MG – Omar Rising

Saeed, Aisha. Omar Rising. Nancy Paulsen Books, 2022. 978-0-593-10858-1. 224 p. $17.99. Grades 5-8.

This book follows Omar, childhood friend of Amal from Aisha Saeed’s Amal Unbound, in a new story about a poor student going away to an expensive boarding school. Amal and the rest of Omar’s community is overjoyed that his hard work has given him the opportunity to receive such an exclusive education, but Omar quickly realizes that many inequities exist for “scholarship” students. Even though Omar is a thoughtful, hardworking student who does everything he is asked to do at his new school, he and the other scholarship students can’t seem to get ahead in a system that is stacked against them. Eventually, the entire student body must come together to support Omar in a system that was never designed to allow people to move beyond their socioeconomic status. With the support of his home family, his school friends, and even the unexpected support of some of his teachers, Omar eventually discovers who he really is and all the things he can do with his opportunities in life. 

THOUGHTS: Omar is easy to root for, and his growth and hard work throughout the book are very inspiring. The way his friends support him at the end of the story was heartwarming, and the power of community is on full display in this book. Glimpses into the life of servants and people who work hard but cannot advance in society are sure to make students think about parallels they see to similar situations in their own life. 

Realistic Fiction          Erin Faulkner, Cumberland Valley SD

Omar, the son of a servant in a Pakistani village, is excited to start at the prestigious Ghalib Academy for Boys. The boarding school will provide him with so many educational opportunities, and he cannot wait to be a part of the soccer team and the astronomy club. However, when he arrives, he discovers that, as a scholarship student, he’s not allowed to join any clubs or activities during his first year at school. Instead, he has to work in the kitchens to earn his keep and get even higher grades than the other students. If he doesn’t succeed, he will be sent home. Frustrated, Omar and the other scholarship students set out to fight the injustice and inequity of the system and learn many life lessons along the way.

THOUGHTS: Omar Rising is a companion to Amal Unbound, but you can read each as a stand alone novel. Readers will be rooting for Omar as they feel his frustration toward the unfairness of his status as a scholarship student at Ghalib Academy. Written by a Pakistani author, this book also brings awareness to the inequities that exist for students around the world, and it’s a must have for any middle grade collection. 

Realistic Fiction          Emily Hoffman, Conestoga Valley SD

Elem./MG – Skandar and the Unicorn Thief

Steadman, A. F. Skandar and the Unicorn Thief. Simon and Schuster,  2022. 978-1-665-91500-7. 448 p. $18.99. Grades 4-7.

If you are like most people, you think of unicorns as beautiful, sparkly creatures, possibly with rainbow poop. Skandar knows the truth: unicorns are nasty, carnivorous creatures who would sooner eat you than warmly nuzzle you. Yet Skandar, like all his 13-year-old friends, is anxiously awaiting exam day, the day when Mainlander students find out who will be chosen to go to the Island where the unicorns live, bond with a newly hatched unicorn and become a revered unicorn rider. To Skandar’s horror, everything seems to fall apart the morning of the exam. Yet, that night, a mysterious rider appears at his home, whisking him off to the island under a cloak of secrecy. Skandar successfully hatches a unicorn, begins training, and makes three close friends, but Skandar carries a secret burden he fears will get him exiled from the community. This thrilling, action-packed adventure takes elements of Harry Potter and Star Wars and creates an unforgettable start to a new series. The boarding school setting (the coolest boarding school ever – set in tree houses) provides opportunity for friendship building, as well as the requisite bully to threaten the peace. There is an evil haunting the Island that only Skandar can confront. And then there are the unicorns. Steadman shines with the world building of the unicorns. They are way cooler than traditional unicorns. Scary, dangerous, and potentially evil, but definitely worth the risk. The rider-unicorn bond is to be envied. The conclusion of the book definitely signals sequels. Skandar cues white, but his close friends include brown-skinned Mitchell and Bobby with a Spanish mother. Incidental students are a variety of ethnicities. 

THOUGHTS: This unique fantasy should fly off the shelves. For students too young to read Diana Peterfrund’s Killer Unicorn series, Skandar will be a delightful introduction to less-cutesy creatures. This can’t-put-down epic should be a first purchase where fantasy books are popular. 

Fantasy        Nancy Nadig  Penn Manor SD

MG – Caprice

Booth, Coe. Caprice. Scholastic, 2022. 978-0-545-93334-6. $17.99. 243 p. Grades 6-8.

