MG – And Then, Boom!

Fipps, Lisa. And Then, Boom! Nancy Paulsen Books, 2024. 978-0-593-40632-8. 256 p. $17.99. Grades 5-8.

In Lisa Fipps’ new verse novel, Joe is being raised by his Grandmum. His mom gets “the Itch” and leaves town all too often. After her daughter gets arrested, Grandmum puts up her house as bail collateral. Unfortunately, Joe’s mother fails to appear in court, leaving both Joe and Grandmum unhoused. While living out of a car, Joe’s school friend shares with him a trailer for rent. The two move in, and things begin to look up…until terrible tragedy strikes, and Joe is all alone. Joe keeps his situation a secret from everyone but his two friends, Nick and Hakeem. Food dwindles. The gas is shut off. Then, the electricity all together. Adults like Mrs. Swan, a teacher, and Uncle Frankie, the trailer park owner, help Joe without knowing he has been left on his own. After summer break begins, the situation becomes dire. Add an F2 tornado into the mix. This is a story of survival against all things.

THOUGHTS: A powerful book that is going to absolutely break your heart before making it better. This is a realistic story of survival against childhood neglect and poverty in America. Lisa Fipps uses the verse format to heighten emotional impact and quicken the pace. Readers will grasp onto hopeful details like Joe finding a dog and two puppies (dubbed ‘the Lucky pups’). While the ending is hopeful, getting there is emotionally difficult. Highly recommended for all middle school fiction collections.

MG – Maid for It

Sumner, Jamie. Maid for It. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2023. 978-1-665-90577-0. 232 p. $17.99. Grades 4-7.

Sixth-grade Franny makes daily lists and breathes deeply to keep herself calm. It’s not easy: Franny worries a lot. Franny lives with her single mom, Julia, in a tiny apartment above a laundromat. It’s a fresh start for them: They moved there just after Franny’s mom got sober. One day, Franny is called to the school office: Franny’s mom was involved in a car accident. While not at fault, Julia’s car is totaled, and she has a fractured femur. After this event, Franny begins to worry constantly about her mom’s potential to relapse into substance abuse. Because her injured mom is unable to continue work as an Uber driver or house cleaner, Franny decides to take over the latter. Without telling her mother, Franny takes over the cleaning schedule after school each day. Franny tries to keep up with the new work schedule, school, and taking care of her mother. It’s a struggle. A deal with a classmate trying to stay out of trouble brings Franny some unexpected help—and an unexpected new friendship. With the assistance of friends and her mother’s sponsor, Mimi, Franny works tirelessly to overcome her own fears while her mother recovers.

THOUGHTS: The difficult topics of parental substance abuse and sobriety are handled thoughtfully in this middle grade story. Franny’s anxieties about a potential relapse feel very realistic, and Franny’s actions—including her takeover of mom’s house cleaning jobs—are almost all driven by the overwhelming fear that her mother may begin to use drugs again. Readers will empathize deeply with Franny over her desire to seek normalcy and academic success while continuing to keep a watchful eye over her own mother. Franny’s mother is portrayed as realistic, loving, tough, and yet ultimately vulnerable at the same time. Maid for It focuses on the long term impacts of substance abuse on users and their families. While Franny and Julia are given an uplifting ending, ongoing issues with substance abuse among minor characters are still present.

Realistic Fiction

Elem. – The Bright Side

Otis, Chad. The Bright Side. Rocky Pond Books, 2023. 978-0-593-53062-7. 40 p. $18.99. Grades K-3. 

Sometimes it’s hard to stay positive, especially when you feel very different from those around you. This story opens with a young boy waving goodbye to his friends and boarding an old school bus with his Mom and Dad. The bus is their home now, and although saying goodbye is difficult, his family encourages him to look on the bright side. From making “pizza toast” with bread and ketchup, to showering with a hose in the “great outdoors” and getting to do school on the bus, the family approaches each new experience with optimism and imagination. When it’s time for the boy to attend his first day at a traditional school, however, he realizes some days can be more challenging than others. Although he initially struggles to understand classroom routines and expectations and to fit in with his peers, remembering to look on the bright side turns out to be a superpower. Vibrant illustrations created from pencil, ink, collected textures, and digital paint depict the wide range of emotions the boy experiences, including sadness, anxiety, confusion, surprise, pride, and confidence.

