come to her party. “No cake. No party. No fun. Just an ice-cold birthday!”

But her mom brings out ice cream and cookies. Then the girl makes shadow puppets with her sister. When the girl opens her present and finds a brand-new sled, she realizes the snow isn’t all bad luck because there is plenty of snow for sledding. The girl expected her birthday to be awful, but then she realizes, “Lucky for me, it snowed! . . .Maybe I don’t have such bad luck after all.” 

The level 2 book is perfect for readers in preschool and grade one. However, the topic will still appeal to readers who are in higher grades. Each page has a large illustration that will help readers understand the plot. Each page also has two to six easy-to-read sentences. The mix of illustrations, simple sentences, and the highly suspenseful plot will have readers eager to finish the story.

Ice-Cold Birthday is surprisingly suspenseful. From the first page, readers will wonder what other bad luck will happen to the unnamed girl. Readers will understand the girl’s excitement about her upcoming birthday party and her disappointment when the party is snowed out. With her family’s help, the girl has a fun-filled night that highlights how a positive attitude can make bad luck turn into good luck. 

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language 

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Jackpot

Meet Rico: high school senior and afternoon-shift cashier at the Gas ‘n’ Go who also takes care of her younger brother. Every. Single. Day. When Rico sells a jackpot-winning lotto ticket, she thinks maybe her luck will finally change, but only if she—with some assistance from her popular and wildly rich classmate Zan—can find the ticket holder, who still hasn’t claimed their prize. But what happens when have and have-nots collide? Will this investigative duo unite. . . or divide? 

Told from Rico’s point of view, Jackpot highlights the difficulties of living in poverty. Many readers will sympathize with Rico’s struggles and relate to her insecurities. Rico is an interesting, well-developed character who believes poverty has stolen all her opportunities. In contrast, Zan has never had to worry about money. Despite this, Zan feels his only option is to work for his family’s company.  

In the end, both characters realize, “Everyone has choices. Are some of them hard? Yes. But if you want something bad enough. . .” Rico and Zan’s relationship gives both of them a new perspective and the bravery to take control of their lives.  

Even though Rico and Zan are completely opposite from each other, they each have universal teen conflicts that readers will connect with. Neither character allows others to see their true selves. Zan has closed himself off because he is afraid others will take advantage of him due to his family’s wealth. On the other hand, Rico’s life has been so consumed with work — schoolwork, her job, and caring for her brother — that she has no friends. In addition, Rico feels inferior to her wealthy classmates. Being friends with Zan teaches Rico that not having money doesn’t mean you’re not as worthy as those who do. 

Many teen readers will connect with Jackpot because of the interesting characters and universal themes. While readers will sympathize with Rico’s situation, Zan is the real star because his quirky behavior is humorous and endearing. Even though Rico and Zan are realistic characters, the conclusion is not quite believable. Despite this, Jackpot’s focus on class will leave readers thinking about how one’s class affects every aspect of life. In the author’s note, Stone explains that Jackpot reinforces the idea that “there’s a whole lot more to people than how much — or how little — is in their bank account.” Readers who want another book that explores classism should check out I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal and Class Act by Jerry Craft.  

Sexual Content  

  • Zan goes to see Rico at work. As he’s leaving, he “yanks” her forward. Rico collides “with his chest—then he’s wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me off my feet. . .” Afterwards, she is “legitimately hot all over.”  
  • ​​​Rico’s grandfather was “a white guy. . . he had a one-night stand with an . . . escort he’s pretty sure was black, then ten months later, my mom was left on his doorstep.”  
  • Rico’s mom got pregnant when she was in college. “She spent a month in Spain and came back pregnant. . . she didn’t know about his wife and kids. . .” 
  • Rico’s friend Jessica says, “Timberlake’s old news, but I’d totally have his babies if I weren’t so bent on having Ness’s [her boyfriend].” Later, it is revealed that Jessica and Ness are sexually active. 
  • Rico goes to a friend’s house where she’s surprised to see Zan. When Zan sees her, she describes how “he rushes over and scoops me up in what I can only describe as THE HUG. . . he holds me by the shoulders and basically eats every inch of my body.” 
  • After getting drunk, Rico wakes up next to Zan. Even though they are both fully dressed, Rico thinks that they hooked up and she just can’t remember it. An older woman tells Ric
  • o that after her first marriage broke up, she met Lionel. “Lionel really knew his way around a lady, if you catch my drift.” 
  • While Rico is working, an adult buys a Playboy magazine from the convenience store. 
  • Rico’s brother asks if she’s had a wet dream. He explains what he means. “They’re dreams where you’re doing it with somebody, duh. Mason’s big brother has them all the time and he pees out sticky stuff in the bed, so that’s why they’re called wet.” 
  • Jessica and her boyfriend are kissing when someone tells them to “get a room.” 
  • Rico and Zan pose as a couple in order to look at houses for rent. As part of the ruse, Zan tells the real estate agent that they “’had a little too much fun after winter homecoming, if you catch my drift.” Zan winks and pats Rico’s belly. 
  • Rico has an emotional moment and begins to cry. To comfort her, Zane “draws me in to him. The more I cry, the closer we get until I’m curled in his khaki’s lap like a toddler, sobbing into the neck of his perfectly pressed polo shirt.” After snuggling for a few minutes, Zane says, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you should probably get off my lap now.”  

Violence  

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Zan thinks Rico is acting “high strung.” He tells her, “We need to get you some good weed or something.” 
  • Jessica’s mother “drinks away most of her paycheck.” 
  • Rico goes to a friend’s house. The teens there drink alcohol and get “a bit tipsy.” 
  • Jessica wonders which one of the cheerleaders is in “therapy and on anti-anxiety meds.”  
  • When Rico’s brother has a fever, she gives him ibuprofen. 

Language  

  • Profanity is used often. Profanity includes variations of ass, asshole, bitch, crap, dumbass, damn, hell, pissed, shit and motherfu–.  
  • Lord, God, Jesus, and other religious names are used as explanations often.  
  • When Rico wakes up next to Zan, she thinks, “Might as well have a red letter T for tramp tattooed on my cheek.” 
  • Rico thinks someone is a douche-jackass and a son-of-a-bitch. 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • Zan is Catholic and goes to mass “when [his] grandma makes [him].” 
  • Rico thinks about God. “The whole God thing has always been a little suspect to me.” Rico’s mom would listen to the “sermon station” but this just made Rico question God’s goodness. “But for as long as I can remember, Mama has prayed without ceasing, and . . . well, I find it tough to believe this God character is so great when we continue to barely scrape by despite how hard Mama works and prays.” 
  • At one point, Rico thinks that God will “smite us [her and Zan] for all these lies we’re telling.” 
  • While at a wedding, Rico looks at Zan and thanks “whatever God is worshipped in this church for the fact that I’m already sitting.” 
  • Rico’s boss has heavy security on his computer. Rico explains, “He got new software just after the store was broken into and trashed by anti-Muslim douchefaces last August.”  
  • Rico goes to Zan’s house to eat dinner with his family. Zan’s father prays, thanking God for the food and his successful business. Then he says, “Lord, we thank you for our young Alejandro [Zan], and for the light that has recently graced his life, pulling him out of darkness—” Zan’s father was talking about Rico. 
  • Zan’s grandmother invites Rico to mass and then asks if Rico is a believer. The conversation gets interrupted before Rico can answer. 

The Sea in Winter

Maisie’s life has revolved around ballet since she was four. Her friends, life, and dream of becoming a ballerina all revolve around her love of dance. However, during the critical period when Maisie and her friends are preparing to audition to attend premier dance schools, Maisie injures her knee. Confined to crutches and physical therapy, her injury may prevent her from ever dancing again. Her only hope is to get better by summer. 

However, as her injury persists, Maisie’s family takes a road trip. During this time, she struggles to be happy for her friends who are preparing for their auditions. Maisie also feels disconnected from her family’s happiness. Desperate to prove she’s recovering, Maisie forces herself to go on hikes despite the pain in her knee. Maise’s frustration with her injury makes her feel irritable. She lashes out at her stepfather and her mother during their trip, straining their relationship. Even though she regrets her outbursts, Maisie struggles to find the strength to apologize. 

Eventually, Maisie’s injury worsens because she pushes herself too hard during a hike. Maisie is rushed to the hospital, unable to walk or move her leg without intense pain. With her dream of dancing out of reach, Maisie breaks down and admits that she’s having trouble managing her emotions. She knows she must give up dance, but she feels like she’s giving up on herself. Her stepdad tells her, “None of this means you’ve failed. It just means that you’re moving forward. Which is about the bravest thing any of us can do.”

The Sea in Winter is a story about learning to grow from setbacks. It is an easy read with a simple plot and only a few main characters. However, at times the text is very descriptive, such as long passages about the scenery on the family’s hikes or the food the family eats. Because of these detailed passages, the book moves slowly at times. The overall message—finding the strength to move on during setbacks—is a good lesson, but it can get lost in these descriptions. 

Dancers would enjoy this book because of the use of dancing terms and the occasional flashbacks to Maisie’s ballet classes. These events might be better understood by people with an interest or background in dance. However, familiarity with ballet isn’t necessary because the main story happens after Maisie’s injury.

The book references the Makah and Piscataway cultures, two Indigenous tribes in North America. Maisie’s mother is Makah and her father is Piscataway. Her parents refer to stories about their tribes’ hardships to show Maisie that relying on others during hard times and connecting with one’s culture can help you through major life changes. In a time of grief, Maisie’s mother “turned to the teachings of my ancestors, for one thing. I looked back at our history of resilience and survival. How the Makahs managed to bring their community together, despite horrible events.” 

The narrator, Maisie, is very honest with the reader about how she feels, even when she struggles to admit it out loud. Maisie is in middle school, a trying time for children as they discover who they are and make decisions about their future. Growing up can be confusing and stressful – especially when things don’t go according to plan. Maisie’s frustrations are relatable to anyone who feels like the world is moving on without them. However, no one has to face the world alone. This story emphasizes the power of family as a support structure. It encourages someone who is struggling, to depend on the people around them when they encounter things they cannot handle on their own.

The Sea in Winter ends on a positive note for Maisie as she branches out into new interests and rekindles her relationships with her friends. Though moving on from dance and re-discovering herself is not an easy task, Maisie finds strength in sharing her feelings with others. She relies on her family and stories of perseverance and allows herself to dream new dreams and set new goals. The book ends with Maisie declaring: “I choose onward.”

Sexual Content 

  • Two characters on a TV show kiss. “Phillipe huffs in frustration, takes [Catriona’s] face in both hands, and kisses her on the mouth.”

Violence 

  • The book discusses a protest against the Makah Native Americans, who were legally allowed to resume their tribal tradition of whale hunting. Some of the protestors had signs and bumper stickers that said: “Save a whale, kill a Makah.”
  • Maisie’s father died while serving in Afghanistan. Maisie says, “I know that [my father] was killed in action before my first birthday.”
  • Maisie says that her stepdad’s grandfather, who they called See-yah, was abused in school for speaking his native language. “His teachers tried to beat the Klallam language out of him.” 
  • Maisie’s mother admits that she hit one of the men who delivered the news of Maisie’s father’s death. Maisie’s mother, “hit one of the men square in the chest, and slapped him across the face, before [she] collapsed in a heap on the floor.” 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language   

  • Maisie calls a TV commercial “stupid.”
  • Maisie snaps at her mom and says, “Why are you always on your stupid phone?”
  • Maisie says her injury is the result of “a stupid decision.”

Supernatural 

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Big Time

Gerri waits outside all night to audition for Big Time, her favorite TV singing competition. She believes she has a shot at success, but when she’s insulted by one of the judges and kicked out of the competition, she thinks she’ll probably never sing again. 

After a teacher at her school asks her to join a choral club, Gerri reluctantly gets involved. Even though she can’t read music and she doesn’t know the other kids, she finds herself enjoying the group and learning a lot about music. A cute guy she met at the Big Time auditions joins the group, and when they perform their unique mashups at an open-mic night, Gerri realizes there’s more than one way to be a successful—and happy—singer!

Anyone who’s ever faced rejection will relate to Gerri’s conflict and empathize with her feelings of insecurity. Since much of Gerri’s self-doubt and personal growth revolves around her musical ability, the story lacks action. Nevertheless, readers who are interested in music will enjoy learning how being part of a group helps Gerri understand music and herself better. While much of the story revolves around Gerri’s choral group, her guitar-playing granddad also plays a positive and significant role in Gerri’s musical growth. Gerri’s granddad helps her see that people should sing for their own personal enjoyment because music “helps us bring a little bit of happiness into other people’s lives.”

