Powerful Debut

Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown

New York : Henry Holt and Co., 2020.

294 p. ; 22 cm.

This is a super creative and really well written debut YA novel.  The subtitle of Black Girl Unlimited is The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard, and it's back cover states, it is "Part memoir, part magic" - and these are two good clues to the power of this novel. This is no Harry Potter wizardry, but instead a kind of rare natural/supernatural inheritance of access to the power and mystery of the "in between zone." 

The novel deals head on with hard issues of sexual assault, drug addiction, poverty and crime - but does it in a way that is not despairing, but also not falsely optimistic. The hero of this novel is the main character, Echo Brown (see, there's the part memoir) who is academically talented and motivated. She only gradually realizes that she is a wizard and that her power as one is limited but can grow.  One of the coolest aspects is that as a wizard she can occasionally stop time and use that stopped time to try and influence others for the better.

The novel is a great story of the power of determination, bravery, family ties, intellectual curiosity and bravery in the face of addiction, poverty, racism and violence. 

My only hesitations with the novel (which I was surprised to not see brought up in reviews) are the heavy use of vernacular from characters in her poor neighborhood (including her Mom and brothers). And then there is an unfortunate description of one of the most powerful elderly women wizards as being "a quarter Cherokee on her mother's side" according to everyone in Echo's neighborhood, and who is also said to have "learned all her magic stuff from her grandmother." 

That said, it's a powerful novel about obstacles and triumphs facing a young black girl as she comes of age and gets in touch with her inner strength and power.

     

Bent Twisted Broken

Bent Heavens by Daniel Kraus

New York : Square Fish, Henry Holt and Co., 2021.

1st Square Fish ed. 

291 p. ; 22 cm.      

Pretty much everything I wrote about Kraus' earlier novel, Scowler, applies to this novel. I wanted to like Bent Heavens, but I found it profoundly unsatisfying on several levels. I feel bad being so negative because Kraus explains (in an author's note at the end of the book) that he wrote this as a protest against the torture regime implemented under the Bush-Cheney administration.  It feels odd to dislike this book so much since it got starred reviews in Booklist and School Library Journal. 

The premise of the book is interesting. High schooler Liv's father (a high school English teacher) had a complete mental breakdown years previous when he insisted he was abducted by aliens. Then after being released he actually disappears and has been gone for two years. He left behind gruesome contraptions for trapping said aliens. Liv and her loner friend, Doug, check the traps weekly until one day, they catch an alien! 

Instead of turning the creature in to the authorities, Doug suggests torturing it as a way of both punishing it for what the aliens did to Liv's father and possibly getting it to reveal what happened (it can't speak but can squeal and whimper). There's a lot of gruesome beatings, cutting, and hurting that goes on in a torture shed on Liv's property - and I just NEVER believed Liv would go along with it.  I also think that Doug is that stereotype oddball loner type that supposedly is predisposed to sadism. By two thirds of the way through the book, I had guessed at the "wow" plot twist that ends the novel and so was neither surprised nor moved (unlike reviewers).

Well, obviously I did not like this novel. Instead of the heavy handed torture, a more subtle use of torture like that endorsed by Bush-Cheney would have been more pointed - e.g. forced nudity, sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, water-boarding, etc.  Also having the alien able to communicate in some basic ways would have been more effective, too. Instead the plot zig zags into the nonsensical and absurd which left me wondering if I even read the same book as the people who starred this mess.

No American Dream

American Street by Ibi Zoboi 

New York, NY : Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2017]

324 p. ; 22 cm. 

American Street is a super book. I'm glad to see it got a lot of recognition - starred reviews and a finalist for the National Book Award. The book is the story of Fabiola, high school aged young woman who was born in the US, raised in Haiti and has returned to the US with her mother so they can rejoin the mother's sister and her three girls in Detroit. Of course, nothing goes smoothly: the mother (not a US citizen) is detained at the NYC airport by ICE while Fabiola is sent on to Detroit and tries to fit in to her aunt's family - a family full of love - but also serious troubles (debts, drug dealing, a dead father, and a crumbling neighborhood). 

The novel follows Fabiola as she tries to navigate the huge, strange country that is the United States, the dicey/lively city of Detroit, and the complicated relationships of her three cousins, who both form a formidable front, though each young woman has a striking and different personality.  

There are many sources of dramatic tension in the novel. Fabiola desperately wants to get her Mom out of ICE detention, she also falls hard in love, and she has to prove herself to her streetwise cousins, etc. In her desperation to get help for her mother, she makes the mistake of becoming an informant to a narcotics detective and things get VERY complicated and VERY dangerous. 