THOUGHTS: Although this title tackles the weighty subject of houselessness, it does so with sensitivity, and the overall tone remains optimistic. It will serve as a good conversation starter for students from all socioeconomic backgrounds, and the message about trying to look on the bright side during challenging times will resonate widely.

Picture Book

YA – I Kick and I Fly

Gupta, Ruchira. I Kick and I Fly. Scholastic Press, 2023. 978-1-338-82509-1. $18.99. 336 p. Grades 7-12.

Heera comes from the Nat clan in the Red Light district of Forjesganj, India. Even though she and her older brother Salman go to school, Heera gets distracted because she is so hungry, tired, and dirty. Living in poverty, she desperately wants to escape what seems to be her fate, a life of prostitution. Her mother does back-breaking work pulverizing stones on the highway; her father drinks and gambles away what little money they have. A boiled egg is a rare treat for her little sisters. The whole lane is under the thumb of sex traffickers, Ravi Lala, and the local police officer, Suraj Sharma, who is also the father of Heera’s best friend, Rosy. As the annual Kali Mela Fair draws closer to the Girls’ Bazaar, Heera’s father sees no other alternative but to have his fourteen-year-old daughter join the ranks of his niece, Mira Di, as a sex worker. Thankfully, the school’s kung fu team at the nearby girl’s hostel and especially its teacher, Rina Di give Heera respite and empowerment. She takes to kung fu and its philosophy of being in tune with one’s body easily; it seems agility is in her blood, a maternal descendant of people known for their acrobatic feats. As she begins to win competitions, her confidence builds and belief that another type of life for her family is possible grows. When Heera’s life becomes endangered, she moves into the hostel and, for the first time, knows the luxury of sleeping on a bed, having enough food to eat, and getting enough hours to sleep. As her skill at kung fu sharpens, she sees her success changing her parents. When she learns that Rosy is being trafficked, she joins forces with other survivors to rescue her even though it may jeopardize her standing in a special kung fu competition in New York.  This compelling book tells a harrowing story at a rapid pace and with a delicate hand. The striking contrast of evil and kindness and the vivid descriptions of conditions of abject poverty is tempered with the well-drawn characterizations of major and minor characters. The author’s note reveals that the plot is not all imagination, but based on similar real-life events. I Kick and I Fly is an important book that should hold a spot in every high school library.

THOUGHTS: This book has a lot of heart, probably because it is projecting the truth. It also contains a lot about kung fu and honors Bruce Lee by inserting his sayings and philosophy. One part where the reader may have to suspend belief is Heera’s sophisticated language as she narrates the story. The background on Heera’s education, her inability to keep up with her studies because of lack of food and sleep, deems it unlikely that her vocabulary would be as rich as Gupta presents it. But that’s okay. Readers need to feel her fear, witness the despair of her family, ache with hope at each new achievement. All characters are Indian. Though it does not spare the horrors of sex trafficking, no acts of sex are described. Mira Di, the cousin who has her brothel set up in the back of the houses, experiences physical abuse as well as the sexual abuse, but the reader finds this out after that action takes place. Violence happens, but Heera triumphs with her kung fu moves. I Kick and I Fly can foster awareness of sex trafficking, poverty, injustice, and inequality.

Realistic Fiction  

Elem./MG – Thirst

Bajaj, Varsha. Thirst. Nancy Paulsen Books, 2022. 978-0-593-35439-1. 179 p. $17.99. Grades 4-7. 

In poor Mumbai neighborhoods, accessing fresh water is a constant struggle. Each day, people wait for a turn to collect water from communal taps, but sometimes the water runs out before everyone gets a fair share, and sometimes the water that is available is not safe to drink without boiling. In this story, Minni and her family deal with water-borne illnesses, long lines that prevent people from going to work or school, and even water “bandits” that monopolize water access by controlling who can access community water sources. Minni even sees how wealthy people treat poorer people when she must take over her sick mother’s cleaning job.  Minni’s brother, Sanjay, and Minni’s friend, Faiza support her and keep her grounded to the important things in life, and Minni experiences the support of her community in order to overcome her personal challenges as she works to create a more equitable life for everyone she knows.