When Gerri tries out for Big Time, she meets Poppy, a confident singer who has some success on the reality show. Even though Poppy doesn’t play a large role in the story, her experiences help reinforce the importance of singing for enjoyment. While she was competing, Poppy began to focus on beating the other contestants, which caused a lot of stress and unhappiness. When she was cut from the competition, Poppy was relieved because being on Big Time took the joy out of singing. 

One of the best aspects of the book is Gerri’s personal growth. She changes from a downtrodden girl who doesn’t want to sing, to a more confident musician who is thankful that she was rejected from Big Time. Gerri thinks, “It turns out that getting rejected from Big Time was one of the best things that could have happened to me. . . because it helped me understand what being a musician is really all about. . . It’s about learning and practicing and making music wherever and whenever you feel like it.”

As part of the Orca Limelights collection, Big Time is specifically aimed at middle schoolers and teens with an interest in the performing arts who want to read a short, high-interest novel. The story’s straightforward plot, easy vocabulary, and interesting characters make Big Time the perfect fit for music-loving readers. 

Big Time has many positive aspects including teaching the importance of overcoming obstacles. In addition, the story portrays Gerri’s family in a positive light, and the supporting characters, while not perfect, unite over their love of singing. If you’re looking for a quick read, Big Time is a short, but solid story that will please anyone who loves music. Readers who want to read more music-themed books should grab a copy of Ace’s Basement by Ted Staunton and the graphic novel series Eagle Rock by Hope Larson.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • A woman calls one of the Big Time judges a jackass.

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • One of the Big Time contestants says that Adele drinks whiskey before every performance.

Language 

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

The Okay Witch and the Hungry Shadow

During winter break, Moth Hush comes to terms with the revelation of her witch heritage and powers. Her mother, also a witch, helps Moth learn new spells and Moth gets happier with each one she picks up. Moth has a best friend in Carter, a boy from one of her classes, and Mr. Laszlo, a talking cat. Her life, friendships, and relationship with her mother couldn’t be better!

Unfortunately, Moth’s life doesn’t stay stress-free for long. At school, she runs into bullies that she wishes would leave her alone. After an incident in which she accidentally wears a similar outfit to a teacher, the bullies make Moth their latest victim and torment her for being the teacher’s “twin.” To make matters worse, Moth’s grandmother wants Moth to become a powerful witch and puts a lot of pressure on Moth to succeed in studying and practicing magic.

When Moth finds a solution to her problem — a magic charm that can bring out a confident and self-assured version of herself — things start out great. She gets praise from her grandmother and admiration from her classmates. With magic, Moth feels like she has a handle on how she presents herself to her family and classmates. But depending on magic to achieve her wildest dreams causes Moth’s life to spiral out of control.

The Okay Witch and the Hungry Shadow expands upon Moth’s school life. Many students are ruthless bullies; they stop at nothing to terrorize someone, never letting a joke or prank run dry. Moth’s tormentors mock Moth for her old-fashioned clothing, crooked teeth, and dark skin. Moth stresses over her looks and wonders if she would fit in if she changed her appearance. Readers will relate to Moth’s self-esteem issues, her struggle to accept herself for who she is, and her desire to fit in with the rest of the student body.

Moth discovers more about discrimination and exclusion from her grandmother’s stories about her witch heritage. Most witches in the Hush order (Moth’s grandmother’s previous order) believed that Moth’s grandmother was undeserving of her high-ranking position due to her skin color and class. In one conversation, Moth’s grandmother states, “They refused to see me as an equal.” Discussions such as these call attention to mistreatment towards underrepresented communities, showing prejudice is still pervasive not just in Moth’s grandmother’s time but also in the modern era.

Steinkellner’s full use of the graphic novel format lends itself to dynamic paneling and excellent pacing. Thick outlines make characters stand out while vibrant colors and pastels will keep readers engaged. Reluctant readers may like that most pages do not have words but rather tell the story through illustrations. In addition, Moth’s perspective as the narrator makes The Okay Witch and the Hungry Shadow easy to follow.

To relate to today’s readers, The Okay Witch and the Hungry Shadow incorporates modern-day technology. Familiar technology, such as smartphones and social media, brings readers closer to Moth’s world and highlights Moth’s desire to fit in. Memes, texting, and pop culture references invite the reader to become involved in the story. The inclusion of diverse characters and family dynamics adds depth and promotes diversity and representation.

Through her experiences, Moth learns an important lesson about integrity and self-trust. She doesn’t need to take shortcuts for quicker results or use magic to change herself to fit in: she can become whoever she wants by her own means without destroying herself from the inside out. Readers who want to learn more about standing up to bullies should also read Out of Place by Jennifer Blecher and Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language   

  • None

Supernatural 

  • Witches perform magic spells in various ways: nonverbally, incantations, gestures, or a mix of the three. For example, Moth shrinks a bug by aiming her pinky at it, scrunching her nose, and twisting her arm to the right. Moth is surrounded by magic and magical occurrences every day. As such, not all instances are listed here. 
  • Moth finds the nyklum, a “powerful charm that may transform its wearer into a bolder, more self-assured version of themselves.” The charm requires a small item from the person the witch chooses to imitate and the following incantation: “Bring it forth that I may be the better half that waits in me.” Moth uses the nyklum to become popular. She becomes more confident in herself and gains the attention of her classmates.
  • The more a witch draws upon the nyklum, the more likely the ancient demon Shadriel Kannibalstisch will take over the witch, incapacitating her for good. As the story progresses, Moth risks being taken over by Shadriel Kannibalstisch. 
  • Shadriel Kannibalstisch, also known as the Hungry Shadow, is a demon that looks to take over a person. The demon makes the witch formidable, but it corrupts the witch at the same time. When Shadriel Kannibalstisch becomes more powerful than its host, Shadriel eclipses them, the witch dies, and Shadriel takes the witch’s body for itself. 
  • To be more confident in front of her classmates, Moth wants to use the nyklum at the Valentine’s Day school dance. Upon hearing about the consequences of using the nyklum, Moth removes the nyklum to destroy Shadriel Kannibalstisch before it eclipses her. 
  • Shadriel Kannibalstisch comes out of the nyklum to stop Moth from destroying both it and the nyklum. When Shadriel Kannibalstisch shows itself, it takes control of the other students. Shadriel Kannibalstisch’s magic doesn’t hurt the students. 
  • To repel the students that Shadriel Kannibalstisch controls, Moth’s mother and another witch use magic to throw a wall of light to shake the demon’s hold on the students. The students are unharmed. The wall of light restrains or startles the students. 
  • Moth defeats the demon by shrinking the nyklum to an imperceptibly miniscule size. In doing so, the students are freed from the demon’s control. 

Spiritual Content 

  • Professor Folks, a museum educator at the local museum, believes animals are like humans in some ways. When seeing Mr. Laszlo, Professor Folks states, “I’ve always felt that animals have a special soul inside them. Look into this cat’s eyes. So expressive. So human. Almost as if we’re old, dear friends.”

The Hate U Give

Angie Thomas’ novel centers around Starr, a sixteen-year-old girl, who within the first thirty pages of the book witnesses her friend Khalil’s brutal murder at the hands of a police officer. The rest of the book follows Starr’s journey of grieving for her friend, testifying to the police, and also dealing with the instances of racism that occur at her predominantly white private school, Williamson. Starr ultimately agrees to testify before a grand jury, to combat their narratives that Khalil is a “drug dealer and gangbanger,” and also to testify that Khalil was doing nothing wrong; he was needlessly murdered. 

Identifying and combating systemic oppression is a major theme in The Hate U Give. In the hopes of getting justice, Starr decides to speak to the police about Khalil’s murder; Starr’s family, her father in particular, supports her decision. Starr realizes that speaking out, speaking to the police, and speaking to the grand jury and the media is ultimately her own way of fighting for Khalil. Starr thinks, “This is how I fight, with my voice.” In her televised interview, Starr risks being attacked by corrupt officers, as well as by gang violence as she implicates the gang’s leader by explaining, “Khalil was forced to sell drugs for him” because “his mom’s life was in danger . . . that’s the only reason he’d ever do something like that.” Starr also grows to realize that, “I don’t understand how everyone can make it seem like it’s okay he got killed if he was a drug dealer and a gangbanger.” Starr connects Khalil’s murder and police brutality in general to assumptions, “[the officer] assumed that we were up to no good. Because we’re black and because of where we live. We were just two kids minding our business. His assumption killed Khalil.”

Starr is an extremely sympathetic character who exemplifies feeling split into two different people: “Garden Heights Starr” in her hometown and “Williamson Starr” at her majority white private school. She desperately wants to feel “the normal where I don’t have to choose which Starr to be. The normal where nobody tells you how sorry they are or talks about ‘Khalil the drug dealer.’ Just . . . normal.” On top of grieving her friend’s death and trying to get him justice, Starr is navigating this sense of dual identity, which many readers may relate to.

Starr’s father is also an extremely sympathetic character and a strong role model for Starr. He talks about getting out of the King Lord gang. He says, “I became a King Lord when I was twelve. Shit, that was the only way to survive . . . Then I became a daddy, and I realized that King Lord shit ain’t worth dying for.” He describes being a “d-boy” and selling drugs as part of his job within the gang. Starr’s father went to prison for three years, “[he] took that charge” instead of letting the leader, King, go to prison for life. By the end of the book, her dad is organizing members from both gangs to work together to protect their neighborhood from riots as the grand jury verdict approaches. He says, “We all mad, but burning down our neighborhood ain’t gonna fix it . . . Y’all gotta come together somehow, man . . . For the sake of the Garden.”

Another major theme is Starr confronting toxic friendship—specifically with her friend Hailey from Williamson Prep. Starr feels distanced from her friend after Hailey “unfollowed my Tumblr.” Starr explains, “I once posted a picture of Emmet Till, a fourteen-year-old black boy who was murdered for whistling at a white woman in 1955. His mutilated body didn’t look human. Hailey texted me immediately after, freaking out . . .She couldn’t believe I would reblog such an awful picture.” Hailey also makes a racist comment to Starr when they’re playing basketball. Hailey says, “Pretend the ball is some fried chicken. Bet you’ll stay on it then.” Starr starts to confront Hailey by saying, “You made a fried chicken comment to the only black girl in the room.” But Starr is not able to truly call Hailey’s behavior out until later. Starr discovers that Hailey is bothered by Starr posting “Petitions. The Black Panther pictures. That post on those little girls who were killed in that church . . . ” Hailey said she did not want to see “all the ‘black stuff,’” showing her true ignorance and the underlying reason for her comments towards Starr. 

Readers who are prepared to handle frequent language and instances of violence will find Starr and her entire family to be strong and relatable characters who truly demonstrate what it means to advocate for yourself and for others. The Hate U Give shows a zoomed-in look at how systemic racism affects Starr, her family, and their community as a whole. The book ends with an important message, that “People are realizing and shouting and marching and demanding. They’re not forgetting. I think that’s the most important part.” These vital themes covered in Thomas’ novel make it a must-read. Explore more books that highlight racism and the need for change by reading I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi.

Sexual Content 

  • Starr mentions how the guys at the party “grind so close to girls that they just about need condoms.” She goes on to explain, “Spring in Garden Heights doesn’t always bring love but it promises babies in the winter.”
  • Starr’s friend, Kenya, tells her about drama with another girl. “You’re so lucky you go to that white-people school and don’t have to deal with hoes like that.”
  • Starr recalls her first kiss with her childhood friend, Khalil. They kissed at Vacation Bible school.
  • When Starr and her boyfriend, Chris, were kissing, her mom and uncle walked in on them. “They pointed out that friends don’t kiss like that.”
  • Starr describes the incident with Chris that made her angry. “Fooling around isn’t new for us, and when Chris slipped his hand in my shorts, I didn’t think anything of it. Then he got me going, and I really wasn’t thinking . . . And right as I was at that moment, he stopped, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a condom. He raised his eyebrows at me, silently asking for an invitation to go all the way.” Starr is angry because “he knew I wasn’t ready for that, we already talked about it, and yet he had a condom? He said he wanted to be responsible, but I said if I’m not ready, I’m not ready.”
  • Starr reveals that her half-brother, Seven, came out of a one-time encounter between their father and a prostitute, “It’s no secret that my big brother is a result of a ‘for hire’ session Daddy had with [a prostitute] after a fight with Momma.”
  • Starr and Chris begin to passionately kiss. “I kiss his lips . . . He kisses me back, and soon we’re making out like it’s the only thing we know how to do. It’s not enough. My hands travel below his chest, and he’s bulging in more than his arms. I start unzipping his jeans . . . ” But Chris stops her because she’s “not in a good place,” as she is extremely stressed waiting for the grand jury’s verdict.