Sensitive, poetical Caprice is a rising eighth grader with a big decision: should she grab the opportunity of attending a prestigious boarding school or stick with her friends in Newark, New Jersey? Though she loved her seven-week stint at summer camp at Ainsley School for Girls, she is torn because of her closeness to her best friend, Nicole, a budding romance with Jarrett, and her commitment to the Center, the community place that fosters fun and leadership in her neighborhood. Through her poems and flashbacks, the reader learns of sexual abuse that Caprice keeps buried and secreted from her family. She is considerate of her parents’ precarious financial situation because of their faltering business and is scared that her need to be in Newark keeps her mother and father apart. Her return home a week before school starts corresponds with a call from Baltimore informing the family of her maternal grandmother’s serious illness. Caprice’s mother and grandmother have been estranged since Caprice was four-years-old when her grandmother sent Caprice and her mother away from the family home after a dangerous incident. Only Caprice and her grandmother know the real reason for their banishment, but her mother has lived all these years with hurt and resentment, alienated from her mother and brother, Raymond. The reader meets Caprice over an important week when school, friendships, and soul-searching come to a head. Her sporadic panic attacks increase, and she waffles between closing herself off and speaking up for herself in new ways. In Caprice, Coe Booth tackles a difficult topic by mining the memories and feelings of Caprice as she faces her demons and challenges herself to esteem who she is. Caprice’s immediate family is loving and communicative. Her friendships with both adults and kids at the Center are genuine and nicely developed. Though the confrontation with her abuser at story’s end avoids any expected messiness and description, the emotions Caprice experiences throughout the novel will resonate with many readers dealing with changes in their lives. The students at Ainsley are international: New Zealand, Ghana, Toronto. Race is not mentioned directly in the book; however, Caprice gets her locs done and the book’s cover art displays an African American girl, so there are implications that the other characters are African American.

THOUGHTS: Coe Booth lets Caprice’s voice come through in the narration and the typical middle school dialogue with which readers will relate. The thriving Center Caprice attends is core to the community and helps to shape the kids who participate in the different activities it affords, from a Women’s Club, to film making, to dance. Caprice takes part in some neat poetry activities that readers can replicate. Her leadership qualities come out in her refusal to be treated less than boys and to tolerate snide remarks about her body. The adults surrounding Caprice–even though they know nothing about her abuse at the time–are nurturing and say the right things. Caprice’s pride in her neighborhood and loyalty to her friends are good discussion points.

Realistic Fiction   Bernadette Cooke   School District of Philadelphia

Twelve-year-old Caprice should be having the time of her life. She just finished a seven week summer program at a prestigious school in upstate New York, and she has now been offered a full scholarship through high school. She has a week to make the decision to accept the scholarship. She returns to her home in Newark, NJ and learns that her grandmother is seriously ill. This brings back the memories of the abuse that she endured while living there with her grandmother and uncle. She has remained quiet about this abuse and has told no one. The deadline to commit to Ainsley is coming closer and closer, and Caprice is struggling with her past while trying to make a decision about her future. 

THOUGHTS: This book is a powerful read for a middle schooler. It addresses the issue of child abuse – sexual and emotional. It could have some triggers for some readers.    

Realistic Fiction          Victoria Dziewulski, Plum Borough SD

Sometimes it’s hard for kids to decide what they want from life, and what they are willing to let go of, until they are faced with some life-changing events. This is certainly true for Caprice, a smart, motivated, and mature 7th grade girl who has just finished an exclusive summer leadership experience at a private school in an affluent part of Washington, D.C. She loved that school, but she also loves her home and friends in urban New Jersey. After she is offered a full scholarship to return to the private school for her 8th grade year, she quickly must decide whether she is willing to give up her familiar home and her best friend in favor of the school opportunity of her dreams. In addition to the stress of her impending education decisions, past childhood trauma and the declining health of a grandmother she hasn’t seen in years add to her troubles. Will Caprice be able to navigate her painful past, her complicated family, and her new and old friendships to see her way to a brighter future?

THOUGHTS: Caprice and her family are warmly drawn, and her friendships feel so real! This book deals with difficult topics including childhood abuse, family secrets, divorce, adolescent feelings, and confusion about the direction and meaning of one’s life, but everything is dealt with a sensitive and graceful hand that still makes the book a pleasure to read and recommend to students.

Realistic Fiction        Erin Faulkner, Cumberland Valley SD

YA – Over My Dead Body

Boo, Sweeney. Over My Dead Body. HarperAlley, 2022. 978-0-063-05631-2. 240 p. $24.99. Grades 7-10.

It’s not easy being a foundling, as Abigail Younwity knows all too well. On top of having no family of her own and being named after the Younwity Hidden Institute of Magic where she’s a student, Abigail knows that foundlings are especially vulnerable to the ghosts that haunt the untamed woods surrounding the school grounds. When Abigail’s friend Noreen disappears, Abigail knows that the forest holds the answers. On a hunt for information, she discovers a journal hidden in the hollow of a tree; it belonged to another student who vanished without a trace almost a century ago. The school administrators demand that Abigail leave the search to the Coven, but she can’t give up on finding the closest thing she has to a sister. Meanwhile, the Institute is preparing for the Samhain festival, when “the veil between the world of the dead and the living is at its thinnest,” and evil spirits are apt to strike. Time to find Noreen clearly is running out. Assisted by a handful of trusted friends and armed with some helpful spells, Abigail will risk expulsion, or worse, to solve this mystery.