THOUGHTS: This book is a thoughtful look at the inequalities that people experience around the world when it comes to accessing clean water. Tough issues are presented  in an approachable way that upper-elementary and middle school students can understand, and ultimately Minni’s family comes through their struggles and can move forward in life stronger and more closely-knit, making the ending feel hopeful and inspiring readers to seek positive change.

Realistic Fiction          Erin Faulkner, Cumberland Valley SD

MG – The Kaya Girl

Wolo, Mamle. The Kaya Girl. Little, Brown, and Company, 2022. 978-0-316-70393-2.$16.99. 322 p. Grades 5-8.

Set in modern-day Ghana, The Kaya Girl reads like a memoir of a friendship of two fourteen-year old girls from different social and economic backgrounds. A child of privilege and wealth, Abena (Abby) spends the summer with her Auntie Lydia, one of her mother’s older sisters. The stern, hardworking relative owns a fabric shop in the busy Makola Market in Accra. As is the usual custom with Ghanaian families, she has taken in a distant relative, Gifty, to live in her home and work in the shop. Abby, on the other hand, is vacationing at her aunt’s while her mother is in England awaiting the birth of her baby and her father, a physician, is working. When women come to the shop to purchase goods, a kayayoo girl carries their parcels to their destination in her enormous, tin bowl perched on her head. Abby strikes up a friendship with Faiza, the kaya girl who hangs around her aunt’s shop. Through their conversations during down times that summer, the girls share what is most familiar to them. Faiza tells of leaving her birth family to live with her aunt, of her cousin’s arranged marriage at the tender age of twelve, of her desire to attend school, and her quest to find her missing cousin. Abby shows Faiza the wonders of the internet, a revelation of extinct dinosaurs, astronomy, and different lands. In addition to learning the customs of a culture present in her own homeland, Abby becomes aware of her privilege and the poverty that restricts not only Faiza but all the kaya girls. These impressions weigh heavily on her and she channels them into a story for a competition. Despite Auntie Lydia’s disapproval of their friendship and the language barrier, the two girls come to know and like each other. When her aunt seems to soften a bit toward Faiza and leaves for an errand, Abby feels comfortable breaking one of her aunt’s rules and invites Faiza inside the shop. When money goes missing from the till, however, Abby regrets this decision. She knows Faiza is not the thief, but their summer of fun and friendship comes to an abrupt end. The author continues with an extensive epilogue, telling of Abena’s life as an adult and her surprising reunion with her childhood friend. Told in first person from Abena’s point of view, this satisfying novel describes life in Ghana with its disparity of classes and also the sights and sounds of a bustling marketplace. The girls’ friendship is magical and that quality rings true even after years of separation. 

THOUGHTS: The Kaya Girl presents two equally interesting girls from opposite backgrounds and because of this difference, the reader learns so much about what life is like when you are poor in Ghana and what life is like when you are not. One learns cultural customs from both sides as well as a description of an open market in another country. Through this experience, readers fulfill one of the major reasons for reading: to live vicariously through others’ experiences and to learn about and appreciate what is unfamiliar. Though the story probably should have stopped with the girls’ parting, carrying the story into their adulthood brings a enjoyable closure. Pair this book with Auma’ Long Run  by Eucabeth Odhioma (the dust jacket says she teaches at Shippensburg University) or the les -serious graphic novel, Fibbed by Elizabeth Agyemange. Like these two books, The Kaya Girl is a solid selection for extended Social Studies class.

Realistic Fiction          Bernadette Cooke, School District of Philadelphia

MG/YA – Abuela, Don’t Forget Me

Ogle, Rex. Abuela, Don’t Forget Me. Norton Young Readers, 2022. $18.95 978-1-324-01995-4. Grades 7-12. 

