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Scythe

Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch live in a world where natural death has been eradicated. People who die are simply revived, and aging can be reversed. In place of natural death are scythes — humans who work as professional cullers, choosing people to kill, otherwise known as “gleaning.” These days, more and more scythes are needed to combat overpopulation, so scythes pick apprentices to train. But neither Citra nor Rowan expected Honorable Scythe Faraday to make them both his apprentices. They don’t want to be scythes, but Faraday believes that’s why they’d make great ones. The catch? Only one will become a scythe. The other will return to their old life. It’s a competition for a role neither want.  

Soon enough, Citra and Rowan are learning the art of killing by training with weapons and memorizing poisons, studying the history of the world, and witnessing Faraday’s gleanings. But when it comes time for their first of three apprentice tests, both Citra and Rowan fail. As a result, one scythe argues that Faraday’s apprentices aren’t taking the competition seriously enough and then successfully rallies to add a deadly stipulation to the apprenticeship: the one who becomes a scythe will have to glean the other apprentice. Citra and Rowan are horrified, as is Scythe Faraday, who self-gleans as a result. This act of suicide should release his apprentices, stopping the competition. But it doesn’t, as two scythes step in to be Citra’s and Rowan’s mentors.  

Citra is sent to study with Scythe Curie, and Rowan with Scythe Goddard. Curie is an old-guard scythe like Faraday, but Goddard is a controversial, flamboyant new-guard scythe who is intent on bending the Scythedom’s rules for his gain. Whichever apprentice wins will have a huge impact on the Scythedom, which is struggling from infighting between new and old guard scythes. As training continues, Citra makes an alarming discovery — Faraday might not have self-gleaned. He may have been murdered.  

On the other hand, Rowan gets an inside look at just how far Goddard is willing to go to get what he wants. As Citra and Rowan peel back the layers of the Scythedom, they realize the corruption is beyond what anyone expected. What really happened to Scythe Faraday? Is Goddard breaking scythe law—and what’s his final goal? What will happen to the Scythedom? And of course, who will win the apprentice competition? 

Citra and Rowan are very different characters, providing interesting contrasting perspectives. Citra is a driven, outspoken eldest daughter with a competitive spark, while Rowan is a sly but unexpectedly empathetic forgotten middle child who keeps to himself. Even though they live in a world drastically different from the reader’s world, they feel like characters readers could meet in high school. Plus, the fact that neither wants to be a scythe, and is appalled by the act of killing, mirrors readers’ thoughts, adding another element of relatability. Citra and Rowan are both easy to root for, which adds complexity to the read, as readers may struggle in deciding who they want to win the competition.   

Scythe’s side characters, particularly Curie and Goddard, shine as contrasting perspectives to Citra and Rowan, challenging each to their core. Curie’s wise perspective as an older scythe who was flashy in her youth guides not only Citra but readers, offering critical moral lessons. However, she’s far from boring, bringing a calculated strength that is both engaging and surprising. Goddard, on the other hand, serves as a striking, charismatic, and manipulative villain whose sadism and god-complex put him at direct odds with Curie. As an avatar of human corruption, he drives much of the book’s suspense forward and becomes the ultimate villain readers love to hate.  

The worldbuilding is extensive, with many different elements for readers to understand, but Shusterman makes the concepts easily digestible through explanations dispersed throughout the story rather than one large info dump at the beginning. Shusterman wastes no time at the start, throwing readers right into the action, which prevents the slow build-up that often plagues fantasy novels. The concept of scythes is incredibly interesting and only grows more intriguing as readers learn about their complex hierarchy and moral codes. Scythe‘s rich lore makes the world feel authentic, and Shusterman couples these fascinating concepts with an engaging plot and compelling characters to create a tight narrative that readers won’t want to leave — it’s a definite page-turner. 

Scythe is darkly exciting, with grim humor that makes its heartfelt moments unexpectedly endearing and highly impactful. The book is well-paced, with a natural flow that guides readers between eventful action scenes and contemplative lulls. The twists are appropriately placed and induce shock. The ending isn’t one readers will see coming, but it feels completely fitting.  

Shusterman is not subtle about his message, and his directness effectively highlights how this world is not the utopia it appears to be and how perfection remains elusive. He includes journal entries from scythes that question whether immortality is beneficial and what drives the will to live. These entries also highlight the corrupting nature of power and how humans often abuse it, address issues with governing bodies, and explore the inevitability of human nature. These themes, along with others such as greed, class divisions, information abuse, and the dangers of operating above the law, are demonstrated through the characters’ actions. The main villains even wear bejeweled robes, directly marking them as problematic. This straightforward approach to messaging is both refreshing and insightful while still allowing for critical thought and surprise. 

Scythe is chilling in the best way possible, providing dark, thrilling entertainment while bluntly holding up a mirror to contemporary society through its dystopian landscape. Its relentless villains are as compelling as its strong but skeptical protagonists, and the interactions between friend and foe create excellent tension. The concept of scythes is fascinating, and the plot successfully twists and turns, maintaining suspense throughout the novel. Shusterman uses the idea of situations so horrifying you can’t look away to drive home serious messages while delighting audiences with a grim, intriguing, and riveting story. 

Sexual Content  

  • Rowan comes into Citra’s room to check on her after a rough day. Rowan thinks romantic thoughts about Citra, and then she kisses him. “Rowan wanted to kiss her. There was no denying that anymore. He had suppressed the urge for a week. . . then, to his surprise, [Citra] lurched forward and kissed him.” 
  • Rowan stares at a girl in a bikini at one of Scythe Goddard’s parties. “Rowan realized a moment too late that he was staring. She grinned and he blushed, looking away.” She later gives him a massage.  
  • A member of Scythe Goddard’s posse, Scythe Rand, touches Rowan’s body and says things to him with sexual implications. For example, “Scythe Rand constantly slapped his glutes, threatening all kinds of lewd liaisons with [Rowan] once he was of age.” 

Violence  

  • The very concept of scythes as professional, sanctioned killers is gruesome. This means much of the book features violence, killing (sometimes in mass quantities), and death. Some of the deaths in the book aren’t permanent, however.  
  • As part of their scythe training, Citra and Rowan learn “Black Widow Bokator—a deadly version of the ancient Cambodian martial art developed specifically for the Scythedom.” Bokator appears many times as part of the scythe training regimen.  
  • Rowan’s friend Tyger is a “splatter,” someone who repeatedly kills themselves for fun. Rowan goes to visit Tyger in the hospital after Tyger is revived from another splat. “Tyger Salazar had hurled himself out a thirty-nine-story window, leaving a terrible mess on the marble plaza below.” Splatting is mentioned a variety of times. 
  • A scythe shows up at Rowan’s school to glean his classmate Kohl. Rowan holds Kohl’s hand while the scythe gleans Kohl by electrocution. “The scythe pressed the [electrified] paddle to Kohl’s chest. Rowan’s vision went white, then dark. His entire body convulsed. . . It might have been painless for Kohl, but not for Rowan. It hurt. It hurt more than anything.” 
  • Scythe Faraday gleans a woman with a deadly pill as Citra and Rowan watch. “Scythe Faraday placed the pill on her tongue. She closed her mouth, but didn’t bite it right away. . . Then the slightest crunch. And she went limp.” 
  • Scythe Goddard and his posse brutally glean an entire plane of people with many kinds of weapons. One victim, a businessman, commits suicide on Scythe Goddard’s sword. “[Goddard’s friends] drew weapons and began the awful gleaning. . . [Goddard] pulled out his own blade but the businessman was ready. The moment the blade was drawn, he thrust himself forward onto it.” 
  • Goddard’s plane gleaning isn’t shown directly, but after the man’s suicide, the scythes pull out a variety of weapons in preparation, including, “Knives of various lengths. Guns,” “a machete” and other unnamed weapons. The exact number of deaths isn’t stated, but the flight was full and everyone on board — passengers and staff — are gleaned. This scene lasts five pages.  
  • Scythe Goddard and his posse mass-glean a food court. “Three of [the scythes] pulled out weapons that glistened even more than their bejeweled robes, and the fourth pulled out a flamethrower. ‘This food court has been selected for gleaning,’ their leader said. And then they began their terrible mission.” Their slaughter isn’t explicitly described. 
  • A young girl, Esme, attempts to escape the food court gleaning. While hiding, she sees “the man who had served her pizza slumped over the counter, dead.” Goddard and his crew leave Esme as the sole survivor. The scene lasts two pages. 
  • When Citra and Scythe Faraday go to glean a man, he fights back. “When Citra and the scythe entered the room, he ambushed them. . . he rejected his gleaning and fought the scythe.” Citra subdues the man, and then Faraday “slit the man’s throat.” Faraday’s jaw is broken, but Citra is fine. The scene lasts two pages. 
  • Scythe Curie performs a fast gleaning on an unsuspecting man. “Then [the man] suddenly gasped — because Scythe Curie’s blade had already been thrust up beneath his rib cage and into his heart.” 
  • Rowan’s mentor, Scythe Goddard, and three other scythes nearly beat Rowan to death. They torture Rowan, ensuring he feels the maximum pain by turning off his “nanites,” which are pain blockers put in everyone’s bodies. They believe that he needs to feel pain to learn how to be a scythe. “Scythe Chomsky. . . swung his fist, connecting with Rowan’s cheek so hard, he spun around, lost his footing, and fell to the dusty floor.” Rowan sustains multiple broken ribs, and his entire body is swollen and bruised. This scene lasts five pages.  
  • In the backyard of his borrowed mansion, Scythe Goddard orders Rowan to practice gleaning by temporarily killing 12 paid volunteers. “[Rowan] yelled and screamed and grunted with every thrust, slice, and twist. He had trained well. The blade sunk in with perfect precision.”  
  • Scythe Goddard and his posse perform a mass gleaning in an office building. “Blades and bullets and flames. The office was catching fire. . . The doomed were caught between fire and water, and the deadly sights of four master hunters. No one stood a chance.” Rowan helps a couple of workers escape. This scene is described over two pages. 
  • Citra and Rowan are forced to fight in a Bokator match, which they both try to lose. Rowan purposely disqualifies himself by making an illegal move and temporarily killing Citra. “[Rowan] flung his body into the air, twisting her head the other way. Her neck broke with a loud and horrible snap, and darkness came over Citra like a landslide.” This scene lasts three pages.  
  • Scythe Goddard and his posse mass-glean a cult, gleaning about 100 people. One of the posse members, Scythe Volta, gleans a classroom of children and then decides to self-glean in regret and grief. “Rowan realized the blood on Volta’s hands was not from his victims. It was from Volta’s own wrists. The gashes were jagged and long. They were made with very clear intent.” This scene is described over five pages. 
  • Rowan stands up against Goddard and his posse’s actions by beheading Goddard and fighting and killing posse-members Rand and Chomsky. He then sets the building they’re in on fire. “[Rowan] stepped back, withdrew his sword from Goddard’s gut, and swung it in a broad, sweeping arc that took off Goddard’s head in a single blow.” This scene is described over four pages. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Scythe Volta, one of Scythe Goddard’s friends, forcibly gives Rowan a glass of champagne. “Rowan took a sip, wondering if an underage scythe’s apprentice could get marked down for drinking. Then he remembered that such rules didn’t apply to him anymore. So he took another sip.” 
  • Rowan is taken to a wine cellar for the “pain training,” where his mentor Scythe Goddard and his posse torture him. “There was a wine cellar in the basement of the main house. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of bottles of wine rested in the brick alcoves.” The wine isn’t consumed. 
  • After Rowan defeats Citra in Bokator, Scythe Goddard breaks out the champagne to celebrate. “[Goddard] called for the butler to bring champagne and glasses for everyone. . . so they could toast Rowan’s audacity.” Rowan drinks the champagne. 
  • After Rowan escapes a fire, he talks to High Blade Xenocrates, the leader of Mid-Merican scythes. “A servant arrived with champagne and finger sandwiches.” Rowan does not drink. 

Language    

  • Profanity is used occasionally. Language includes damn, hell, and ass. 

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • In one of her journal entries, Scythe Curie reflects on how religion became obsolete when death became a thing of the past. “I think about religion, and how, once we became our own saviors, our own gods, most faith became irrelevant. What must it have been like to believe in something greater than oneself?” 
  • In the Scythe universe, groups called Tone Cults exist, which are pseudo-religions whose members worship “wavelengths and vibrations that are beyond the limits of human sight.” They have priest-like leaders and monasteries where they practice their beliefs with tuning forks, using them to create sounds. Their beliefs are “a hodgepodge of mortal age faiths slapped together.” 

by Sarah Leberknight 

Within These Wicked Walls: A Novel

Andromeda is a free spirit, and she won’t let anyone get in her way. She is a debtera, an exorcist hired to cleanse sites and people of the Evil Eye. Trained from a young age by one of the most prominent and dysfunctional debteras in the country, Andromeda is good at her job. The only problem is that she’s not officially licensed, and after a falling out with her mentor, Jember, her only hope of steady work is to find a Patron—a rich, well-connected individual who will vouch for her abilities. 

Out of desperation, she takes on the one job even Jember is afraid of: working at the Manor of Magnus Rochester. Knowing no one in their right mind would hire an unlicensed debtera, Andromeda refuses to be afraid and faces the Manifestation of the Evil Eye with determination—because if Magnus hired her, and formidable exorcists like Jember are terrified of his curse, Magnus must be even more desperate than she is.   

Andromeda is a fierce but stubborn protagonist, committed to doing the right thing and keeping her promises even when facing great peril. When she arrives at the Manor, the servants already look down on her, but she keeps her head held high and proves that she is smarter than they think. Yet the Manifestation is far more complicated than any she’s seen before, and it doesn’t help that the young heir who hired her, Magnus, is too attractive for his own good. Fighting her growing attraction to Magnus and her new, budding friendship with one of the quieter servants, Saba, she discovers that both are hiding many secrets. As the curse grows more deadly, Andromeda’s new friends, her new love, and her old mentor all urge her to give up and leave the Manor, but her morals are too strong. Even when she finds out that Saba is dead but reanimated and haunting the house, she is still determined to save them all or die trying.  

Within These Wicked Walls is a retelling of Jane Eyre, made palatable for teenagers. However, it loses some of the original intricacy and depth of its inspiration. The romance between Magnus and Andromeda comes on a little too quickly to be natural, and their romance is too soft and kind to be related to that of Jane Eyre. Nevertheless, Magnus and Andromeda are sweet together and have occasional swoony scenes. That said, Within These Wicked Walls does do an acceptable job of adapting the overall story with new natural laws, a new tone, and into a new country with different customs.  

While the book’s magic is intriguing and contributes to the horror and gothic themes, it may be confusing for those unfamiliar with magic or supernatural elements inspired by Ethiopian folklore, such as amulets and spells. To add to the confusion, the story lacks the necessary backstory regarding Magnus and his family, as well as the overall setting. Regardless of complicated supernatural details, the novel is still an easy read with a relatively simple plot, managing to build an excitingly suspenseful and scary tone throughout.  

Readers who enjoyed These Violent Delights, Pride and Premeditation, and House of Salt and Sorrows will love the magical curses, vicious gothic tone, and Andromeda’s fierce independence, not to mention the growing romance between Andromeda and Magnus. All of this makes the book worth reading, regardless of the flaws. Andromeda’s focus and her pride teach about perseverance when no one believes in you and trusting yourself and your instincts, no matter what danger lies ahead.  

Sexual Content  

  • After the house throws a book at Andromeda, she finds sketches of women inside the book. She confronts Magnus about a specific sketch. Andromeda believes that the sketch shows him kissing his friend, Kelela. “What about that scandalous one of you two kissing?” Andromeda asks. “Does [Kelela] know about that one?”  
  • During that same conversation, Magnus explains that it’s a picture of him and Andromeda. Moved, she lays her “hand against his still-red cheeks and [kisses] him . . . His soft lips press hard against [hers] at first, as if he lost his footing.” 
  • After Magnus saves Andromeda from the hostile ghost of the Librarian, he reassures her that he likes her and kisses her. The “kiss wasn’t like the last one. It was certain and sweet. . . it felt like a promise.” 
  • While Magnus holds a dinner party with friends, Andromeda discovers that he’s betrothed to Kelela. Feeling betrayed, she confronts him and he “kisses [her]. [She bucks] anyway, shoving hard against his chest, trying to pry his hand from the back of [her] neck, to turn [her] face away from his. But when a verbal protest finally [makes] it to [her] lips it [doesn’t] sound like a protest at all.” 
  • After an emotional conversation with Kelela about Magnus, Andromeda talks to him. To reassure Andromeda of his feelings yet again, he kisses her. “‘My darling,’ he [coos], running his fingertips across [Andromeda’s] lips, ‘it’s always been only you.’ And he press[es] his lips where his fingers [have] warmed.” 
  • As Andromeda spies on her mentor, Jember, and Magnus’s mother, Saba, Saba climbs “onto the table, crawling over and closing the gap between [Jember and her] as she kiss[es] him.” Saba and Jember have a history, but the kiss is as far as it goes. 
  • After getting rid of the Evil Manifestation on Magnus’s house, to celebrate, Andromeda shifts “to [her] knee to lean up, kissing [Magnus’s] lips. His hand skims [her] jaw, the pure love in his touch pushing away the remainder of [her] sadness and regret.” 

Violence  

  • When Andromeda first tries to exorcise the house of the Manifestations, she is attacked by an invisible force. “But whatever had tripped [her] was still there, and [she] kicked at it, yelping as it grabbed [her] foot. [She] stumbled to [her] feet, looking around in the dark. The Something grabbed [her] more firmly this time, and [she] quickly stomped to get it off and rushed to [her] room. But as soon as [she] shoved the door open it grabbed [her] again, this time wrapping around [her] ankle to hold [her] still. It felt familiar and terrifying, and when [she] looked down the moonlight flooding from the window in [her] room revealed a hand coming from the ground, long fingers curling around [her].” She makes it out unscathed, and the invisible force vanishes. The whole scene is about two pages. 
  • When Andromeda visits Jember, she remembers his past disciplining techniques when raising her. “[Jember] gripped his maqomiya, the long prayer staff grinding into the floor like it was trying to drill through it, and [Andromeda] couldn’t fight the wince [her] body had long been conditioned to perform at the sight of it. [She] backed away a few steps, even though [her] mind rationalized that Jember hadn’t disciplined [her] in years, and never within the walls of the church.” 
  • Andromeda is attacked by the Librarian, a ghost in the library. “Two books slammed [Andromeda] in the hip and arm, as if trying to make [her] drop the table, but [she] grimaced and raced it over to the small space [she]’d found.” The Librarian throws books at her until Magnus rescues her 
  • While being controlled by the Evil Eye, the servant, Saba, attacks Andromeda, and Andromeda must fight her off. Andromeda “snatched Saba’s forearm with one hand, digging [her] fingers in and reaching for [her] knife with the other just as [she] kicked [Saba] in the shin. Saba stumbled back a few steps, and [Andromeda] heard the shinkt of a breaking plate, a sharp, warm pain rising up [her] fingers that the rest of the cold house might’ve numbed.” Andromeda makes it out of the event largely unscathed, though Saba loses an arm. The scene is described over a chapter. 
  • Andromeda and her friends attempt to rid the house of the Evil Eye Manifestation using Kelela as bait. Kelela is attacked by a hyena, and Andromeda “pulled [her] knife, dodging out of the way as the hyena backed out of [her] bedroom door, snapping its jaws and clawing at the fireplace poker Kelela was swinging at it . . . [Andromeda] stabbed the hyena in the back so it would turn on [her].” Kelela is wounded, but everyone else makes it out okay.  
  • After a particularly emotional day, Andromeda tries to leave the house, but Saba physically restrains her. “So [Andromeda] screamed, wordlessly, trying to aim the sound at [Saba’s] ear, and kicked. She had no hair to pull, no flesh to dig [her] nails into, but [Andromeda] managed to get knife from pocket and stab [Saba] in the back. [Andromeda] felt the break of pottery, [her] knife easily piercing through. [Andromeda] cocked back [her] knife to stab again, but [her] body went backward instead as Saba dropped [her] onto [her] back in the sand. . . This time when [Saba] picked [Andromeda] up she held [her] out at arm’s length, facing away from [Saba].” Neither is gravely injured at the end. 
  • When Andromeda asks Jember for advice on defeating the Manifestation, he explains that many debtera have suffered in trying to do so. “Only four debtera in history have survived their encounters with a hyena. All of them suffered nerve damage from their injuries. None of them could bear to touch another living person again. Three of them killed themselves before old age could.” 
  • During the final battle between Andromeda and the evil magic infesting the house, Andromeda and her friends are attacked multiple times. “Jember screamed again just as [Andromeda] finished [a thread for the amulet to defeat the Manifestation], and his body moved to let in more light. It was only a second, a breath. But [she] saw the hyena’s green eyes glint at [her], even as its jaws were sunk securely into Jember’s side. It threw Jember across the room, and [Andromeda] leaped up and ran to the desk, climbing on top of it, watching it the entire time. [She] saw blood drip from its mouth. Saw it charge at [Andromeda].” Jember dies of his injuries. Andromeda and Magnus survive unharmed. The scene is described over a chapter. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • When getting hired at the Manor, the servants ask what it’s like to train under someone as talented as her mentor, Jember. She thinks to herself, “Why would you want to spend any amount of time with that heartless addict?” She does not elaborate. 
  • When Magnus and Andromeda have their first dinner together, “Magnus took a bottle of wine out from under the table and uncorked it, pouring it far higher than one serving.” They do not become intoxicated. 
  • Before Andromeda goes to visit Jember at the church, she stops by a market and buys wine, taste-testing it first. “For a moment [Andromeda] just marveled at the honey wine before indulging in a gulp. Sweet, then bitter, a little spiced, burning. It made [her] a little light-headed. Last time [she]’d lived with Jember was the last time [she]’d had any. . . it tasted like home. And at that thought, the wine turned to poison in [her] mouth.” She puts the bottle into her bag and leaves for the church without drinking more.  
  • When she returns to the Manor, Magnus takes the bottle from her without asking her what it is and drinks some. “‘It’s honey wine,’ [Andromeda] said, taking the bottle from him and cradling it close. He coughed, then dry heaved like a cat with a hairball. [She] rolled [her] eyes. ‘That’s what you get for not asking before taking a sip.’” 
  • Returning to ask Jember for advice, Andromeda wanders into his bedroom. She describes it: “glass bottles and jars littered the bed, and there was a paper bag of pills on the side table that were most definitely illegal.” There is no description of him taking the pills or an indication that he is using them.  
  • Before their confrontation with the Manifestation, Andromeda asks Jember to tell her the story of how he found her, an orphan, on the streets. He starts the story by saying, “I was on my way to drink myself to death . . . ” Andromeda stops him, asking him to restart without the admission of depressed and suicidal ideation. 