I won't give away the twists and turns of the plot, but after the first chapter things get very interesting. Readers are also easily introduced to the worldview of vodou through the perspective of Fabiola who believes in it and sees the world through that lens - to the point where there is a blurred boundary between the real and the magical/spiritual in many scenes.  In a lesser writer these could be a real weakness, but in this novel they add to its richness.

As you can tell, I'll definitely be recommending this book to readers.

A Terrible Beauty

Vincent and Theo: the Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman

New York : Goldwin Books, Henry Holt and Co., 2017.

454 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 24 cm. 

This book brings up some of the problems I find with the whole YA book marketing enterprise.  This is a superb book - one that anyone with the slightest interest in the visual art of painting should read, and by anyone I mean young person, young adult, middle-aged adult, or senior citizen.  It is a wonderful book that lovingly tells the story of artist Vincent Van Gogh and his slightly younger brother Theo, who devoted himself to supporting and championing the work of Vincent. But it is packaged as a YA nonfiction selection - and has deservedly won awards in that category. It may seem I'm nitpicking, but it really seems wrong to me that this book didn't get equal promotion as an adult nonfiction book - it's that good! Also, as much as I hate to say it, it's length (454 pages) is just going to turn off a lot of younger readers - even those with an interest in art.

With all that said, I can say that I loved this book.  I learned a lot from it (e.g. how Theo correctly pushed Vincent to add more color to his palette which was originally muted and grounded in earth tones). The book really opens up the terrible mental anguish and affliction that Vincent suffered and also does justice to the truly inspiring (and sometimes difficult and contentious) love between these two brothers.  Both Vincent and Theo emerge from this telling as very, very human and also very heroic figures.  One finishes the book with a great appreciation for how doggedly Vincent worked at teaching himself and practicing his art and how unstinting Theo was in supporting him.  Importantly, Heiligman gives credit to Theo's wife Jo, who also (in spite of being married to Theo for only the last year and a half of his short life) ensured that Vincent's work and legacy was championed and preserved.

Another positive feature of this book is that it includes excellent end material: a descriptive list of prominent characters, a timeline, copious notes, and a thorough index.

I'll add in closing that I was surprised at the emotional impact of the book. Heiligman's retelling of Vincent and Theo's deaths (just six months apart) left me teary eyed. This is a wonderful book and it is one that I'll be recommending to young and older readers alike.

Roadtripping the Past and the Present

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall III

New York : Amulet Books, [2015]

165 p. : ill., map ; 21 cm. 

This is a little gem of a book! I love a brief, emotional and enlightening book.  Marshall succinctly retells the story of Lakota Indian and warrior, Ta-sunko-witko - known more commonly as Crazy Horse.   

Marshall embeds the story of Crazy Horse within the story of Jimmy, a contemporary eleven-year-old Lakota boy growing up in South Dakota.  This boy has light hair and blue eyes and so is teased and bullied by a couple of classmates.  During the summer his beloved grandpa takes him on a road trip through South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana - tracing places in the life of Crazy Horse which the grandpa fills in with storytelling.  As he teaches Jimmy about Crazy Horse's great character and courage,  he also notes that Crazy Horse also was known as "Light Hair" when he was young - something that connects him with Jimmy.

As they trace the places important in the life of Crazy Horse - Nebraska near Ash Hollow State Park, Forts Laramie and Reno in Wyoming, and battle sites like the Hundred in the Hands (Fetterman Fight) in Wyoming and the renowned Battle of the Little Bighorn (Battle of the Greasy Grass) in Montana. They even visit Fort Robinson in Nebraska where Crazy Horse surrendered and was murdered. 

Within all this history, is a lovely story of an elder passing on his knowledge to his grandson.  The grandfather, a Vietnam veteran, is clear-eyed about the cruel nature of war and battle, and also keenly aware that courage also means protecting the vulnerable and those you love.  By the end of the story, Jimmy is starting a new school year and - though fearful of the bullies - has a newfound strength in confronting them.

I definitely recommend this novel.

    

Dancing Free

Every Body Looking by Candace Iloh

New York : Dutton Books, [2020] 

403 p. ; 22 cm.

This is a book that gets better and better as you read it.  I wasn't really hooked at the beginning, but by the end I was turning the pages, and really rooting for college freshman, Ada, who is in her first year of college at the esteemed HBCU, Howard University.  Ada is a first generation Nigerian-American and has a devoted (but intensely religious) father who is divorced from her toxic mom. 

