YA – Borderless

De Leon, Jennifer. Borderless. Caitlyn Dlouhy Book/Atheneum, 2023. 978-1-665-90416-2. 328 p. $19.99. Grades 9-12.

Sixteen-year-old Maya Silva has a promising career as a fashion designer at Salome’ Fashion Institute in Guatemala City. Her best friend Lizbeth is supportive, even when Maya makes the list to show her work at the big fashion show and she does not. Winning would help Maya and Mama make a new start away from the corruption and violence of their avenida. When Lizbeth meets Oscar, Maya keeps her suspicions about Lizbeth’s new boyfriend being a gang member to herself. After school one day, Oscar introduces Maya to his handsome cousin, Sebastian, who has recently been deported from America. He and Maya connect, making it harder for Maya to extricate herself from a situation that she senses could be dangerous. In an ether of young love, she makes bad decisions: inviting Oscar and Sebastian to her house, hanging out with Sebastian when she should be home, persuading Mama to hold off moving to the safer, sleepy hometown of San Marcos. The busy-ness of preparing for the fashion show mounts. Then, the unspeakable happens. Maya witnesses a tragedy that puts her and her mother’s lives in jeopardy. The only alternative to survive is to make the perilous crossing to the United States. Author Jennifer De Leon captures the language and conflicting feelings of a teen caught between a rock and a hard place. Borderless brings home the desperation of living in a neighborhood ruled by gangs and the harshness of being an undocumented migrant in a detention center, but the book has the rush of first love and the bustle of Project Runway. Readers can be enticed by the fashion, yet come away with compassion for asylum seekers.

THOUGHTS: DeLeon has an ear for the way young people talk, so even though the story takes place in Guatemala and all the characters are speaking Spanish, the dialogue is relatable and fresh, with some Spanish words thrown in. Maya’s relationship with her mother is endearing and authentic, and it’s nice that her best friend stays loyal till the end. Maya and Sebastian are in love and do some making out, but Sebastian is the one who shuts down any further sexual activity. Including a fashion design competition lightens the tone. This interesting touch counters the heaviness of the violence and danger infringing on the lives of Maya’s neighborhood. In one brutal scene, she sees Oscar shoot her neighbor’s son, execution style. Fear and anxiety heighten as Maya escapes to the United States, and remain as she lives in the horrendous conditions and uncertainty of the detention center and when she is separated from her beloved mother. The tension in this book is palpable, but the fashion aspect makes it familiar.

Realistic Fiction

YA – Tahira in Bloom

Heron, Faith. Tahira in Bloom. Skyscape, 2021. 9781542030373. 336 p. $16.99. Gr. 9-12.

A fresh YA novel that includes a ton of representation, friendship, romance, determination, and a whole lot of coming of age. Tahira is Toronto. Her dedication to her blooming (pun intended) fashion career is only second to her parents’ desire to see her succeed and get into FIT in New York City. After a fluke accident, her summer internship is canceled and she opts to work at her Aunt’s shop a few hours outside of Toronto in smalltown Canada for the summer. The town, Bakewell, is obsessed with flowers, which is definitely not Tahira’s aesthetic–but is it the next trend? Filled with current teen slang, Instagram posts, awkward relationships, broken friendships, and a lot of growth (another pun intended) all summer, Tahira comes to realize what matters most isn’t the branding and networking opportunities, but the art behind her passion–or the passion behind her art.

THOUGHTS: A great addition to all high school shelves! Indian-Canadian, POC, and LGBTQ+ representation is seamlessly woven into this coming of age story that has authentic and realistic experiences captured in an age appropriate manner.

Realistic Fiction          Samantha Hull, Ephrata Area SD