YA – Come Home Safe

Buckmire, Brian. Come Home Safe. Blink YA Books, 2023. 978-0-310-14218-8. 224 p. $17.99. Grades 7-12. 

Reed and Olive are brother and sister, and they’ve heard from their father, a public defender, all about the reality of police interactions with people of color in their city. Their father has schooled them in how to respond to police officers, how to firmly and respectfully stand up for their rights, what is an arrestable offense, how to refuse to speak until their attorney is present, and much more. His overriding message is to stand up for yourself, but know when you’re in too deep, and above all, come home safe. So far, Reed and Olive have had no direct interactions with police, and so far they have been able to come home safe.  But each has an encounter with individuals and police for which they need all of their father’s knowledge and advice. The two-part book offers first Reed’s story, then Olive’s story, both based on real-life scenarios Buckmire himself, as attorney, has experienced or defended. For Reed, the trouble occurs on a day when, after soccer practice, he walks his sister home from school, using the subway for part of their route. As they enter the subway, they notice some loud African-American teenagers sliding through without paying; they offer Reed a joint, and with Olive’s intervention, Reed declines. Reed wonders if the boys will be on their train and bothering passengers. But once he and Olive are seated in a quiet car, Reed begins to watch some captivating soccer videos. Suddenly he finds two police officers questioning him about his friends’ whereabouts, their car-jumping and robbing someone, and asking for his ID. Immediately, Olive begins videoing the interaction, remembering her dad’s instruction that if it’s your word against the police’s word, or if it wasn’t seen by others, it didn’t happen. We experience with Reed the confusion, the fear, and how he tries to remember the rules, the law, and wonders how to stand up for himself or if he’s in too deep… In the second story, Olive buys a soda and takes a seat with her phone outside a coffee shop to wait for Reed. She witnesses a white woman rush into the store frantically looking for her phone, then accusing Olive of stealing and currently using her phone.  As the woman’s insistence escalates, Olive, like Reed, tries to remember her dad’s instruction and advice. Readers experience her fear, anger, and struggle to stay calm. In both stories the facts are clear, the bias is clear, and their dad’s wise advice guides Reed and Olive through troubling police interactions.

THOUGHTS: At a brief 224 pages, this is a quick read about all-too-possible occurrences that can shape a young person’s life in likely negative ways. Readers will be glad for Reed and Olive’s dad’s wise instruction and wish they had such guidance in their own lives–hence this book by attorney Buckmire. Though it can seem a tad didactic, Buckmire packs in the legal assistance through events and through his characters’ thoughts. Readers will be left thinking and debating the choices made as the characters seek to come home safe.  This could be an eye-opener for sheltered young people and an insightful way to open conversations with any generation.

Realistic Fiction

MG – The Supervillain’s Guide to Being a Fat Kid

Wallace, Matt. The Supervillain’s Guide to Being a Fat Kid. Katherine Keagen Books, 2022. 978-0-063-00803-8. 261 p. $16.99. Grades 4-7. 

Max, the main character of this heartbreaking and heartwarming story, is a great kid with one problem; he’s a fat kid, and he endures constant bullying and ostracization at school because of his weight. He and his equally-bullied friend, Luca, spend each day at their new middle school waiting for the next attack from the biggest and most popular bully, Johnny Pro. The situation seems hopeless until Max decides to reach out to Master Plan, a notorious supervillain who was recently put in jail because of his villainous deeds. Through letters between Max and Master Plan, Max learns confidence as the older supervillain teaches him to dress well and defend himself, but when Max gets a great opportunity to appear in a popular TV baking show, he begins to wonder who is really helping who in their unusual mentoring relationship. Eventually Max decides that Master Plan did help embrace his good qualities and improve his friendships, but that he, not his supervillain hero, must take responsibility for his own happiness and success.

THOUGHTS: The body-positivity and anti-bullying messages in this book are skillfully incorporated into a funny, charming and thought-provoking tale about a kid who has to deal with a bully. The dialogue and action in this story is realistic, and students who enjoy hero-and-villain tales will appreciate the way Master Plan mentors Max and helps him find his own style and his own voice. This is ultimately a light-hearted tale that contains some excellent messages.

Realistic Fiction          Erin Faulkner, Cumberland Valley SD

YA – Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry

Goffney, Joya. Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry. Harper Teen, 2021. 978-0-006-302479-3. 352 p. 17.99. Grades 9-12.