Language  

  • Words like damn, stupid, and hell appear frequently. 
  • Occasionally, “dick” is used as an insult  

Supernatural  

  • Within These Wicked Walls follows Andromeda in her work as a debtera, someone who rids sites of dark magic and supernatural spirits. She describes her job as “[leading] the worship services with hymns and chants, as well as [performing] all the duties of the priests, without benefiting from being ordained or esteemed. We were healers. Artisans. Trained to attune ourselves to the spirit world deeper than anyone else would dare to.” Due to this, there is magic and supernatural content described or unfolding on almost every page. Andromeda makes contact with spirits, called Manifestations, multiple times, and they even occasionally cause violence/death or permanent damage.  
  • Andromeda wears a magical amulet to protect herself from the Evil Eye. She “hid [her] amulet under [her] dress again, adjusting the collar so the metal chain wouldn’t show. It was a survival habit Jember had taught [her] to live by since the age of five: Protect your amulet better than it protects you.”  
  • The amulet is introduced in Chapter 1. Andromeda describes it as follows: “the Evil Eye was the first Manifestation of sin—namely jealousy and greed. In a constant state of longing, it latches on to any human who desires the same thing it does. Thriving crops, a random string of good luck, even receiving too many compliments could draw unwanted attention.” 
  • Andromeda finds evidence of evil spirits in supernatural signs, such as “random items falling off walls in one room. Strange ripples on the floor, like drops of water, in the next. A room that just seemed unnaturally covered in soot.” 
  • During one of the nights Andromeda stays at the Manor, Andromeda and Magnus are attacked by the house and Magnus almost drowns in blood. Andromeda “gaped at the bedroom, at what seemed to be blood filling the room from the floor up, like the swiftly rising tide of a river. Magnus was still in his bed, fast asleep. [She] slipped in through the crack [she]’d managed, the shifting of the liquid shutting the door behind [her]. . . [She] waded across the room through the quickly rising blood, the shield of [her] amulet pushing the blood away from [her] body.” She saves him, and they are both unscathed. This is another example of Manifestations.  
  • While at the Manor, Andromeda makes friends with a mute servant, Saba. She eventually comes to discover that Saba is Magnus’s mother, dead and reanimated to seem alive by the Manifestation. During a Manifestation, the Evil Eye takes control of Saba and uses her to attack Andromeda. Since she’s dead, she does so supernaturally. An example of this is when Saba’s arm falls off during the attack. Andromeda “looked quickly up to Saba, as she stood still, her right arm missing and hollow at the forearm, making her look like a beautiful, sad porcelain doll.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • Andromeda and her mentor, Jember, are debteras. This means that they exorcise Evil Manifestations of magic from buildings or sites. Exorcisms are typically used in Christianity to remove demons or holy spirits and send them back to Hell. In this book, the word “exorcise” is often used, but it refers to ghosts and dark magic rather than demons.  
  • Kelela believes Andromeda is an uneducated working woman. Andromeda tells her, “I actually read a few languages. One of the benefits of being raised in a church.” There is no detail about the church in this chapter, and Andromeda is not very outwardly religious. 
  • Andromeda goes to visit Jember at the church. “There were a handful of people standing in prayer in the direction of the altar, where Jember sat on the stairs constructing an amulet .  . . finally, the prayer was finished, and each worshipper made the sign of the cross on themselves, touching forehead to chest, shoulder to shoulder.”  
  • Before their final confrontation of the Manifestation, Andromeda asks Jember to help her calm down. Andromeda asks, “Can we pray together?” He responds with “God hasn’t heard me for quite some time.” They do not pray together, and the conversation evolves into other topics.  

Fuzzy Mud

Fifth grader Tamaya Dhilwaddi and seventh grader Marshall Walsh walk home from school every day, but recently, school has been stressful for them. Tamaya feels like she misses out on quality time with her friends because she splits time between her divorced parents, who live in different towns. Plus, all of her friends think she’s a goody two-shoes. Life has also been difficult for Marshall, who is being bullied by Chad Hilligas. Worst of all, Chad says he’s going to beat up Marshall after school today. 

To avoid Chad’s wrath, Marshall forces Tamaya to take a shortcut through the woods, but they get lost quickly. When Chad catches up to them and attempts to attack Marshall, Tamaya throws strange, fuzzy mud in Chad’s face. Tamaya and Marshall both escape, but the next day, Chad has disappeared.  

Now, Tamaya has a painful rash on her hand because of the fuzzy mud, and she’s worried that Chad might be suffering even more. After Chad is absent for two days, the school becomes increasingly concerned about his whereabouts, and Tamaya decides she must find Chad, despite everything he’s done. When Tamaya also disappears, Marshall must decide if he can stand up to Chad in order to help his friend. 

The narration alternates between the third-person limited point of view of the two main characters, Tamaya and Marshall. Tamaya struggles to determine her values as her classmates begin to mature and change in preparation for middle school. Readers will empathize with Tamaya’s relatable conflict and be impressed by her bravery as she chooses to listen to her moral compass rather than outside trends. On the other hand, as a means of venting his frustration, Marshall is becoming meaner to Tamaya. However, he feels immense guilt for this and believes he is a coward for not standing up to Chad. Though Marshall is at times difficult to like due to his cold treatment of Tamaya, his reaction to his bullying is grounded and therefore sympathetic. Despite the characters’ flaws, readers will feel sympathy for Marshall and Tamaya because each wants to change and improve for the sake of the other. 

Interestingly, Chad’s backstory and reasons for bullying are also revealed. He bullies Marshall because he feels that his parents neglect him and don’t truly care about him. Plus, Chad is jealous of Marshall, whose mom often demonstrates her love. Sachar’s choice to give Chad a sympathetic backstory makes him a realistic, grounded bully rather than a caricature of evil. Furthermore, Chad’s narrative demonstrates that people can change for the better and find people who truly care for them. 

The fuzzy mud serves as an intriguing sci-fi thriller element, heightening the stakes and eventually throwing the town into disarray. Ultimately, the fuzzy mud serves as an effective plot device to not only create physical danger for the characters but also kickstart moments of character growth, including Tamaya’s commitment to helping Chad and Marshall’s determination to stand up to what scares them. Furthermore, the fuzzy mud parallels the conflicts the characters face: it is revealed that the fuzzy mud was actually meant to help people, and only began creating harm when it started mutating against outside threats. Similarly, Chad and Marshall did not start out as cold or heartless people, but became meaner when they experienced outward harm and tried to defend themselves. When people like Tamaya call out their harmful ways, they try to change for the better. This is similar to how Tamaya’s ability to alert the authorities about fuzzy mud helps protect people. 

Fuzzy Mud is not only an effective thriller but also a genuinely empathetic exploration of the struggles of three middle school kids. The characters’ interactions with the fuzzy mud allow readers to understand each character’s fears and worries. Though this book is at times almost horror-esque, its unique thriller elements are still fairly tame and make for a tense rather than outright frightening read. It is perfect for young readers who want to begin dipping their toes into sci-fi, thriller, and horror elements. Furthermore, its grounded characters and realistic interpersonal conflicts make this a great read for a wide range of readers. Fuzzy Mud is not only thrilling but also emotional, empathetic, and ultimately hopeful for a better future. Readers who want to read books that show the power of kindness should also read The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade by Jordan Sonnenblick. 

Sexual Content  

  • Marshall doesn’t allow Tamaya to be friendly with him at school, because he doesn’t want anyone to think they are “boyfriend and girlfriend,” which they are “definitely not.” 
  • Tamaya’s mom makes a joke that Tamaya has to do her own laundry or else “she’d have to go to school naked.” Tamaya is embarrassed that her mother said this around Marshall and finds herself blushing. 
  • After he defeats Chad in his fantasy scenario, Marshall imagines two pretty girls from class kissing him. 
  • Tamaya has a crush on her teacher, Mr. Franks. “Tamaya could feel her face get warm, and she tried very hard not to blush. All her friends agreed that Mr. Franks was movie-star handsome.” 
  • Tamaya has a crush on the doctor who takes care of her in the hospital. “With soft brown eyes and curly hair, he was even cuter than Mr. Franks.” 

Violence  

  • The older boys at Tamaya’s school discuss a hermit who may or may not exist, saying that he has a long beard “splotched all over with blood.”  
  • An older boy also discusses an exaggerated story about being in the woods, saying, “A wolf snapped at my leg just as I was climbing back over the fence.”  
  • Chad finds Marshall and Tamaya in the woods and attacks Marshall. “With sudden ferocity, Chad lunged at him. He slugged Marshall in the face, then in the side of the neck.” In an attempt to protect Marshall, Tamaya takes some fuzzy mud and shoves it into Chad’s face. “She reached into the fuzzy mud and grabbed a handful of the thick and gooey muck. She ran at Chad, and as he turned towards her, she shoved it into his face.” 
  • After Chad’s attack, both Tamaya and Marshall are hurt. “Her knees were scraped and bloody, and her left wrist hurt from where she’d fallen, but she didn’t think there was anything seriously wrong. Besides, Marshall was a lot worse. Dried blood and snot were caked beneath his nose.” 
  • Marshall fantasizes about defending Tamaya from Chad. Marshall imagines, “Tamaya is on the ground, crying. Chad is about to hit Tamaya again, but Marshall grabs his arm.”  
  • To convince Marshall that Chad might be in danger, Tamaya shows him the rash. “Huge blisters, bleeding and crusted over, now covered the entire area, from the tip of her fingers down past her wrist.” 
  • In the woods, Tamaya sees a dead animal that the mud killed. “Just ahead lay some kind of dead animal, half covered in muck and fuzz.” 
  • Tamaya slips into a gully and is bruised. “She noticed the pain from all the bruises on her hands, arms, knees, and legs. Her shirt had rolled up a bit during her slide, and she had scratches and scrapes on her stomach as well.” 
  • Chad’s face is incredibly damaged by the mud. “His face was a mass of blisters, crusted with pus and dried blood, and so badly swollen, she could hardly see his eyes.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • Tamaya’s friends tease her in a light-hearted way, though it hurts Tamaya’s feelings. Her friends call her a “goody two-shoes” and a “goody-goody.” 
  • Tamaya feels confused that her girlfriends refer to the boys as “disgusting and gross,” but this seems to be a positive thing. 
  • In one of the Senate hearing excerpts, one doctor refers to another as “crazy.” 
  • Chad calls Marshall names such as “Buttface” and “thumb-sucking coward.”  
  • After a surgery that grafts skin from Chad’s butt to his face, he refers to himself as “Buttface.”

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Mia LaBianca 

Hidden Truths

Dani and Eric have been best friends since Dani moved next door in second grade. They bond over donuts, comic books, and camping on the Cape. Until one summer when everything changes.

Did Eric cause the accident that leaves Dani unable to do the one thing in the world she most cares about? The question plagues him, and he will do anything to get answers about the explosion that injured her. But Dani is hurting too much to want Eric to pursue the truth—she just wants to shut him out and move on. Besides, Eric has a history of dropping things he starts. Eric knows that and is determined that this will be the one time he follows through.

But what if his pursuit brings him into direct conflict with another friend? Where does Eric’s loyalty really lie? 

Hidden Truths follows two middle school students dealing with the aftermath of an accident. Eric struggles with guilt, unsure whether he caused Dani’s injury, while Dani must abandon her baseball dreams after finally making the junior high boys’ team. Their friendship becomes strained as both characters navigate difficult emotions and personal challenges. 

Eric will resonate with any reader who has experienced guilt after a mistake. Unsure if he was responsible for the accident, Eric wants to do something to help Dani. However, he wasn’t expecting Dani to reject his offers of help. To make matters worse, Eric struggles to remember things, and he doesn’t process information in the same way as most of his peers. Despite this, Eric realizes that this is actually his “superpower” because he “see[s] stuff differently” and “[doesn’t] give up on stuff or people.” His attempts to help Dani are repeatedly rejected, yet he persists with remarkable determination. 

Eric’s experience with bullying provides insight into how cruelty affects victims. When Dani dismisses his struggles, he reflects that “she’s never been on the receiving end of mean. She doesn’t know how it scrapes your insides hollow and sticks to the layers of your skin.” This perspective highlights how different people process trauma and adversity. 

Dani’s anger over losing her baseball dreams is understandable, but it leads her to mistreat Eric and befriend Meadow, a thoroughly unlikable character who lies and bullies others. Through this friendship, Dani grapples with moral complexity, realizing that “people were either good or bad. I didn’t think there were in-betweeners. Meadow is definitely an in-betweener.” 

However, Dani fails to recognize that she, too, is an “in-betweener.” Her dismissive attitude toward Eric’s bullying experience reveals her own moral blind spots. She believes her situation is uniquely difficult and does nothing to stop Meadow’s cruel behavior toward Eric. 

The novel explores several meaningful themes. Most prominently, it examines moral complexity, showing how people aren’t simply good or bad but fall somewhere in between. The story also addresses the lasting impact of bullying, revealing how cruelty leaves emotional scars that others may not understand. Additionally, the book emphasizes perseverance as both characters learn to persist despite setbacks. Dani and Eric both learn two valuable lessons: “We all make mistakes” and “the truth matters.” 

Dani finds inspiration in baseball player Mo’ne Davis. She uses this role model to fuel her determination during physical therapy. The story’s conclusion reinforces the theme of personal choice, as Dani’s physical therapist reminds her, “You may not get to choose what sport you play or when you get to play it, but you get to choose who you are. And in the end, that’s what matters most.” 

Hidden Truths succeeds in several important ways. The characters are relatable and flawed, allowing readers to connect with them authentically rather than seeing them as perfect heroes. The book addresses significant themes, including bullying, friendship conflicts, and personal growth, in a meaningful way that will resonate with middle-grade readers. The characters’ internal struggles feel genuine and age-appropriate. At the same time, the realistic resolution avoids tying everything up too neatly—Dani’s future in baseball remains uncertain, reflecting how real life doesn’t always provide clear answers.  

Hidden Truths alternates between Dani’s and Eric’s points of view, which allows the reader to see how one event affects each person. Each chapter starts with either a picture of a baseball with Dani’s name on it or a picture of a crossword with Eric’s name on it; this visual cue makes it easy to transition between the two characters’ points of view.  

However, the novel has some limitations. The heavy emphasis on internal conflict means some sections lack action, resulting in slower pacing that may not engage all readers. Additionally, those expecting a fast-paced sports story will likely be disappointed by the book’s introspective focus. Expand your reading list by adding other books that explore the topic of friendship and sports, including The Academy by T.Z. Layton, Free Throws, Friendship, and Other Things We Fouled Up by Jenn Bishop and Rick Kotani’s 400 Million Dollar Summer by Waka T. Brown. 

Sexual Content  

  • Eric has a crush on a classmate named Rachel. They start spending time together, holding hands several times. One time, when they hold hands, Eric tries “to walk like a normal person while every neuron in [his] brain’s firing.” 
  • After Eric makes a good presentation at school, “Rachel leans over and kisses [his] cheek.” Eric thinks, “Best meeting ever.” 

Violence  

  • Dani is sleeping in an RV when it blows up. A cabinet falls on Dani and knocks her unconscious. Eric goes inside to save her. “I cough. Bang into something. Gasp. Run out the door to grab air. . . Blood trickles down my leg. I dart into the camper again.” Dani is hospitalized with major injuries and needs physical therapy for nerve damage. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • While in the hospital, Dani is given pain medication. 

Language  

  • Occasionally, someone is referred to as a jerk or an idiot. 
  • A bully calls Eric an idiot. Afterward, Eric prays, “God, if you’re there, a little help would be great.” 
  • Dani calls a boy a “brainless idiot.” 
  • A girl says Eric is “being a brat.” 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • When Dani is injured and taken to the hospital, Eric pleads with God. He prays, “I’ll do anything, please let Dani be okay. . . I’ll set two alarms in the morning. Never oversleep again. Clean my room. Remember stuff. Anything.” Since Eric continues to pray like this throughout the book, not all of the prayers are listed below. 
  • Before Eric goes into the chapel at the hospital, he wonders if he “need[s] to be more religious to go inside.” 
  • While in the chapel, a woman says, “Bless you, my child.” Eric isn’t sure what to do, so he says, “Bless you, too.” 
  • Eric prays that Dani is okay. He prays, “I promise to stop drinking the milk straight from the half-gallon carton in the refrigerator.” He continues to pray intermittently throughout the book. 
  • Eric is Jewish. When he goes into the hospital’s chapel, he mentions the Torah. He also thinks, “I don’t feel strange or out of place, which is weird. Not that I go to Shabbat service every week, but I thought I’d feel like an outsider in this chapel. But I don’t.”  
  • When Dani and Eric stop talking to each other, Eric prays, “God, I’m not sure if it’s possible to ask for too much. Or if a new prayer cancels out the ones that came before. Or if there are rules I should be following. Because if there are, that would be helpful to know.” 
  • Dani faints at school and is taken to the hospital. While Eric waits to hear about Dani’s condition, he goes to the chapel and prays. “I’m back. I’m sorry for anything I’ve ever done wrong. . . I’m sorry I stink at remembering. But, I promise, I’ll do anything for Dani to be all right.” The prayer is a paragraph long. 
  • When Eric sees his crush, “I pray she can’t tell I’m a horrible human just by looking at me.”  
  • Eric’s aunt says, “I’m putting it out in the world to heal Dani.” Eric goes on to explain, “Aunt Josie believes if you say your wish out loud—put it into the world—it’ll come true.” 
  • Eric’s aunt tells Dani, “I told the world to heal you.” 
  • Several times, Dani feels her dead grandmother’s presence. The second time this happens, Dani talks to her grandmother. 

Baker’s Magic

After running away from her abusive foster family, the protagonist, Bee (short for Beatrix), finds herself in Zeewal, a small village in the struggling kingdom of Aradyn. After failing to steal baked goods, Bee quickly earns an apprenticeship with the town’s baker, Master Bouts. Bee learns all there is to know about baking, and she soon discovers that she has the magical ability to infuse her treats with her emotions, causing customers to experience her happiness, pain, and annoyance. Her skills lead Master Bouts’ bakery to be summoned to deliver pastries to Master Joris, the kingdom’s head mage and de facto ruler. This allows Bee to begin an unlikely friendship with the orphaned Princess Anika, Joris’ ward, who will soon inherit the kingdom of Aradyn.  

However, when Bee learns of Joris’ plot to marry Anika off to a neighboring kingdom and steal her throne, Bee devises a plan with her friend, Willem (Wil), to take Anika away from Joris. Wil, Anika, and Bee go on a journey to find the Island of the Mages, hoping that the mages’ council can protect Anika and put a stop to Joris’ reign. On their adventure, they encounter the Tulip Pirates of the ship the Egbertina-Henriette, thieves who steal the lucrative tulips that Joris grows in Aradyn. With help from the pirates, a wizard named Bartholomew, and a few tree spirits, Bee and her friends learn just how harmful Master Joris has been to Aradyn. This causes Bee to grow ever more determined to rid the kingdom of the mage once and for all. 

Bee is an inquisitive and caring protagonist whose self-assurance and sense of identity grow throughout the book. She begins as an orphan with a lonely and miserable past, but through her own determination and kindness, she unites her past and present and finds a true family. Despite being only twelve years old, Bee displays a strong moral compass that propels her to do everything she can to help her friends and her kingdom. Bee’s friendship with Wil quickly develops into a strong connection, marked by laughter and selflessness. Their loyalty to each other contributes to the heartwarming atmosphere of the novel. 