Violence 

  • Starr meets up with Khalil at a party, when suddenly a fight breaks out and she hears, “Pop! A shot rings out. I duck. Pop! A second shot. The crowd stampedes towards the door.” Later in the novel, readers learn that a young boy was shot in an encounter between rival gangs.
  • Khalil explains that he believes the shooting may have been connected to the local gang violence. “Garden Heights has been a battlefield for the past two months over some stupid territory wars.”
  • While Khalil is driving Starr home, police pull him over because his tail light’s broken. For no reason, the officer is aggressive and forces Khalil out of the car. After the officer pats Khalil down “two more times,” Starr thinks the encounter is over. But suddenly, as Khalil walks back to his car, the officer shoots him three times. It is described in detail, “One. Khalil’s body jerks. Blood splatters from his back . . . Two. Khalil gasps . . . Three. Khalil looks at me, stunned. He falls to the ground.” This horrifying scene is described over five pages. 
  • Starr immediately runs to her friend and sees his body “in the street like it’s an exhibit.” While she sits with her friend’s body, “Officer One-Fifteen yells at me, pointing the same gun he killed my friend with.”
  • After Khalil’s murder, Starr has nightmares about another friend’s murder, her friend Natasha, who was killed by an unknown gang member in a drive-by shooting. “It happened six years ago, but I still remember everything from that day . . .Natasha was splashing in the water, all happy and stuff. Then—Pow! Pow! Pow! I dove into a rosebush. At first I thought it was me, ‘cause I had blood on my shirt. The thorns on the rosebush got me, that’s all. It was Natasha though.” Starr says, “[Natasha’s] blood mixed in with the water, and all you could see was a red river flowing down the street.”
  • Starr’s half-brother, Seven, says his stepdad, King, is abusive towards his mom and sisters. “He’ll beat her, she’ll put him out. Then he’ll come back.”
  • Starr’s dad saw his cousin being killed. He says, “A drug deal turned into a robbery, and he got shot in the head twice. Right in front of me.”
  • In Starr’s neighborhood, patrolling officers pull up to her father’s store and when they see his name on his ID, they force him to the ground. A cop yells, “On the ground, face-down!” Then, “The black cop keeps his knee on Daddy’s back as he searches him. He pats him down once, twice, three times, just like One-Fifteen did to Khalil. Nothing.”
  • While watching a basketball game with her family, Starr suddenly hears gunshots. “Glass shatters. Then, pop, pop, pop, pop. Gunshots. ‘Get down!’ Daddy yells . . . Momma’s on top of us, and she wraps her arms around us.” This scene goes on for two pages. Starr feels that this attack is “clearly a message for me” about her speaking to the grand jury. 
  • Hailey tells Starr that, “Somebody was gonna kill [Khalil] eventually,” and, “The cop probably did everyone a favor. One less drug dealer . . . ” Starr “slam[s her] fist against the side of Hailey’s face.” They fight for two pages.
  • Lesha, the King Lord’s gang leader’s wife, threatens Starr’s family. Lesha says, “Can’t wait till King fuck y’all up for letting that girl snitch on him on TV.”
  • Starr joins a peaceful protest and speaks to a crowd, but just as she begins speaking about Khalil’s death, the police throw tear gas at her and the other protestors. “The can of tear gas sails toward us from the cops. It lands beside the patrol car.” Starr picks up the can because “any second it’ll combust,” and “[chucks] it back at the cops.”
  • During the riots, Starr, Seven, and Chris search for her father. When they check on his store, they are trapped when, “A glass bottle with flaming cloth—Whoomf! The store is suddenly lit bright orange . . . Flames lick the ceiling and block the door.” This intense scene lasts three pages. All the protestors struggle to breathe because of the tear gas, but no one is shown to be gravely injured. 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • The opening scene of the book shows Starr at a party, “A haze lingers over the room, smelling like weed.”
  • Starr tries a drink at the party, but spits it out because, “this is way stronger than what I’m used to. They shouldn’t even call it punch, just straight up liquor.” 
  • Kenya’s friends ask Starr about her school and the parties there. She asks, “I bet they be doing Molly and shit, don’t they? White kids love popping pills.”
  • Starr reveals that Khalil’s mom was not present for much of his life because she was “on crack.”
  • Rosalie, Khalil’s grandmother, tells Starr’s family that Khalil “was selling that stuff” to pay for Rosalie’s cancer treatments, but that “he wanted to stop” because it was so dangerous. 
  • Reflecting on her hometown, Starr says, “Garden Heights has dope boys on corners, but downtown people in business suits wait for crossing lights to change. I wonder if they ever hear the gunshots and shit in my neighborhood.”

Language 

  • The teenagers frequently use profanity such as shit, hell, damn, goddamn, bitch, fuck, and ass. 
  • A recurring exclamation in the book is one of Tupac’s expressions, “Thug Life,” which Khalil explains to Starr stands for, “The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody.” He says it means, “what society gives us as youth, it bites them in the ass when we wild out.”
  • A member of the gang The Garden Disciples calls Starr’s brother the N-word and asks, “You Kinging?” Trying to find out if he is with the other gang.
  • Starr sees Khalil at a party and says, “The sea of people parts for him like he’s a brown-skinned Moses.”
  • Occasionally, Starr exclaims, “Thank Black Jesus.”
  • Starr discusses how everyone at her school expects her to date “the only other black kid in eleventh grade . . .Because apparently when it’s two of us, we have to be on some Noah’s Ark type shit and pair up . . .”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • Starr explains, “Problem is it would’ve taken Black Jesus to convince my parents to let me come. Now Black Jesus will have to save me if they find out I’m here.”
  • Starr discusses her family’s views on religion: “Momma became a member of Christ Temple Church when she was in Nana’s belly. Daddy believes in Black Jesus but follows the Black Panther’s Ten-Point Program more than the Ten Commandments. He agrees with the Nation of Islam on some stuff, but he can’t get over the fact they may have killed Malcom X.”
  • Before school, Starr’s father leads their family in prayer saying, “Black Jesus, watch over my babies today.”
  • Before Starr testifies in front of the grand jury, her father leads their family in a prayer: “Black Jesus, thank you for this blessing . . . Now, Lord, tomorrow is a big day for my baby girl as she goes before this grand jury. Please give her peace and courage . . . I ask for some mercy, God. That’s all. Mercy for Garden Heights, for Khalil’s family, for Starr.”
  • Starr’s father explains why he named his son Seven, “Seven, that’s a holy number. The number of perfection . . . you’re the perfect gift God gave me.”

Carrie and The Great Storm: A Galveston Hurricane Survival Story

Twelve-year-old Carrie is excited to spend the night at her best friend Betsy’s house one Saturday night in Galveston, Texas. But when her parents receive a last-minute invitation to a high-society party, they insist Carrie stay home to babysit her little brother, Henry. Despite a storm brewing — and Carrie’s protests over the change in plans — her parents go to the party. As the storm approaches, the streets begin flooding. Henry is scared, and Carrie tries to calm him. But then a hurricane hits, and the house is shaken from its foundation. Carrie must make some quick decisions to save herself and her little brother from the Great Galveston Hurricane. 

Carrie and The Great Storm: A Galveston Hurricane Survival Story focuses on Carrie, a typical fashion-loving girl who is upset when she has to cancel a sleepover to babysit her brother, Henry. When the storm hits, she has only herself to rely on, but she doesn’t let fear overtake her. Instead, she uses quick thinking and bravery to save herself and her brother. When Carrie and Henry’s raft gets stuck between trees, Carrie’s main concern is survival. However, when she sees a young boy, William, floating in the water, Carrie jumps in and saves his life. After seeing the city’s devastation, Carrie realizes how lucky she is to be alive. 

While most of the story focuses on the Great Storm, segregation is mentioned several times. The author’s note explains that one positive outcome of the storm was that people came together and helped each other, despite their racial differences. This ties into the story because Carrie helps William, who is African American. Afterward, one man gives Carrie a strange look when they see her walking with a black boy. However, Carrie didn’t care about William’s race because at that point they were the same—they were survivors. 

To make the story easy to follow, each chapter begins with Carrie’s location and the date. In addition, every ten to seventeen pages there is a black-and-white illustration that focuses on Carrie’s experiences. Readers can learn the real story of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 from the nonfiction information at the back of the book. A glossary, discussion questions, and writing prompts are also provided.

Readers will be pulled into the story because Carrie is a likable character with a relatable conflict, and it doesn’t take long for the action and suspense to begin. Even though Carrie and The Great Storm: A Galveston Hurricane Survival Story is educational, readers will love the story because it is also entertaining and easy to read. Through Carrie’s experiences, readers will see that “Your actions, no matter how large or small, can make a difference.” For more water-related survival stories, check out Tara and the Towering Wave: An Indian Ocean Tsunami Survival Story by Cristina Oxtra and the I Survived Series by Lauren Tarshis.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • Carrie and her brother are home alone when the storm hits. Carrie looks out the window and, “through the rage of the storm I could see shapes in the water. A panicked horse swam past, kicking and neighing. A woman’s head surfaced. She screamed and was pulled underwater again.” 
  • When Carrie’s house is destroyed by the hurricane, she and her brother are on a makeshift raft. As she and her brother huddle for warmth, Carrie sees “the face of a young black boy emerge. ‘Help me!’ he cried before the water swallowed him up again.” Carrie is able to pull the boy, William, onto her raft. 
  • William tells Carrie the story of his family. He was working at his family’s store when, “I got swept away. . . I could still see the store though, through flashes of lightning. And then all of a sudden I couldn’t see it anymore. It collapsed.” Later, William finds out that only his father survived.
  • After the water recedes, Carrie is walking and sees “a huge pile of debris. A pair of boots stuck out from the bottom of the pile. And then I realized that the boots were attached to a pair of legs.” 
  • Carrie hears cries for help, and then sees “a group of men digging through the rubble, looking for survivors.” 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language 

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

The Shape of Thunder

After losing her older sister, Mabel, in a school shooting, Cora has been searching for a scientific explanation. For Cora, the word is full of truth. Everything has a reason and answer – she just has to find it. If Cora can find out the reason why her sister died, maybe she can start getting over it, but no matter how hard she tries, Mabel’s death just doesn’t make sense. 

Meanwhile, Cora’s (former) best friend, Quinn, is struggling with guilt. For her brother, Parker, is the school shooter responsible for Mabel’s death. Cora is determined to fix their friendship even though the task seems impossible. That is, until Quinn starts reading about time travel.  

Time travel would fix everything. The girls could go back and save Mabel before she dies and prevent Parker from falling into the dangerous mindset that led him to commit a mass shooting. The book details their investigations into time travel as they grapple with the deaths of their siblings. Cora and Quinn make frequent visits to a nearby forest, where they think a magical tree has a wormhole that can take them back – they just need to open it. Unfortunately, their attempts to time travel fail again and again. Quinn admits why she thinks it’s not working – she’s been hiding something from Cora. Quinn says that a few weeks before the shooting, she saw Parker investigating their father’s guns. 

Cora is furious and feels betrayed, so she tells Quinn to stay away from her. Though it breaks Quinn’s heart, she lets Cora continue the time travel investigation on her own. Then, when a large storm hits, Cora sneaks away from school in order to open the wormhole with the energy of thunder. While crossing a river in the woods, Cora slips but thankfully Quinn saves Cora’s life. Afterward, Cora forgives Quinn.

The Shape of Thunder is narrated in the alternating perspectives of Cora and Quinn, which allows the reader to understand the grief and guilt they feel as they navigate life following the death of their siblings. While the plot is easy to follow, this is a powerful story about loss and forgiveness and should not be taken lightly. It is also a story about the effects of gun violence and how it rips apart families and friends. Cora and Quinn are thoughtful narrators with distinct personalities and distinct forms of grief. They have unique family situations that allow the author to paint a wide picture of a shooting’s effects. Their dedication to fixing the past – and to each other, despite the circumstances – is admirable and powerful.

Ultimately, Cora forgives Quinn because Cora realizes the issue of mass shootings doesn’t lie in isolated incidents, such as people like Parker, but is a larger, societal issue – which is much harder to fix. But The Shape of Thunder is about making the impossible possible. The use of time travel is not to turn the novel into a science fiction book but to imagine beyond what has been done before. The phrase “shape of thunder” is used for the same reasons. Cora says, “The shape of thunder. What a strange phrase. It’s more than contradictory; it’s impossible. A thing that doesn’t actually exist, but possibly could. An impossible thing that could actually be possible. Like finding a wormhole. Like time travel.”  