Ogle continues his autobiographical journey begun with Free Lunch and Punching Bag, this time using a novel in verse format to focus on the enormous importance of his grandmother (Abuela) who provided selflessly throughout his life and enabled him to succeed. Ogle shares memories of her involvement in his life, from preschool to college. Readers will remember, or easily recognize, the antagonistic relationship between his abuela and his mother, and how any gift was seen as an insult: “I can pay for my own groceries!” Ogle learned early to love Abuela’s visits for the food, the gifts (of many things, including Ogle’s first bed), but most of all, he loved her visits for the obvious, stated, unconditional support of Ogle. In a world of poverty and abuse, Ogle was accustomed to sneers or physical violence and hopelessness, but Abuela repeatedly gave him the messages that she believed in him, education was the key out of poverty, and don’t give up. Ogle successfully shows Abuela’s life-saving presence in his life, while acknowledging shortcomings, like her desire to overspend her hard-earned money to give to others.  Readers will be amazed by the abuse and poverty Ogle endured by necessity and amazed by Abuela’s constancy and positivity. Ogle pushes for change and endures hard-earned miracles (free college tuition) as well as enraging setbacks (his mother ‘steals’ his own car for herself).

THOUGHTS: This is a book for all middle and high school readers, who will learn strength from Ogle’s journey. Ogle may just inspire readers to thank the “Abuelas” in their lives.

Biography          Melissa Scott, Shenango Area SD
Memoir, Autobiography

MG – The Lucky Ones

Jackson, Linda Williams. The Lucky Ones. Candlewick Press, 2022. 978-1-536-22255-5. 304 p. $18.99. Grades 5-8.

Sixth grader, Ellis Earl Brown, loves school, learning, and his family–all ten of them. Living in rural Wilsonville, Mississippi, in 1960’s, money is tight, work is scarce, and living quarters are crowded and dilapidated for this African American family. Ellis cherishes his time in Mr. Foster’s class where he is nourished with the knowledge of a world outside of his small town and with the teacher’s shared lunches. A dedicated student, Ellis Earl’s greatest fear is that Mama may be forced to make him quit school and relinquish his dream to become a lawyer or teacher or both. In the spring of 1967, Ellis is reading Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and compares himself to Willy Wonka whose family is also cramped into a small space and hoping for something lucky to happen. Earnest and thoughtful, Ellis Earl sacrifices for his family; worries about his sick brother, Oscar; and frets over his Mama’s exhaustion. Still, he is a real person. He corrects –mentally–his siblings’ grammar errors, whines when the rains flood the roads making going to school impossible, and is jealous of his class rival, Philip, who appears financially comfortable. Mr. Foster tells Ellis about the influence of civil rights lawyer, Marian Wright, on the presidential hopeful, Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy. When Kennedy comes to visit the Delta to witness the devastating poverty himself, Ellis is part of the entourage the teacher brings to the airport in Jackson. The highly-anticipated trip is marred by racism, however, when the group stops to eat at a diner, supposedly integrated by law. The Brown family is also one of the lucky ones who get a visit from Senator Kennedy. In a series of connected events, Ellis’s family has the chance to better their lives through the assistance of Mr. Foster and Ms. Wright. Like Willy, Ellis has been given the “golden ticket,” the opportunity to build a life for him and his family through education and social services. Overall, he learns to appreciate the invaluable gift of having the support and encouragement of loved ones over material objects. In The Lucky Ones, Linda Williams Jackson presents a memorable character in Ellis Earl Brown and a realistic picture of a large family handling well what little life brings them. With not a speck of condescension, Jackson describes the bareness of the Brown’s household furnishings, the lack of food, and the struggle to find work. She conveys the rigor of the school and intelligence of its students, despite the hardships surrounding their education: no electricity, no transportation other than the teacher’s kindness, and no medical benefits. Most importantly, she places the reader in the midst of a big family who holler, goad, tease, and boss each other while also watching out and caring for one another. All the positives that sew up the story’s ending may seem too good to be true, but one thing is certain, the closeness of the Brown family makes them the lucky ones.

THOUGHTS: Linda Williams Jackson writes in a forthright way about a time in history I don’t see covered in children’s literature and fleshes out what it is/was like to grow up poor. In the context of the Brown family, being poor is difficult and unfair but respectable. Jackson emphasizes the important roles of government social welfare organizations and the church in supplying the basic necessities of life to needy people. Ellis Earl’s family are not church goers, not because they are non believers, but because Mama thinks they have no appropriate clothes in which to attend a service. Ellis’s desire to go to church has more to do with the free breakfast than devotion. The portrayal of the teachers at Ellis’s school–particularly Mr. Foster–is one of dedication and humility. He drives the students to school in his lime green station wagon, he brings them drumsticks to eat for lunch, he buys Ellis a suit to wear when he is chosen to give a recitation–and all of this dispatched with the conviction and impression that these children deserve such services and more.

