All American Boys, by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

All American Boys

Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

Simon and Schuster Audio, 2015

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1481463331

In a light-departure from the regularly unscheduled program, I’ve decided to review one of the best books I’ve read in a while.  What? Why is that a departure? Because....drum roll...I LISTENED to it.  Yes, amigos, an audiobook!  I feel noting the medium is important here, not only because audiobook delivery is pretty make or break (in my opinion), but because the audio recording is notably fantastic.  I felt as though I was in a theatre, not in my car, in heavy traffic, for 8+ hours. I was rapt, moved, and fascinated. This is also to say I didn’t actually read it, so things that I might pay attention to regarding experience or writing were kind of inconsequential to me. I hope but don’t know if I’d be as transfixed if I weren’t listening to the tremendous talent, trapped for hours, or able to like, check Instagram every seven minutes, just in case one of you has any steaming fresh food porn for me. For the record, while driving down the worst highway in America (I-84 CT), I cried, but not just because it's a terrible highway, but because this book made me incredibly sad, happy, and angry.

All American Boys first came across my radar months ago, probably in the fall, in one library review journal or another. I noted it as both something to collect and something to consider very seriously as a title to add to our summer reading list (which is awesome, btw). The title seemed timely with what felt and sometimes still feels like sickening news reports of young black men and women being assaulted or worse by police officers.  I had reservations that All American Boys would be cut from the same cloth as every Law and Order episode ever (ripped from the headlines, either trivializing or scaremongering), a publishing hot topic moneygrub.  However, before I had the chance to read it, the book received a Coretta Scott King honor designation (the award honors “outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values,” ALA.org). Suffice it to say, I felt pretty good about putting it on my list after that - so thanks for doing the legwork, committee members who decided this!  I meant to physically read it, but before I had the chance, I had to go on a long drive by myself, and realized it would be a good time to catch up on some readin’.  Friends, do yourself a favor this summer vacation if you’re going on a road trip, and get this one to listen to; it is now officially on your Summer Reading List for 2016.   If you think America has a problem with institutional racism, you should read this book.  If you don't, you probably need to.  

Splashing into Summer Reading 2016: Girl Underwater, by Claire Kells

Girl Underwater

Claire Kells

Dutton: New York, 2015

ISBN: 9780525954934

OH HELLO MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND.  Finally, you have arrived. Finally, it is nearly the summer.  Finally, I can soon get away with athletic wear tuxedos and/or no pants on the reg, eating two pints of blueberries for dinner and regretting nothing (except…), and finding new and creative ways to apply sunscreen to my own back.  But enough about me.  Because it is now officially white pants season, I think it is high time to start your summer reading assignments.  And because the Olympics are coming, I gift you a sports book. Sort of. Not really. Whatever. Pipe down. Behold: the first title on your 2016 Summer Reading List: Girl Underwater.

Outing the awesome: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, by Becky Albertalli

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Becky Albertalli

Balzer and Bray, 2015

ISBN: 978-0062348678

Atlanta area high school junior Simon is a fairly typical kid; he’s got a solid group of friends, a loving family, does well in school, and is really into musical theatre.  He also has a secret: he’s got a secret pen pal he has a serious crush on that he suspects is requited...and neither one of them is quite ready to come out, despite Simon acknowledging he’d probably still be accepted and loved by his family - he’s just not there yet.  However, when Simon accidentally leaves his browser on in the school library, a fellow student running for douche of the year finds it and decides to exploit it, blackmailing Simon into trying to get his best friend Abby to fall for said douchemonster.  Failure to do so results in said Dmonster posting the emails on the school Tumblr, because this is a contemporary novel.  I think it goes without saying that Abby can probably do better, and that Simon struggles figure out a way to protect the identity of his crush (who he really wants to meet) and what to do.  Is he ready to out himself, and can he survive being outed and losing his pen pal?  

This book is nothing short of extraordinary - simple, yet complex.  The characters aren’t perfect (Simon can be kind of an unappreciative jerk, and knows it) but I think it’s what makes this book a really strong coming out story, perhaps the best I’ve read.  Real people have real nuances, and so do the humans in this book! It is, in short, excellent, because it is so, so, so completely normal and not at all contrived.  It's just normal kids, doing normal things, in a normal world: a normal kid coming out of the closet and all the normal crippling anxiety that comes with it, even in a relatively supportive, relatively decent community.  Nothing highly stylized or sensational, super relatable, super fabulous. It's a coming out book, but what is that if not a coming of age book? It's really the story of a young man figuring out who he is in the world and how he fits into it. 

