Picture Books
The Year We Learned to Fly
Woodson and Lopez
Read for Librarian Book Group
A book about getting through tough times that doesn’t hit you over the head with the tough times. This would probably be a good book for all ages who are feeling the weight of struggle. Great interplay of words and illustrations.
Middle Grade
Lotus Bloom and the Afro Revolution
Sherri Williams
Read for Librarian Book Group
A fabulous example of quality middle grade! Great writing, a big issue depicted on a personal level, the main character navigating her troubles without her parents (but not because she’s an orphan or at camp) and a lot of feeling.
My only quibble is that the kid causing all the problems didn’t really take responsibility for the harassment and abuse. This book wrapped up very quickly.
Recipe for Disaster
Aimee Lucido
An enjoyable middle-grade novel combining baking (including recipes) and exploring what it means to be Jewish.
Enemies
Svetlana Chmakova
Graphic novels are great vehicles for showing those big middle-school feelings. This was a fun capsulation of awkward and confusing friendships.
Ride On
Faith Erin Hicks
Horse girls! I have a soft spot for them. Norrie is full of bluster and outrage. Victoria is new at the stables after experiencing a loss.
Young Adult
Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix
Anna-Marie McLemore
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I enjoyed this retelling of the Great Gatsby recast with trans young men as Nick and Jay as well as the overlay of Latina culture. McLemore is very good at writing romantic feelings. Lots of good squishy stuff there. I did wonder at having the main trio be 17, 18, and 19 years old. It strained credibility.
Azar on Fire
Olivia Abtahi
One of my reading peccadillos is that I find books that include song lyrics to be cringeworthy experiences, especially songs that are made up for the book. Every time I read them, I feel a profound embarrassment for the author. It’s often like reading poetry written by young teenagers.
So this book, with copious lyrics, was a struggle.
It was also a long and rambling book, but by ignoring the lyrics, I enjoyed it. The main character is a freshman in high school and I don’t come across that grade level often in YA. She’s finding her voice (quite literally, she’s got something wrong with her vocal chords). And she’s making new friends.
The Getaway
Lamar Giles
Great worldbuilding and a solid amount of time showing us the supposed utopia before spinning into the reality. This is a horror novel and it’s the kind based on documented human action that makes it that much more horrible. I had to switch to daylight reading.
The cover is very evocative, but I don’t think it matches the story.
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School
Sonora Reyes
Read for Librarian Book Group
This rambles in a not-terrible way. I enjoyed Yamilet’s story of figuring out how her new school is going to work and how to come out and live as a lesbian, both at school and at home.
My Nest of Silence
Matt Faulkner
Read for Librarian Book Group
A story in two parts. The strong story is the graphic novel portion that gives readers the real story of what’s happening to Mak as he serves in Europe during World War II. His letters home don’t tell the entire story. The prose part of the book focuses on Mak’s 10-year-old sister Mari who is stuck in Manaznar. That story focuses on how the camp and the war affect Mari’s mental health, a welcome angle of the relocation. The writing was a little too dependent on exclamation points for my taste.
Inheritance
Katharine McGee
For completists, this novella will provide insight. People looking to pass the time will also find it adequate. It doesn’t break any new ground.
Grownup Fiction
Book Lovers
Emily Henry
Henry does a great job subverting the classic small-town romance story by centering on the big city career-minded female who is usually the villain. I also enjoy her attention to detail at the sentence level.
The Bad Muslim Discount
Syed M. Masood
Two immigrants, Anvar and Safwa, make their way to the US from Pakistan and Iraq, respectively, at different ages and points in their lives. Their paths cross in San Francisco. This book is lacking the zany characters and humor of Masood’s YA novels, but it remains a compelling story.
Grownup Nonfiction
You Are a Badass
Jen Sincero
Sincero is of the love-yourself, tap-into-the-universe-and-it-will-provide ilk. Aside from advice on those fronts, she’s got a solid list of recommended books at the end.
Young Nonfiction
Unequal: A Story of America
Michael Eric Dyson and Marc Favreau
Read for Librarian Book Group
The authors provide chapter after chapter illustrating how racism is baked into the United States. There are many contemporary examples to illustrated that we’ve not left racism in the past. Most chapters focus on one individual to illustrated a theme, and there is a good mix of female and male and famous and less or not famous. I appreciated the spotlight on racism in the northern states, but did wonder why the racist acts and policies of western states were not included in the mix.