Princess Anika is sheltered and naive about the outside world, but she never displays the haughtiness expected of her. The unlikely friendship that the three of them form exemplifies the book’s message that our differences are less than our similarities, and heroes can come from anywhere. Another central idea of Baker’s Magic is the importance of trees. Joris uses his magic to banish all of Aradyn’s tree life before the book begins, and this results in flooding and food shortages. The characters gradually learn the importance of trees, educating audiences along the way. 

Come along for Bee’s exciting adventure across land and sea. Each stage of the journey brings new twists and turns, from the humorous Council of Mages to the lonely floating islands. Audiences seeking minimal interpersonal conflict will appreciate the good-natured characters. The central antagonist, Master Joris, is the source of every problem and the only irredeemable figure, so his defeat solves every conflict. This results in a clean, yet simple narrative that is best suited for younger readers. The stakes are high, but the book is ultimately low-stress.  

Lighthearted, comedic characters like the Tulip Pirates serve to counteract the looming threat of Master Joris, and there are helpful figures around every corner that aid the central trio on their journey. However, Bee’s history of abuse may be disturbing for some readers, and the young protagonists are often in life-or-death situations. The back of the novel contains a recipe for the most popular baked good in the story, the “Bouts Bun,” which adds a unique participatory aspect to the book. Overall, Baker’s Magic is an uplifting and entertaining read that puts a fantastical spin on the world of baking. Readers can take another magical adventure by reading The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates Series by Caroline Carlson and The Grimmelings by Rachael King. 

Sexual Content  

  • There is no explicit sexual content or mentions of sex, but there are minor references to romance and attraction. For example, Wil, the loyal son of the Zeewal blacksmith, kisses “Anika’s limp hand” before going into battle alongside the pirates. 
  • Princess Anika kisses Captain Zay, a pirate and the leader of the ship called the Egbertina-Henriette (Egg Hen), on the cheek. 
  • Anika and Wil form a relationship by the end of the novel – “the princess, in love with the blacksmith’s son!” 

Violence  

  • After attempting to steal from Master Bouts’ bakery, Bee is tripped and falls to the ground. “She landed on the hard stones with a bone-jarring thump.” Bouts grabs her “in a painfully tight grip.” 
  • Long before the story begins, Bee’s mother drowned in a shipwreck that nearly killed Bee as well. 
  • After opening the closet in the palace kitchen, Bee’s shoulder is injured by a falling broom handle. “A broom handle popped out, smacking her hard on the shoulder.” 
  • The kingdom of Aradyn is threatened by large storms that destroy houses and drown civilians. Past storms have given Master Bouts a fear of floods and drowning. 
  • Wil is apprenticing as a blacksmith, so he has many burn scars. “He held out his hands, and Bee noticed, for the first time, the scars on nearly every finger, the back of his hands, his wrists.” 
  • Bee confides in Anika about her former foster family. “The master shouted and threw things. And the mistress beat me.” 
  • Master Bouts attempts to save a burning omelet but forgets “to use a cloth,” resulting in his hand burning. 
  • To escape an arranged marriage, Anika runs away from Master Joris, the conniving head mage of Aradyn. He sends magic after them, but they escape unharmed. This tense escape scene lasts two and a half pages. 
  • Master Joris uses his magic to send rocks after Bee, Anika, and Wil as they try to escape him on a boat. “Then, all at once, splashes surrounded them, and something crashed against Bee’s temple, so hard that the night sky spun before her eyes.” Bee’s injury causes her to bleed from her head, and Wil is bruised. 
  • Bee nearly drowns when her boat sinks, but pirates save her. “Something grabbed her by her cropped hair and yanked, pulling upward. Oh, it hurt!” Wil and Anika are also saved from drowning. 
  • The pirates go into battle with a Zeewal merchant ship to steal their supply of tulips. Bee and Anika watch as a merchant’s sword nearly slices Wil. “The blades flashed as Wil bent backward over the rail, his sword raised against the oncoming steel that threatened to slice down onto his neck.” Captain Zay saves Wil by cutting the sailor, and the blood makes Wil vomit. No lives are lost in the battle, and the scene lasts for two and a half pages. 
  • Bartholomew, a hedge wizard and Bee’s long-lost father, uses magic to turn the entire tree island clockwise. He loses control of it, and Bee is nearly tossed off the island by the centrifugal force. The spinning only ceases when Bartholomew is thrown from his feet due to the force of the spinning. 
  • Bee, Wil, and Bartholomew are attacked by Joris’ taxidermy collection. A fox, a mole, a rabbit, and a mouse attack first, and Bee is bitten by the mouse. Birds then peck at them from above, and the next wave is a horde of flying, stinging, and crawling bugs. This scene lasts for three pages. 
  • When Bee is trapped in one of Joris’ snow globes, Bartholomew sends rocks to break the glass of her prison. “The glass showered down over Bee, and she rolled into a ball to try to protect herself from the bombardment of shards and stone. One ricocheting rock hit her in the ribs, and she gasped with the pain of it.” 
  • Master Bouts is being kept in the palace prison when Joris’ magic causes it to flood, and Bee momentarily thinks that he has drowned. Anika also almost drowns, but Captain Zay saves her. 
  • Pepin, Anika’s pet hedgehog, bites Joris’ leg to prevent him from escaping Bee, Anika, and the pirates. “Master Joris let out a shout and tried to shake Pepin off, but he hung on, his sharp teeth embedded in the mage’s calf.” 
  • Joris is ultimately defeated by anthropomorphic trees that return to Aradyn from exile. The trees use their roots to grab him and take him underground. “The mage let out a shriek of terror and tried to kick and twist free. But the roots held him tight as he struggled. Slowly they pulled him downward into the mire.”

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Alcohol is mentioned sparsely throughout the book. For example, Master Bouts and Wil mention a cooper whose wine “tasted better than the palace’s own vintage.” 
  • Master Bouts smokes a pipe, but tobacco is never mentioned by name. 
  • Wil’s father, Master Weatherwax, drinks a “tumbler of ale” after dinner. 
  • On the pirate ship, Bee bakes cookies with “sugar, flour, and rum.” She later uses beer to make the Bouts Buns’ dough rise on the ship. 
  • Captain Zay puts rum in her and Bartholomew’s coffee, but she refuses to give any to Bee, Wil, or Anika due to them being underage. 

Language    

  • Bee and Wil often call each other names, either jokingly or out of anger. When Wil calls her baking “off,” Bee angrily responds, “It’s you who’s off!” 
  • Wil angrily shouts to Bee and Bouts, “The cursed door’s locked!” 
  • When Joris figures out that Bee is hiding in the castle, he demands, “Come out of there this minute, you sorry wench.” 
  • The pirate Limmo tells his crewmates, “It ain’t suppertime yet, you feckless oafs.” 
  • The pirate Haleem mentions a parrot that “used to curse a blue streak.” 
  • One of the members of the Council of Mages calls their fellow mage an idiot. 
  • The pirate Filmon says that, when Captain Zay was under Bee’s truth spell, “She told us we were rogues and rapscallions and should go to the devil. . .” 

Supernatural 

  • Hedge wizards and witches are regular people who “have some magic.” With practice, they can increase their skills and become mages. 
  • Bee has the power to infuse her baked goods with her emotions, causing her customers to feel her feelings. As Master Bouts puts it, “I think your pastries make people feel the way you do.” She inherited this magic from her father, a hedge wizard. 
  • Master Joris is “the mage of all Aradyn,” a powerful magic-user who can control every aspect of the environment but has no sway over water. Each kingdom has a head mage appointed by the Council of Mages. 
  • Joris creates sparks when he walks. “Bee noticed, to her astonishment, that as his heels struck the ground, small sparks flew upward.” Joris can also create elaborate firework displays. 
  • While staying on the island of the Council of Mages, Bee, Wil, and Anika are able to ask for what they want, and it magically appears. Bee loudly yells for water, and a tiny storm cloud appears to rain into a water basin. 
  • The “moss maidens” are spirits connected to trees. When Joris banished Aradyn’s trees to a floating island, the moss maidens were trapped with them. The maidens can communicate with their trees, and with Bee’s guidance, they use tree roots to paddle their island prison toward Zeewal. These trees later grab hold of Joris and imprison him underground. 
  • After being called a murderer by Bartholomew, Joris stamps his foot in rage and creates a large crack in the earth. “The crack in the ground became a cleft and then a crevice, and it widened with every passing second.” 

 Spiritual Content  

  • None

by Gabrielle Barke 

Flowers in the Gutter: The True Story of the Edelweiss Pirates, Teenagers Who Resisted the Nazis

In the early 1930s, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party began seizing power in Germany. In the city of Cologne, three young children — Fritz, Jean, and Gertrud — watched their country change overnight. Their parents and neighbors, working-class and unabashed communists and socialists, were being arrested, beaten, and sent to labor camps. The Nazis’ ever-tightening grip was a constant contradiction to everything they believed in. 

With the outbreak of World War II, Fritz, Jean, and Gertrud, now teenagers, felt more emboldened than ever before to resist the Nazis. They join a resistance group called the Edelweiss Pirates, consisting of hundreds of young Germans who refuse to wear the Hitler Youth uniform. As Pirates, they sang illegal songs, went on unauthorized hiking trips in the countryside, and began small acts of resistance, such as distributing anti-Nazi flyers throughout Cologne under the cover of Allied bombing runs.  

As the war raged on and the Nazis became more desperate to win, the Edelweiss Pirates became bolder in their acts of defiance: committing acts of sabotage, stealing weapons and rations, and even shooting at SS officers. Dealing with the Pirates’ growing influence became the Gestapo’s top priority. Fritz, Jean, and Gertrud were arrested, brutally beaten, and interrogated. With death hovering over them, the Edelweiss Pirates continued to resist the Nazis despite the dangers. 

Flowers in the Gutter is a fascinating nonfiction piece that tells the largely untold story of the youth resistance in Germany during World War II. The book is broken into seven parts, beginning in Cologne in 1932 and ending in the winter of 2000. Each part is divided into mini-chapters, and told from the perspective of either Fritz, Jean, or Gertrud. They are ordinary kids from working-class families who yearn for freedom and are forced to take extreme measures to achieve it. Fritz was initially a member of the Hitler Youth but grew to resent their authoritarianism; he is the most determined and rebellious of the group, sabotaging the Nazis in broad daylight. At a young age, Jean witnessed his father being attacked by the Nazis. He is a thoughtful boy who loves to sing with the Pirates. Gertrud is a young girl who, along with the other female Pirates, defied the rigid gender norms of Nazi Germany.  Gaddy puts the reader into the teenagers’ shoes, and the fact that this is a true story makes the book even more immersive.  

What makes Flowers in the Gutter such a compelling read is the seamless blending of thorough research and engaging storytelling. The stories of Fritz, Jean, and Gertrud feel personal and grounded and are accompanied by contemporary documents and historical facts. Through her writing, Gaddy captures the internal conflicts the teens experience, such as dealing with loss, fear, and the increasing costs of resistance. The teens also encounter many external battles against the Gestapo, Hitler Youth, and Nazi Germany as a whole. The inclusion of both internal and external conflicts allows today’s readers to connect with and understand the Edelweiss Pirates.  

Flowers in the Gutter is a thorough and well-researched book that tells an important story and raises the question of what constitutes resistance. After the war, the Allies and the West German government initially dismissed the Edelweiss Pirates and other youth groups, labeling them as criminals. It wasn’t until decades later that the government formally recognized the Pirates and commemorated their courage. As Gaddy concludes, “There are always more stories to be told, if we take the time to listen.”  

Sexual Content 

  • In 1939, Gertrud and her mother visited the women’s society’s office. While there, “a woman told Gertrud about the role and duty of a German woman, which was, put simply, to have children- ‘Aryan’ children — preferably with an SS man.” 
  • Gertrud told her friend, Lolli, about a boy she liked named Gustav. Lolli asked, “So, have you and Gustav. . .” Gertrud turned red because “they didn’t normally talk about guys, and they definitely didn’t talk about sex.” Furthermore, “‘Normal’ sexuality fit into a small box in Germany: anything other than being heterosexual and cisgender was considered deviant.” 
  • Before an interrogation in 1944, Jean noticed an SS man and a female stenographer kissing. “Jean thought they looked like they were going to have sex. He couldn’t watch; he was so embarrassed.”

Violence 

  • In 1936, Jean and his father were staying at his grandparents’ apartment when suddenly two SS officers barged in. When they located Jean’s father, they began beating him as they arrested him. Jean, who was hiding in another room, “could hear everything — every blow, every cry of pain, every plea to stop.” 
  • During an altercation with the Hitler Youth in 1940, one of the members bumped into Gertrud. “She felt a tug on her scalp. He had her hair . . . the front of her neck strained as he pulled his hand back and her head came with it.” This escalated into a brawl between the Pirates and the Hitler Youth. After the fighting, Gertrud noticed that two other Pirates named Jus and Banjo Willi were injured. “Blood trickled down from both their nostrils and dripped off their chins. She hoped their noses weren’t broken.” 
  • In the winter of 1941, Jean and his grandparents ran to a bunker as the air raid sirens began to blare. The next morning, they returned to their apartment building, which was devastated by the bombing. “People were there, cleaning the rubble and pulling out bodies.” Jean found one of his neighbors who survived, but her daughter did not. “She just screamed over and over again, ‘Why do I have to live when my child is dead!’” 
  • Gaddy writes about the mass deportations in Cologne during the spring of 1942, noting “44,000 people are sent from the Messe to Theresienstadt, a camp-ghetto where they face almost certain death to disease or further transport to extermination camps like Auschwitz.” 
  • One day in spring 1942, Fritz discovered a bunker “where a bomb had broken through the shelter and destroyed everything — and everyone — inside.” Fritz “couldn’t imagine the gruesome scene where people realized they were about to die.” 
  • Gertrud is detained at the Gestapo’s Cologne office, the EL-DE House. While there, she was brutally interrogated. The Gestapo wanted to know the names of the Edelweiss Pirates. “Who were they? No answer. A blow to the side of the head. Where did they meet? No answer. Another smack.” Gertrud was hit multiple times but wasn’t seriously injured and was released the next day. 
  • Gertrud was soon arrested again. “According to Gertrud, they hit her so many times in so many places that her skin was shades of blue, violet, red, or green, depending on where they’d hit her and how hard.” 
  • In October 1943, Fritz was arrested at the EL-DE House. He and about a dozen other boys were “whipped, punched, and verbally abused.” 
  • After being transported to another facility, a guard punished Fritz and two others for whistling. He was hit over the head by a guard’s baton. “Fritz heard Emil crying and screaming. They all knew they couldn’t fight back; they just had to accept what was happening.”  
  • During an interrogation, Fritz remained tight-lipped when asked who distributed the anti-Nazi leaflets. A man with a baton hit him, saying, “Open your mouth, or I’ll kill you!” 
  • After being released from prison, Fritz was forced to work at a Ford factory. He noticed that one guard “was particularly sadistic with the starving forced laborers. When he caught someone, he’d shove their faces into the bowls and hit them on the back of the head. Fritz saw another guard kick a pregnant laborer in the belly for talking back. Others were simply worked to death.” 
  • Fritz, accompanied by his mother, was called back to the EL-DE House for questioning. When his mother defended him, an officer choked her. “Her color drained from her face and her lips turned from red to blue. She gasped for air.” 
  • In 1944, two Pirates named Barthel and Lang discussed how much further they could go. “We gotta get these party fat cats out of the way,” said Barthel. “‘What you mean. . . ’ Lang stuck his index finger and thumb out from his fist and made a shooting motion.” The implication is that they were thinking about escalating by killing certain Nazis. Later, when chased by SS officers, Barthel “pulled out his gun from his pocket and fired two or three shots in the direction of the patrol.”  
  • One day, Jean opened his apartment door expecting his friend but was instead met with a Gestapo officer, who asked where a Pirate named Ferdi Steingrass was. When Jean hesitated to answer, the officer “suddenly hit Jean in the face so hard that he flew backward into the cupboard, smashing the glass window.” Jean was bleeding from the back of his head due to this assault. 
  • Gestapo Officer Joseph Hoegen brutally interrogated Barthel. Hoegen’s “interrogation techniques included laying Barthel with his belly on the seat of a chair, placing a cord around his neck and a gag in his mouth so he couldn’t scream, and then beating him with chair legs until he couldn’t feel or think anything.” Barthel admitted that these interrogations broke him, forcing him to tell the Gestapo key details about the Pirates’ operations, in order to stop the pain. 
  • Jean, while imprisoned, noted that “the Gestapo men seem to take pleasure from making the prisoners hurt.” 
  • In November 1944, a group of Edelweiss Pirates were publicly hanged in Cologne. “Hangings aren’t supposed to happen in a public place like this, but the Nazis were desperate and wanted to show any resistance in this neighborhood what would happen if they continued.” Describing the hanging, Gaddy writes, “Instead of an instant death, strangling by hanging can last as long as twenty minutes.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • One night, twenty Pirates, including Gertrud, met up in an old German tavern. “Spread out across the checkered tablecloths were light and dark beers in big steins. Sometimes the girls mixed the beers with apple juice for a drink called schorle.” 

Language 

  • In 1940, Fritz, then a member of the Nazi Youth, was tired of being obedient to the Nazis. “This was bullshit, and he didn’t want to do it anymore.” 
  • A Pirate named Sepp wrote graffiti that read, “IS YOUR NOSE STILL FULL OF BROWN SHIT?” 
  • During Gertrud’s Gestapo interrogation, she was verbally abused. She was told she was a “piece of shit,” as well as being called a “slut”, a “bastard”, a “whore”, and a “devious bitch.” 
  • When returned to his cell after an interrogation, Fritz yelled, “How could you say such things and have done this to me! You’re fucking crazy! You assholes, do you know what they did to me?” 
  • When Fritz and his friend Bubbes walked past a group of starving Russian prisoners, Bubbes said, “These Nazi shits.” 
  • In September 1944, Fritz was sent to a “reeducation camp.” Accurately, Fritz thought, “Reeducation was bullshit; this place was a forced labor camp and children were the forced laborers.”

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content 

  • Two Pirates, brothers Bub and Wolfgang, were half-Jewish. Bub recalls being with his aunt at the train station when “family friends and the rabbi were loaded on trains for the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, friends they never saw again.” 

by Nicholas Paragano 

Fierce

Learn all about Aly Raisman’s journey from watching the Olympics as a child on her living room floor, to competing on the 2012 and 2016 USA Olympic gymnastics teams. Aly Raisman began her gymnastics career at eighteen months old in Needham, Massachusetts, taking part in a “Mommy and Me” class. By the age of six, Aly had made her studio’s pre-team, a gymnastics team that prepares young kids for future competitions. From there, her dedication and passion for the sport allowed her to continue to progress.  

Fierce delves into the hardships and triumphs that Aly Raisman faced on her way to the Olympics. From coming in fourth place – one spot away from a medal – at multiple competitions, to feeling tears stream down her face as she realized she won the silver medal in the all-around at the 2016 Olympics, this book gives an in-depth look at the time and dedication it takes to be a high-level athlete.       

Raisman explains her routines and the structure of each competition in a clear, beginner-friendly way. For example, Aly describes the competitive process of qualifying to become an elite gymnast. She explains the process of qualifiers, and how it involves a “compulsory. Compulsories are routines where gymnasts demonstrate that they can perform basic skills with good form.” These explanations make the book easy to understand, even for those unfamiliar with the nuances of gymnastics. Fans of the sport will be pleased with getting an inside look at what it takes to compete at a national level, while newcomers can enjoy learning about various aspects of the sport.  

Though the book is likely to resonate most with young kids with a passion for gymnastics, the level of commitment and athleticism that Aly Raisman demonstrates will feel relatable to any young competitor. Aly recalls moments where she felt left out at school because everyone was discussing their fun weekend plans that she could not partake in because of her busy practice schedule. However, she was confident that the sacrifices that she was making would allow her to achieve her greatest goal of being an Olympian. This dedication will be inspirational and relatable to any athlete.  

Chapter 25, titled “The Road to Rio,” speaks about Aly Raisman’s journey in gaining her confidence before the 2016 Olympic trials. The chapter includes twenty-two photos, ranging from Aly’s childhood all the way up to her time competing at the 2016 Olympics. Each photo also features a caption that explains what is happening in the image. Fans of the gymnast will enjoy getting this inside glimpse into Aly’s life.  

While most of the book describes her preparation for competition, Aly spends a chapter explaining the sexual assault that she and many of her teammates faced from USA Gymnastics physician, Larry Nassar. She states that she will not go into detail about what Nassar did but makes it clear that Nassar made her and her teammates uncomfortable during many treatments. Aly writes this chapter “in hopes that it may help people who are going through something similar.” She encourages people to speak up if they ever feel that they are being taken advantage of, as everyone’s story matters.  