I really loved Ada's journey of embracing her real passion - to be a dancer - in the face of expectations from family to be a studious accounting major.  She also has to figure out her sexuality and what will make her life meaningful.

The book has received outstanding praise. It is a Michael Printz 2021 honor book and a 2020 National Book Award finalist! Like Elizabeth Acevedo's Poet X, it is written in verse, but it is organized in sections that have a staggered timeline - moving back and forth from high school, to college, to grade school. I liked Poet X better, but someone who likes dance, or a first year college experience, etc. might like this book as much or more. 

I would love to see how students respond to this book.  I will definitely recommend it to any student looking for a coming of age novel, a novel in verse, a book with a strong female lead, or just a read with a lot of heart.

Redeemed

Neanderthal  Opens the Door to the Universe by Preston Norton
Los Angeles : Hyperion, 2018.
410 p. ; 21 cm.

This book came highly recommended to me, so I was looking forward to reading it.  I have to say that my initial reaction was pretty negative.  Ever since Catcher in the Rye, there have been YA authors who have attempted to recreate the sensational and simmering genius of Holden Caulfield in their characters - especially male characters.  I felt that Cliff, Norton's hero/anti-hero of this novel, was just too witty and cynical and sarcastic and world weary, etc.  It just felt overwrought, and with a bit of too much "bro" energy (the kid LOVES Tarantino movies, need I say more?).  But I decided to hang on with the book and it kind of won me over.

First, the plotting is well paced and the characters (though a bit over done) are interesting and fun to watch as the book evolves.  The plotting is also creative (a near death experience with a visit from God changes one character completely, a Sermon Showdown is a major event, and surprise revelations are revealed) and make for a fun read.  Finally, the book - in spite of some serious "dude" energy, has a lot of heart and delves into some serious questions about life and meaning. 

So yes, there is a heavy bit of Neanderthal energy running through this comic drama, but it really does have some surprises and does try to open a door to the universe.  It might just appeal to readers who are put off by more staid fare. 

It's a book I'll definitely mention to students looking for something different and meaningful. It does have a bit of crude language and some light sexual situations which is a consideration of course. 

Varnished Unvarnish

Same but Different: Teen Life on the Autism Express by Holly Robinson Peete, Ryan Elizabeth Peete, & RJ Peete.
New York : Scholastic Press, 2016.
183 p. ; 22 cm.

A teacher assistant stopped in recently to ask about a biography dealing with autism.  We ended up finding this family biography written mainly by two high school twins - the boy "Charlie" has autism and the girl "Callie" does not.

The book is written in alternating chapters where each sibling talks about the experiences of life being a teen and about life dealing with autism. 

The book can be really blunt and honest - the girl talking about frustrations and embarrassing situations, and the boy talking about being frustrated and misunderstood.  What brings the book together is the familial love that binds these young people and the that undergirds their whole family.

I think this is a great, easy to read, and interesting introduction to autism.  I would definitely recommend it.

Touching on Family

Far from the Tree by Robin Benway

New York, NY : HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]

374 p. ; 22 cm.

At first glance, it might seem surprising that Far From the Tree won the 2017 National Book Award.  In some ways it seems like a typical teen "problem novel" - one about three teens who share the same birth mother, but who have had very different lives since birth, and reconnect in various ways as they try to bond with each other and figure out what family really means.     

But the writing is strong in this novel and - in spite of myself - I found myself tearing up several times throughout the book. The emotional moves in the book are subtly developed and when they reach a climax they are quite convincing.

The novel also draws strength from having both a common thread - the three characters are all children of the same birth mother - and from having really complex dynamics: one of the sisters has just given up a baby of her own, one of the teens has an adoptive family that is experiencing a divorce, and one of the teens never got adopted at all.

Each character grows separately and in interactions with the others as the novel moves through several intense episodes and moves toward a final climax that is surprising and also satisfying.

If you have a student looking for a compelling read about family relationships, this novel is highly recommended.

Open Heart

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, [2017].
445 p. ; 22 cm.

Yes, it's kind of a long book (logging in at over 400 pages) but it reads pretty easily and it really is a lovely book to read.  A cursory description of the book (teen with dead mother has loving gay adoptive father, smart snarky female friend who loses her mother, and homeless friend who loses his mother, all set in a Mexican American family setting in El Paso) might make it seem like a parody of the YA realistic problem novel, but it is a lot more than that.