Historical Fiction          Bernadette Cooke, School District of Philadelphia

YA – Punching Bag

Ogle, Rex. Punching Bag. Norton Young Readers, 2021. 978-1-324-01623-6. $17.95. 217 p. Grades 9-12.

As with his debut memoir, Free Lunch, Latinx author Rex Ogle is honest and sensitive in his recounting of his high school years with his volatile mother, Luciana, and abusive stepfather, Sam. At the book’s opening, Rex’s mother reveals that she has lost an infant girl, Marisa, while seven-year-old Rex was visiting his paternal grandparents. In front of her sensitive son, she is distraught with grief and places the blame at his feet. Ogle carries that guilt with him as he navigates his teen-age years protecting his half-brother, Ford, from the chaos erupting from domestic violence in their tiny Texas apartment. At times, this guilt is assuaged with the remembrance of Marisa, giving him the encouragement and strength not extended by other adults. Though his alcoholic stepfather beats his mother regularly, Rex’s mother refuses to press charges or escape. In fact, in a brief stint when Sam leaves her, she picks on Rex, goading him to hit her. Rex acts as the parent here. He has the maturity to see their household is toxic and to recognize his mother’s mental health issues. From conversations with family members, he gets an insight into the root causes of his mother’s and stepfather’s behaviors. However, he feels responsible for the safety of his younger brother and the financial stability of the family. He receives some emotional support from his grandmother and his mother’s sister; he is able to confess to his stepfather’s brother the physical abuse suffered in their family. Nevertheless,with little adult support from teachers or neighbors, young Ogle is out there on his own with the lone comfort of Marisa’s ghostly voice convincing him her death was not his fault. When Luciana and Sam repeatedly wind up together with little improvement, Ogle has to value his own life and aim for his own dreams to keep him resilient and hopeful. This memoir is an excellent example of bibliotherapy. Ogle does not gloss over the brutality and the bewildering reality of domestic violence and the devastating effect of a parent’s untreated mental health issues on her children. Ogle acknowledges this in the book’s preface with a disclaimer emphasizing his purpose for writing his story is to show that it is possible to survive. Students suffering the same trauma will appreciate his frankness. Contains an informative Q & A with author.

THOUGHTS: The account of domestic abuse as well as physical and emotional child abuse is constant, but Ogle is a talented narrator and compels the reader to endure it. Rex Ogle himself stands out as an exceedingly mature, resilient, compassionate person, despite a lifetime to being put down, parentified, terrified, neglected. It prompts the thought, where was this behavior learned. He records little resentment of being the person in charge of his younger brother. He willingly shoulders adult responsibilities around the house with hidden resentment and–mostly-controlled anger. The book delivers an important message to any students in similar circumstances.

Memoir          Bernadette Cooke, School District of Philadelphia
362.7 Child Abuse

YA – Your Heart, My Sky

Engle, Margarita. Your Heart, My Sky. Simon & Schuster, 2021. 208 pp. 978-1-5344-64964 $18.99 Grades 9-12.

Engle focuses on a difficult time in Cuba’s history lived through by her own relatives. Euphemistically named by the government as “the special period in times of peace,” the 1990s are in reality a time of starvation. Strict rules keep Cubans from growing their own food; U.S. embargo limits trade; and most recently, Russia has dropped its promised support of the Communist nation, leaving commoners struggling for daily food and afraid to speak out, knowing that retribution comes in the form of limited opportunities, fewer rations, prison or death. Two young people, Liana and Amado, find their hunger gives them strength to defy the government-required summer volunteer work, even as they dread the consequences. Amado’s older brother is in prison for speaking out against the government. Liana is befriended by a ‘singing dog’ Paz who becomes her daily companion in search of food, and the dog brings her and Amado together. The two fall in love and consider their limited future options. Leave the island for the dangerous attempt to reach Miami? Or remain in their homeland to share and fight the deprivation with loved ones? Engle’s beautiful verse, and switching between Liana, Amado, and Paz’s voices, gives this novel depth and richness. 

THOUGHTS: Moving words bring to life this time of desperation.       

Historical Fiction          Melissa Scott, Shenango Area SD