Sure, it wraps up in a lovely way, and gosh darnit if I wasn’t gooey about it, but it also doesn’t totally simplify making the douchemonster a douchemonster.  Even he is still just a kid, a kid who gradually comes to realize the gravity and cruelty of his actions in a way that is satisfying and heartbreaking all the same, and that there are some wrongs you can’t right or undo.  It’s also welcome to discover a book that has as much diversity in the cast of characters as this does.  It should come as no surprise that the author is clinical psychologist who works with teens and children and has a non-conforming gender group for them, but it should come as a surprise that this is her very first book!  Well done, madam.  I look forward to more!  

This is an extremely strong recommendation for all high school collections or YA collections, with strong adult appeal as well.  In fact, it’s not a recommendation; I’d go so far as to call this required reading, of the spoonful of sugar variety!  (PS.  Calling this for awards - at least a Stonewall! It’s been a seriously great year for LGBTQ youth titles.  Keep up the good work, publishers!)  

Crown jewel of summer 2015: The Royal We, by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

The Royal We

Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Grand Central Publishing: New York, 2015.

ISBN: 1455557102

As we say in Boston, it is wicked hot this week, and there are roughly five minutes of summer left, so it seems timely to sneak in the ultimate summer reading book in right under the wire, right?  Ladies and...okay, mostly ladies, please meet The Royal We.  That I loved this book should come as no surprise to those of you who either know me or who have been paying attention.  I’m deeply committed to the guilty pleasure found in bad movies, so when The Prince and Me came out some 13 years ago, I’d say I was predisposed to love it - and that was before I became a librarian. There’s a stacks smooch scene, duh. (See also: lawn mower racing, 796.1)  

Chances are if you identified as female or were really into fashion, weddings, royalty, Britannia, and so on in 2011, you probably got up hella early (in my time zone or west o’me) and had tea and scones as you watched the entire royal wedding, all before heading into work where it was discussed and dissected in great detail, allllll day, amongst any and all women, young, older, younger, and older. It led to many a rolled eye amongst the male population at my American high school (but they totally loved the pictures of Pippa’s bum, just admit it, dudes).  If you were in the UK, you were probably three champagne toasts in by the time I was vigorously debating lace detailing and flower girls with no less than three fifteen year old girls in braces, two secretaries and science teachers, an English teacher, and a custodian.  It was a great unifier, so I hope you’re taking note, North and South Korea.

Remember how fun that was, you guys?  We attended a wedding that we really didn’t, of a couple we all totally know but don’t, and then we broke it all down like sportscasters.  SO FUN.  Wills, Kate, Harry, Pippa, Pippa’s bum...I mean.  Come on.  The gossip game, like Kate’s hair, was on point, and the fairy tale aspect off the chain (trees in the cathedral! trees in the cathedral!).  It was glorious.  

And then we went on with our lives, unless say, your life involves a weekly post on royals ‘round the world on your terrific, funny, and highly readable blog, Go Fug Yourself.  If you’re those ladies, you got busy writing about all the things we mere bush league players speculated about from the day the princes suddenly emerged from the palace ovens as total biscuits (scones?) and locked down their places in the glossy pages of teen magazines (you guys remember those glossy hand-held things we had when the Internet was potty training, right?).  

Behold, the best book to happen to your travel bag, at least in 2015:

Once upon an island: A Brief History of Montmaray, by Michelle Cooper

A Brief History of Montmaray

Michelle Cooper

Knopf: New York, 2009.

ISBN: 9780378585642

Once upon a time in a land far away, but not too far way if you’re English or coastally European, there was an independent kingdom named Montmaray.  Once a tiny island principality, the population has dropped to roughly a dozen, including the ruling family, the FitzOsbournes, comprised of our narrator, orphaned sixteen-year-old Sophie, her slightly ferral little sister, her cousin who records the history of the island, and her uncle, the king, who would have been declared legally insane long ago had they wanted to let that cat out of the bag.  The rest of the island’s shrinking population is a scattershot of loyal villagers.  Island life is rough - subsistence based and supplemented by a few ships that pass in a year - and hardly what you would picture for royalty, yet the FitzOsbournes make due.  They love their island dearly, crumbling castle and all, and often rely upon their rich aunt who provides for Sophie’s brother (the crown prince), who lives off-island to attend Eton.  The year, however, is 1936, and nations considerably larger than their own are beginning to test the waters; international politics becomes a hot topic amongst the Montmaravians and their loyal servants, one of whom may or may not be the apple of Sophie’s eye.  When a group of German “archaeologists” lands on shore, the FitzOsbournes are suddenly thrown into the deep end.  