In the end, the girls don’t time travel, but they do obtain something they thought impossible to achieve: reconciliation. Earlier in the book, Cora says she can never forgive Quinn for playing a role in her sister’s death. Likewise, Quinn believes that she doesn’t deserve Cora’s friendship because she feels that she should’ve stopped Parker. However impossible moving forward seems, the two girls realize fighting their grief alone is too difficult. At the end of the story, Cora and Quinn start to rekindle their friendship. 

Persisting in the face of profound grief is daunting, but not as impossible as it seems when we share our struggles with others. Time travel may not be real, but love is its own kind of magic. Readers looking for other books that highlight the importance of overcoming obstacles should also read The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead, A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll, and Ophie’s Ghosts by Justina Ireland.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • Parker orchestrated a mass shooting at Mabel’s school. He shot and killed three people and then committed suicide. While the events of the shooting are not described in detail, Mabel and Parker’s deaths are frequently mentioned. 
  • While no examples are given, Parker would say hateful things and was active on forums. Cora says, “The news said Parker was active on all these forums full of people who hated women and immigrants and Muslims.”
  • Cora slips and falls into a river while Quinn watches. “It’s like something out of a horror film. It happens so fast, but it’s also painfully slow – Cora jumping to the next rock, slipping, and hitting her head with a sickening thud. The sound of her skull colliding with the rocks is something I will never ever be able to forget.” Quinn rescues Cora, and Cora recovers after going to the hospital.

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language   

  • Grams, Cora’s grandma, says “I’ll be damned.”

Supernatural 

  • A major part of the story is that Cora and Quinn are looking for a way to time travel to prevent Mabel’s and Parker’s deaths. Theories about time travel, space, and wormholes are mentioned frequently. 
  • Quinn compares time travel to magic. “Everything I’ve read says the best way to find a wormhole is to ask for one to appear. That makes me think of magic. I imagine myself like a witch, looking for the perfect place to cast a spell.”
  • Quinn thinks she sees a wormhole in the library. “I open my eyes, and for a brief moment, I swear there’s a halo of light on the floor in the library. A wormhole.” It disappears right after. 
  • Cora and Quinn are drawn to a tree in the forest that they think is magical. They return to this tree a few times, hoping it is the spot for their wormhole. 

Spiritual Content 

  • Cora has Arab roots that she isn’t very in tune with. She is collecting Arabic words to learn her ancestor’s language, so a few Arabic words appear in the text. Her family is Muslim, but according to Cora they are “not very religious.” She notes a few cultural things in her home. “There’s a painting of the Dome of the Rock hanging in our kitchen. There’s also one framed Quranic verse. . . but since I can’t read Arabic, I always forget which one it is.” 
  • Cora asks Quinn if her family’s religion had anything to do with her sister’s death. “Did [Parker] go after Mabel because she was Muslim?” Quinn replies, “I don’t know.” 

Across the Desert

In Dusti Bowling’s Across the Desert, Jolene wants big adventures – as big as the ones that Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman once had, soaring through the skies with the utmost freedom and overcoming all the challenges they faced. That’s what Jolene dreams of –  except she’s stuck at home with no money and a mom who’s not-so-secretly addicted to oxycodone. 

It looks like Jolene’s dreams may come true when she’s the only one to witness her online friend, Addie Earhart, crash her ultralight plane in the middle of Arizona on a livestream. The problem: Jolene doesn’t know where Addie is exactly, no adults seem to understand the problem, and Jolene is only twelve years old. To save Addie, Jolene sets out with only her map, resilience, friends, luck, and a lot of ingenuity. Along the way, Jolene learns that sometimes the biggest adventures are closest to home.

Across the Desert is an action-packed adventure that includes scenes of Jolene getting into very dangerous situations because of her rash decisions. For example, Jolene and her new friend, Marty, experience injuries throughout, including various stages of heatstroke. Addie also experiences intense injuries when she crashes her ultralight. Although the story ends with Addie recovering, a large part of the book is about Addie’s rescue in the desert. Although the characters’ injuries don’t include graphic descriptions, the scenes are intense as the stakes are high.

Outside of Addie’s rescue, Jolene grapples with her understanding of her mom’s opioid addiction. Most of the knowledge Jolene gains is from looking it up on the library computers. However, once she meets Marty and Marty’s mom, she starts to understand what it means to lose loved ones to addiction. When Jolene discovers that Marty’s sister overdosed on heroin, this spurs Jolene to confront her mom about her addiction. The book tackles the difficult topic of addiction in an age-appropriate manner. Readers will gain insight on how addiction affects not just one person, but many, and that reaching out to help others is crucial. Jolene and her mom learn to identify addiction, and they take the necessary first steps to help her mom receive treatment.

To cope with her mom’s addiction, Jolene initially deals with her trauma by compartmentalizing it into boxes in her mind and putting her feelings away. By the end of the book, Jolene has learned how to trust others and lets her feelings out instead of bottling them up. Marty, her teenage friend, is a massive help to her emotionally and their friendship is incredibly heartwarming.

Across the Desert is best for middle-grade readers who love adventure and enjoy history, as Jolene often references famous women and their accomplishments throughout the book. It is a good start for teaching young readers about addiction and how they can be empathetic towards others who are struggling with their own addiction, or a loved one’s. The story shows how sometimes the best adventures bring friendship and family even closer than before.

Sexual Content 

  • Jolene makes a reference to online predators as she explains her online friendship with internet aviation sensation Addie Earhart. Jolene says, “For all [Addie] knows, I could be some old guy who smells like cheese and onions pretending to be a twelve-year-old girl.” Several people throughout the book, including Jolene’s mom, make similar remarks. For instance, Jolene’s mom says, “This ‘girl’ is probably some creep looking to prey on little girls.”
  • Addie and Jolene talk about their interests, and Jolene mentions that she likes drawing. Addie replies, “One of my mom’s friends draws naked people. I hope you don’t do that.”

Violence 

  • Jolene describes the dangers of exploration. Jolene says, “Lots of people die while exploring and mapping things. They freeze to death and fall off mountains.”
  • Previously, Jolene and her mom were in a car accident. Jolene describes the accident: “But as Mom started rolling forward into the intersection, I noticed that an old brown truck coming from the other direction seemed to be going really fast . . . Mom turned her head to see what I was looking at, but she didn’t have time to react.” The description of the accident lasts a couple of pages.
  • Jolene occasionally thinks about the car accident. She says, “I remember how I thought Mom was dead right after the car accident. It was so scary. Her not waking up. And the blood. So much blood.” This scene ends with Jolene compartmentalizing her fears and trauma.
  • Addie describes how javelinas are an invasive animal species in the desert where she is. She says into the camera, “You don’t even need a hunting license to kill one because Game and Fish wants them gone so badly.”
  • Addie’s plane goes down during a livestream. Jolene is watching, and she describes, “Addie is screaming so hysterically that I can’t even make out what she’s saying or if she’s even saying words at all. She seems to be struggling to catch her breath, struggling to get a word out . . . One very loud crash blasts my ears, and then it seems for a second that the phone is flying by itself.” The description of Addie’s yelling and the shaky phone video lasts for a couple of pages.
  • Addie mentions how she misses her dad a lot. Jolene asks where he is, and Addie says, “He died. Six months ago. Car accident.” 
  • Addie talks about her favorite aviator, Bessie Coleman. Jolene asks what happened to Coleman, and Addie says, “She died in a plane crash.”
  • After hitting a bump in the road, Jolene is launched off a motor bike. In the accident, her “body slams against the road, knocking the air out of my lungs. Stars burst in my eyes, and then I’m rolling across the hot blacktop, still unable to breathe or stop myself.” The scene is described over a couple of paragraphs.
  • Jolene imagines what would’ve happened had she gotten bitten by a rattlesnake. “I’d have keeled over on my way back to Hope. Just keeled over dead. Based on the number of cars I’ve seen, it might have been several days before someone even found my body. By then, it would have been eaten by animals and buzzards and stuff. Or maybe it would never be found out here.”
  • Marty tells Jolene about how people die in the desert all the time. Marty says, “‘Like a few years ago, there were these people who died on a walk in Encanto Park. They were just walking around on the sidewalk and fell over dead from heat stroke. Like this,’ Marty lets her head fall to the side and sticks her tongue out. ‘Instant deadness.’”
  • Jolene and Marty find Addie in the crashed ultralight with her legs pinned against the rock that she smashed into. Addie says that she can’t really feel her legs anymore. She says, “After a while, they went numb.” Jolene notes that she “can’t see all of her legs” because Addie is pinned to the rock. When they pull the ultralight away from the rock, Jolene notices that Addie’s “jeans and boots are dark red with blood.” The rescue scene is described over a few chapters.

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Jolene types “how to quit oxycodone” into the search bar on the computer for what she feels like is the hundredth time. Her mom is addicted to oxycodone after a car accident years before, and Jolene references the facts that she knows about oxycodone occasionally.
  • Jolene tells Marty about her mom’s oxycodone addiction, and Jolene asks what happens to someone if they don’t break their addiction. Marty says, “Then she’ll keep taking them. She’ll need more and more all the time because you build up a tolerance. One day she’ll take so much that she dies.”
  • Jolene asks Marty why she knows so much about oxycodone, and Marty responds with, “Kids at my school take and sell oxy.”
  • Jolene’s mom refers to rumble strips on the sides of the road as “drunk bumps.”
  • Jolene constantly worries about her mom taking too many oxy pills. She thinks, “Will she take more pills tomorrow? Will she take so many she dies?”
  • Marty and her mom tell Jolene about Marty’s late sister, Lucy. Marty tells the story of “Lucy getting her wisdom teeth taken out and the surgeon prescribing the same pills that Mom takes – oxycodone. Lucy was addicted after only a week, and when they tried to cut her off, she spent all her savings getting more pills. And when the savings ran out, she resorted to stealing from her family. They got her on a waiting list for a hospital right away, but the lists are long. Too long…while they were waiting, Lucy tried heroin because it’s cheaper than the pills.” Marty’s mom explains that Lucy overdosed after trying heroin once, and she died. This story lasts for a couple pages.
  • Jolene gets to sit in on a group therapy session at the rehab clinic where her mom is staying. People tell their stories about addiction. A man named Brian says, “I have been an opioid addict for nearly twenty years. Rock bottom for me was being found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs I’d fallen down after shooting heroin laced with fentanyl. They managed to revive me, and I overdosed only six more times after that.” This scene in the rehab clinic continues for a couple of pages.

Language 

  • Jolene meets 17-year-old Marty at the bus station. Instead of swearing around Jolene, Marty just says “cuss” because Jolene is 12 years old. This happens occasionally throughout their interactions.
  • Light language is used throughout, though infrequently. Terms include: Stupid, heck, sucks, and stinks.
  • The kids at school used to bully Jolene and called her “snaggletooth.” They also bullied her friend Benjamin. She says, “They pushed him and called him a loser.”
  • At the end of the previous school year, Jolene received a “hand-drawn picture” of herself where “in the picture, [her] teeth looked like a vampire’s. [Her] clothes looked like torn rags. And in big letters across the top: Bye, Snaggletooth.”
  • Marty finds Jolene in a town a few miles away sleeping on a bench. Jolene is mad at Marty for coming to find her, and Marty says, “If you think I’m leaving you here on a bench in the middle of nowhere when you look like you’re already half-dead, then you’re more cracker pants than I realized.” Jolene replies by calling Marty cracker pants as well, though she confesses that she’s “not totally sure that cracker pants is actually a thing.” Cracker pants serves as a replacement for crazy for the rest of the book and is used somewhat often.
  • Marty tells Jolene that it’s Jolene’s fault that she had to go “save her bony butt.”

Supernatural

  • Jolene hears yelling out in the desert and she quickly realizes that they’re coyotes, not zombies like she originally thought. She says, “Coyotes are better than zombies, but still.”

Spiritual Content 

  • On the lawn of Marty’s grandpa’s house, there are some lawn displays including, “an old plastic nativity scene left over from Christmas.”

Other Words for Home

When 12-year-old Jude is forced to leave her home country of Syria with her pregnant mother, she loses her friends, family, and her home overnight. Suddenly, Jude has left behind the only place she’s ever known and moves to Cincinnati, Ohio to live with her uncle. 