THOUGHTS: Written and illustrated by Sweeney Boo, this vibrant graphic novel is pure witchy fun from start to finish, while also incorporating some weightier issues such as possessive friendship. Fans of Sabrina (in all its incarnations) and Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Srerle will love it!

Graphic Novel          Amy V. Pickett, Ridley SD

YA – In the Wild Light

Zentner, Jeff. In the Wild Light. Crown Publishers, 2021. 978-1-524-72024-7 429 p. $17.99. Grades 9 and up.

Set in a small Tennessee town, two misfits from troubled families develop a strong bond after meeting at a Narateen meeting. Cash is struggling to come to terms with his mother’s death, the knowledge that his beloved grandfather is dying, and his fear that he has no special gift to offer anyone. Delaney is a brilliant, self-taught scientist who discovers a bacteria-destroying mold with potential medicinal benefits.  Because of this discovery, she is offered a full ride scholarship to an elite New England prep school and secures a spot for Cash as well.  Delaney is determined to start anew and pushes Cash to join her, though he believes he is not deserving of this opportunity and fears missing precious time with his grandfather. They both struggle to adjust to their new life so far removed from their roots but are fortunate to find a friendship with two other new students at Middleford Academy and to nurture their own interests and passions and the special bond between them.

THOUGHTS: A thoughtful, coming of age story with a strong focus on the value of friendship and family, with charming characters, beautiful descriptions, and some gorgeous poetry. Touching, emotional, and heartfelt, this book will be appreciated by fans of All the Bright Places and Looking for Alaska.

Realistic Fiction                Nancy Summers,   Abington SD

MG – Just Like That

Schmidt, Gary. Just Like That. Clarion Books, 2021. 978-0-544-08477-3. 387 p. $16.99. Grades 5-8.

Meryl Lee, reeling from the tragic death of her best friend Holling, is struggling to find joy in anything. Her parents enroll her into a New England boarding school to help her find herself again (while also shielding her from the divorce process they are secretly going through). At St. Elene’s Preparatory Academy for Girls, Meryl Lee feels like she has more in common with the young ladies who are employed there rather than the stuck-up girls who attend as students. Despite being told that it is “unbecoming” to mingle with the staff, Meryl Lee knows in her heart this is wrong. With the support of the headmistress, Dr. Nora MacKnockater, Meryl Lee works on healing her heart and finding her place in the world. At the same time, a boy named Matt Coffin is always on the move. Homeless and parent-less, he moves from place to place carrying his pillowcase full of money, intent on avoiding the scary people who are coming after him. His travels take him to New England and there, his world collides with Meryl Lee’s and Dr. MacKnockater’s. With their help, he confronts his past and starts planting permanent roots in one place.

THOUGHTS: Although these two characters are seemingly different, the struggles they are going through tie them together. The book takes place in 1968 but still feels very modern. The character’s struggles are definitely ones that middle grade readers will relate to (fitting in, divorce) combined with the global struggle of the Vietnam War in the background of the story makes it more complex than it seems on the surface. Gary Schmidt’s witty writing style will make middle grade readers laugh, cry, and think.

Historical Fiction           Danielle Corrao, Manheim Central SD

YA – Of Curses and Kisses

Menon, Sandya. Of Curses and Kisses. Simon Pulse, 2020. 978-1-534-41754-0. 361 p. $18.99. Grades 6-12. 

Princess Jaya Rao, heiress to India’s last royal family, has always put duty first. Young Indian women should conform, they should not cause a scene or do anything like fraternizing with boys or using foul language that would hurt the family’s image. When her younger sister Isha is pictured in tabloids drinking and kissing a mechanic, the family’s name is in jeopardy. Jaya and Isha leave for Aspen to an elite boarding school called St. Rosetta’s to try and let the whole thing blow over. The thing is, St. Rosetta’s is currently the school of Grey Emerson, or Lord Northcliff, of the family with which the Raos have been feuding for generations. Jaya knows that Grey leaked the photos to ruin their family, and now she knows just the way to get back at him: make him fall in love and break his heart.

THOUGHTS: An artful Beauty and the Beast retelling done only the way Sandhya Menon can. Get a glimpse into the life of the aristocracy, traditions and all, and learn how to let yourself be happy.

Fantasy (Realistic, Fairytale)          Samantha Helwig, Dover Area SD

YA – Dress Codes…; The Free; Little & Lion; Dreams Beyond the Shore

Stevens, Courtney. Dress Codes for Small Towns. Harper Collins. 9780062398512. $17.99 Gr. 8 and up.