Fierce also delves into the themes of body issues and the struggle to find confidence. By middle school, Aly had muscular arms from training. Since most other middle schoolers were not yet developing muscles, this quickly became a topic of discussion among other students, causing her to wear long-sleeved shirts to school to avoid showing her arms. She describes encounters with strangers after the 2016 Olympics, where she was asked how much weight she had gained since she stopped competing. In the final pages of her book, Aly reveals that as she’s gotten older, she’s learned to “be confident and comfortable in my own skin. It’s still a learning process and sure, there are definitely days where I don’t feel confident, but every morning, I look in the mirror and try to focus on something that I like about myself.” Young readers will feel inspired by Aly’s strength when dealing with her body insecurity and will feel empowered to embrace their true selves as a result.   

The book’s final chapter is titled “The Fierce Guide to Life,” where Raisman lists twenty-one pieces of advice for all her readers to live by. From speaking up for yourself to being kind to others, this list of rules is a great ending piece to encourage young readers to reach their goals and make the most of their lives. This chapter encapsulates the book’s overall tone, as Raisman is telling her story to encourage her audience to always try their best. Though Aly speaks about her successes, she also outlines the hardships and injuries that she has faced along the way, proving that even the strongest athletes have hard days. These honest recounts, along with Aly’s positive attitude, will make the audience feel connected to her story. Overall, Raisman’s Fierce is an empowering autobiography that will inspire young readers to chase their dreams and remain true to themselves while doing so.  

Sexual Content  

  • None

Violence  

  • Aly discusses the differences in how men and women are represented in the media, particularly in their clothing choices. “I heard an actress who had been raped say that when she shared her story, people sometimes asked, ‘What were you wearing?’ As though wearing a sexy outfit gave a man the right to disrespect her.”  
  • When Aly got treatment from USA Gymnastics athletic trainer Larry Nassar, she felt uncomfortable. “It was different with Larry. I would lie on the table, my hands involuntarily balling themselves into fists as his ungloved hands worked their way under my clothing.”  
  • At training camps, Aly and many of the other gymnasts thought the way Larry Nassar “touched us was weird. But he did it to so many of us that we assumed, blindly, that he must know something we didn’t.” 
  • After speaking with a private investigator, Aly began to realize that what she had experienced with Larry Nassar was sexual abuse. “I wanted to throw up. Realizing that you’ve been a victim of sexual abuse is a horrible, sickening feeling. I didn’t want to believe it, but it had all become clear.”  
  • Aly believes that her focus on training and competing caused her to live a sheltered life. “That’s probably why I didn’t question why Larry would sometimes close his eyes or seem out of breath when he worked on me. More than once I would make excuses for his strange behavior.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural  

  • None

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Madeline Hettrick 

Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution

This memoir by Ji Li Jiang details her experience as a young girl in China during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. She and her family are living under the influence and rule of Mao Zedong, a communist leader. Her red scarf is an emblem of the Young Pioneers of the revolution.   

Ji Li was 12 years old in 1966 and lived with her mother, father, grandmother, and two younger siblings. She grew up believing that her life was nearly perfect, but that was about to change. At school, Ji Li is selected to audition for a dance training class for the Liberation Army. When she tells her parents, they urge her not to go to the audition. Her father doesn’t think the family would be able to pass the political background check, and her auditioning could cause social issues for her family. This is her first glimpse into the more nuanced reality around her. Articles are written about Ji Li in the paper that critiques her identity as a communist, and those same newspapers are used to cover the door of her grandfather’s bookstore. Ji Li’s world is changing.  

She starts to uncover truths about her family and their class status. She discovers that her grandfather was a landlord. This is against the Red Party’s code of ethics. More events like this pile on, and soon after Ji Li’s home is searched, and her father is detained. She begins to worry about her family.  Later, Ji Li finds a letter her mother wrote to the comrades of the municipal party committee about the torture the Red Guards inflict on those who oppose the Red Party. Her family’s house is searched, and the guards find the letter. The memoir is a frightening example of how quickly things can change.  

All of the events in Ji Li’s memoir occur when Ji Li is between the ages of 12 and 14, which makes the book’s pace fast. Ji Li goes from thinking her family and government are perfect to discovering that both have their flaws. This realization leaves her confused about how the world works. Young readers may relate to Ji Li’s constant mental battle between doing what she believes is right and what is wrong. She overcomes bullying by believing in herself, which may encourage young readers to be brave and believe in themselves.   

Overall, Red Scarf Girl is an engaging and informative book that provides insight into China’s Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. Ji Li’s story is an emotionally charged tale that will linger with readers for a long time to come. Through her personal journey from innocence to awareness, Ji Li demonstrates how political upheaval can shatter individual lives and force young people to confront difficult truths about loyalty, family, and survival. The memoir serves as both a historical document and a universal coming-of-age story that reminds us how resilience and love can endure even in the darkest of times. 

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • Ji Li is visited by her father’s friend Fan Wen-Chong, who was beaten up by the Red Guards. Ji Li “stopped when [she] saw his face, it was swollen, bruised and bloody. Standing in the dark doorway he looked like a monster.” 
  • The family is interrogated about a letter to the municipal party committee. A Red Guard slaps her grandmother. “Thin face slapped her with all his strength. Grandma staggered into Mom’s arms.”  

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None 

Language 

  • Ji Li’s classmates bully her about her name and her family. She thinks to herself, “No, I do not want to have this damned name anymore.” 
  • Kids call Ji Li’s family a black family, which means they oppose the Red movement.  

Supernatural 

  • None

Spiritual 

  • After Ji Li’s father is detained, her grandmother prays, “May Allah protect my son.” 
  • When the family finds out Ji Li’s father is okay, “Grandma was in tears and she could not stop thanking Allah for his blessing.” 

Kayleigh Doyle

The Inheritance Games

Avery Kylie Grambs was a practically invisible teenager before she mysteriously inherited billions of dollars.  

After her mother’s death, Avery lives with her older sister, Libby. Avery plans to graduate from high school, secure a scholarship, and help her sister with the bills. But then, Avery is summoned to Texas to hear the will of Tobias Hawthorne, the ninth-richest man in the world. Avery is incredibly confused because she’s never met the man before. When the will is read, Avery is shocked to discover that she has inherited nearly all of Tobias’s wealth, uprooting the lives of Tobias’s daughters, Skye and Zara, and Skye’s sons, Nash, Grayson, Jameson, and Xander. But there’s one condition—Avery must live in Hawthorne House for a year with all the people whose inheritances she just stole. 

Well, as they say, more money, more problems. Avery quickly finds herself with a target on her back as she faces threats from those within and outside of the Hawthorne family. As Avery spends more time with the Hawthornes, she gets to know the family and realizes that all of this is a puzzle waiting to be solved. With no idea who is rooting for or against her, Avery struggles to adjust to her new life while simultaneously trying to figure out why Tobias chose her to be his heir.  

Avery is strong-willed and fiercely independent. She is initially confused and stunned by this turn of events but keeps her head high and her wits about her. Her background is vastly different from that of everyone she interacts with in her new life, but she is able to adapt and hold her own. Avery is also incredibly kind-hearted and doesn’t spend any of her new money on herself; instead, she attempts to send money to a homeless man. Avery also tries to protect her sister from her abusive on-and-off boyfriend, Drake. Avery is kind to those important to her and draws firm boundaries with those who try to harm her. Readers will be drawn to these admirable traits and find Avery to be a likable protagonist. 

It is compelling to watch Avery take control of her new responsibilities and shake up the Hawthorne world as she makes changes and takes risks. The story also explores themes of family, love, and the importance of staying loyal to those who are important to you. The narrative is constantly evolving, leaving readers desperate to turn the page and discover the next piece of the puzzle.  

The Inheritance Games will captivate readers with its twists and turns, riddles, complex family relationships, and a touch of romance along the way. The story will keep readers on the edge of their seats with dozens of unanswered questions — some of which remain open-ended, perfectly leading to the second book in the series, The Hawthorne Legacy.  

Sexual Content 

  • On a flight, Libby, Avery’s sister, tells Avery, “Smoosh in and hold up your warm nuts.” Another woman on the flight gives them a dirty look, likely due to the innuendo.  
  • Skye, the Hawthorne grandsons’ mother, says she has lovely conversations with people and “that’s how [she] ended up with four sons. Wonderful, intimate conversations with four fascinating men.” 
  • Jameson, one of the Hawthorne grandsons, is shirtless when he meets Avery. She notes “the muscles in his back tensing, rippling over his shoulder blades.” She later looks at his abs and his hair before he brushes his bare arm against hers as he leaves. 
  • Xander, one of the Hawthorne grandsons, describes the Hawthorne House as if “an M.C. Escher drawing conceived a child with Leonardo da Vinci’s most masterful designs.” Avery cuts him off and says he can’t use any “baby-making” terminology to describe the house. 
  • Jameson tells Avery it would be a shame if they were related. Avery tells herself to stop thinking about his smile and looking at his lips. 
  • Max, Avery’s best friend, calls Jameson “faxable,” meaning “fuckable.” She says that he looks like he knows his way around a “fax machine” and is probably really great at “dialing numbers.” 
  • Thea, a girl who shows Avery around her new school, tells her that “everyone who likes boys wanted to date” the Hawthorne boys. 
  • Jameson says that Avery “doesn’t bite” and that “now that the issue of relatedness has been settled in the negative, I’d be game if she did.” 
  • Avery walks past Grayson, one of the Hawthorne grandsons, and brushes up against him, thinking, “even that split second of contact made me feel like I was going two hundred miles an hour.” She later finds it attractive that he uses the word “empirically” and then tells herself to get her mind out of the gutter. 
  • After someone shoots at Avery, she and Jameson kiss. He angles her face by pulling her hair while she imagines him shirtless like before. She thinks that the kiss “isn’t soft and sweet” and it’s what she needed. 
  • In order to stay safe, Max recommends that Avery “whack” the entire Hawthorne family, but she’s worried Avery will take that as a euphemism.  
  • Max tells Avery that she sent “personal photos” to her boyfriend, Jaxon – meaning nude photographs of herself. After they break up, he sends the photos to her parents. 
  • Nash, one of the Hawthorne grandsons, tells Avery that Zara, his aunt, and her husband had trouble conceiving, while his mom “would leave for a few months, come back pregnant. Wash, rinse, and repeat.” 
  • After protecting Avery from his mother, Avery brings her hand up to Nash’s chest and then his jaw. He tells her that he’ll always protect her, “But this. . . us. . . It can’t happen, Avery. I’ve seen the way Jameson looks at you.” 

 

Violence 

  • Avery notes that Drake, Libby’s boyfriend, has “a fondness for punching walls and extolling his own virtues for not punching Libby.”  
  • After hearing that Avery received most of the money in the will, Avery notes that Skye, the Hawthorne grandsons’ mother, looks “like she could kill someone. Literally.”  
  • Avery can’t be kicked out of the house she now owns. The family looks at her, and she thinks, “They’re going to kill me. Someone in this room is actually going to kill me.” Several times, Avery worries that the family will kill her. 
  • Libby goes back home, and when she returns, one of her eyes is bruised and almost swollen shut. It’s implied that Drake hit her.  
  • Libby says her mom used to hit her when she was really stressed. However, Libby says she understood because things were hard for her mother raising Libby alone; because of this, Libby adds that she tried to “make everything easier” for her mother.  
  • Xander, one of the Hawthorne grandsons, and three other boys leave the headmaster’s office, and they’re all bleeding from what Xander calls “Robot Battle Death Match Fight Club.” It’s unclear exactly what this is, and Xander does not elaborate. 
  • Avery’s attorney tells her that Toby, one of Tobias’s sons, and three other young people died in a fire at a vacation home. The nature of the fire is unclear. 
  • Angry after dinner one night, Jameson goes into the woods and punches a tree “multiple times.” His wounds are not described. 
  • One night in the woods, someone shoots at Avery. They don’t shoot her, but the bullets hit a tree, and she “got hit by a couple pieces of bark.” She thinks to herself, “I’m bleeding” and “Pain.” There’s a “stabbing pain” in her chest, and her “chest throbbed” where she had been hit by the bark. Afterwards, her bodyguard stitches her “skin back together.” 
  • When Tobias’s mother was younger, she played piano, but she got too much attention for it, and her husband broke her fingers. He was “met with a tragic accident not long after that.” 
  • Avery’s attorney and bodyguard plan to have Avery go out shopping to draw out the person who shot at her previously. It works and the shooter tries to run Avery’s car off of the road; no one is injured. 
  • It is later revealed that Drake was the one who shot at Avery, and Skye helped him plan it. 
  • Grayson tells Avery that he killed Emily, a girl he used to date. Later, he adds that if it weren’t for him, she “wouldn’t have been there or jumped.” Finally, he reveals that they went cliff diving, which didn’t kill her, but “her heart stopped from either the adrenaline, the altitude, or the change in pressure.”  
  • Jameson tells Avery and Grayson that he “watched Emily die” because she was gasping and hunched over, and he thought she was “tricking him.” 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Jameson is drunk when he first meets Avery.  
  • One evening, Jameson drinks to cope with the fact that he knows nothing about his father.  
  • At dinner, Skye gives a toast while she is drunk and slurring her words. 
  • After getting stitches from being shot at, Avery drinks tea that has a lot of whiskey in it. 

Language 

  • Profanity is infrequent and includes bastard, hell, ass, bitch, and screw. 
  • Max has very strict parents who watch her closely, so she and Avery frequently talk using words very similar to curses to avoid this. One example is Max texts Avery, “Are you foxing with me, beach?” 
  • Avery describes Tobias by saying, “There weren’t any polite terms for what Tobias Hawthorne was, other than really insert-expletive-of-your-choice-here filthy rich.” 
  • In mentioning playing a game, Grayson says, “And God help us, we played.” 
  • Avery and Xander try to get Jameson to join them. Xander says, “I can report that some very colorful language was used when I requested his presence.”

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content 

  • None 

by Alexa David-Lang 

The Iron Flower

Elloren Gardner knows the truth about her world, and there’s no going back. Elloren and her friends were only trying to do the right thing when they rescued a Selkie and freed a military dragon. The last thing they expected was to be thrust into a realm-wide underground resistance against Gardnerian conquest. After just a few months at Verpax University, she’s abandoned her Aunt Vyvian’s more conservative and discriminatory values for the Resistance and is more dedicated than ever to protecting her friends. However, to do so, she is forced to pretend that she’s the same pious, ignorant girl she was at orientation.  

As war looms over the continent of Erthia, Elloren is trying to secure safe passage to the east for her friends. But more Gardnerian soldiers descend on the University, led by none other than Lukas Grey. To complicate things, Elloren is stuck in her own little love triangle, between a Commander who is not all he seems and the mysterious Yvan Guriel, who contains more power and allure than anyone she’s ever known. As his magic calls to her, Elloren finds it more and more difficult to believe she’s truly powerless. However, the last thing Elloren and her friends expected was to be thrust into a realm-wide underground resistance against Gardnerian conquest. 

Outspoken and authentic, Elloren is an inspiring character who studies medicine to help others. She also flaunts University traditions as well as negotiates with queens and renegades. In The Iron Flower, Elloren has found her family, and her relationship with each member becomes increasingly complex. They bond during emotional and traumatic times, but their home soon begins to fall apart with every raid, riot, and murder. Elloren is a force of nature and a lovable character who defies everything she’s ever known for what she knows is right. Her narration is simple and clear, even with all the moving parts, the average reader can’t help but root for her.   

The Iron Flower picks up where The Black Witch leaves off, with Elloren joining the Resistance and Marcus Vogel being elected and cementing power as Gardneria’s High Mage and leader of their government and military. The story includes new and old characters, as well as multiple plot lines, which can make the novel overwhelming and confusing at times. While a lot happens outside of university grounds, Elloren’s own story moves slowly at the beginning, peppered with exposition dumps and emotional turmoil. However, everything speeds up about halfway in and the conclusion is packed with twists and bloody endings. This book successfully builds a believable trajectory of the Gardnerian government’s descent into authoritarianism, while also teaching about standing up to bullies and knowing when to pick your battles.   

Readers who enjoy political intrigue, magical battles, and teenage drama will love The Black Witch Series. The Iron Flower adeptly continues Elloren’s journey through the magical world with powerfully moving tragedies and victories of the Resistance. Elloren and her friends are brave, complex characters who highlight the themes of acceptance, love, friendship, and kindness. The Iron Flower is about hoping for the best, even when nothing seems like it will work out, and it concludes with an exciting cliffhanger that will have readers eager to read the next book in the series, The Shadow Wand.  

Sexual Content  

  • Waiting for a Resistance meeting to start, Elloren sees “Iris [tilt] her head and [kiss] Yvan’s neck, nuzzling against him with a soft moan.” Yvan shuts it down before it goes further. 
  • Lukas and Elloren reunite after months of no contact. Lukas “leans in to kiss [Elloren], [she] lets [her] lips soften, like sugar melting against his heat.” 
  • While at a ball, Elloren talks to one of her friends, Jarod, who is a werewolf with the ability to scent emotions and arousal. He points out two men standing at the fringes of the dancing. Jarod says, “Those two men, they’re madly in love with each other. I can feel it from all the way over here.” 
  • When Elloren’s brother, Rafe, and his girlfriend, Diana, sneak into the dance, “he kisses [Diana] deeply” in front of the whole room.  
  • As Elloren dances with Lukas, she feels “a sudden, overwhelming desire to be dancing with [Yvan] instead. To feel his lips against [hers]. To have his arms around [her]. And to be close to his fire.” 
  • Andras, the child of Amazonian warrior women, describes their fertility rites. The woman who chose him “felt that [his] seed would produce especially fine, strong daughters.” 
  • While reviewing Resistance plans with two professors, Elloren remembers that “Diana told [her] about [them]—that they’ve one of the strongest attractions to each other that Diana has ever sensed in any couple.” 
  • Lukas announces his desire to marry Elloren, and then he kisses her. “Light as gossamer, he kisses the base of [her] neck, his lips rousing [her] fire lines with a heated longing that tingles straight through [her].” 
  • Mid-conversation with one of her friends, Elloren thinks about their marriage rituals, how “the consummation of the sealing union is expected [the] same night, prompting the fastlines to flow down a couple’s wrists as proof of consummation.” 
  • After freeing a Selkie from a prostitution ring, Elloren’s friend, Gareth, describes the inside of the brothels. He explains, “They were clothed, though barely. They had them standing in a row for the men to look at. Like livestock at a fair. Most of them seemed scared. A few of them, especially the younger ones, looked completely traumatized.” 
  • Elloren’s roommate, Ariel, plans to sacrifice herself so that another roommate, Wynter, can go free. Ariel confesses that she loves Wynter “not as a sister. [She] love[s] [her].”   
  • After a succession of traumatizing events, Elloren seeks comfort in Yvan. They have a tender conversation and then “he brings his lips to [hers]. His lips are warm and full and salty from his tears, his kiss tentative as a surprising warmth blooms from where his mouth touches [hers], his heat sliding through [her] affinity lines in a tingling rush.” 
  • At the end of the novel, there is a big plot twist that leaves Elloren and Yvan reeling from new information. “He kisses [her] again, his lips growing heated, his fire building and then flashing though [her] lines with a feverish urgency that makes [her] shudder against him.” 