Adapting takes time. People in America talk fast and talk in ways Jude doesn’t understand. The English Jude learned back home is not enough to keep up, causing her to struggle in school and making it difficult to make friends. Americans dress differently too, and many of them don’t understand Muslim customs. Meanwhile, the constant stress of her mother’s pregnancy and being separated from her home, father, and brother weigh heavily on Jude’s mind. Yet the hardest part about adapting to America is figuring out who she is in this new place. In America, Jude must redefine herself in ways she never imagined. She relies on the last words her brother spoke to her: “Be brave.” 

Jude dives headfirst into making her new life work. She studies hard, develops relationships with new friends, and even tries out for her school musical. Yet Jude becomes torn between her past and present identities when a terrorist attack leads to an increased amount of hate crimes against Middle Eastern people in her town. Jude doesn’t understand why innocent people should be held responsible for the crimes of a few. Jude says, “Americans expect bombs to go off in Lebanon, in Pakistan, in my beloved Syria, but not in France, Britain, Canada. . . Americans think it’s normal for there to be violence in places where people like me are from, where people like me and people who look like me live. . . That they all see people like me and think violence, sadness, war.” Jude concludes that many people are quick to make generalizations about things they don’t understand. However, instead of getting upset, Jude decides to prove them wrong. She decides to truly be “seen.” 

Things start to look up when Jude scores a role in her school play and her new baby sister is born. Plus, Jude is able to talk with her brother for the first time in nearly a year. Eventually, Jude finds where she fits in, confidently pursues her goals, and is filled with hope for the future when her family can be reunited again. The book ends with Jude standing in the spotlight on the stage, ready to be seen. 

Other Words for Home is a story about a girl who, despite having her life uprooted, remains optimistic for a future where she can thrive. It is written in free verse, but the story is still easy to understand. As a narrator, Jude is humorous and direct which makes her story entertaining and powerful. American readers will find the events shocking because they will see their culture through the eyes of someone else. While people may know the facts and physical struggles of immigrant families, they rarely get to see the true emotions behind the people who endure these trials. Even though some parts of the story may be uncomfortable to read, Other Words for Home is a must-read because the story will give readers a better understanding of the life of immigrants in America.

While the content of Other Words for Home can seem political, there is never a time when the reader doesn’t identify with Jude. She feels like an outcast who wants others to see her for who she really is – not the labels that society puts on her. This is especially relatable to middle-grade readers, but is also relatable to anyone who wishes the world wasn’t so quick to judge. One of the most powerful moments in the story is when Jude bravely declares, “I am choosing to not be afraid” in the face of society’s prejudice. 

One theme that is highlighted throughout the story is the importance of not judging people based on their race. Jude is an immigrant, a Muslim, and a foreigner. Others often make assumptions about Jude and these perceptions alter how she is able to adapt to American society. At first, Jude is unsure of how to navigate these labels, but she slowly comes to resist them and stays true to herself. In the beginning of the story, Jude is torn over which place – Syria or America – is her home, but she comes to realize that home is a feeling rather than a place. Home is among her friends and family, who support her dreams and see Jude as her true self. 

Sexual Content 

  • When Muslim girls get their first period, they come of age and cover their hair with a headscarf. Fatima, one of Jude’s friends, is the first to get her period. Jude says Fatima “is one of the first girls in our grade to cover. She has bled between her legs.”
  • Jude says she wasn’t supposed to watch the movie Practical Magic or Pretty Woman because “witches and prostitutes scare Mama.”
  • Jude and her friend, Sarah, watch a show with kissing. Jude describes how Sarah “doesn’t seem surprised by all the kissing on the show. I wonder if she has been kissed herself but I’m not brave enough to ask her.”
  • Jude gets her first period. “I look at the bloodstained spots that appeared on [the] sheets overnight. . . then I saw the slow, thick, crimson drip between my legs, and I felt the dense cramp of my stomach and I knew.” 

Violence 

  • Jude sees a picture in a newspaper of bloodied civilians. “The front page is filled with awful pictures of people who are bloodied and cowering together.”
  • Jude’s brother, Issa, is at his apartment with Jude and his roommates when police raid it. “There is shouting, glasses knocked to the ground, bodies shoved against walls, the sounds of handcuffs clicking, more shouting.” Neither of them is injured. The story doesn’t say what happens to the other people. 
  • Layla tells Jude about a terrorist attack. “And then she tells me: about the explosion, about the blood in the streets, and the horror and the death.” These are the only details given about the incident. 
  • There are three instances of hate crimes. No one is injured. In the first instance, Layla’s family’s shop is defaced when someone writes “terrorists” on the storefront. In the second, a man follows Jude and tells her to “go back to where you came from.” Lastly, a woman tells Jude to remove her hijab. 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language 

  • Jude’s friend, Miles calls the man who told her to “go back to where [she] came from” a jerk. 

Supernatural 

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • Jude, her family, and a few of her friends are Muslim. There are references to Muslim culture such as the Quran, mosques, and Allah (God). Occasionally Jude brings up Arabic proverbs. 
  • Jude says that there are men who “manipulate the Quran to say things that the rest of us know it does not say.” 
  • Jude mentions an Arabic myth. “I felt like the woman from the Arabic myth who can see so far into the distance that she can see the future.”
  • Jude says, “Allah would want us to have faith.” When she receives a postcard from a friend after a long time of not hearing from her, Jude says, “[This] is the type of thing that makes me believe in Allah and the grace of the universe.”
  • Jude and her family visit a mosque together.

Holding Up the Universe

Holding Up the Universe follows the love story of two teenagers who are grappling with their own perception of identity. Jack Masselin is a popular boy who secretly struggles with a neurological disorder; Libby Strout is known as an overweight girl, once dubbed “America’s Fattest Teen” after an incident from her childhood was covered by local news. Jack and Libby realize they have more in common than they thought, but both teens struggle with understanding themselves and learning how they present themselves to others. Over the course of the book, the characters gain confidence in themselves, and learn how to trust their intuition and interact with peers.

Seventeen-year-old Jack has a reputation as being a popular “playboy” and has various other popular friends, such as Dave Kaminski and Seth Powell. Jack is also in an “on-again, off-again everyone-assumes-we’ll-end-up-together-forever” relationship with Caroline Lushamp, one of the school’s most popular cheerleaders. Jack embraces his own arrogance and confidence as he considers himself to be “charming,” “hilarious,” and “the life of the party.” However, Jack secretly struggles with prosopagnosia, which prevents him from being able to recognize faces. Jack is terrified of being excluded, so he tends to go along with what the “popular” kids are doing in order to remain in their good graces. Throughout the story, Jack learns how to tell others about his condition, and learns various “tricks” to manage his condition.

After her mom’s death, sixteen-year-old Libby lost control of her weight. The media negatively represented the Strout family after Libby had to be airlifted out of her home following a panic attack. After being dubbed “America’s Fattest Teen,” Libby was homeschooled for several years, but now she’s ready to return to public school. Shortly after re-enrolling, Libby is bullied for her weight and consistently receives hurtful remarks from peers. Despite the mean statements, Libby remains confident in herself, almost becoming empowered by their hate. 

Following a physical altercation between Jack and Libby, they are required to engage in an after-school Conversation Circle with the school counselor, Mr. Levine. During these meetings, Jack and Libby get to know each other and help each other in a variety of ways. Libby encourages Jack to seek an official prosopagnosia diagnosis from researchers at Indiana University, and Jack slowly realizes he is falling in love with Libby. By the conclusion of the Conversation Circle meetings, Jack and Libby discover how important their identity is, and that it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks about them. They come to terms with this realization and manage to develop deeper relationships with those around them.

Jack and Libby narrate alternating chapters which occasionally include flashbacks. At times, the back-and-forth perspectives between the two characters can be confusing, but the author weaves them together so seamlessly, it allows the reader to see the emotions of both characters within a specific event. The author effectively uses flashbacks by including them during relevant parts of the plot, such as referring to the day that Libby was airlifted from her home. 

Jack and Libby are relatable in their own ways. Jack is terrified of being excluded, while Libby understands that people will hate her for her weight and chooses to ignore their comments and trust herself. Because Jack is obsessed with what others think, he can sometimes be annoying. Instead of talking to his friends and accepting help from others, Jack believes he should manage everything independently. Despite this, the relationship between Jack and Libby is sweet, and has a lovable moment when Jack is able to recognize Libby without having to use “identifiers.” 

Overall, Holding Up the Universe is well-written and enjoyable to read because it’s paced appropriately and has a plot that readers can connect to. The author effectively utilizes descriptive language to manipulate the emotions of readers to the point that it feels like they are experiencing the events through the characters’ eyes. Holding Up the Universe tackles complex topics that may not be suitable for younger readers, such as fat-shaming, bullying, depression, and peer pressure.

Holding Up the Universe speaks on empowerment, acceptance, and overflowing love, which makes it a feel-good read, but readers still learn about struggles common in high school. The overall theme of the novel can be identified as “seeing and being seen,” since the main characters struggle with identifying others and being respected for who they really are. If you’re ready for another story that explores the importance of accepting yourself, Dating Makes Perfect by Pintip Dunn and Mosquitoland by David Arnold should be added to your must read list.

Sexual Content 

  • There are multiple references to blow jobs and girls being undesirable as a sexual partner.
  • Libby is eager for her first kiss and talks about being hopeful to find a boy to “claim her body.” She also is fascinated by the anecdote about a woman losing weight by having “marathon” sex.
  • Jack discovers that his father is having an affair with a teacher.  Jack sees “a new, unopened email from Monica Chapman . . . and then I open it. And wish I hadn’t.” Jack then drafts a reply which reads “Dear M. If Jack is angry, it’s because of us . . . Maybe I should stop being so selfish. If I really loved you, I would end my marriage or at least come clean to my wife.”
  • On a date, Jack invites Libby to dance with him. Jack is “at first aware of every eye in the room on us, but then all the faces fade away, and it’s just Libby and me, my hands on her waist, all that woman in my arms.”
  • At a party, Caroline tries to coerce Jack to have sex. After removing her shirt, Caroline says, “I think I’m ready for it. . . with you . . . unless you don’t want to.” They do not have any form of sexual contact because Jack realizes, “I don’t love Caroline. I don’t even like Caroline.”

Violence 

  • There is a game known as “Fat Girl Rodeo” where players non-consensually jump on the back of a “fat girl” and try to hang on as long as possible. After Libby enrolls in high school, she becomes the target of the game. Jack jumps on her in the cafeteria, and Libby manages to “summon all the strength [she has] to peel him off like a Band-Aid.” Once Jack is on the ground, she punches him in the mouth. Jack’s “jaw feels knocked loose, like it’s somewhere in Ohio. I give it a rub to make sure it’s still attached, and my hand comes away covered in blood.” 
  • Jack sticks up for someone being bullied. When the group doesn’t back down, Jack “runs right into the herd of them . . . one lands in the dirt, and suddenly they’re not laughing anymore.” The bullies argue with Jack, and then Jack begins to throw punches. “Maybe because I’m angry. At everyone. At myself.” Jack continues to punch the bullies that come at him “even when his hand feels broken, even when he can’t feel his knuckles anymore.” This scene lasts four pages.
  • After a misunderstanding at a party, Moses Hunt tracks down and begins punching Jack. Moses’ “fists are coming at me too fast to duck, too fast to move. Over and over his fists make contact with bone, or maybe he’s not the only one swinging.” This fight lasts three pages.

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Teens gather for a party and consume alcohol and weed. Jack drinks beer. After drinking several shots, he declares “my esophagus burns like I just inhaled gasoline.” Jack also smokes a joint “because maybe this is the secret of life . . . maybe this will give me answers. Instead, I end up coughing like an old man for a good five minutes.”

Language 

  • Insults and taunting such as “whore” are used toward the girls.
  • There is frequent swearing throughout the book, both casually and as insults. Profanity includes ass, bastard, bitch, bullshit, damn, douche, fuck, goddamn, hell, pissed, and shit.
  • Phrases such as OMG and oh my god are used occasionally.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Wave Riders

Twelve-year-old Jess and Jude live a dream life on a battered old yacht, sailing from one exotic destination to the next with their guardian, Gabe. But when he vanishes one night after an argument with a stranger, the twins are left alone, facing an incoming storm and an unknown enemy. The sea almost killed them, and now it must lead them to the truth in this standalone middle-grade eco-mystery about twins lost on the high seas from the author of the bestselling novel The White Giraffe.

Surviving at sea is just the start of an adventure that will take them an ocean away to the former home of their missing parents and pit them against one of the world’s most powerful men. How far do they dare go, and what will they risk to find the truth about who they really are?