Quinn, a high school senior, keeps lists. Of EVERYTHING. Boys she’d like to kiss, movies with intense rewatchability, things people assume about her. It’s how she copes with life. The notebook in which she keeps her lists is her most treasured possession, and when it goes missing, she panics. Then it gets even worse. Someone posts one of the lists on Instagram, for the whole school to see, and blackmails Quinn into completing her list of fears, or the whole journal will be released. Hot guy Carter, who has decided he doesn’t like Quinn because she’s an oreo – Black on the outside but white on the inside, was the last person to have the journal; he offers to work with Quinn to complete her list and deduct who is holding the journal hostage. While the romance that ensues between the pair may be predictable, the book is about so much more. Quinn and Carter are two of a handful of Black students at a predominately white private school. Although they share some experiences, Carter is quick to point out that wealthy Quinn has a very different life than he does. The plot examines racial issues and stereotypes from a variety of perspectives, and focuses on the value of true friends, who just might be the people you would least expect. Besides facing her fears, Quinn also has to accept that her beloved grandmother has Alzheimer’s disease, and worries that her parents are headed for divorce. All the characters are well developed, and each story arc is satisfyingly wrapped up. This is a superbly well crafted book that is a delight to read.

THOUGHTS:  This will be a huge hit with romance fans, but hand to fans of realistic fiction as well.

Romance          Nancy Nadig, Penn Manor SD

MG/YA – Sylvie

Kantorovitz, Sylvie. Sylvie. Walker Books, 2021. 346 p. $24.99 978-1-536-20762-0. Grades 7-12.

In this graphic novel, Artist Sylvie Kantoritz shares her life growing up in France, living in an envied apartment that was part of the small teaching college her father directed. She shows the personalities of her father (easy-going), her mother (never satisfied), and her younger brothers and sister. She strives to make everything work: to be the perfect student, daughter, sister, and friend, while feeling uncertain of where she is headed. As the years pass, she changes friends, finds a boyfriend, and always tries to find her own place. Her fascination with art continues to grow throughout her life, and her father encourages her to seek a future in teaching and art. Finally, Sylvie feels that she’s found her own way to a life of her choosing. She ends the memoir with this thought: “Finding out who we are, and not who others think we are or want us to be, is the most important search in life.” The characters’ expressions are endearing and revealing, through anger and surprise to dismay and joy.

THOUGHTS: Readers will enjoy following Sylvie’s life and growth in this quiet homage to the ups and downs of family life.

Graphic Novel          Melissa Scott, Shenango Area SD

YA -Under Shifting Stars

Lotas, Alexandra. Under Shifting Stars. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020. 978-0-358-06775-7. 262. $15.69. Grades 9-12.

After their brother’s tragic death, twins Audrey and Clare struggle to cope with their grief and changed circumstances. Audrey attends Peak, a school for neurodivergent students like herself, after being ostracized by her twin and other bullies at her public school. Clare begins a transformation herself, standing up to her friends who have treated her sister badly and becoming comfortable with her gender identity. The twins and their parents learn to communicate and comfort each other as they live their new life as a family of four.

THOUGHTS: Told by the perspectives of each twin, this story is a great addition to any YA collection as it explores difficult topics many teenagers are facing today.

Realistic Fiction     Jaynie Korzi, South Middleton SD

Since You’ve Been Gone…is the song running through your head yet? :)

sinceyouvebeengone

Matson, Morgan. Since You’ve Been Gone. New York: Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2014. 978-1442435001. 464p. $17.99. Gr. 7 and up.

Emily and Sloane have been inseparable since Sloane moved to Stanwich two years earlier.  But now, Sloane has disappeared leaving Emily with no clue as to where she went, why, or for how long.  After two weeks with no sign of Sloane or her parents, Emily realizes they didn’t just go on a vacation.  So, what happened?  Sloane had never disappeared before, at least not without a call or text.  What is Emily to do without her best friend?  That’s when “The List” appears.  “The List” is the final communication from Sloane to Emily and contains thirteen things for Emily to do before the end of summer.  All of the items, from “1. Kiss a stranger” to “6. Ride a dern horse, ya cowpoke” to “13. Sleep under the stars”, are all things that outgoing Sloane would do, but quiet, reserved Emily wouldn’t consider, until now.  With “The List” as the only connection Emily has to Sloane, she sets out to complete it and ends up finding herself, an Emily without Sloane, in the process.

Matson does it again in Since You’ve Been Gone.  As with Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour and Second Chance Summer, she carefully crafts a bildungsroman different from most in YA because she does it without being graphic in nature.  Instead, she creates characters the reader cares about (and often wishes were their friends) and grows with throughout the novel.  In Since You’ve Been Gone, the novel seems to be plot driven, Emily trying to complete “The List”, but instead, one realizes at the end, is actually a character study and story of identity.  This is a great novel for students who may have lost someone close to them because, although Sloane isn’t permanently gone, the feeling of loss and grief from that loss is what drive Emily to complete, what some may consider, Sloane’s dying wish, “The List”.  As Emily found an identity through Sloane and with Sloane, she now, because of Sloane, has found her true self; an independent, confident Emily.

Realistic Fiction   Erin Parkinson, Lincoln Jr/Sr High School