Violence  

  • During their first Resistance meeting, Yvan warns the room about a new brutal practice. Elloren’s friend from work, Bleddyn, describes it as “cutting off the points of [Urisk] ears, like [they’re] animals. And shearing the hair from [their] heads.” The Urisk people are commonly enslaved in this novel, though the Resistance is working to free them. 
  • While waiting near a military camp for Lukas, Elloren “remember[s] the stories Yvan told [her] about how Gardnerian soldiers set their dragons on the Kelts during the Realm War. How the soldiers wiped out entire villages and burned them to the ground.” Descriptions of war and vague, past violence appear frequently in the book. 
  • During the holiday ball, Elloren sees her friend Aislinn, who’s unwillingly betrothed to an abuser, Randall. Randall “roughly grabs Aislinn’s free arm and yanks her toward himself.” In the process, Aislinn “makes a hurt sound and instinctively recoils.” One of Aislinn’s friends growls and threatens Randall, but ultimately, Aislinn leaves with Randall, and no blows come to pass. 
  • As Elloren discusses Rafe’s unwillingness to join the army, someone says that if Rafe doesn’t cooperate, “He’ll be shot.”  
  • With the fascist government gaining power, Elloren’s friend, Tierney, worries about her aquatic-creature friends. She says to Yvan and Elloren, “[the government has] pounded iron pikes into the waterways. Five of [her] Kelpies are now dead.” 
  • On a walk into town with Elloren’s friend, Tierney, Elloren spots graffiti on a wall that says in all caps, “reap the evil ones/Erthia for Gardnerians/take back the western realm.” Once they reach town, they notice a hate crime has been committed and non-Gardnerians have been attacked. They find Bleddyn “only semiconscious, her unswollen eye unfocused.” When she wakes to see Elloren, she “jerks her whole body violently away, her expression twisting into a desperate snarl.” They take Bleddyn home to heal her. Along the way, they find another friend, Olilly, whose ears had been partially but brutally cut off.  
  • After finding a Selkie in the woods in The Black Witch, Elloren and her friends are trying to free the rest of them in The Iron Flower. Frustrated at their lack of progress, Elloren yells at Yvan, “They’re beating the Selkies. Raping them!” 
  • Since Elloren and her friends can’t free the Selkies on their own, they ask the Amaz for help. During their visit, the Amaz are conflicted over housing Elloren and they almost come to blows over it. Their Amaz appointed bodyguard, Valasca, “pulls out a knife, leveling it at Alcippe,” another Amaz who opposes Elloren’s presence there. There’s a good deal of yelling and physical threatening before everyone backs down.  
  • To explain Alcippe’s hatred of men, Elloren’s Amaz bodyguard explains: “When Alcippe was twelve, she returned from tending livestock and found her mother unconscious on the floor. Blood was streaming out of her mother’s nose and ear, and her eyes were swollen shut.” Alcippe murdered her father for his abuse of her mother. 
  • Trying to find the valuables of the Selkies, Gareth infiltrates the brothels where they were housed. To describe where they keep the valuables, he says that “All the Selkie taverns have the same [storage] system—apparently, they streamlined things after one Selkie [freed herself] and murdered several people.” 
  • On a dark day, a werewolf shows up at Elloren’s footstep with news that all of the werewolves have been slaughtered, save him and her two friends at university. He cries, “I went out to hunt . . . and when I returned . . . I. . . I found them. . . all of them. . . dead. . . our homes turned to blackened ash.” In response to hearing her family was dead from Elloren, one of the last remaining werewolves, Diana throws herself off a building, but she survives.  
  • To distract the guard and smuggle her friends to another country, Elloren poisons the university’s students and the guard. The poison isn’t lethal, but it renders everyone unconscious for almost two days. 
  • During her escape, Diana gets revenge for the murder of her family. When the guard wakes, they find that “fifteen Gardnerian soldiers are dead. The University groundskeeper is dead, viciously decapitated. The ears pulled clear off a group of Third Division Gardnerian military apprentices.” 
  • When the government declares that all Icarals must be imprisoned, Elloren’s bully, Fallon Bane, and her brother watch as “a male Icaral [is] hauled up for execution, two soldiers grasping its arms, the creature’s wing-stumps flapping in panic.” There is no explicit description of his death, but it is implied. 
  • At the end of the novel, Elloren’s aunt discovers how rebellious she has become. Aunt Vyvian reveals that Elloren’s uncle is sick, and it is implied that Vyvian is responsible. As Elloren sobs next to him, Uncle Edwin “slumps back, his head lolling, his eyes gazing over,” and he dies. Vyvian’s guards “jump to [Elloren’s] side, roughly pushing [her] back and restraining [her].” Her aunt forces her to marry Lukas, but he lets her go when the process is over. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Elloren’s roommate, Ariel, is addicted to an opiate-like drug called nilantyr. When the Gardnerian military raids her room, they seize her stash. There is no description of the raid, only her withdrawal symptoms. Within an hour, Ariel is “starting to tremble,” which soon “worsens to full-body quaking.” Ariel then “vomits all over the clothing she’s pulled from [Elloren’s] drawers.”  
  • While visiting the Amaz, Valasca “pulls a flat flask out of her tunic pocket, unstoppers it and hands it to [Elloren].” At Elloren’s hesitance to take it, Valasca says, “Oh, I forgot. You Garndnerians don’t drink spirits.’” Eventually, Elloren gives in and they both drink. Elloren goes to bed drunk. 
  • During a visit to the capital city’s prison, Elloren and Yvan notice that the Icaral inmates are being drugged. They see a little girl in a cell with her “white tunic stained down the front with black vomit,” as a “woman appears to be trying to force-feed nilantyr to the child.”  
  • When Elloren and Yvan find Ariel in one of the cells, Elloren describes her “gaze [as] unfocused, her mouth curled up at the edges into a numb, blissful grin.” As they try to escape with Ariel, Yvan makes a surgeon and an apothecary eat the nilantyr on their way out, to knock them out and not alert the guards.  

Language    

  • Language is very tame, but includes words like stupid, idiot, and hell that appear frequently. 
  • The word whore is used three times. 
  • Bitch is used twice. 

Supernatural  

  • This book features a diverse array of supernatural creatures, including witches, kelpies, Icarals, fairies, elves, werewolves, other animal shifters, Selkies, dragons, green- and purple-skinned peoples, and Amazonian women who utilize rune magic in battle.  
  • The Iron Flower has spells, runes, and mentions of magic on nearly every page. Elloren often has dream-like visions of the future that she can never quite remember; things like “a battlefield beneath a reddened sky” or “a white wand gripped in [her] hand.”  
  • Their magic is defined by their “affinity lines,” which are how they describe their affinity for certain kinds of elemental magic. One of Elloren’s professors tells her “just because [she] can’t access [her] power doesn’t mean her affinity lines are weak,” meaning that Elloren may have more of an affinity for magic than she thinks. 
  • The Amaz are protected by runes, another form of magical spells, where the wielder doesn’t need strong affinity lines. Elloren describes part of the Amaz settlement as “farms set under geometric glass domes marked with huge scarlet runes.” 
  • Potions and magical medicines are made in this book. As an example, on a walk into town, Elloren watches as a “disheveled-looking apothecary is busy pulverizing a dragon’s talon into black powder.” Elloren and Tierney gather their alchemy materials from him.  

Spiritual Content  

  • During a Resistance meeting, Elloren is informed that “the mandatory wandfasting age for Gardnerians has been lowered to sixteen.” Those over the age of sixteen “will be forced into a fasting” by their religious government.  
  • On a walk into town, Elloren spots graffiti on a wall and describes it as “a phrase from [their] holy book. /Bring the reaping times.” 
  • Elloren says Gardnerians hate forests because “it’s part of our religion. We’re meant to subdue the wilds. They’re supposedly filled with the spirit of the Evil Ones.” 
  • On family weekend at Verpax, the werewolf pack visits and Aislinn’s family “pointedly make[s] the holy gesture to ward off the stain of the Evil Ones.”  
  • Elloren explains why Gardnerians have arranged marriages. She says, “Mating is considered sinful in our religion. Its sole purpose is to bring forth as many mages as possible. Mating for any reason beyond that is considered immoral. We’re supposed to rise above our base natures. Not be wild things.” 
  • A man and his Amaz mother discuss the werewolves. His mother says that the werewolves are “everything the Goddess despises. And after they die, it will be as if they never existed, whereas [you and I] will go to Goddesshaven.’” 
  • Around a campfire, Elloren’s brother, Trystan, remarks that their friends are “all Evil Ones” and that “according to the glorious and most holy Book of the Ancients, [they’re] all Evil Ones. Except, maybe, for [Elloren].” 
  • In a political speech to a large crowd, the fascist leader in power claims that the Gardnerians will “flush [the Evil Ones] out of our cities. [They] will flush them out of the wilds. [They] will flush them out of this realm and the next. [They] will flush them out with the full power of the Ancient One behind [them].” 
  • While visiting the Amaz, Elloren notices a painting that depicts “the three First Women walking in a beautiful garden with the Great Goddess; the slaying of the cruel male partner by the only faithful daughter; the Goddess rewarding this faithful daughter, naming her Amaz.” 

Drive It! Fix It!

Meet Ace, a determined and curious girl who readers will follow to a go-kart race with a car she built herself. This story is engaging yet to the point: Ace builds her car on her own, works through obstacles while maintaining a positive attitude, and wins the race. 

Ace faces her first obstacle before the race even begins when she realizes her car won’t start. She tests several parts until she finds the right one, showing readers how to try different solutions when faced with a problem. During the race, her wheels get stuck in a rut and begin wobbling, causing her to lose speed as other racers pass her one by one. Instead of giving up, Ace grips the steering wheel, corrects the wobble, regains her speed, and passes the other racers to cross the finish line first. With each conflict, Ace remains calm and does what she can to fix it, whether finding a missing part or guiding the wheels back on track. These moments highlight her problem-solving skills and demonstrate that perseverance can help overcome any challenge. This satisfying victory rewards readers who have watched her overcome adversity. 

Although there are no supporting characters, the illustrations feature other racers in the background to provide context to Ace’s world. Ace remains the focus as she models resilience and resourcefulness throughout the race. Her determination, resilience, and victory make her an excellent role model for any child. 

The Racing Ace series employs short sentences with bold fonts and varied text placement to maintain a quick pace throughout the story. This approach makes the language accessible and easy to follow, perfect for young readers who are beginning to build their reading stamina and transition into chapter books. The book supports early reading comprehension with its fun story, steady pacing, and straightforward narrative without major deviations from the main plot. 

The text features repetition of words and phrases to build rhythm and emphasize Ace’s determination. Phrases like “And faster, and faster, and faster” build excitement as Ace gains speed and passes other racers. This mirrors her emotions and draws readers into the action. 

The full-color illustrations are bright and dynamic, reflecting Ace’s energetic personality. Each page is designed to keep readers engaged, matching the thrilling speed and resilience of Ace’s journey. The illustrations add clarity to the story, giving readers both visual and narrative understanding of how the race unfolds. 

Racing Ace: Drive It! Fix It! is an enriching read perfect for young readers interested in cars, races, or stories about brave, capable characters. The book offers a powerful reminder that creativity, perseverance, and quick thinking can help overcome challenges and find success, even when the road gets bumpy. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Rayna Burlison 

When Friendship Followed Me Home

Ben Coffin has never been one for making friends. As a former foster kid, he knows people can up and leave without so much as a goodbye. Ben prefers to spend his time with the characters in his favorite sci-fi books… until he rescues an abandoned mutt from the alley next door to the Coney Island Library.  

Scruffy little Flip leads Ben to befriend a fellow book-lover named Halley—yes, like the comet—a girl unlike anyone he has ever met. Ben begins thinking of her as “Rainbow Girl” because of her crazy-colored clothes and her laugh, pure magic, the kind that makes you smile away the stormiest day. Rainbow Girl convinces Ben to write a novel with her. But as their story unfolds, Ben’s life begins to unravel, and Ben must discover for himself the truth about friendship and the meaning of home. 

Although Ben has spent most of his childhood in foster care, many of his conflicts are relatable. Ben struggles to make friends and isn’t sure where he fits in. Ben says, “I always felt like a stranger, even to myself sometimes. I just didn’t know where I fit in or what I was supposed to do or be in my life, maybe I was a mistake.” Ben’s feelings of worthlessness are compounded after his adoptive mother dies, and he goes to live with his Aunt Jeanie and her boyfriend, Leo.  

Unfortunately, living with his aunt comes with its own set of problems. After Leo hits Ben, Ben runs away. When Ben realizes how helpless he is, he thinks, “If I didn’t have Flip to take care of, I wouldn’t have cared if I lived or died, and I was sure nobody else would have either, not really, not anymore.” Thankfully, Halley and her parents welcome Ben into their lives and teach Ben the meaning of home. 

When Friendship Followed Me Home explores the topic of death. Ben struggles to understand what happens after someone dies. He thinks his mom “was totally and absolutely nowhere.” The topic of grief is further explored through Halley, who has terminal cancer. Despite Ben’s situation, he never receives help dealing with his swirling emotions, and the book doesn’t give any information about the stages of grieving or how to handle grief. Even though Ben questions what happens when a person dies, he never finds a clear answer to the question. 

When Ben meets Halley, they decide to write a story, which is incorporated into the book. However, the story is confusing and slows the book’s plot. Much of Ben’s story is presented through his thoughts and emotions, further slowing the plot. Aside from Halley, none of the characters are well-developed, making them appear shallow and, at times, uncaring.  

Middle-grade readers may struggle to follow the plot of When Friendship Followed Me Home due to its confusing narrative, lack of action, and underdeveloped characters. Readers will feel empathy for Ben’s situation, but be confused by the adult’s lack of action. The story’s conclusion will leave readers in tears, even though it hints that Ben’s life will change for the better. When Friendship Followed Me Home will appeal to readers who enjoy books that focus on characters’ deep emotions and want to explore the topic of death. Readers seeking a book that showcases the enduring power of love should consider When the Butterflies Came by Kimberley Griffiths Little.  

Sexual Content  

  • One of Ben’s friends thinks the school’s principal has “a great butt.” 
  • When Chucky meets Halley for the first time, Chucky tells Ben, “Nice butt. Not bad in the chestal area either, Coffin. I mean, they could be bigger, but well done just the same.”  
  • Halley tells Chucky to “scram. . . because you need to go rest your eyes after staring at my, ahem, chestal area nonstop for the last two hours.” 
  • When Halley is very sick, she tells Ben, “If you’re ever going to kiss me, you might want to do it soon. For instance, now would be a good time.” Ben kisses her, and he “felt her heartbeat in her lips. They were chapped, and then they got slippery. They were just like I’d dreamed, lit with sparks.” Afterward, Ben says it was his first kiss, but it was Halley’s third.

Violence  

  • Ben and his friend Chucky were walking down the street when a kid from school, Rayburn, slaps Chucky “on the back of the head.” When Ben refuses to show Rayburn what’s in his pockets, Rayburn “crackled him across the mouth. I shoved Rayburn and then everybody went nuts. Rayburn was belting me and Angelina was kicking Chucky and Ronda was yelling for everyone to stop. . .” Chucky has a fat lip, and Rayburn takes everything that was in Ben’s pockets. 
  • Rayburn’s mother kicks him out of the house, and “he’s living at his cousin’s, and the cousin’s in the Mafia, and he’s killed like a thousand people, and he’s been in jail.”  
  • After Ben’s adoptive mother dies, Ben goes to live with his Aunt Jeanie and her boyfriend, Leo. Leo gets angry and “he kicked Flip—hard too. Very hard. Hard enough that Flip flew from where Leo kicked him, into the fence. Flip yelped and then staggered and sat and panted and whimpered.” 
  • Upset about Flip, Ben calls Leo a “freaking idiot.” “Then, Leo swung out at me with a big, meaty, open hand . . . He slapped me across my face hard enough to make my head whip to the side. My cheek stung and then went numb.” Ben grabs Flip and runs away. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Ben uses an inhaler for asthma.  
  • When Ben was a few days old, his mom dropped him off at the police station. No one wanted him because “My blood had drugs in it. . . That scares people away.” 
  • One night, when Ben gets home, Leo’s “just sitting there. . . his eyes were glassy.” Later, Jeanie and Leo fight because Leo was drunk.  
  • When Ben stays the night at a friend’s house, he takes Benadryl because he’s allergic to cats. 
  • Halley has terminal cancer and takes “these pills to make her less queasy, [and] the other pills to help with her headaches.” Towards the end of her life, Halley is given “pills to help her hurt less.” 

Language  

  • The book occasionally uses language such as holy crud, heck, and frickin’. 
  • There is occasional name calling including loser, moron, idiot, and jerk. 
  • OMG is used as an exclamation several times. 
  • Ben asks, “What the freak?” 
  • Leo calls Flip a “stupid dog” and a “stupid little rat!” 

Supernatural 

  • None

Spiritual Content  

  • Before breakfast, Halley prayed, “God, thank you for this meal. Thank you for us. I hope you get everybody here to see that nobody should stop living the heck out of life the next month or so. Each day is the best day from here on in.” 

Bridge of Clay

The Dunbar boys, Matthew, Rory, Henry, Clay, and Tommy, live alone. After their mother died, their father left, driven away by his grief. Matthew, the oldest and the narrator, tells the story of how the five Dunbar brothers survived. Within multiple timelines, Matthew lays out the lives of his parents, Michael and Penelope, including how they met, how they raised their sons, and how it all fell apart. These flashbacks are interspersed between the main story, Clay’s story.

After a four-year grief-fueled disappearance, Michael returns to the Dunbar home to discover his sons have grown up without him. He asks for their help to build a bridge, but Clay is the only one willing to reconnect with his father. Clay is a mostly silent main character, and his story is told from Matthew’s point of view. Yet, beneath Clay’s quiet exterior is a boy who loves deeply—his brothers, his parents, and the girl Clay loves, Carey. Clay’s grief overflows into action, building both a physical and metaphoric bridge.

Bridge of Clay highlights the importance of storytelling. Matthew’s narration is influenced by stories told by Clay, their parents, and those told by Carey. The scenes that took place before Matthew was born are told using an omniscient point of view, allowing readers to understand the thoughts, emotions, and desires of other characters. Bridge of Clay is a book about leaving home and learning how to return, about grief and how it brings some people closer together while tearing others apart, and about the love brothers share for each other. The story also offers hope for reconciliation between the Dunbar boys and their father.

In the present timeline, sixteen-year-old Clay leaves home to help his father build a bridge, a decision that divides the Dunbar household. When he returns months later, the bonds between the brothers begin to grow stronger. Even as the Dunbar brothers are trying to understand why their father abandoned them in the midst of their grief, the love they have for each other is an almost tangible thing. Zusak creates realistic teenage boys, who are messy and violent. Despite the heavy topic, there are moments of fun, as expected in a home with five boys.

While this epic tale contains little action, the writing is poetic, strange, and beautiful. Although this is a slower read, the short chapters and flowing language ensure that it is never boring. The plot shifts quickly between timelines, and connections between the past and the present are made masterfully, weaving together platonic love, romantic love, young love, and old love. Even as Matthew is the one typing these words, every character’s language appears on the page, and every character’s story is vital to the book. Readers will be drawn to the precision of the language, as almost every line holds significance, much of which is revealed later through memories of the past.

Sexual Content

  • Rory thinks about a girl with whom he had a physical relationship. He remembered, “he pulled a long strand of girls’ hair from his mouth. . . she lay open-legged in Rory’s head.”
  • Clay watches an older boy with his girlfriend. “[Clay] didn’t mind the way they touched and sort of smudged each other, either—her crotch on his thigh, a leg each side.”
  • Clay imagines Carey kissing him. “She came closer and began; she put her bottom lip on his top one, and held the book between them.”
  • In the past, Michael and Abbey, his first girlfriend, made out in Abbey’s bedroom, and it is implied that they had sex. Abbey “held his hand and helped him with everything: the buttons, the clips, the descent to the floor. . . there was carpet and heat of shoulders and backs and tailbones. . . There was breath—her breath—and falling, just like that. And embarrassment. . . The sweat between each breast.”
  • As young adults, Michael and Abbey are in bed together. “She’d roll onto him and kiss his stomach. . . She’d kiss and kiss again, across and over, up toward his ribcage.”
  • Michael and his future wife, Penelope, kiss. “He didn’t know how or why, but he put the other hand on her hip bone, and without thinking, he held her and kissed her.”
  • Henry and Rory talk about a peer’s body. “You know—the one with the lips. . . You mean the tits.”
  • At the end of the book, Clay and Carey sleep together. They are teenagers. “They’d broken the unwritten rules. There was the feel of her naked legs. He remembered the laid-down length of her. . . and how she moved and gently bit him. And the way she’d pulled him down.”

Violence

  • Matthew refers to his father as “the Murderer,” but he didn’t actually murder anyone.
  • Clay runs on the track, while other boys try to stop him. It’s a way to train, and Clay believes that it makes him faster. “Business-like, they converged. . . It was a fist across his throat, an ample chest against his back. . . [Starkey] even pinched him as they went kicking and a-gouging in the blood and the shove. . . There was collision between boy and ground.” The scene lasts over four pages, and Clay is left bruised and bleeding, but not seriously injured.
  • A snake bites Michael’s dog. “There was nothing now but body and jaws, open-eyed death, and he kneeled in the backyard sunshine.” The dog dies.
  • Penelope gets in a car crash and breaks her nose. “The car was crashed into from the side, like a demon had taken a bite. Penelope’s ribs were ruptured. Her nose was slapped and broken; her face hit the head of the dash.”
  • Clay leaves home with his father. When he returns, Matthew is angry that he left and beats Clay up. “But now those thoughts weren’t thoughts at all, they were clouds of landed punches, and every one fell true. . . It was blood and hurt and getting up, and going down, till Rory called out enough.”
  • In an effort to divert Matthew’s violent intentions toward Clay, Henry gets himself beat up by mimicking one of Clay’s training sessions. He runs a lap around the track, and his friends beat him up to try to stop him from finishing. “Then a bloodied, grinning face. . . he was so drunk and beaten up he’d almost crawled.” Henry had been drinking and fell unconscious, but he was not seriously injured.
  • During the boys’ childhood, their mother punished them for getting muddy. Penelope throws a shoe at Henry. Their mother “gave it to us on the arms, on the legs. . . till finally she’d splintered two of the spoons, and threw a boot down the hall instead. . . hitting Henry, a thud in the face. His mouth was bleeding, and he’d swallowed a loose tooth.”
  • While in middle school, a classmate, Jimmy Hartnell, bullies Matthew because he plays the piano. Jimmy “nippled me in those toilets, and his punches bruised my groin.” Matthew fights back. “First I was caught in the mouth (like chewing on a piece of iron), then up, and into the ribs. . . I blocked the third punch outright, and clobbered him on the chin. . . I knocked him down twice, but he always came punching back. By the end I’d gone down four times myself, and on the fourth I couldn’t get up.”
  • Clay runs barefoot on the track, and his feet get cut up by broken glass. “There was glass all over the track. Clay hadn’t even seen it, and he didn’t notice the blood. Later, it took us hours to pick the pieces out.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • There is underage drinking throughout the book. Henry and his friends drink at the track while Clay runs. “They drank in that adolescent way, all greedy-mouthed and wide open.”
  • Rory comes home drunk. “As for Rory, he weighed a drunken ton, but they somehow slung him to bed.”
  • While Penelope is sick, Michael and Penelope smoke cigarettes. “They smoked, they coughed. . . their smoking was amateur at best.”
  • While in high school, Rory brings alcohol to school in an attempt to be expelled. Rory tells Matthew and his teacher, “It’s just a beer, I don’t see what you’re all so upset about.”
  • Right before she dies, Penelope takes her underage sons to a bar and buys them all beer. “As the oldest, it was only [Matthew] who made it through [his] drink, and it was quite an effort, I’m telling you. Rory and Henry each had half. Clay and Tommy managed the froth. . . [Penelope] stayed till she’d finished them off.”