Wave Riders follows Jess and Jude as they try to navigate life once their guardian, Gabe, disappears. When the Blakeney family offers to foster Jess and Jude, everyone believes the twins are lucky to be taken in by a wealthy family. However, Jess and Jude’s enthusiasm about their new home quickly wanes. The Blakeney family is full of secrets, and they clearly have no desire to foster the twins. The kids are quickly dispatched to separate boarding schools where they feel lonelier than ever. 

Jess and Jude are likable characters, but many readers will not relate to the twin’s conflict. Even though the twins meet a lot of new people, the interactions are short and do not help develop the twins’ personalities. Jess desperately wants to learn more about her parents, as well as find out why the Blakeneys are fostering them. However, every time Jess tries to investigate, the Blakeneys quickly squash her efforts. Because of this, the twins are not able to follow any clues. Instead, they discover the Blakeney’s secrets due to luck, which takes some of the joy out of the story.

Jess and Jude’s story emphasizes the importance of rejoicing in the small things. Since the twins weren’t raised in a traditional or wealthy family, they have learned to appreciate people with different backgrounds. In addition, the twins were taught that people are more important than money. For example, when the twins inherit an old forest grove of trees, they preserve it for future generations instead of allowing land developers to purchase it. Even though the siblings must deal with many difficulties, they remain kind people who care about others.

Unlike Lauren St John’s other series, Legend of the Animal Healer and Wolfe & Lamb Mysteries, Wave Riders lacks action and suspense. While there are a few exciting moments, most of the story revolves around Jess’s and Jude’s inner musings. This slows the story’s pacing and some readers may struggle to finish the book. However, readers who are dealing with grief may connect to Jess and Jude and find comfort in their story. 

Readers who want a fast-paced mystery should read Lauren St. John’s other book series. If you’re looking for another book that deals with family and grief, The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart would be an excellent book to add to your collection.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • When the kids’ guardian, Gabe, goes missing, the kids know he died after they hear a news radio broadcast. “The body of an unidentified white male has been found by a fisherman near the Cowrie Sands Resort.”
  • After their guardian disappears, Jess and Jude are sailing alone. A storm hits and Jude falls into the ocean. When Jess sees him, “he hung lifeless in his red life jacket, blood streaming from his head.” Jess jumps into the sea and saves Jude.
  • When a housekeeper pokes Jude in the chest, Jude “knocked her flat in the snow.”
  • While riding horses, a drone hits Jess’s horse. Jude thinks Caspian, his foster brother, is to blame so he “punched him. He would have hit him again had [the housekeeper] not run in and dragged him away.” 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Jude believes that a waitress put “a sleeping potion” in their drinks.
  • One of the adults has a gin and tonic.

Language 

  • There is some name-calling among the children. The following terms are used once: freak, geek, weasel, brain-dead losers, and idiot.
  • Regine is a woman who taught the kids to cook. During the cooking lesson, she tells Jude that he should learn to cook so when he grows up, his partner doesn’t “sling his sorry ass out on the street.” 
  • When upset, Regine says, “Sardine, sardine, dang and blasted sardine!”
  • Omigod is used as an exclamation once. 
  • Allegra says that her son Caspian will be glad to have someone to spend time with other than the “old farts around here.”
  • A group of environmentalists interferes with a fox hunt. Later, they are called “fox-hugging, tree-worshiping nutters” and “nutjobs, vagrants, and trespassers.” They are also called “unhinged eco warriors.” 
  • The boys at school nickname Jude stink bomb.
  • Allegra calls a woman a “batty old crone.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Contingency Plan

When Sandra Sinclair, recently widowed and the mother of twelve-year-old Jane, meets wealthy lawyer Joe Gillette, he wins her over with his kind and conscientious attitude. Falling in love faster than she ever thought possible, Sandra agrees to marry him. But soon after they move into their new home, things begin to change, and Joe’s controlling behavior causes Sandra to question her decision. When her new husband becomes seriously abusive, Sandra decides she and Jane must leave.

When Joe makes it clear that he will not just let Sandra walk away, she discovers it’s quite likely Joe arranged his first wife’s death and that Sandra is now part of his “contingency plan.” She soon realizes that even the law is no defense against this meticulous and egotistical man. Fleeing to an old family cabin on a remote lake, mother and daughter prepare to live off the grid. But when Joe tracks them down, Sandra must come up with a contingency plan of her own.

Contingency Plan is part of the Orca family of Rapid Reads books which are intended for a diverse audience, including ESL students, reluctant readers, adults who struggle with literacy, and anyone who wants a high-interest quick read. Since Contingency Plan focuses on Sandra, who was recently widowed, younger readers may have a difficult time connecting to her. While readers will empathize with Sandra’s grief, she is not necessarily a dramatic character that will keep readers’ interest. Much of the story is told in the past tense, which limits the suspense, and the ending of the book is anticlimactic and unsurprising. 

Some teen readers may reach for the book because they are interested in Sandra’s daughter. However, Sandra’s daughter rarely plays an active role in the story, which makes it difficult to emotionally invest in her. Plus, Joe has very little interaction with Sandra’s daughter. 

Even though Joe is very controlling, his abusive behavior is rarely physical, which may lead some readers to wonder why Sandra feels she cannot stay with him. Unfortunately, Contingency Plan isn’t a compelling story and fails to teach any life lessons. Reluctant readers who are looking for a story that focuses on family and will appeal to teens have many good options, including In Plain Sight by Laura Langston and Tell by Nora McClintock.

Sexual Content 

  • Sandra goes on an overnight trip with Joe. While having dinner, Joe smiles at her and Sandra proclaims, “the chemistry took my breath away. But it was more than sexual attraction.” Later, his “tender mouth nuzzled my ear, sending a tingle to forgotten places. . . We wouldn’t need that second bedroom tonight.” 
  • After being married for a while, Joe says that Sandra treats sex “like a chore.”
  • Even though Sandra is beginning to hate Joe, she feels that she has to pretend like she loves him. One night, “our lovemaking earned a solid-gold Oscar for me. For him, the usual silver star for excellence. My body responded in spite of itself.”

Violence 

  • Joe gets angry at Sandra. Sandra describes, “he gave me a shake that rattled my teeth. But he didn’t slap me.”
  • A private detective investigates Joe because while backpacking in the wilderness, Joe’s first wife died. Some people believed Joe intentionally got lost and caused his wife’s death. 
  • Sandra takes her daughter and hides out in an old hunting cabin. Sandra knows Joe is in town asking questions, so she comes up with a plan to kill him. When Sandra hears Joe’s snowmobile, she jumps on her own snowmobile and drives towards a partially frozen lake. Both Sandra and Joe break the ice and fall into the freezing water, but because she is prepared, Sandra is able to make it out. “He bobbed to the top. . . Joe’s gloved hand flipped up his visor and he splashed. ‘Help me! For god’s s-sake, S-sandra,’ he splashed.” Sandra leaves him in the water and thinks, “At 15°C, it wouldn’t take long for the ice to refreeze.” 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Joe and Sandra drink champagne several times.
  • After getting married, Joe and Sandra have dinner with the family. One woman gets “tipsy” while “the wine and brandy were making everything a bit unreal.”
  • After their marriage, Joe often drinks alcohol. 
  • When running from Joe, Sandra stays in a cheap hotel where someone has a drunken party.
  • On a long trip, Joe takes amphetamines to keep awake.

Language 

  • Hell is used three times. For example, after looking at Sandra’s computer chat history, Joe yells, “What the hell are you doing gossiping on the computer with those bitches?”
  • Joe tells Sandra, “I have every right to know what my goddamn wife is up to.”
  • Joe calls Sandra’s car a “shitbox.”
  • Bullshit is used once.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • After getting married, Joe says, “May God hold you in the palm of his hand.”
  • After going on her honeymoon, Sandra tells her dead husband, “Thanks for your blessing, Andy.”
  • Occasionally Sandra prays simple prayers. For example, after lying to Joe, Sandra “prayed that [Joe] couldn’t feel my heart breaking out of my chest.”

Odder

Meet Odder, the Queen of Play:

Nobody has her moves.

She doesn’t just swim to the bottom,

She dive-bombs.

She doesn’t just somersault,

She triple-doughnuts.

She doesn’t just ride the waves,

She makes them.

Odder spends her days off the coast of central California, practicing her underwater acrobatics and spending time with a good friend. She’s a fearless daredevil, curious to a fault. But when Odder comes face-to-face with a hungry great white shark, her life takes a dramatic turn, one that will challenge everything she believes about herself—and the humans who hope to save her.

Humans love otters because they are adorably cute, but Odder weaves a story that gives the otters personality. Odder is an adventurous otter who readers will quickly fall in love with. Best friends Odder and Kairi are complete opposites. Cautious Kairi is always reminding Odder to be more careful, but Odder gets caught up in the excitement and often forgets.

One day, Odder is so focused on finding a tasty crab to eat that she goes too far out in the bay. A hungry shark sees the otters and takes a bite of Kairi. In order to save her friend, Odder attacks the shark. Later, humans find Odder and she’s taken to an aquarium to get medical attention. Odder is consumed with grief over the loss of her best friend. Later, she learns that Kairi survived the shark attack and she is also at the aquarium!

However, the shark attack has changed Odder, who is no longer fearless. When Odder is reunited with Kairi, she has just lost her pup and has become a surrogate mother. While Kairi has always been careful, she wants the pup to be returned to the ocean. At first, Odder thinks that keeping the pup safe is the most important job for a mother. But when Odder becomes a surrogate, she learns that “teaching and loving are different words for the same thing” and that “the world is not meant to be feared.” 

Odder is inspired by the true story of a Monterey Bay Aquarium program that pairs orphaned otter pups with surrogate mothers. Applegate uses beautiful free verse to bring Odder’s ocean world to life as well as to teach readers interesting facts about the ocean’s biodiversity and otters’ importance in keeping the ocean healthy. The survival of otters is important because they are a “keystone species. . . they are nature’s glue, holding habitats together.” Odder will give readers a deeper appreciation for the beloved otter and for the people who are helping save the species. 

From the start, Applegate weaves a beautiful story about friendship, love, and the gift of freedom. By the story’s end, readers will be able to view the world from an otter’s point of view and will have a new appreciation of ocean life. In addition, through Odder’s experiences, readers will be reminded that all wild animals should have the chance to live in their natural habitat. While Odder is an entertaining and easy-to-read story, it is a must-read because of its educational value.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • One day, Otter and Kairi get too close to the bay and a shark sees them. “Odder sees the terror in her friend’s eyes.” The two try to swim away, but Odder “hears a strangled cry, and turns to see the shark has nipped her friend’s tail, as the awful stench of blood blooms in the water.”
  • In order to save Kairi from the shark, Odder attacks the shark. “As [the shark] moves in for the kill, he’s met with sheer movement, flipping and twisting, an eruption of bubbles, the reek of fear.” Because of Odder, the shark can’t go after Kairi, and “so he veers and there she [Odder] is and his mouth is open wide and waiting and clamp snap gnash she is trapped in his jaws.” When the shark tastes Odder’s fur, he drops Odder.
  • After the shark lets Odder go, she swims to the shore. She has a “gaping wound on her belly” and is “drained of blood and hope.” Humans find her and take her to an aquarium to be cared for. 
  • Odder tells the story of the Fifty, when “humans were killing us for our fur.” The back of the book explains the story in more detail.

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language   

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Now is the Time for Running

In the poor village of Gutu in Zimbabwe, Deo and his family live in one room. The people of his village are starving and struggling. Deo doesn’t even have a proper soccer ball to play with – just a bag of leather and twine – but this village is the only place he’s called home. When government soldiers destroy Gutu for housing “dissidents” suddenly Deo has lost his family, his home, and his happiness all at once. Deo’s mentally disabled older brother, Innocent, is his only remaining relative. Deo must get Innocent to safety in South Africa, but the journey to a better life is harder than he could ever imagine.

First, Deo and Innocent leave Zimbabwe. As they travel, they see a country torn apart by the government’s purge of dissenters. They narrowly escape run-ins with soldiers and travel through dangerous wilderness to cross the border. They spend some time at a farm, but danger arises when the local workers don’t like that refugees have stolen their jobs. The promise of a better, safer life lies in the city of Johannesburg. Once again, Deo and Innocent uproot themselves and travel to the city.

However, Johannesburg doesn’t turn out to be the haven they heard about. Instead of fighting against the government, the people in South Africa are fighting each other. Groups of radicals are calling for “foreigners” – the refugees from other African nations – to go home or be eradicated. They destroy refugee-owned shops and ruin their homes. During one of these raids, Innocent is killed. 