This book has a slow start and potentially misleading cover (what is this, Wuthering Heights? Dracula? Lord Byron, are you there?) but an exceptionally strong finish!  I believe enchanted would be a word I would use to describe what this book did to me.  I read it in the spring solely because it’s on my (official) summer reading list, and I had contemplated recommending we cut it.  I’m so, so glad I gave it a chance, because I really loved it!  It has it all: castles, accents (I imagine, but whatever), intrigue, history, romance, danger, and yes...sequels that I’m dying to pick up!  We don’t have to walk away from these lovable, quirky characters! I give this two finger and two toe thumbs up, and recommend it for all school/YA library collections, along with those of the female persuasion aged 12 and up (there’s some medical violence that could be upsetting to younger readers but it’s otherwise cool), but dudes who maybe watch Downton, you should check this out too!  

Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell: Wear your heart on a mix tape (and hope it doesn't get banned, punks)

Eleanor and Park

Rainbow Rowell
St. Martin’s Griffin: New York, 2013
ISBN: 9781250012579

Eleanor and Park are two 16-year-olds living in Nebraska.  They couldn’t be more different: he comes from a middle-class family, has the right clothes, music, and a good family.  Eleanor doesn’t.  She shares a room with four younger siblings, her mom is on a second marriage to an abusive, alcoholic stepfather, and there’s never enough to go around.  Eleanor is roundish and has red hair.  Park is short, and Korean-American.  She is bullied, he is not, but when they sit next to each other on the bus, slowly, very slowly, a deep and true affection begins to develop.  This achingly realistic novel of first love is as authentic as it is simple.  It stunningly redefines what romance means for the YA market, and is strongly recommended to anyone who has a heart (aged 15 and up).  

I’m not kidding.  This. Book.  GAWD.  It was on my radar for many, MANY moons, my amigas kept telling me to read it, the Internet went crazy for it...it took me forever, but I’m very glad I finally did.  It is so profound, yet so quiet and unassuming.  It is simple.  Yet it is...brilliant.  It is incredibly moving yet not extraordinary, which makes it so, and I hope to see more books like this, and way less sensationalism and love triangles from now on in YA because of it!  I want to just throw a bunch of adjectives at you to describe it, like heartbreaking, breathtaking, delicate, moving...just trust me and read it, already - both boys and girls of all mature(r) ages reading this!  Here are a few of the details I’d like to debrief:

Swamplandia, by Karen Russell: Even alligator wrestlers grow up

Swamplandia!
Karen Russell
Vintage Books: New York, 2011
ISBN: 9780307276681

The indomitable Bigtree family has owned and operated Swamplandia!, an alligator wrestling amusement park in the Everglades for decades.  But changes come, as they must, when Hillola Bigtree, matriarch of the current tribe, dies suddenly of cancer, leaving her husband the Chief and their three teenage children, Kiwi, Osceola and Ava to continue running the fading park.  Kiwi, self-proclaimed genius, runs away to the mainland to work for the rival amusement park, ostensibly in the hopes of paying down the mounting debts of Swamplandia!, while Ossie becomes obsessed with the spirit world, convinced she can commune with her ghostly boyfriends.  Chief Bigtree heads to the mainland for an extended business trip leaving Ava and Ossie to run things in his absence.  Meanwhile, Ava, the baby of the family, struggles to accept her mothers death and to understand Ossie.  When Ossie runs away to elope with the ghostly Dredgeman, Ava sets out on a journey to save her that will challenge them all.  Part coming of age tale and part quest, to say this work sparkles with gorgeous descriptive language and crushes you with the sadness of a childhood ending is a vast understatement of Russell's considerable talent as an author.  A Pulitzer Prize finalist, the work is strongly recommended for older high school aged teens and adults for content, complexity in language, and some adult themes.