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes goddamn, hell, shit, bastards, fuck, and bitch.
  • Matthew often uses Jesus and Jesus Christ as an exclamation. “Jesus! What was it about our house? It brought out the blasphemy in everyone.”
  • British curse words are used fairly often, including bloody and prick.
  • Henry and Rory talk about Starkey’s girlfriend’s “tits.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Abigail Clark

Solitaire

Nobody would describe Tori Spring as an especially cheerful person. In fact, she might be one of the most pessimistic teenagers you’ll ever meet. She often thinks about death and doesn’t particularly enjoy school or most things. She has friends, but it’s almost like they’re fundamentally different from her. When an anonymous individual, calling themselves “Solitaire,” starts posting mysterious clues, it catches the attention of Michael, a new student. After constantly discussing it with Tori, he eventually convinces her to figure out Solitaire’s identity. But when Solitaire starts pulling some not-so-harmless pranks, Tori’s life is upended, and she winds up reconsidering who she wants around her and what she really wants to do with her life.

Tori’s story is about a girl who doesn’t really know what she’s doing in life and maybe doesn’t even want to figure it out. She finds temporary solace in the occasional movie, which she frequently ends up not even finishing, or hanging out with her brothers. But mainly, she spends time nearly drowning in her seemingly endless parade of downer thoughts. Despite this, Tori is a compelling main character because she explores the challenges of growing up as a young girl, particularly those related to high school cliques and the internet.

Tori and her long-time best friend, Becky, are close in a somewhat confusing way. Tori tends to keep to herself, while Becky has a large circle of friends and is extroverted. This adds tension as the two of them are important to each other, but they occasionally drift apart. As a result, Tori ends up spending more time with Michael. While she and Michael grow attached to each other, others find Michael odd, further isolating the two of them. Lucas, another new boy, has a similar interest in Tori, but he’s awkward around her. He spends more time with Becky and her friends, entering a different social circle. One of Tori’s younger brothers, Charlie, also plays a sizable role in the book as his mental health troubles worry Tori and heavily impact their family.

Solitaire delves into the complexities of various aspects of teenage life, including high school, being a girl, being an older sibling, and navigating friendship struggles. Tori’s life changes in tandem with the mystery of Solitaire, bringing the reader into a constantly changing and developing story. However, the story does go a little off the rails, especially towards the end. There are numerous moving parts and pieces to the puzzle that need to be uncovered, making it feel a bit overwhelming and, at times, unnecessarily complicated.

That being said, Solitaire remains an enjoyable and intriguing story. The complex characters shatter the expectations of typical high school clichés. The characters’ challenges are relatable and difficult to overcome, and the story doesn’t feel like it finishes too perfectly or abruptly. However, the ending is satisfying, but it is not entirely resolved. Solitaire encourages readers to be more active participants in their lives and reflect on their inner monologues. The book urges its audience to get involved with something new and interesting while being careful of its consequences – waiting around won’t do any good, but neither will trying to go absolutely wild.

Sexual Content 

  • Evelyn, an acquaintance of Tori’s, says, “The real question though is whether there’s sexual tension between Harry and Malfoy,” referencing enemies from Harry Potter.
  • Evelyn and her friend Becky are discussing the movie Juno and one of its main characters, Michael Cera, when Becky says, “You’ve seen Juno, yeah? You think he’s cute right? Awkward boys are the hottest, aren’t they?”
  • Becky tells Tori that she and her almost-boyfriend Jack had sex. Tori is surprised and then thinks to herself, “This is what most people do when you get to this age. You start finding partners, kissing, having sex. I have no issues with people doing that – like, I’m sex positive, and Becky has wanted to have sex with Jack for quite a while. And I know that kissing and having sex isn’t a race, and there are some people who never end up wanting to do those things anyway.” Tori asks Becky if it was good. Becky says, “It was both of our first times, so, no, not really. It was still fun, though.”
  • Ben Hope, a boy in Tori’s friend group, is described as “the guy” at their school. He’s “the one boy in the sixth form that every single girl in the entire school has a crush on.” Tori doesn’t “fancy him.”
  • Tori’s friends ask Michael if he’s gay. Michael says, “I guess you could say I’m not too fussy about gender.” Then he turns to another friend, Lucas, and says, “You never know, it might be you I’m in love with.” Lucas turns red.
  • Becky asks Michael if he’s pansexual, and Michael shrugs. They continue talking about Michael’s sexuality, and he says, “Everyone’s attractive, to be honest, even if it’s just something small, like some people have really beautiful hands. I don’t know. I’m a little bit in love with everyone I meet.” The conversation continues for around three pages, but Michael doesn’t label himself.
  • Tori hates Pride and Prejudice because “The women only care about the men.”
  • While getting dressed for a party, Becky is “in just her bra and knickers.” Tori thinks she shouldn’t feel awkward because they’ve been friends for so long, but she does and ponders when nudity became so normal.
  • Michael says Tori is a “sexy beast” and that she “could easily have had a boyfriend.”
  • Charlie, one of Tori’s younger brothers, and his boyfriend kiss and hook up.
  • Tori and Michael kiss. Tori says that when it happens, “everything finally starts making sense, knowing that it would be apocalyptic for me to not be here with him, because right then—at that moment—it’s like. . . it’s like—actually—I really would die if I don’t. . . if I don’t hold him.” Michael confesses his love for Tori, and she confesses hers in return.

Violence

  • There are lots of discussions of death, wanting to be dead, killing yourself, etc. For example, Becky says that Tori “looks a little bit like [she] wants to kill [herself].”
  • Tori also has lots of fantasies about killing herself, both passive and active. One example of this is when she is upset that her brother, Charlie, gets hurt. Tori thinks, “I’m still just sitting there. . . wishing that I hadn’t woken up this morning, I hadn’t woken up yesterday, I hadn’t ever woken up.”
  • In the Harry and Malfoy discussion, Becky says, “The idea that bullying means that you fancy someone is basically the foundation of domestic abuse.”
  • There is occasional talk of Charlie, his eating disorder, his obsessive compulsions, and his self-harming behaviors. Charlie has had self-harm relapses, spent some time at a psychiatric ward, and now goes to therapy.
  • One night at a party, Tori’s youngest brother calls her and says Charlie shut himself in the kitchen and blocked the door. Tori comes home and forces her way into the kitchen. There is no discussion of his injuries, but Tori explains, “I find the first-aid kit and put plasters on Charlie’s arm.” She knows “that there’d be good days and bad days and sometimes there’d be particularly bad days like these, but he only self-harms when he’s at his absolute worst.”
  • Michael, when meeting Becky’s friends, calls himself “a fairly capable Facebook stalker” and says, “You’re all lucky I’m not a serial killer.”
  • Solitaire, the mystery blog, has the slogan, “Patience Kills.”
  • Ben, a boy from Charlie’s school, hits Charlie in the face because he thinks Charlie “spread lies” about him. Tori finds Charlie “crumpled on the floor,” and “[Charlie’s boyfriend] tackles Ben.”
  • Michael loses a skating competition, and he punches some lockers, kicks a pile of helmets, pulls strongly at his hair, and rips up lots of paper.
  • A Solitaire post reveals that Ben is a homophobe and a bully. Solitaire’s post says that they hope people will help them “in preventing such acts of violence in the future by giving him exactly what he deserves.” After this, “two boys hold Ben Hope while several others hurl punches and kicks at him. Blood spatters onto the snow, and the spectacle gets wild cheers every time a hit is made.” Tori worries about people “killing him,” but Ben is only bruised.
  • At a music festival, Solitaire shoots off fireworks, and some people catch on fire. Tori jumps away from a firework, but it explodes, and then she notices, “I feel the pain on my left arm. I look at it. I take in the flames creeping up my sleeve. . . And I plunge my arm into the icy water.” After this, her coat is in tatters, and “the skin peeking through is bright red. [She] press[es] on it with [her] other hand. It hurts. A lot.” Later, she “went to the hospital” and now she has “a big bandage” on her arm.
  • Tori and Becky discover that Solitaire is really Lucas, Evelyn, and another boy named Quiff. At school, the three are in a room alone and take out a lighter. Lucas is “holding what at first looks like a gun, but is actually just one of those novelty lighters.”
  • Solitaire was planning on burning the school, but Lucas decides not to. Quiff gets mad and “he swings his fist at lightning speed and punches Lucas in the face.” Then he “smashes Lucas in the stomach, this time doubling him over. He grabs Lucas’s arm with ease and wrenches away the lighter gun, then grabs Lucas by the collar, holds the barrel against his neck, and pushes him against the wall.”
  • The Solitaire group start a fire at the school. Michael tries to get Tori away from danger by pulling her arm, and then, Tori describes, “before I know what I’m doing I’m yanking my arm so hard that my skin starts to burn. I’m screaming at him and pushing and I swing my leg around and actually kick him in the stomach.” Soon after, she ends up trapped in a classroom. Then, she “grabs a chair, not thinking about anything except fire and smoke and dying, and smash the thin window. . . a sprinkling of glass dust” goes over her face. There is no mention of anyone else getting hurt in the fire.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Tori describes a group at school as “popular girls who hang out with the cool boys from the boys’ school and use fake IDs to get into clubs.”
  • Someone in Tori’s class is a social smoker.
  • Tori imagines herself at a party, “everyone with a bottle in their hand” while she “tell[s] another of [her] embarrassing stories, perhaps a drunk story.”
  • Multiple parties happen where nearly everyone at the party is underage and either drinking or smoking.
  • Tori’s friends are going to a friend’s house. “They’re all going to get drunk and stuff even though it’s a Tuesday.” Tori later lies in bed and thinks about “all of the other people who were at the restaurant who are probably now drunk and getting off with each other on Lauren’s parents’ sofas.”
  • When Michael has trouble articulating a thought, Tori asks if he’s high. He shakes his head no.
  • At a party, Tori passes smokers. She thinks, “Smoking is so pointless. The only reason I can think of for smoking is if you want to die.” Some other teenagers at the party are drinking beer, and Becky is drinking Baileys Irish Cream. Tori also runs through a crowd of “drunk teenagers.”
  • At a different party, Tori dances with Michael after she’s “had a bit to drink.”

Language 

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes shit, crap, hell, twat, piss, bloody, fuck, bitch, bastard, and prick.
  • “God” and “Jesus Christ” are frequently used in exclamation or to emphasize something. For example, Tori says about her hair, “I realized then that most of my face was covered up and who in the name of God would want to talk to me like that.”
  • In an argument, Tori calls herself a “stupid, twattish pessimist” and says maybe she’s a “manically depressed psychopath.”
  • A boy says to Charlie, “I don’t remember saying that you could spread lies about me to your retard sister.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Michael says he doesn’t like his name. He says, his name “means ‘who resembles God,’ and I think that if God could choose to resemble any human being, he wouldn’t choose me.” Tori then imagines what it would be like to have a Biblical name because she’s not a believer and is probably going to hell.

by Alexa David-Lang

Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance

In the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, Simone Biles completed her floor routine to rapturous applause. After years of training, she scored the gold medal in the all-around gymnastics event. Achieving such an accolade is the dream of gymnasts across the world. It had certainly been the dream of Simone since she discovered her love of gymnastics at an early age. Now, competing in the world’s biggest stadium, she had made her family, coach, and supporters proud. If there was anything that could possibly make this moment better, it was the fact that this would be the first Olympic gold medal Simone would win that summer. In her first time at the Olympics, she made history as the first US gymnast to earn four gold medals in a single season.

Simone’s extraordinary performance at the 2016 Olympics made her an international celebrity. She is now one of the most recognizable American athletes today and is regarded by many as one of the greatest gymnasts in history. While she had always been talented in gymnastics, her success at the Olympics had not come easily. It was the product of years of training, failures, and a refusal to give up on doing what she loved.

In Courage to Soar, Simone gives readers a personal account of her life before the 2016 Olympics. Readers will learn how Simone’s grandparents adopted and raised her and her four siblings. Then, a rainy, impromptu school trip to a tumbling gym led Simone to meet a gymnastics coach who would be by her side for her entire career. Simone sacrificed her high school and college experiences for gymnastics practice and competitions. Various failures even forced Simone to question if her hard work was worth it.

While such a detailed autobiography may be daunting, readers can rest assured that the story at no point feels like it is dragging. An outgoing and enthusiastic figure in real life, Simone writes Courage to Soar with a conversational and engaging prose that makes every chapter of her life enjoyable to read, from her World Championships to the time she had to convince her dad to buy her a zebra-striped steering wheel cover for her first car. At 313 pages, Courage to Soar is an accessible and reader-friendly book that will entertain readers interested in learning more about Simone Biles.

Regardless of your knowledge regarding Simone Biles or gymnastics, you will find Courage to Soar an entertaining book filled with humor, touching moments of familial love, and thrilling accounts of Simone’s competitions. Having showcased her gymnastics skills in numerous World Championships and Olympic Games, Simone shares her vulnerable moments of defeat and failure, including the many harsh criticisms she received directly or indirectly from critics and competitors. Rather than letting these setbacks define her, Simone chose to surround herself with supportive people, including her parents and siblings, who constantly cheered her on, and her coach, who always reminded her to view every competition as another chance to pursue her passion for the sport.

Whether or not you aspire to be an athlete or have any passion for sports of any kind, Courage to Soar is a heartfelt and worthwhile book. You will come away from it with a deeper understanding of one of the greatest living athletes, along with the important message that you may reach your dream if you keep trying. To meet more motivational women athletes, read Rising Above: Inspiring Women in Sports by Gregory Zuckerman.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Simone describes an incident in her childhood when her sister was randomly punched by her friend Marissa. “Suddenly, I saw Marissa punch my sister!” Simone then “jumped on top of Marissa, shoving her down onto the grass.”
  • Simone describes a classmate with behavioral issues who harmed himself when he got a bad grade. “Whenever he scored lower than [ninety], he’d dig his pencil into his arm, dragging it back and forth until he saw blood.”
  • Later, Simone tries to stop this classmate by snatching his pencil. “What I didn’t realize was that [my classmate] had a pocketknife,” Simone writes. “I wasn’t prepared when he pulled it out and tried to stab my hand. Luckily, he missed.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Simone’s birth mother lost custody of her children because of a drug addiction.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Simone is Catholic. Throughout the book, she thanks God for her many achievements. For example, she says, “God had given me the ability to do gymnastics in a powerful way.”
  • Simone’s grandmother is unsure if she is ready to adopt Simone and her three siblings. These fears are assuaged when a coworker tells her about her own adopted child. “[God] sent that woman as a guardian angel to tell her everything would be okay,” Simone writes. “God himself was placing us in her care.”
  • Simone describes her confirmation. She explains the process for readers unfamiliar with the practice, saying, “For Catholics, this moment signifies you have been fully welcomed into the Christian faith community, and that you have pledged to let God’s love and Grace guide you always.”

by Luke McCain

My Life as a Meme

Derek is a tween navigating life and the social playground that is the internet. And he loves making memes! His mom is a veterinarian who was hired to care for a rich client’s dog, Poufy. Poufy is an Instagram-famous Pomeranian who is a little bit of a Diva. When Derek’s family arrives at Poufy’s house in Malibu, they are greeted with a big binder of instructions on how to care for the dog. Derek has brought his friends Matt, Carly, and Umberto to Malibu with his family. Even with all these people, the task of tending to Poufy falls on Derek, which frustrates him.  

Soon after their arrival, a fire breaks out in Malibu, forcing Derek and his crew to head to an evacuation center, where Poufy is a star! The famous Pomeranian helps take people’s minds off the fire that is sweeping Malibu. But then Derek finds himself on the other side of an embarrassing meme when a picture is taken of him with Poufy on his lap. Because Poufy is so well-known, the meme spreads quickly. When Derek returns to school, he decides to confront the creator of the hurtful meme, Brian. 

Derek exhibits significant character development as his worldview expands. He learns the importance of communication and learning people’s stories and perspectives. This is shown in his conversations with Brian and Poufy’s owner, Darcy. She is so high maintenance with Poufy because her last Pomeranian was hit by a car and killed. Brian learns that most people have reasons behind their actions, even though he may not understand their reasoning. This character arc teaches not to make assumptions and snap judgments. Readers will likely relate to Derek as he navigates the internet and potential cyberbullying. His story shows the impact that even one meme can have on someone’s life.  

The book is great for reluctant readers because it’s written in oversized text with humorous cartoon-style doodles around the edges of the pages. Even though a wildfire is presented, it is used as a tool to move the story along and get Derek and his friends to the evacuation center. Although it is a fun read, the narrative jumps around and has a strangely paced structure, which makes the moral of the story confusing. Although My Life as a Meme is part of the My Life Series, it can be read as a standalone. 

My Life as a Meme has a relatable protagonist and other quirky characters that will appeal to middle-grade readers. Since the book delves into the world of social media and internet fame, it will have a broad appeal. In addition, the book offers several positive life lessons, including how online behavior can impact real-life situations. Janet Tashijan employs metaphors to reinforce themes about the rapid dissemination of information on the internet. For example, the motif of things “spreading” is prevalent throughout the novel, as seen in examples such as fire, memes, and lice. My Life as a Meme is a quick and enjoyable read that prompts readers to consider the perspectives of others.   

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • Darcy explains how she lost her last dog. “I had a Pomeranian as a kid, Fluffy. She never liked to fetch but I kept trying to train her. I threw her a tennis ball, and she ended up getting hit by a car”.  

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None 

Language 

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual 

  • While the fire is sweeping through Malibu, Derek’s mom prays. Derek thinks, “It’s not often Mom talks about praying, so the seriousness of the situation definitely sinks in.”  

The Scarecrow

The Scarecrow is a quiet, emotional story about a scarecrow that spends his life standing alone in an empty field. The story is told in the third person, allowing readers to watch his life unfold. The scarecrow is not human; he can’t speak, but his gentle nature and deep sadness make him an easy character to sympathize with. He spends his days and nights scaring animals away, never getting a chance to experience companionship. Readers will find his loyalty and silent kindness admirable, as his life is dedicated to protecting the fields, despite his loneliness. 

The other character is a small, vulnerable crow that falls into the field. At first, the crow is weak and needs the warmth from the scarecrow to survive. The scarecrow protects the crow from nature’s elements. Their bond brightens the scarecrow’s life. When the crow grows and is strong enough to fly, he leaves to explore the world, leaving the scarecrow all alone once more. However, the crow later returns, bringing his own family with him, filling the scarecrow’s life with joy and love. The crow adds hope to the scarecrow’s silent life, showing readers that acts of kindness and love are never forgotten. 

The story is gentle and deeply emotional. It explores themes of loneliness, kindness, and friendship in ways that young readers can easily understand. The ending is heartwarming, showing that even if someone is alone for a long time, love can find its way back to them. There is no high conflict or dramatic stakes, just a progression from solitude to companionship. It has a gradual and soothing pace that makes it a comforting story for young children. 

The Scarecrow uses poetic text with a consistent rhyme scheme to create a calm and reflective reading experience. The soft rhythm and descriptive language reflect the changing seasons and emotional beats of the story. The full-color illustrations are rich and warm, using earthy browns, soft golds, and gentle greens to bring the fields to life. The scarecrow’s stitched expressions and the tiny details, such as falling leaves, ripening corn, and sunset skies, keep the reader engaged. Overall, the warm illustrations, combined with the descriptive story, enhance the narrative and make it a great read-aloud experience. 