Without his brother, Deo doesn’t know what to feel. In fact, he wants to feel nothing at all. The book resumes almost two years later with Deo addicted to drugs and living on the streets. His life changes by chance when a soccer coach sees Deo’s skill with the ball, and suddenly Deo is given a place to sleep, warm food to eat, and a reason to live: playing soccer.  

At first, his team is a far cry from a family. Deo thinks they come from too many different places to understand each other. However, Deo’s coach convinces them that their strength lies their differences. They play successfully at the Street Soccer World Cup, also known as the Homeless World Cup – a competition that brings refugees and street kids together for the chance to change their lives. The story doesn’t reveal how the final match ends, but for Deo, his new life is just beginning. 

Inspired by true events, Now is the Time for Running is a journey of displacement through the eyes of a young man. Deo tells it like it is – he doesn’t shy away from the situation in Zimbabwe despite how much pain it causes him. It’s necessary to note that this book does not shy away from the horrors of civil war, poverty, and intolerance. While this book is not for the faint of heart, the lessons and truths it brings to light are meaningful and powerful. As a narrator, Deo goes through more in a few years than many people suffer through in their whole lives, but this doesn’t make him less relatable. Deo wants to protect the people he loves and to be happy – goals that anyone can relate to.

The first lesson of this book is clear: Deo never gives up. His unrelenting goal to protect his brother and escape the disastrous situation in Zimbabwe shows that he is continuously determined to have a better life. Even after Innocent dies and Deo struggles with addiction, he gets back on his feet through the soccer program. Despite great odds, Deo shows that people can always make the choice to persevere towards their goals. 

The other main theme of the story is not as apparent, but it’s one of the reasons readers see repeated instances of violence as Deo searches for a new place to call home: The “us vs. them” mentality. While present throughout the whole book, such as when the soldiers massacre the people of Gutu or when Innocent is killed in the anti-refugee riots, this issue comes to a head in Deo’s soccer team. After fighting breaks out amongst the teams, Deo’s coach teaches them that the true strength lies in their differences. The coach says, “Each of you brings something special to this team. Zimbabwe has brought me guts and determination; from Kenya, I get lightness and speed; from Mozambique, superb ball control and agility. . . It is because we are not the same that we are stronger than any other team in this competition! All of you have learned to play soccer in different parts of Africa. Our combined playing style is like no other in the world.” Once the team listens to the stories of their fellow teammates, they understand that they all have suffered, but they can all move forward together. 

Now is the Time for Running is a powerful book that teaches that strength does not lie in forcing everyone to be the same; it comes from accepting that everyone’s differences bring something new and unique to the table. Readers who want to learn about history through the eyes of an athlete should also read The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow.

Sexual Content 

  • The guards punish Innocent by taking his clothes away. When Deo rescues him, Innocent throws a fit about being naked, but Deo convinces Innocent to come with him by saying that the soldiers might take both their clothes. “We don’t want the soldiers to come back and take my clothes too. Then we’ll both be naked. . . Can you imagine everyone laughing at our butts and our balls bouncing around?” 
  • One of the women that Deo and Innocent stay with is a sex worker. 
  • Two of the soccer players, T-Jay and Keelan, have a short exchange. When T-Jay says Keelan has a “cute butt,” Keelan gives him the middle finger. 
  • Innocent always carried a condom. Keelan says, “Perhaps your brother knew more about sex than you think.” Deo replies, “Innocent didn’t like girls much. He saw safe-sex ads everywhere, and he thought that condoms would keep him safe from girls.”
  • During a game, Deo describes, “Keelan. . . scored her third goal and headed straight to me. I was sitting on the bench when she threw her arms around me and kissed me on the cheek.”

Violence 

  • Deo punches a kid named Pelo who calls him crazy on the soccer field. “Pelo does not have the chance to finish what he’s saying because he has to deal with my fist in his mouth. . . ” Another kid pulls Deo away before the fight continues.
  • When Deo sees soldiers carrying guns, he thinks about the damage guns can cause. “I have seen a cow cut in half from a burst from one of those guns.” 
  • Deo knows stories about the violence brought by the soldiers. The soldiers “went to Chipinge when the people were angry from hunger, so angry that some of them were killed. Auntie Aurelia told us that her niece was one of those who were hungry. She did not say how she bled to death.”
  • Commander Jesus comes to Deo’s village, Gutu, to kill dissenters of the government. Commander Jesus says, “In the back of my jeep there is a drum filled with blood. The blood came from people who voted wrongly. My life is to drink human blood. My supply is running low. I have come here to kill dissidents. . . You are going to eat eggs, after eggs hens, after hens goats, after goats cattle. . . . Then you are going to eat your children. After that you shall eat your wives. Then the men will remain, and because dissidents have guns, they will kill the men and only dissidents will remain. That’s how we will find who they are, and then we will kill them.” 
  • The soldiers and Commander Jesus hurt Grandpa Longdrop. Deo witnesses “an awful crunch and [I] see Grandpa Longdrop collapse in front of me. His eyes look dazed. He tries to get up, and I try to reach him to tell him to stay down, but then Commander Jesus kicks him. He crumples.” 
  • Deo’s mentally disabled brother, Innocent, comes to defend Grandpa Longdrop. “Innocent runs screaming toward Commander Jesus with a stick raised high above his head. He cracks it down on Commander Jesus’s outstretched hands.” The soldiers attack Innocent. “The soldiers beat Innocent with their rifle butts. What is worse than the sound of wood against the bones of your brother?. . . Innocent does not cry. He lies like a baby, curled up, his hands and arms covering his head. . . Innocent is pulled to his knees. His face is crooked, his eyes black balls. Blood trickles from his broken nose.” Innocent later recovers from these injuries.
  • Commander Jesus has the soldiers beat all the residents of Gutu. “The soldiers beat us as we lie on the ground. . . Useless hands against hard sticks. Elbows cracked. Heads smacked. Screams. Flashes of wood. Soldiers grunting. And pain. Lots of it.” 
  • After the beating, Deo assesses the townspeople’s injuries. “Grandpa Longdrop lies on the ground, his head in my [mother’s] lap. Sometimes he groans, and sometimes he is so quiet that I am afraid that he will never wake up. . . The backs of my legs hurt where the soldiers’ sticks fell, but this is nothing to what others have suffered. One of Lola’s brothers has a broken arm. Bhuku’s [mother] has a split in her head that bleeds and bleeds. Shadrack’s little sister could be dead.”
  • The soldiers pull a truck driver out of his car and kick him before letting him run away.
  • The soldiers take Innocent as punishment for hitting Commander Jesus. Deo finds him later. “A naked body is lying in the middle of the [cattle pen]. The man’s wrists are tied to pegs in the ground. His ankles are tied to the end of a log that stretches his legs wide apart. There is a sack over his head. . . I notice ants crawling all over his body. . . There is dried blood at the side of his mouth, his nose is broken, and his eyes are all puffy.” Innocent says the soldiers also peed on him.
  • The soldiers end up killing everyone in Deo’s village. “Gunshots rat-a-tat-tat across the valley. . .I crawl forward into the noise of people dying. The soldiers are shooting. People are running away. Some are falling. Now the soldiers hold their guns as if they mean business. Their guns bark, come alive in their hands, their bullets rip into the earth, the walls, trees, pots, chairs, and flesh. I watch. I am too afraid to turn away. People scream; their cries are cut in half by bullets.” 
  • Deo finds his mother (or “Amai”)  and Grandpa Longdrop among the dead villagers. “Amai is lying face down. Her arms are thrown out in front of her as if she is trying to grab something out of her reach. Her back is covered with a damp patch of blood. . . I find Grandpa Longdrop. He stares up at the sky. His mouth is open. He does not look like Grandpa Longdrop anymore. I find Shadrack. Dead. There is Lola. Blood where her face should be. Her brothers are lying not far away.” 
  • During a soccer game, Deo gets angry and kicks a boy named Aziz. “I charge [Aziz] from behind and deliberately kick his ankles. He falls, and the players on his team shout at me.. . . Aziz gets up, inspects his knee. It’s bloody.”
  • When crossing the border, two of the men in the group climb an electric fence and are electrocuted. “The two men run ahead, faster than us. They are the first to reach the fence. They start climbing. . . The wire fizzes, crackles, and the men shriek and fall to the ground as the electricity burns them.” The men are dazed but recover. 
  • An anti-refugee gang pulls a shopkeeper named Ahmed from his store and beats him. “Hands grab Ahmed and pull him onto the street. He screams as many sticks fall on him. . . Ahmed’s white robes turn red with blood.” It’s unknown whether he lives or dies.
  • Deo finds Angel, a sex worker, beaten up by one of her clients. “Angel is covered with blood, beaten. She lies on her bed, curled up in a ball. Her face is swollen. . .” Angel explains that her clients “were tired of paying a kwerekwere [a foreigner]. They wanted it for free.”
  • Deo finds Innocent’s dead body on the ground during an anti-immigrant raid. “I see the shape of a human head, lying on its side. The shape of an arm and a hand. . . I reach the body of my brother, facedown on the ground, covered with rubble.”
  • A refugee named Muhammad commits suicide by jumping into the ocean. “Muhammad had had enough of what he called a life without hope and without country. . . so he chose to run to the blue horizon. [The police] sent out a boat to fetch [Muhammad], but they never found him.”
  • While playing soccer, T-Jay and Deo get in a fight. “T-Jay lashed out at me with his elbow. The blow caught me squarely between the eyes, and for a moment I thought I was going to fall down. But instead of taking me down, it was like a switch that flicked on inside me. My fist found its way up T-Jay’s nose and my knee said hello to his balls. . . he got in quite a few good punches before my nose started bleeding. I stopped kicking T-Jay only when I heard [the] whistle bursting my eardrum.”
  • Keelan explains how she ended up in South Africa. Soldiers came to her town to punish the people who had voted wrongly. Her father, the community leader, was killed. Keelan says, “they had chopped off his arms with a machete.” 
  • T-Jay shares his story too. His father lost his foot when he stood on a landmine. T-Jay’s father “couldn’t work anymore, so he stayed at home. He beat the crap out of me until the social services took him away.” 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Captain Washington, a family friend of Deo, drinks after he learns Deo’s mother is dead. Captain Washington “brings back a bottle of booze. He pours himself a drink and swallows it quickly…At least when he drinks, he is no longer crying.”
  • After his brother dies, Deo gets addicted to sniffing glue, a common addiction for street kids in South Africa. Deo says, “the glue makes everything weightless.” He also calls it the “magic tube.” Deo talks about getting high off glue and the withdrawal symptoms, which include vomiting and muscle aches. 
  • Deo notices that some of the other kids on his South African soccer team are also “glue-tube heads.”
  • T-Jay’s father was an alcoholic.
  • T-Jay says it’s too late for him to go back to school because he got into drugs.

Language   

  • The story contains some profanity. Shit is used a few times; damn is used three times.
  • Deo says fear smells worse than “dog crap.”
  • A rude man calls Mai Maria, a woman who helps Deo and Innocent cross the border, a “filthy Rasta woman.”
  • Angel calls someone a “bitch.”
  • The slur kwerekwere is used occasionally. It is a derogatory term for foreigners or outsiders. It is used by gangs of people who want to expel the refugees from their country.
  • The guy who sells Deo glue says, “get your ass down here.”

Supernatural 

  • There is a rumor that Mai Maria is a witch who eats children. 

Spiritual Content 

  • The Methodist Church is mentioned throughout the story because they sometimes provide food and shelter for refugees or struggling communities. Once, Deo stays in a shelter set up by the Methodist Church. 
  • Deo talks about Spirits. “Grandpa Longdrop says that there are two kinds of people, those who believe in the Spirits and those who don’t. . . I understand the Spirits of the Wind, the Spirits of the Rocks, and the Spirits of the Trees are all those who have died and live on in other ways. I understand that they watch over us, that they can sometimes be angry because we forget them. And it is said that when they are angry, they can sometimes punish us. But this thing of the beating [by the soldiers] is too big to blame on the Spirits. They would not allow such a painful thing to happen. If I believe in Spirits, why would I believe in something that causes such pain? Surely the Spirits had nothing to do with what has happened in our village.”
  • Deo sings an ancient Spirit song passed down by his family to prompt Innocent into a fit so they can distract a group of soldiers. “It is always terrible to see Innocent when he has one of his fits. . . People are afraid of Innocent when he becomes like this. They think he is possessed. They think that the Spirits have taken over his body.” The lyrics of the song are not included in the story.
  • One of the items that Innocent carried with him was a pocket Bible with a note inside from their father. The note reads: “To Innocent and Deo, This is not a book of laws but a book of love. It will always be your salvation.” 
  • The soccer team from the Philippines at the Homeless World Cup chants, “For God and for country!” 
  • Bishop Desmond Tutu, who has come to oversee the Homeless World Cup, thanks God and says to the players, “God bless you all!” 