A Corner of White, by Jaclyn Moriarty: Oh, Cello there, you manic pixie dreambook!

A Corner of White
Jaclyn Moriarty
New York: Arthur A. Levine, 2013.
ISBN: 978-0-54539736-0
ARC copy via NetGalley

Realism and magical realism entwine to make beautiful music together in this enchanting first book in a planned trilogy by Jaclyn Moriarty.  In two cities populated by two quirky, endearing, supporting casts, two hugely likeable teenage protagonists grapple with missing people, life and familial changes, challenges, and adapting to them.   Serial runaway Madeleine has finally made it permanent by bringing her mother along.  She is struggling to adapt to her new life, and begins to worry about her mother’s health as she attempts to complete a home-school history assignment to channel Isaac Newton.  Town golden-boy Elliot, however, is eager to find his missing father, who disappeared in the same storm that killed his uncle.  He reluctantly agrees to delay his trip to help his mother prepare to rent his fathers shop to the strange newcomers to town.  Things begin to come together when each teen finds a mysterious letter, tucked away in an unlikely place, and begin the most unusual pen pal exchange ever to occur between the Land of Cello, and the world.  Playful, yet deeply thoughtful and well written, this is a unique and delightful novel.  Parts epistolary, narrative, fantasy, realism, it abandons genre and reader expectations and is wholly, whimsically, realistically, magically fantastic.  It is strongly recommended for both teens (grade 8 and up, but younger readers who can hang with complex plots with like this too) and adults.  

If you couldn’t tell, I maybe kind of really enjoyed this book.  I suspected I would; I have found Jaclyn Moriarty’s books to consistently be majorly delightful, and was pumped to have at A Corner of White.  You guys – she did not let me down.  In fact, I was so engrossed that I didn’t realize until about 60 pages that I had no idea how two such seemingly disparate stories would, or could even come together – and then was like I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE when she did, in a way that was very true to her previous books.  I won’t say any more to spoil it though!  I will say that there HAS to be something in the Australian water – yet again I’ve fallen for the charm from down under!

I took copious post-it notes, while reading this on a bus to and from Newark, NJ, to hang out with ¾ of the super fabulous Brown family (hi guys!).  Being that my copy came from NetGalley, this was a slightly weird process, whereby I stuck them all to the back of my Nook, and now can’t read them, because who writes legibly on a bus?  I’m also pretty sure a bunch of them fell out…because I swore there were more than four.  But I digress.

Boy 21, by Matthew Quick: Spaceball

Boy 21
by Matthew Quick
Little, Brown and Company: Boston, 2012.
ISBN: 978-0-316-12797-4

Basketball is more than a sport to introverted Finley and his girlfriend Erin.  It has always provided an escape from their racially segregated and mafia ruled Philadelphia neighborhood, and the hardships in their daily lives.  When Finn's coach asks him for his help and discretion with a new student arriving for their senior year, Finn doesn't hesitate.  Boy 21, as the new kid is calling himself, believes he is an alien.  He arrives under sad circumstances, so traumatized that the former basketball prodigy can now no longer even pick up a basketball.  Despite the threat that Boy 21 poses to his starting point guard position, the boys are drawn to each other; Finn also knows about terrible truths you can't bear to voice.  This mesmerizing novel is much more than a simple sports story.  Compelling characters face their personal demons and find strength in friendship to heal and move forward.  The dialogue is excellent and the description rich.  This novel is a coup d'etat by Quick: reluctant male teenage readers will rip through this smart and well written novel before they can put it down.  Strongly recommended for libraries serving teens grades 9-12, but younger readers looking to read up may enjoy it as well. 

Book Talk Hook: The beginning of chapter 9, plus a brief summary, or some choice Boy 21 moments (some listed below)...I am so excited to add this one to my book talk stable!

Liar and Spy, by Rebecca Stead: Is one who spies and lies a spiar?