The Scarecrow is the perfect book for adults to read with a child, especially those who want to help young children understand the importance of kindness, empathy, and caring for others. The overall message is that love and friendship can be shown in the simplest acts. Through its powerful yet gentle story, The Scarecrow reminds readers that no one is meant to stand alone forever. Get in the mood for warm snuggles and falling leaves by also reading The Very Best Pumpkin by Mark Kimball Moulton and Leif and the Fall by Allison Sweet Grant & Adam Grant. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Rayna Burlison

The Desert Challenge

Sophie loves camp – except for all the creepy crawlies. Getting trapped in the tent with a Daddy Long Legs is terrifying, and spiders make her scream. It’s so embarrassing. But then a mysterious compass transports her to a fiercely hot desert, where Bear Grylls, her guide, is waiting. The sun is beating down, and together they must trek to find water and overcome the dangers of lurking in the dunes.

Sophie’s fear of all bugs is extreme. When she sees a bug in her tent, she thinks, “Insects just made her feel sick, and there was nothing she could do about it. She hated them all. Spiders, wasps, bees, beetles, caterpillars, earwigs. . .” While readers may not relate to her fear of bugs, she remains a likable character because she openly admits to her fear and never complains about it. When Sophie is transported to the desert, she eagerly learns about the dangers lurking in the desert as well as how to survive.

During her adventure, Bear shows her how to survive, including how the desert provides food. Sophie discovers that eating a scorpion isn’t as disgusting as expected, and she overcomes her fear when she sees “an enormous snake, coiled, and staring right at her.” Instead of panicking, she is “strangely calm. [The desert] was changing her for the better, making her tougher. She was learning to deal with shock and trauma like someone who could handle the pressure of the desert.”

The Desert Challenge has large text and illustrations that will appeal to readers and help readers visualize the story’s events. Because the book is written in the UK, some of the terms will be unfamiliar. For example, the zipline is referred to as a zipwire, and a flashlight is called a torch. Additionally, some of the desert terms may be new to readers, but the context clues make it easy to understand the meaning of unfamiliar words. For example, Bear explains that a wadi is “a dry riverbed.”

The Bear Grylls Adventure Series books can be read as a standalone and do not need to be read in order. Each book focuses on a different child at the outdoor activity camp. Once the camper is given the magical compass, they meet the adventurer, Bear, in an amazing place and learn new skills and facts they can take with them back to their real life. Each book aligns with Common Core Standards, making it suitable for educational purposes. Plus, the book is printed “in a reader-friendly font and design” to help those with dyslexia. Three pages of additional information about deserts are included at the end of the book.

The story’s conclusion is abrupt, making it feel as if Sophie’s journey was cut off too quickly. However, readers familiar with the Bear Grylls Adventure Series will enjoy the familiar format and the easy-to-understand plot. The Desert Challenge teaches important lessons about overcoming your fears. The engaging format, the simple plot, and the encouraging message make The Desert Challenge a good choice for readers who aren’t ready to tackle longer, more complex books.

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • Bear kills a scorpion in order to eat it. “He pulled out his knife and killed it calmly and quickly, then cut off the stinger on its tail and put the scorpion in his pocket.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • When Sophie falls off a zipline, she thinks, “What kind of idiot can’t even sit on a zipwire?” 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

As the daughter of a Count in the whimsical, cheese-themed kingdom of Fromage, Lady Camembert must marry a man to provide for her. This effort goes poorly very quickly when it becomes clear that she would much rather marry another woman. With her father on the brink of death, Cam and her father hatch a plan to allow Cam to claim her father’s inheritance and survive on her own: she must pretend to be a man.  

Taking on her late father’s title, Cam moves to the heart of the kingdom where she meets Brie, the Princess of Fromage and fashion icon to many. The two bond over their shared passion for activism and fantastic clothing in an illustrative backdrop filled with color and style. Cam begins to fall helplessly in love with Brie, and it seems the feelings may be reciprocated – the problem is, Brie believes Cam is truly a man. As their shared feelings grow stronger and harder to ignore, Cam must decide between remaining safely hidden or pursuing the perfect, yet risky happiness she never thought possible.  

Cam is a fiercely bold and funny main character, often full of poise and charm until a mishap renders her dramatically morose. She fits both the Lady and Count personas perfectly, stylishly, and remains unabashedly herself in either form. As she navigates her new life, she struggles to reconcile her desire to remain undetected with her feelings for Brie as well as her tendencies towards extravagance. Cam’s maid and cook, Feta, gives Cam advice with a healthy dose of tough love. Cam also quickly makes friends with Ricotta, a close advisor to Brie, and the fashion line designer Lady Gorgonzola. These supporting characters provide comic relief and help Brie and Cam come to terms with their difficult feelings, playing a crucial role in advancing the narrative.   

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich is a fun, lighthearted graphic novel that most readers will breeze through. Each panel features zero to four sentences that combine onomatopoeia, fashion-related discussion, and playful banter. At one point, Brie flirtatiously invites Cam to see her gown collection, saying, “I can’t imagine anyone else who would appreciate my vintage Cheddior.” Muniz’s illustrations feature a wide variety of bright and pastel colors in a detailed, comic style. The panels’ art illustrates the colorful and stylish clothing as well as the characters’ emotional and often humorous facial expressions. The illustrations and dialogue work well together to tell this whimsical story.   

Readers of all ages will fall in love with Cam and the world of Fromage because it’s filled to the brim with clever cheese-based puns and references to real luxury clothing brands. Anyone who loves cheese or fashion will find themselves particularly at home in this story. In addition, Muniz tells an endearing romance that includes interesting commentary on gender, social classes, and not fitting in. The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich is a delightfully cheesy tale that readers are sure to enjoy.  

Sexual Content  

  • Brie tells Ricotta that “something happened last night” between her and Cam. Ricotta becomes excited, saying, “Zola and I were hoping you guys would smooch after we left.” However, nothing occurred between the two.  
  • In her explanation of the previous night, Brie expresses excitement at the former prospect of being alone with Cam, though it did not happen.  
  • When the pair finally reaches an understanding, Brie pulls Cam in for a brief, sensual kiss. 

Violence  

  • Count Camembert – Cam’s father – is illustrated coughing into a handkerchief. The handkerchief has bloodstains on it, and the Count says he is “not long for this world.”  
  • There are a couple of references to animals being harmed to create fashionable furs as Princess Brie begins a campaign for cruelty-free fashion. She says, “I think it would be more effective to just show them how fashionable they can be without harming a single animal.”  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None

Language 

  • When Cam crashes Princess Brie’s ball, she thinks, “Ooh, she’s pissed.”  

Supernatural  

  • None

Spiritual Content  

  • There are a few references, usually in exclamation, to “gods.” For example, Cam says, “Gods, this sucks!”  

Wrath of the Triple Goddess

Percy Jackson has fought monsters, titans, and gods. But now he faces his greatest challenge yet: college admissions. In order to attend New Rome University, Percy needs to earn three recommendation letters from Greek gods. After earning his first letter by finding the cupbearer Ganymede’s missing chalice, Percy was enjoying living a quest-free life. But as the son of Poseidon, Percy rarely gets a break from being a hero. When Hecate, the goddess of magic and crossroads, promises to write a recommendation letter for Percy in exchange for a week of pet sitting, he can’t refuse.  

With the help of his girlfriend Annabeth, and his best friend Grover, Percy hopes that looking after Hecate’s hellhound and polecat will be a piece of cake. But Hecate’s mysterious mansion is filled with temptations, and her mischief-minded pets are eager to cause trouble. When Grover’s appetite gets the better of him and he drinks one of Hecate’s potions, chaos is unleashed. And so are Hecate’s pets. As Grover tears through the house in a potion-induced frenzy, Hecuba the hellhound and Gale the polecat escape to romp around New York City.   

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover must find Hecate’s missing pets and repair her mansion before she gets home, or they will face the goddess’s wrath.  

Percy Jackson is a witty, strong, and heroic character. As the narrator, he guides the reader through the story in a way that is engaging and humorous. Throughout the novel, Percy proves himself to be a compassionate and capable leader. He learns from his mistakes and uses the knowledge that he has gained from previous experiences to ensure that he keeps his friends safe. He also maintains a positive outlook, despite the challenging circumstances. 

Percy is joined by Annabeth and Grover, who are both strong and inspirational characters. Annabeth, the daughter of Athena, is a fierce warrior and strategist. She often uses her wisdom and intelligence to think her way out of situations, and she uses her skills to protect her friends. Grover is a selfless satyr with a big heart. He is in tune with nature and his emotions, using these skills to advocate for the natural world.   

While Wrath of the Triple Goddess is the seventeenth book in the Percy Jackson universe, it is still understandable and enjoyable for readers who are unfamiliar with Rick Riordan’s previous works. The main details are summarized for new readers, and the plot is straightforward. Readers also do not need to be familiar with Greek mythology to enjoy this book. Longtime fans will appreciate reading about the adventures of familiar characters and will enjoy many references and callbacks to the previous books.  This novel contains Rick Riordan’s recognizable style and humor but differs from Riordan’s previous works since the conflict is less high-stakes, and the overall tone is more whimsical.    

This story contains themes of friendship, perseverance, and compassion. Throughout the novel, Percy and his friends succeed because of the faith they place in each other. They are stronger as a team and work together to solve their problems. The trio also faces many different challenges, but they are determined to keep on fighting. They don’t give up on each other or their goals. Ultimately, the characters are compassionate and forgive one another for the mistakes they make. Rather than blaming Grover for the pets going missing, Annabeth and Percy reassure him that it wasn’t his fault and work with him to find a solution. Wrath of the Triple Goddess is a light-hearted and entertaining addition to the world of Percy Jackson.  

Sexual Content   

  • Before parting ways, Percy and Annabeth kiss goodbye outside Annabeth’s school. “She gave me a big wet kiss.”  
  • Percy and Annabeth kiss after eating an antidote, which helped them recover from a magical gas that gave them animal features. “I kissed Annabeth, though my breath probably smelled like cinnamon and bug shells.”   

Violence   

  • Percy discovers a hellhound puppy with a wound on its back. Percy suspects the puppy was attacked by some type of monster. “His black fur was matted with gunk. Flies buzzed around his cherry-red eyes. His ears were back, and he trembled with fear. A nasty-looking cut zigzagged across his back, like he’d been attacked by something with claws.” The puppy recovers.  
  • Zombies attack Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. Percy “cut down the first reanimated corpse, then sliced another two undead into dust. Meanwhile, Annabeth launched herself at another dead guy, driving her dagger into his face, while Grover goat-kicked one right through the windshield of a parked Toyota.” The trio defeats the zombies. 
  • A bear-monster attacks Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. Percy “got to the bear before she could claw Annabeth and [he] slashed with [his sword]—cutting clean through [the monster’s] right paw. The paw went flying.” The bear-monster recovers.  

Drugs and Alcohol   

  • Percy and Annabeth drink nectar to regain their strength. “Percy gulped it down. A surge of warmth washed through [his] organs. [He] recognized the sensation. It was nectar—the drink of the gods.”  

Language     

  • Percy learns that he will be picked up from school by a family member, rather than taking the subway by himself. When he learns this, he thinks “it made me look like a doofus. . .”  
  • Animals called “hellhounds” are referred to frequently. 
  • Characters rarely say expressions such as “Oh, gods.”  
  • Percy jokingly calls his friend Leo a doofus twice.    

Supernatural   

  • Hecate is referred to as the “goddess of ghosts.” 
  • Percy thinks he sees a ghost while walking towards a park. Percy “thought [he] saw a glowing blue apparition—the figure of a child on a bicycle, pedaling away from us in terror. When [Percy] blinked, it was gone.”  
  • Percy communicates telepathically with three eels in Hecate’s mansion. The eels lie to Percy to try to get him to feed them extra fish. “The eels were telling me all about it telepathically. Their thoughts chiseled their way into my skull like ice picks.” Percy occasionally communicates with the eels throughout the novel.  
  • Grover drinks a potion from Hecate’s laboratory that turns him into a giant goat. Percy discovers him sleeping on the floor in Hecate’s ruined mansion. “And in the middle of all this chaos was a mountain of hairy flesh, snoring with gusto, its two massive shaggy legs propped against the kitchen island, its moose-size hooves pointing towards the ceiling.” Grover recovers and goes back to normal after letting out a large belch.  
  • During a battle against zombies, a zombie touches Percy, and he has a vision of the Siege of Troy. “When I looked up, I was no longer in Queens. I knelt on a barren, battle-scarred hillside. To my right, the city of Troy was burning.” Percy wakes up from this vision and continues fighting.    
  • Grover goes into a trancelike state and summons a large number of squirrels. “Then the squirrels began to arrive. Three scrambled down the nearest tree trunk and hopped onto Grover’s back. Another raced out of the bushes and leaped onto his shoulder. Two more tunneled through the leaves and skittered up Grover’s legs. Within a minute, there were dozens, maybe hundreds.” Grover speaks with the squirrels, and they help him find Hecate’s missing pet polecat. After communicating with Grover, the squirrels leave, and Grover recovers. 
  • Percy shadow-travels with Hecuba, the pet hellhound. Shadow-travelling is a type of teleportation that hellhounds are capable of. Percy “was pulled off [his] feet. A dark portal whirled at the edge of the roof, and as Hecuba jumped through it [he was] sucked into the shadow-world.” Percy and Hecuba shadow-travel across the world for seven pages and stop when they get back to Hecate’s mansion.  
  • Percy is sprayed in the face with a potion that paralyzes him. “The [potion] got in my nostrils, my eyes, my mouth. . . Then my mouth stopped working. My arms turned into sandbags. My legs crumpled. I crashed sideways to the floor, completely paralyzed.” Percy recovers after being revived by Grover.  
  • A magical gas hits Annabeth, Percy, and Grover, which transforms them. Annabeth’s head turns into an owl’s, Percy’s arms turn into octopus tentacles, and Grover’s goat legs turn into human legs. “Where [Annabeth’s] face had been a second before, two huge black eyes stared out over a hooked golden beak. Her head had turned into a heart-shaped expanse of white plumage, rimmed with speckled brown feathers. From the neck up, [Annabeth] was a barn owl. . . Where my arms used to be were eight thick purple tentacles lined with pink suction cups. . . [Grover] was staring down at his legs and weeping. Where his furry goat hindquarters had been, there was bare skin, forward-articulating knees, and instead of hooves. . . feet.” They all return to their normal selves after eating a magical antidote.  
  • Percy makes a magical antidote to return himself and his friends to normal after the magical gas transformed them. “Annabeth tore into the second [antidote] with her sharp, hooked bill. . . She doubled over, breathing heavily. When she straightened again, she was normal Annabeth – human face, human hair, with the scent of her usual apple shampoo.” The antidote is effective, and they return to normal.  
  • Percy, Annabeth, and Grover summon ghosts in a graveyard to help them repair Hecate’s mansion. “The dark silhouette deepened, peeling itself from the bricks and taking on a smoky form like a cloud of coal dust.” They take the ghosts to the mansion, and once it is repaired, they release the ghosts.    

Spiritual Content   

  • This novel is centered around Greek mythology and contains frequent depictions of and references to Ancient Greek gods.  

by Kelly Barker 

Catalyst

Kate Malone just got rejected by MIT. 

Kate is absolutely heartbroken. Just when she thinks things can’t get any worse, Kate’s arch-nemesis, Teri Litch, moves in with the Malone family. Kate and Teri are complete opposites of each other. While Kate is seen as the golden child, pastor’s daughter, Teri is the school outcast and daughter of a criminal. 

Kate and Teri have never spent any time together during their years as classmates. However, since Teri lost her home to a fire, they have been forced to share a room at the Malone household. Kate is struggling with the rejection from her dream college, and Teri is dealing with the loss of her family home. While their hardships are not the same, they bond over the hurt. As they work through both normal teenage problems and different forms of trauma, Kate and Teri gain empathy for one another. 

This story is told from Kate’s point of view, which allows the reader to connect with her struggles. Her determination to be seen as the perfect child drives her original prejudices against Teri. Because Kate divides her personality into two sectors – Good Kate and Bad Kate – the reader gets to watch her growth as a person. “Good Kate” refers to all of her accomplishments, while “Bad Kate” refers to her inner personality, where she is mean to others. This creates an interesting and relatable contradiction between her thoughts and actions. For example, she makes snap judgments about others, but she also volunteers at the soup kitchen. As Kate works at the soup kitchen, she labels the people walking in with names such as “ExecuDad” or “the (whisper) Catholics” or “divorcées.” She even claims that “there is always a divorcée or widow trying to get their claws into” her father.  

Kate has a strong personality, and Teri helps balance her out. They are complete opposites. Kate’s father is the community pastor, she has a solid group of friends, and she is well-loved in their community. On the other hand, Teri comes from a family with a bad reputation. Her father is in jail, her mother is disabled, and Teri has no plans for the future. Teri is first introduced as “the ugly girl, the one who smells funny, studies carpentry at vo-tech, stomps around with sawdust in her hair, and has fists like sledgehammers.” They both pretend not to care what others think about them, but deep down, they truly want others to see them as good people. After Kate and Teri have a big confrontation that ends with Teri crying, Kate thinks, “bonds are broken and the substance is reduced to its elements. Magic.” Kate realizes her bond with Teri had to be completely broken before they could see they were connected by their desire to be accepted. And that shared desire is too important to both Kate and Teri to lose. 

At first, Catalyst’s world feels a bit unrealistic because every kid in this town gets into a top college, except for Teri, who has experienced an unbelievable amount of trauma firsthand: bullying, sexual assault, arson, and loss of a loved one. Anderson uses Teri’s trauma to set a foundation that allows both Kate and the reader to understand Teri’s life. In addition, the exaggerated situations of the characters showcase the importance of empathy and self-love. When Teri and Kate spend a lot of time together, they struggle to get along. Kate describes everything about Teri’s stay as “inconvenient.” However, as Kate begins to learn about Teri’s struggles, and Teri starts to see Kate’s perspective, they become more understanding of each other. Kate and Teri’s vulnerable relationship allows readers to connect with them and teaches that we are all the same in that we are all desperate for approval. 

Sexual Content  

  • Kate gets frustrated with her boyfriend, Mitch, for withholding sex. She claims that “Mitchell is very big on consequences, which explains his virginity. Mine, too, for that matter.” 
  • Kate’s friends, Travis and Sara, are dating. They are constantly making out, so Kate comments, “they embrace and suck face in the French tradition. The ice under the pomegranates melts. I’m definitely buying them a carton of condoms for graduation.” 
  • Kate and Mitch cuddle throughout the book. For example, Kate says, “his lap is very happy to see me” when she settles next to him. 

Violence  

  • Teri gets into a fight with several high school football players who have been harassing her. When Teri retaliates, “the football team rises. Teri Litch walks over to them. It happens in slow motion, a ballet. Pas de duel. Teri lifts a thick history book and swings it in a wide arc until it smashes into the mouth of Art Smith, defensive tackle. Art flies backward. A tooth sails over the team and lands near the door.” The scene ends with both the football players and Teri being suspended from school.  
  • Kate discovers that Mikey, whom she first assumed was Teri’s baby brother, is actually Teri’s son. Kate asks her dad, “Mikey’s father – it was Mr. Litch, wasn’t it?” Kate’s dad replies, “Quite possibly. Probably.” This indicates that Teri is a victim of sexual assault and incest. 
  • After the fire, Teri is working to repair her family’s home when Mikey “died of a massive electrical shock.” This sends Teri into a spiral, and she destroys what is left of her house. “A paint can flies through the last intact window of the playroom. The sound of exploding glass makes me flinch and stomp on the gas. Bert shoots backwards and the can bounces off the top of the windshield on the passenger side. It tips and pours red paint everywhere.” 
  • When Mr. Malone and Teri begin working to make funeral arrangements for Mikey, Mr. Malone mentions that all the costs were taken care of by anonymous donors. When Kate overhears this, she asks herself, “Why do these generous mystery donors always wait until a kid dies before they show up? Where were they when Teri’s father was coming into her bedroom and beating the crap out of her mother?”  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None

Language    

  • Profanity is used occasionally, including bitch, damn, fuck and shit.  
  • Instead of using profanity, Kate says, “I mutter forbidden gerunds. (You know, the words ending in ‘ing’? The -ings that we’re not supposed to say? Don’t ask me why, none of it makes sense.” 

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • Mr. Malone, Kate’s dad, is a pastor, and Kate works with the church. There isn’t much discussion about religion as a belief system, but the church is a center of community. 
  • At church, an older woman tells Kate, “I think you should marry [your boyfriend, Mitch], Kate. Jesus would approve.”  

by Allison Penski 

Powerless

Decades ago, a plague swept across the kingdom of Illya, separating the survivors into two categories. The Elites gained supernatural abilities that allowed them to seize control of the government. Then there were the Ordinaries, who lack abilities and are systematically killed off by the Elites to maintain power.  

Paedyn Gray, an Ordinary thief living in the city slums, fakes psychic powers using her natural observational skills to survive. When she saves Prince Kai from an attack, she is invited to compete in the Purging Trials, a yearly contest celebrating the Elites’ deadly powers. While competing, rebels recruit her for an uprising and, for the first time, Paedyn must not only survive but also find a cause worth fighting for.  