All My Rage

In the humble and quiet town of Juniper, California, resides two Pakistani-American teens who are not just best friends, but family as well: Salahudin Malik, an aspiring writer who struggles to take care of the family motel as his mother’s health declines and his father slowly succumbs to alcoholism, and Noor Riaz, an intelligent and logical woman who dreams of becoming a doctor, yet has to hide her ambitions from her controlling uncle, who adopted her when her parents were killed in an earthquake in Pakistan. 

However, their friendship is compromised when the Fight breaks out between them, and their individual problems gradually worsen. Sal’s desperate attempts to save the motel and Noor’s determination to go to college lead to unforeseen consequences. Sal and Noor’s friendship rises and falls with each harrowing decision, all the while fending off the monsters that live in their past and the ones that live to this day.

Narrated in dual-POV, both Sal and Noor are engaging and complex—even though they have plenty of flaws. The teens are perfectly portrayed as realistic teenagers who are withstanding difficult lives. While trying to ensure his family motel remains competent, as per his dying mother’s wishes, Sal’s desperation and lack of proper judgment lands him in deep waters; this further compromises his friendship with Noor, who is sacrificing her own happiness to appease her selfish uncle by working at his liquor store. At such a young age, both teens must not only think for themselves, but also for their guardian/family as their living conditions and financial situations are not ideal.

However, the two protagonists shed an inspiring light with their determination—and especially their deep love and care for each other. When Sal finds out a disturbing fact about Noor’s uncle, he takes her out for the evening in order to distract her and ensure she does not undergo her uncle’s wrath anymore. Sal states, “She was always ready to run. Every day, she came to school wondering if this would be the day she had to get out. . . I should have seen. Done something.” He worries for her—just like Noor does for him, as she urges him to prioritize his impressive writing skills and make something out of it, instead of striving to save the motel and sacrificing his own dreams. 

Furthermore, Tahir perfectly exacerbates the problems delineated in this novel, such as racism, familial issues, the oppression of religion, and, of course, inner rage—specifically directed toward the unfair circumstances Noor and Sal are both placed in. Their character development is phenomenal, with them being naive and unsure in the beginning, and in the end, they’ve indubitably matured after undergoing numerous ups and downs in their personal and social lives. The plot development is extraordinary because the slow build-up to the climax, which hits the reader hard, perfectly exhibits how one really does not see the worst situation coming. It also depicts the true feeling of rage, and how—sometimes—the universe will compile loads of problems upon someone to no end. 

The story is more than enjoyable, what with Tahir’s effective storytelling and proper characterization of the two protagonists and the people they were surrounded by. The underlying message in this story is that home can only feel like home once you fit in. In this case, the two characters struggle indefinitely to do so — undergoing an infinite amount of distress and, eventually, rage as well. From there, the novel covers topics such as drug and alcohol addiction, Islamophobia, mentioning of repressed sexual assault, and death.

This awe-inspiring novel’s message is about the identity crisis that comes with belonging to two different cultures, especially for South Asian teenagers, as they often struggle with balancing their ethnic and nationalistic backgrounds. Someone from a background different from the characters’, or even the same, will learn that there are drawbacks, but also beauties involved in South Asian culture. They’ll also learn just how much these teenagers had to fight—just so they can feel like they belonged somewhere. Not only is this book adorned with a meaningful and captivating premise, but it has an impactful and emotional conclusion that will leave readers, especially those with a South Asian background, with a newfound understanding of young love, forgiveness, and inner growth. There is no doubt that Tahir’s razor-sharp writing and remarkable story will reside in all readers’ hearts from the first line. Readers who want to read another excellent book about teens with complicated family lives should read The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan.

Sexual Content 

  • Noor is at Sal’s house, and he becomes enamored in her presence, thinking about the way she smells, “and the way her body curves beneath her worn The Cure t-shirt…” He also thinks that his “skin is tingling in a good way for once.”
  • Sal picks up Noor from school and thinks about how, last night on the phone, she made a “comment about impure thoughts . . . which made [him] wonder if she had impure thoughts. About [him].”
  • Sal takes Noor to the outskirts of Juniper, and she settles herself between his legs, her back against his chest. He thinks: “Too many synapses are firing. Too much of her is touching too much of me. My whole body prickles.” They kiss passionately two times after that, and she “makes a funny sound, between a gasp and a moan.” He also thinks: “Suddenly, I need her, all of her. I need her to be close to me.” This whole interaction lasts about three pages.

Violence 

  • When Sal visits his dying mother in the hospital, his drunk father is there. The police are called because his father was causing a commotion in the waiting room. As Sal pleads for his father to let him take him home, he jerks away from Sal, thus “windmilling” him and smacking him in the face.
  • Jamie, a bully, yells racist remarks at Noor. Then, Jamie grabs Noor’s arm, but Noor rips away from her grip and swings, meeting “her face with a dense thump” she “knows too well… [Jamie] falls back, screams, grabs her nose.”
  • Noor has been physically abused by her uncle, but it worsens when he finds out that she has been applying to colleges. He yells at her—right before he kicks her, and she is on the ground, and she curls up and waits “for it to be over.” He continues to kick her, “his tennis shoe [slamming] into [her] ribs.” From there, she pulls herself up to her feet and throws a brass sculpture at him, and he screams at her right before she runs away.

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Drugs and alcohol are one of the few prominent themes in the story, as Sal’s father is an alcoholic and Sal becomes involved with drug dealing to keep his family’s motel running. 
  • In the very beginning of the book, Sal states, “It’s 6:37 a.m. and my father doesn’t want me to know how drunk he is.” Shortly after, Sal runs into Art, his then-girlfriend’s cousin, who is a drug dealer and deals with someone in the bathroom. He states: “Even though [Art] hangs out with the white-power kids, he gets along with everyone. Probably because he supplies most of Juniper High with narcotics.”
  • Sal and his alcoholic father share a heart-to-heart about Sal’s mother. Just when Sal thinks of consoling his father, Sal states, “His plate clatters in the sink. A cupboard opens. A glass clinks. I smell it, that sharp stink I’ll never get used to, and his sigh of relief, as his memories slide away, a quiet, merciful forgetting.”

Language 

  • The words bitch, shit, asshole, ass, dumbass, and dick are all used several times. The most common is shit.
  • The word “fuck” is used very rarely. For example, when Sal’s mother is dying, he recollects himself by thinking, “Not now. I’m not going to fucking weep.” 
  • Sal’s father curses in Punjabi once: “Haramzada kutta!” which directly translates to: Dog of a bastard. 

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • Most of the characters are religious, especially Sal’s mother, who commonly makes references to God to get through tough times. For instance, when Sal, as a young child, gets hurt by a stranger, she prays to God, “Do not let him remember. Punish he who did this. Punish him with pain, God. Punish him as only you can.”
  • Noor’s uncle refers to God negatively as he looks down upon the practice of Islam in general. For example, he says to Noor, “Do you even understand what they’re saying in Arabic? It’s backward and illogical, Noor .  . . ‘Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature. It is the opium of the people.’ Karl Marx.”

Dark Blue: Color Me Lonely

Kara Hendricks and Jordan Ferguson have been best friends since kindergarten. By now—sophomore year—they’re more like sisters, really. Jordan has always been the leader in the friendship, but still she’s the perfect friend. That is until Jordan started hanging out with a new “cool” crowd and decided Kara was a popularity liability. 

Devastated, Kara feels betrayed and abandoned by everyone—even God. How could Jordan do this? Why did God let this happen? Yet for all the hurt and insecurity, these dark blue days contain a life-changing secret. Now that Jordan is gone, Kara has the chance to discover something about herself that she never knew before. But first, she must learn to trust again. It won’t be easy.

Kara’s story deals with universal themes of self-worth, identity, and loneliness that anyone who has suffered a loss will relate to. However, readers may find it difficult to sympathize with Kara because of her self-pitying attitude. When Jordan starts hanging out with the cheerleaders, she tries to include Kara in her new friend group. However, Kara is so uncomfortable that she begins to avoid Jordan. Since Kara’s insecurities drive much of her action, when the friendship finally ends, Kara turns to daydreaming about scenarios that would hurt Jordan. From the start, the girls’ unhealthy relationship is portrayed in a negative manner, so when the friendship ends there is little emotional impact.

Unfortunately, there is nothing unique about Dark Blue’s plot. Instead, it revolves around the typical stereotypes – a goth girl, a nerd, and an academic high achiever. None of the supporting characters are well developed and Kara begins spending time with some of her new friends, not because she truly likes them, but because she’s so desperate not to be alone. The connection between Kara and her new friends feels forced and unauthentic, especially since so many of their conversations are about their belief in God. But through these lunch time discussions, Kara begins to realize that God is the only best friend she needs.

Another negative aspect of Dark Blue is Kara’s long and tedious inner musings. Most of Kara’s interactions with others are short and do little to develop Kara’s personality. Instead, the story has long passages that focus on Kara’s thought process. Because Kara is so caught up in her misery, it is difficult to relate to her. 

Dark Blue reminds readers that God is with us even during difficult times. While it is important to connect with others, only God can fill the emptiness that is inside of us. Once Kara accepts God’s love, she is finally able to look at life in a more positive light. While Dark Blue’s message will resonate with readers, the lack of character development and the typical plot structure are not very memorable. However, readers who are dealing with loss and loneliness will find comfort in the book’s message.

Sexual Content 

  • At school, Kara sees some “couples hanging onto each other like they can’t bear to let go, a few even making out.” 

Violence 

  • Edgar’s mom was up for parole, but it was denied so “she hung herself.”

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Kara’s friend, Amy, smokes cigarettes and is part of the “pot-smoking Goth group.”
  • When Amy and her friends show up at a school dance, Kara thinks “Some of them are high or drunk or both. Including Amy.” Later, Amy pukes. 
  • Kara’s friend, Edgar, has a father who is a recovering alcoholic and a mother who is in jail for drugs.
  • While talking about Edgar’s home life, Amy says that she’s “used all kinds of lame excuses to get drunk.” 

Language 

  • Freaking, crappy, and crud are used rarely. 

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • When Jordan becomes part of the cheerleading squad, Kara thinks, “Maybe it’s because I prayed that Jordan did so well. Maybe her success was God’s way of getting even with me for being so hopelessly selfish.” 
  • Kara and her friends often discuss their belief in God. For example, during lunch, some of the kids talk about freedom of religion. A girl says, “I don’t think our government should tell us to pray either. But I don’t think they should tell us that we can’t.” The conversation lasts for a page. 
  • Kara asks her friends, “I mean do you think it’s true that you can really have a close relationship with God?” Two kids in the group discuss their beliefs. A boy who goes to church three days a week says, “God made us all unique people. . . I need to go to church a lot and read a lot and pray a lot.” The conversation lasts for three pages. 
  • Because of Kara’s depression, she thinks about giving “this God-thing a shot.” However, she feels like she wants to make a deal with God so her life will go back to the way it was before Jordan dumped her as a friend. Kara thinks, “And I’ve got to wonder whether it’s worth the risk of blowing it with God just because I think I might be able to swing some sort of deal. . . my life is cruddy enough without going and making it worse by messing with someone like God.” Kara’s inner musings last for a page.
  • One of Kara’s friends, Edgar, says, “I think God is calling me to be a missionary.” He then explains why he believes this. The conversation lasts for about a page. 
  • When Amy offers to give Edgar a makeover, he says, “I’ve been asking God to do something to change me. I’ve been praying to become the kind of guy that other people will listen to.” 
  • Edgar considers Jesus his best friend. 
  • Kara goes to church with Edgar. The youth pastor discusses how “God designed us to feel lonely” and only God can fill the lonely ache inside of us. 
  • After the pastor speaks, Kara isn’t sure how to ask Jesus into her heart. The pastor explains how she needs to “invite Jesus to come inside of you. And once you’ve done that, your life will never be the same.” The church scene is described over five pages.
  • Edgar tells Kara that “God wants us to make good choices. . .But most of all I think he just wants us to love him and to let him into all the ordinary and sometimes gory details of our daily life.”
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