Billie McCaffrey, the tomboyish preacher’s daughter and her five friends are in their senior year trying to make the most of their last year as kids, knowing that their world will be changing soon. When they accidently set the church building on fire, they must all make amends to their small town community of Otters Holt in Western Kentucky. All the while the annual Harvest Festival with its Corn Dolly competition, the town’s claim to fame, is in danger of ending this year. “The Hexagon”, the nickname for the friends, is determined to regain their standing in the community and save the small town’s tradition. Filled with humour, teenage pranks and creativity, the heart of this book is the acceptance and love between the six friends, some of whom are questioning their own selves, sexualitites and ambitions. The friends offer each other unwavering support  as they explore their own identities and their place in the world. The small town itself comes to terms with the changing realities of our world as faith and goodwill and church and expectations are sometimes at odds. THOUGHTS:  Overall, a positive tale of friendship, love and romance and all the nuances between them.

Realistic Fiction         Nancy Summers, Abington School District

 

McLaughlin, Lauren. The Free. Soho Teen, 2017. 978-1616957315. 288 p. $18.99. Gr. 9 and up.

Lauren McLaughlin’s novel will engage teen readers from the beginning to the end. Teenager Isaac West has ended up in Haverland Juvenile Detention Center after a carjacking gone wrong. He took the fall for his accomplice (an act lauded by his automotive teacher, who is the ringleader of the car-thieving business) and received 30 days in the detention center. Isaac’s goal is to survive his sentence as quietly as he can. His middle-school aged sister, Janelle, depends on him for help and guidance, since their alcoholic mother can provide neither. While at the center, Isaac joins the computer class to be able to communicate regularly with Janelle via email. He also attends regular group therapy, an environment which encourages participants to relive and understand their crimes. Isaac is an interesting and relatively reliable narrator, and the cast of characters in his group therapy unit are carefully drawn, allowing the reader to empathize with them and hope for future redemption for all. As Isaac’s story and past come to light, the reader will be rooting for him to achieve freedom. THOUGHTS: An engaging and quick, yet complex, read for students who enjoy realistic fiction.

Realistic Fiction    Lindsey Myers, Shady Side Academy Senior School

 

Colbert, Brandy. Little and Lion. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2017. 978-0316349000. 336 p. $17.99. Gr. 9 and up.

Brandy Colbert’s novel is a powerful tale of love: the love between siblings, the love of parents for their children, and the love teens experience, including the difficulty of navigating love and lust for the first time. After it was discovered that her stepbrother, Lionel, has a mental illness, Suzette’s parents sent her to boarding school to allow for more normalcy in her life. When she returns to Los Angeles for the summer, she left a complex relationship with her roommate behind, and is unsure as to how to engage with her brother. When she realizes she has an attraction to both a male childhood friend and a new female coworker, she struggles to develop her own sexual identity. Compounded with that is her brother’s illness and her need for him to love and trust her. Colbert packs a lot into this short book: blended families, mixed-race families, religious differences, sexuality, and mental health. But, her story flows easily from one element to the next and leaves the reader to believe that they are simply catching a glimpse into the lives of one very real, very relatable American family. THOUGHTS: This wonderfully engaging book will fill a definite need in any high school library for more diverse literature for young adults. Highly recommended!

Realistic Fiction     Lindsey Myers, Shady Side Academy Senior School

 

Gibson, Tamika. Dreams Beyond the Shore. Blouse and Skirt Books, 2017. 978-9768267061. 180 p. $19.87. Gr. 9 and up.

Dreams Beyond the Shore is a sweet, quick, and thought-provoking novel that will introduce students to the lives of teens on the small island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Chelsea Marchard’s supports and assists with her father’s run for Prime Minister, even though she abhors his domineering and controlling personality.  He believes that Chelsea’s only path after high school should be to Oxford to become a lawyer, subsequently returning to her country to serve in his government. But, Chelsea, a budding writer, wants to apply to a prestigious writing program at Georgetown. Soon, however, she meets Kyron, whose presence in her life causes as much excitement as it does complications. Chelsea must decide for herself what is more important- her father’s wishes or her own dreams. The story is short and does not go into much depth, and I found myself wishing to read more of Chelsea’s life, and of Kyron’s as well. Kyron himself is an engaging character with a background, story, and future that may or may not include life on Trinidad. The typical teen romance cliches are present, yet the setting and the plot rise this novel above the normal teen novel. The dialogue can be hard to follow, since the characters speak in the colloquial language. Yet, I believe that this only encourages the reader to want to learn more about this small nation. THOUGHTS: This is a great debut novel by a young author, and I hope to read more of her works in the future. This should be added to young adult collections that are in need of diverse voices.

Realistic Fiction     Lindsey Myers, Shady Side Academy Senior School