Paedyn is an underdog, fighting for an important cause with the odds stacked against her. Despite her determination to survive and uplift her people, Paedyn never loses her humanity. She assists others, such as by helping a friend find employment, and frequently expresses remorse over her past lies and deceit. However, while readers may sympathize with Paedyn’s struggles, her lack of competence can be frustrating at times. Paedyn rarely uses intelligence or creativity to problem-solve; more often, she is saved from difficult situations by other characters or sheer luck.  

The main victim of Paedyn’s duplicity is Kitt, the crown prince. Kitt is a kind-hearted and sheltered person, offering a much-needed break from the world’s brutality and conflict. He is a foil to his moodier and flirtatious younger brother, Kai. Kai is the king’s Enforcer — a job that includes systematically hunting down and killing Ordinaries. Although some readers may sympathize with Kai due to his troubled youth and angsty inner monologues, others will find his actions unforgivable. However, he is a consistently charming character and acts as a compelling love interest for Paedyn. Both Kai and Kitt are love interests, but readers savvy in the young adult genre will quickly predict that only Kai (who is introduced first and has far more page time) will win Paedyn’s heart. However, while the outcome is clear, the love triangle is still rife with angst. Kai, Kitt, and Paedyn have a tense dynamic, as the brothers are torn between their growing attraction for Paedyn and their long-standing sibling loyalty, and Paedyn is torn between new relationships and commitment to the rebel cause.  

However, the main focus of Powerless is on the Purging Trials, which add fast-paced tension full of high stakes. The competition is broadcast nationwide to showcase the Elites’ supernatural abilities, thus increasing the King’s power on a national and global stage. They include three trials, each centered around completing a unique objective, such as racing through a maze or stealing the most bands (a leather bracelet each contestant wears). However, Paedyn’s primary motivation is the secret mission the rebels give her — form close bonds with the princes, so she can exploit the intel they give her to find an entry point for the rebels to storm the final trial, alert the kingdom of their existence, and begin the uprising against their Elite oppressors.  

This story is told from the points of view of Paedyn and Kai. Both have the same major conflict — the struggle between duty and love. While Paedyn knows the only way to complete her mission is to betray the prince, she nevertheless grows attached to him over the course of the trials. Kai wrestles with the role he was born into, forced to carry out the King’s dirty work that frequently clashes with his own morality, all the while unknowingly falling in love with one of the very people he is destined to kill. Paedyn and Kai’s angsty will-they-won’t-they romance is the emotional core of the story and provides some nuance to an otherwise black-and-white moral dilemma as both characters are forced to consider stances that cut against their world views.   

Powerless explores several interesting themes, including systemic oppression, governmental tyranny, and the tradeoff between survival and humanity, but does not engage with any of them on an especially profound level. This book shines brightest as a piece of entertainment, as Paedyn competes in a deadly contest and juggles the attention of two attractive princes. While Powerless isn’t unique, it is a fun and engaging read — a perfect way to introduce new readers to the young adult fantasy genre. 

Sexual Content  

  • Overwhelmed by the power plays and politics she must engage in at a gala, Paedyn escapes to a rooftop, where she and Kai share a brief kiss. She describes how the “sparks between [them] are almost tangible… [their] lips brush.” The kiss leaves them both wanting more. 
  • To comfort Kai’s nightmares, Paedyn sleeps in his bed. While they do not engage in sexual activity, they do cuddle, and physical attraction is implied for both parties. “An arm wraps around my middle… he’s wasted no time in pulling me against him… [he wants] to get under my skin and make me flustered with every finger he has on my body.” The steamy scene lasts two pages. 
  • Kai frequently lusts after Paedyn in his internal monologue, though not graphically. He waxes poetic about her cheekbones, hair, and how, “like the hottest flame, her eyes are blue and full of fire.” Likewise, Paedyn lusts after Kai, though more reluctantly. For example, she observes that Kai looks “just as annoyingly attractive as always.”  
  • At a banquet, Kai becomes intoxicated and hints at wanting a sexual encounter with Paedyn. He traces her mouth with his thumb. While she turns him down, she agrees to allow him to “touch [her] when [he] is sober,” under the assumption he will not remember the conversation the following morning.  

Violence  

  • During the trials, Sadie, another contestant, attempts to kill Paedyn with a knife. In the tense scene, Paedyn and Sadie trade kicks and punches, then Sadie gains the advantage and “holds the knife above her head, ready to plunge it into [Paedyn’s] rapidly beating heart… Blood pours out of Sadie’s mouth… She looks down… to the sword now protruding from her chest.” Kai stabs Sadie with a sword, killing her, though Paedyn does not see the swing.  
  • As punishment for Paedyn’s involvement with his sons, the King forces Paedyn to watch her best friend, Adena, die in the final trial. “The gnarled wood flies, guided by an invisible force, before it meets her back, skewering her right through the chest. The scream couldn’t tear through my throat fast enough.” While the killing takes less than a paragraph, the scene lasts about four pages, most of which is devoted to Adena and Paedyn saying goodbye.  
  • After discovering her lies, the King and Paedyn duel. The king overpowers Paedyn, throws her to the ground, and “points the tip of his sword… then drags it down… slow, slicing pain trail[s] from [her] jaw and down [her] neck… His slices are deep and disgustingly slow,” as he carves an “O” for Ordinary into Paedyn’s chest. However, Paedyn knocks the King off balance. The sword she drives “through his chest shuts him the hell up.” The gory scene lasts five pages.  
  • As an Enforcer, Kai must systematically hunt and kill Ordinaries. However, his activities as an enforcer are not depicted but rather alluded to in his backstory and future expectations. In an inner monologue, Kai explains the “types of missions Enforcers get sent on are anything but heroic… Everything from battle strategies and executions to interrogations and torture.”  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Wine and champagne are served at a banquet. There, Paedyn and Kai sip the wine. Andy, a participant in the Trials, has “far too much wine,” to the point that other dancers worry she will “fall on top” of them.   
  • At another banquet, Kai drinks wine to the point that he is “not sober” and attempts to initiate a sexual encounter with Paedyn, who turns him down. 

Language 

  • Profanity is used often. Profanity includes damn, hell, ass, shit, and bitch. For example, before Paedyn kills the King, she calls him a “son of a bitch.”  
  • Once, Kai tells Paedyn, “God, you’re stunning.”  

Supernatural 

  • The majority of the characters have superhuman abilities, such as super strength, speed, cloning, etc. For example, when Sadie fights Paedyn, Sadie clones herself, so Paedyn is outnumbered. Another time, Kai and Kitt spar, and Kitt uses his pyro abilities to throw balls of fire at his brother. Kai dodges with a shield of water, using his ability to harness whatever superpowers are nearby.  

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Kerry Lum 

Gravity Falls: Lost Legends

Four new short, illustrated stories from the Gravity Falls universe explode from the page in this exciting graphic novel! Shmebulock, the gnome who is cursed to only speak his name—except for one night every 1,000 years—spills the beans on four thrilling new stories! After each story, he presents a witty joke or a brief epilogue, concluding each story in a satisfying manner. 

In Face It, Pacifica Northwest comes to her friends, Mabel and Dipper Pines, hoping for some magic to make her ageless. Against their wishes, she summons the monster Mr. What’s-His-Face, who steals Mabel’s face! Dipper and Pacifica must travel to an underground monster market to get it back. Pacifica overcomes her vanity when she realizes that beauty is not the most important aspect of a person. 

In Comix Up!, Stanley Pines (Dipper and Mabel’s grand-uncle) accidently curses a comic book and then gets sucked into it. Dipper, Mabel, their friends Soos and Wendy, and their other grand-uncle Stanford, all must travel through various comic book styles to save him. Stanley Pines initially makes fun of comic books but later reveals that he actually loves comic books and is jealous because his comic book series never took off. 

In Don’t Dimension It, Mabel gets transported to an alternate dimension where everyone is another version of her! As her grand-uncles try to save her, she must work together with her other selves and learn a valuable lesson about the dangers of selfishness.  

Finally, in The Jersey Devil’s in the Details, Stanley and Stanford Pines flashback to when they were kids, solving the mystery of who stole their dad’s gold chain. They encounter a rival set of mystery-solving twins, as well as the Jersey Devil itself. Then they confront their relationship difficulties with their father and each other.  

The graphic novel format of this book will appeal to many readers because of how bright and vibrant the illustrations are. Each story has a new illustrator, meaning the styles slightly change depending on the story—for example, Don’t Dimension It, which is about Mabel, is drawn in a slightly more cutesy style. Furthermore, Comix Up! uses comic book illustration style in an incredibly fun way—the style of illustration regularly changes from manga to Peanuts-influenced to superhero-esque! Each page of each story has numerous speech and thought bubbles, so readers get lots of chances to read real dialogue rather than only looking at pictures. 

The main characters of each story are humorous and entertaining, but also often overcome a flaw in an admirable fashion. Because the characters learn more about themselves and how to be kinder people, their journeys are truly charming, and it is easy to fall in love with them. Furthermore, highlighting each characters’ flaws portrays them as realistic, three-dimensional characters rather than perfect heroes.  

Despite the light-hearted tone of the book, the stories deal with serious topics such as vanity, self-esteem, selfishness, and more. Pacifica’s aforementioned issues with vanity are one, but Stanley Pines’ self-consciousness as the “dumb twin” is also addressed in The Jersey Devil’s in the Details. Furthermore, Mabel must confront how, despite her intentions, she can be unwittingly self-centered and not think about what anyone else wants. She learns a valuable lesson about being more aware of others. These lessons are articulated quite gracefully, without feeling out-of-place or preachy. 

The graphic novel is a lot of fun, but it might not be very fulfilling for readers who have not seen the original show Gravity Falls. Gravity Falls is a cartoon on Disney Channel about twins Dipper and Mabel moving to the supernatural town of Gravity Falls and discovering its mysteries. There are numerous references to the show, and readers unfamiliar with it will likely be confused. However, for readers who are familiar with the show, this book is a fantastic addition because it further develops the characters’ traits while maintaining the same tone as the source material. 

Gravity Falls: Lost Legends is a fantastic addition to the original show Gravity Falls, and a truly entertaining comic book in its own right. The illustrations are vibrant and entertaining, and the book boasts a surprising depth, as it develops the characters into full-fledged individuals and empathetically addresses their flaws. The quality of this book and the richness of its storytelling raise the bar for TV show novelizations. You can find more humorous, action-packed fun by reading the Hilo Series by Judd Winick and the InvestiGators Series by John Patrick Green. 

Sexual Content  

  • In Face It, it is revealed that Stanford Pines dated a siren.  
  • Pacific insults Dipper by saying, “Just like how you care about kissing aliens or whatever!” Dipper responds, “I’ve never kissed an alien! I’ve never kissed anyone!” 
  • Pacifica gives Dipper a hug. Later, she texts him, claiming that the hug wasn’t on purpose and that Dipper shouldn’t “get the wrong idea or anything.” Unfortunately, she accidentally texts Mabel, who gets excited and thinks Pacifica likes Dipper romantically. Mabel asks, “WHEN’S THE WEDDING LOLLLLLL” and sends kissy emojis.  
  • In Comix Up, there’s a brief visual gag where the characters are illustrated in a romantic manga style. Mabel is attracted to many of the characters, including an attractively-drawn sink, and a boy named Gideon, who tells Mabel, “Help me collect the seven crystal sailor angel capture cards, and then we can finally kiss!” Mabel refuses. 

Violence  

  • In Face It, a vendor in the underground monster market, called the Crawlspace, sells, “Severed hands! Straight from a wet cave!” 
  • When Dipper and Pacifica trespass, monsters capture them in a net, sell them, and then put them in a sack. “Sold! Hope you like burlap!” declares a monster vendor. 
  • To protect Dipper and Mabel, Pacifica sets Mr. What’s-His-Face on fire using some magic pills. Mr. What’s-His-Face yells, “Aughh!! My face! My beautiful flesh-tornado of a face!”  
  • Mr. What’s-His-Face threatens to kill Pacifica, Dipper, and Mabel. Mr. What’s-His-Face yells, “When I get my hands on you, they’ll never find your faceless bodies!” 
  • Dipper and Mabel’s grand-uncle Stanford uses a sci-fi ray gun to freeze Mr. What’s-His-Face in a block of ice. “Prepare to be destroy—ack!” 
  • In Comix Up, there is an extensive amount of humorous, comic violence. The characters dodge obstacles such as anvils, dynamite, and swinging logs, which make comedic sounds like “Zoip!” “Poomp!” or “Brak!”  
  • There is a zombie who rises from the grave. He has an eyeball hanging out of his skull. He is only in one panel. There is no dialogue about his decomposed state, but the zombie says, “Nyaaaaaargh.”  
  • Mabel breaks the fourth wall, grabbing the speech bubble and attacking a superhero with it. When she does, the comic superhero cries, “Augh!! My one weakness!”  
  • The characters all gain comic superpowers and defeat the superheroes—their powers include “Telekinervousness,” “Cutting blades and cutting sarcasm,” “Growing bigger every time [Soos] says ‘dude,’” and using a rainbow as a weapon. 
  • Out of frustration and resentment, Stanley Pines threatens to poison a character’s food. Stanley Pines says, “I’ll poison your lasagna, Sarcasti-pup!” after Sarcasti-pup makes fun of him. 
  • In Don’t Dimension It, Mabel travels to the Nightmare Realm and a giant hand with a mouth in the palm tries to eat her but fails. She cries, “This can’t be happening! I’m too adorable to die!”  
  • A Cthulhu-esque monster tries to eat Stanley’s head. Stanley emerges from another dimension with the monster on top of him. Stanley says, “Keep looking.”  
  • All of the Mabel versions wield grappling hooks.  
  • An evil version of Mabel sticks Stanley and Stanford to the floor with a sticky gun and attempts to throw them out of the spaceship they’re in. The evil Mabel says, “Sounds like you two need some space. Endless space!” 
  • The good versions of Mabel have a comical fight with the evil version of Mabel. Evil Mabel glues a bunch of Mabels to the ground and severely wounds Military Mabel (who ultimately survives). Good Mabel punches Evil Mabel and sends her into space. “This is for Military Mabel,” declares Good Mabel. 
  • In The Jersey Devil’s in the Details, Stanley ties a knife to a possum in hopes of turning him into a violent, protective pet. Stanley tells his brother, “Say hello to my associate . . . Shanklin the Stab Possum!”  
  • Stanley pushes two rival twins off a small hill after they make fun of him and his brother. Stanley shouts, “Oh my god! We killed the Sibling Brothers!” They are fine and just passed out. 
  • The Jersey Devil, some sort of dinosaur-esque monster, attempts to eat all of the twins, and also breathes fire. It does not harm anyone. Stanford yells, “I think this is the end!”  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • In Face It, Pacifica purchases pills “guaranteed to cure your wrinkles and make you a stunning queen, girl.” 

Language    

  • In Face It, Pacifica refers to homeless people as hobos.  
  • Pacifica refers to the monster Mr. What’s-His-Face as a “freak show.” 
  • In Comix Up, it is revealed that, as a kid, Stanley wrote a comic book with swear words in it. Later, a boy picks it up and says, “A book for kids that has swears in it! Cool!” 
  • In Don’t Dimension It, Evil Mabel calls Good Mabel an idiot. When Stanley and Stanford discover Evil Mabel is pretending to be Good Mabel, Stanford exclaims, “Dang it, Stan! You got the wrong one!” 
  • Evil Mabel calls Good Mabel a “giggling punch line” as an insult.  
  • In The Jersey Devil’s in the Details, Stanford and Stanley debate the existence of ghosts’ crotches. Stanford says, “I’m not sure ghosts have crotches.” 
  • After being accused of stealing, Stanley exclaims, “Darn, Pa!”  
  • The circus performers insult Stanford and Stanley for being normal. “Yeah, we ain’t got time for average jacks in freak-town!” says a heavily-tattooed circus player.

Supernatural  

  • This book is almost entirely supernatural. Each story involves the main characters interacting with a supernatural world or element. 
  • In Face It, Pacifica, Dipper, and Mabel encounter a monster called Mr. What’s-His-Face who steals people’s faces. Mr. What’s-His-Face refers to himself in the third-person, declaring, “Mr. What’s-His-Face can fix anything you don’t like about your face for a price.” 
  • Pacifica and Dipper travel to the Crawlspace, an underground paranormal market for monster vendors. Humans are not allowed. Dipper exclaims, “It’s a paranormal black market under the town!”  
  • In Comix Up, Stanley puts a bunch of comic books in a treasure chest, which turns out to be cursed and sentient. “Stan, that chest is cursed!” Stanford cries in horror. 
  • The characters jump into the comic book world, often breaking the fourth wall and experiencing different styles of comic illustration. Stanford warns the group about the dangers of the world, saying, “This world is subjective and unstable and could change styles at any moment!”  
  • In Don’t Dimension It, Dipper, Mabel, Stanford, and Stanley are in the woods trying to clean up damage from a past event that was almost apocalyptic. “We’re searching for leftover multidimensional rips from Weirdmaggedon to patch with aliens adhesive,” explains Stanford. 
  • Mabel gets transported to the Mabel dimension. “Razzle my dazzle, it’s a Mabel bonanza! There’s every possible version of me…” Mabel says in wonder. 
  • In The Jersey Devil’s in the Details, Stanley and Stanford encounter the Jersey Devil, a flying dragon-dinosaur type monster that breathes fire. “Legend has it that this cloven-hooved weirdo of the night hides by the boardwalk and pilfers gold and jewels to add to its collection,” Stanford informs Stanley. 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Figure it Out, Henri Weldon

Seventh grader Henri Weldon is transferring from a special education school to a new school, where she’ll be “mainstreamed.” At her new school, she doesn’t know anyone, and she is already behind in her classes. While the rest of Henri’s family excels in school, she struggles with math and needs the help of a tutoring program to pass her classes. 

Henri’s older sister, Kat, offers to help Henri find friends and survive the seventh grade. That is, until Henri befriends the Morgans. The Morgans (Lily, Ana, Vinnie, and Drew) are a group of foster children that Kat dislikes because Lily used to bully her. However, two of the other Morgans, Ana and Vinnie, are incredibly nice to Henri. Ana convinces Henri to try out for soccer, and Vinnie becomes Henri’s math tutor. 

Henri’s friendship with the Morgans creates a rift between Henri and the rest of her family. Henri’s parents don’t want her to play soccer because they want her to focus on school. To make matters worse, Kat won’t talk to Henri because Henri’s friends with Lily. Henri just wants to be accepted for who she is. She tries to be a good student and a good family member. Henri tries to juggle these new aspects of her life, but she needs the support of her family and friends.  

Henri is an incredibly likable character who always tries her best to please everyone. Henri’s conflicts are realistic and showcase the difficulties of navigating relationships in a way that wins her parents’ approval. Many students will relate to Henri as she wants to try new things and create her own path.  

As Henri becomes closer to Ana and Vinnie, she realizes that families are chosen. Even when Henri’s family has disputes, they still choose each other. Throughout the various characters’ dynamics, Davis creates vivid examples of different types of families. Some families are bound together by blood, while other families are formed through unconventional relationships. Henri realizes that families are meant to love and support each other. Henri compares families to a team, saying, “Each member is the glue that makes a team stick, all for one, together.” Like family members, each player has a different set of strengths and weaknesses. While the members of Henri’s team are all different, Henri’s team sticks together just like a family should. 

Figure It Out, Henri Weldon is told from a third-person perspective. This allows readers not only to see Henri’s struggles firsthand but also to gain a broader understanding of the other characters’ feelings.  Henri wants to maintain her friendship with the Morgans, but Kat believes “sisters [are] supposed to have each other’s backs, or at least be on the same team.” By using the third person, readers understand that Kat thinks sisters should always support each other, even if that means Henri has to give up her friendship. This highlights the complicated nature of relationships and shows that people are not always good or always bad.  

Henri’s relationship with the Morgan family creates an interesting contradiction. While Henri lives in a stable two-parent household, the four Morgans come from different backgrounds and are being raised by a foster parent named “Grandma Dot.” However, they choose to be a family, loving and supportive of each other. The Morgans sit together at lunch, support each other’s hopes and dreams, and go to all of Ana Morgan’s soccer games. On the other hand, Henri’s family does their own thing and often seems cold. Henri’s family doesn’t attend her soccer games or understand the type of love Henri needs to be successful. Figure It Out, Henri Weldon shows that traditional households do not create the mold of a true family.  

Henri’s seventh-grade struggles will be incredibly relatable to readers who have faced similar challenges, including family expectations, friendship drama, and change. Readers seeking genuine friends will connect with Henri’s struggles. Like Henri, all readers want to be accepted, and no one wants to be an outcast; however, no one wants to give up who they are just to be accepted. Henri isn’t like the rest of her family, but she still deserves their love and support. Everyone in this story learns what a true family is: a choice to support the ones you love.  

Sexual Content  

  • None

Violence  

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • There is some name-calling and hurtful teasing. For example, while Henri and Kat ride the bus to school, Lily Morgan picks on Kat, calling her “My Little Pony” and “Rainbow Pony, ” and saying, ” got that Big Bird sweater going on today. I like it.” 

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 
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