Liar and Spy
by Rebecca Stead
Wendy Lamb Books (Random House), 2012

ISBN:

9780385737432

Review Copy from NetGalley

Seventh grade is shaping up to be a difficult year for Georges (pronounced George).  After his architect father loses his job, he and his parents must sell their house and move to a nearby apartment in Brooklyn.  His mom is absent a lot, working double shifts as a nurse.  These are things Georges understands, but doesn't like.  He's also saddened that his former best friend has grown apart and now sits at the cool table without him, and frustrated to find himself being bullied at school.  Things start looking up when the move provides Georges with a new opportunity: someone has posted a sign in the building basement for a meeting of something called The Spy Club.  He meets outgoing fourth-grade home-schooled candy addict, Candy, and her furtive, dog-walking twelve year-old brother, Safer.  As Safer takes Georges under his and begins to indoctrinate him into the world of in-building espionage, a friendship begins to develop.   Soon, they are on the hunt to find the truth about a mysterious, suitcase toting man who wears only black.  This story about truth, friendship, and confidence is as simple and realistic as it is heartening.  While there are some difficult life events covered and revealed in the surprise ending (financial trouble, betrayal, bullying, and coping with sick parents), all are well addressed by the characters.  It is strongly recommended for school and public libraries serving students grades 4-7. 

I really enjoyed reading this (despite my NetGalley copy at times being formatted in size four font - what's up with that?); it's been a while since I've picked up a chapter book primarily housed in the Children's Department of your local library/bookstore.  If you haven't read Rebecca Stead's extraordinary When You Reach Me,  you should rectify that immediately.  Liar and Spy is another wonderful example of something I noticed about Stead's writing while reading the previous title, other than that I enjoyed them both.  Stead never ever talks down to her readers (who are presumably largely comprised of kids aged 9-13), nor does she dumb down difficult life problems that other writers gloss over for a similar audience.  She treats them and her child characters with the same respect as she does adults.  Stead writes wonderfully normal kids, who experience the same sadness, frustration, excitement, and life challenges as her readers, and she does it in a way that refrains from preaching.  Keep it up, Rebecca Stead!

Lucky Fools, by Coert Voorhees: Senior Moments

Lucky Fools
by Coert Voorhees
Hyperion, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4231-2398-9
(NetGalley Review Copy)

High school senior David Ellison has everything going for him: a brilliant and beautiful girlfriend, Ellen, fairly decent grades at his elite Bay-area prep-school, and, as usual, the lead in the upcoming school play.  While his classmates are all freaking out because Stanford, along with other elite universities, has changed admission policies and will now only be offering one coveted spot per school, David has his eye on another prize: pursuing his dream to study acting at Julliard.  Tensions around school begin to flare, especially when one by one, seniors thought to be contenders for the Stanford spot begin to have incriminating secrets shared on the college admissions board, all anonymously signed by “The Artist.”  David begins to find himself lying to Ellen, both about writing his college essay, and about spending time with the gorgeous new senior, and his co-star in the show, Vanessa.  To make matters worse, David’s father has hired a private college counselor, because he doesn’t think acting is a viable career.  David is finding himself distracted and is getting stage fright for the first time…just in time for his impending audition for Julliard.   The plot in this story meanders, leaving more gaps than satisfying answers, and the ending is abruptly convenient.  It is probably best for older high school students due to the plot and some partying, though some readers may have trouble identifying with the upper-middle class “worries” David has; purchase if there is room in the budget.  

Where Things Come Back, by John Corey Whaley: Except my Sunday School Bible Reference memories

Where Things Come Back
by John Corey Whaley
Atheneum: New York, 2011
ISBN 978-1-4424-133-7

In Lily, Arkansas, population 3,947, nothing much ever happens on a regular basis; people never seem to leave town permanently.  That is, until the population drops to 3946 when 17-year-old Cullen Witter’s 15-year-old brother Gabriel disappears, without a trace, leaving Cullen, his family, his best friend Lucas, and the town reeling.  The news of Gabriel’s disappearance, however, is soon overshadowed by the rumor that the Lazarus mockingbird woodpecker, believed extinct, has been spotted.  But Cullen, his family, and friends haven’t forgotten Gabriel; they are left with more questions than answers, and each struggling to cope in their own way.   For Cullen, this means girls, including his long-time crush, and a recently divorced young woman who has returned to town, and actively hating the Lazarus.  Two stories are seamlessly and satisfyingly woven together in this short, yet rich debut novel, filled with Biblical references, the frustration of growing up in a small town, and the well-crafted, realistic, anguish of inexplicable loss.  This multiple award-winning book is recommended for older teens, grades 10 and up.  

(Biblical confusion after the jump)