The novel is definitely a bildungsroman centering on Sal, the boy whose mother died when he was three and who left him in the care of her wonderful gay friend, the painter Vincente who raises him.  Sal has to deal with changes in him that happen during his senior year.  Who "really" is he?  What is this new anger that causes him to punch out a couple of bigots and homophobes? How will he cope with the loss of his beloved aunt Mima who is old and dying.  And what about his friend Sam - who is very smart and ambitious, but only dates crummy "bad" boys? And theirs Fito, too, Sal's friend who lives with an addict mother - is studious and saving up for college - and ends up homeless?  Yes, it's a lot and yet, Sáenz manages to spin out his novel as if he's just telling you the true story of his own life. 

There is so much heart in this novel.  Several passages really did get me teary, especially the depth of friendship between the teens and the depth of parental love from Sal's father.  As a Kirkus review states, this book is another "stellar, gentle look into the emotional lives of teens on the cusp of adulthood."

In this year of bigotry, racism, presidential vulgarity, and government-inspired hatred of immigrants, reading this novel felt like a spa-vacation for my heart and a retreat for my mind.

Yes, I would recommend it!

Still Strong

Speak: the graphic novel by Laurie Halse Anderson (artwork by Emily Carroll)
New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018.
371 p. : chiefly ill. ; 22 cm. 

I am very pleased that a graphic novel adaptation of Anderson's groundbreaking YA novel, Speak, is now out.  It's hard to believe that it has been almost 20 years since Speak came out.  It is a powerful story of a freshman girl who is shamed and shunned for calling the police during a summer party. Melinda, the hero of the novel, also silences herself until she is finally able to speak her truth - she called the police because she was raped by a popular senior boy.

In the powerful introduction to this graphic novel, Anderson states that she first wrote Speak to "deal with the depression and anxiety that had shadowed me since I was raped when I was thirteen years old." She also notes that graphic novels were not the popular and available format for literature that they are now and that most of the social media now so prevalent did not exist back then.  That made her story perfect for updating.

Sadly, her story's as necessary as ever.  Even as I write this, the President of the US (admitted sexual predator ) has just mocked a rape survivor .

Speak has remained a novel that still circulates widely, and hopefully this graphic novel will expand the number of people who read it.

Thumbs Up All the Way Down

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
New York : Atheneum, [2017]
306 p. ; 22 cm.

I'm a fan of Jason Reynolds, especially his When I was the Greatest, and somewhat of his foray into superhero fiction; this work did not disappoint.  I wasn't sure I'd like his novel in verse; when that genre fails, it reads like mediocre prose chopped into lines.  Instead, in this novel the poetry works.  The poems help to enhance the ghostly narrative of the work (the main character is visited by ghosts of friends and family who have been killed by guns), and Reynolds uses a lot of assonance, consonance and internal rhymes to keep the language snapping and tight.

The movement of Reynolds' story is also creative and satisfying.  Will, a young man is on his way to avenge the shooting/killing of his dearly loved older brother, Shawn.  Taking the elevator down from the 7th floor,  he is visited at each floor by the ghosts of various people he's known who have been shot.  These ghosts offer insights, challenges and experience to Will.

The novel manages to be moving, thought-provoking, and interesting.  It also doesn't end wrapped up and tidy.  I would definitely recommend this book.

Perfectly Not Perfect

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, [2017]
344 p. ; 22 cm.

I added this book to the library this school year after seeing it highly recommended in a review, and then seeing that it was a finalist for The National Book Award, I figured I had to read it.  I am very glad that I did. 

This book was great.  I was afraid that it would be a bit of a sentimentalizing or romanticizing look at a Mexican American family, but instead it was a book about the complex and difficult pains of loving and hating your family, of feeling trapped, of being poor, and of not fitting in.  It's not only a family drama, but is also a mystery of a death and unraveling the secret life of someone you think you know (or maybe I should say unraveling the secret lives of several people you think you know).  At its heart it's a thoughtful book about love.  It is a very tender book, but unlike Canales' The Tequila Worm, it has a lot of edge to it. 

The book follows the main character, high-schooler Julia, as she tries to grapple with several challenges: who really was her older, "perfect," recently deceased sister, how can she escape the limits of family and neighborhood to become the writer and intellectual she hopes to be, and how can she deal with the oppressive love of her grief stricken and overly strict parents?  Julia's trials over the course of the novel are interesting, sometimes surprising, often funny and worth the read.   Will I recommend this book? Absolutely



     

Transformative

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
New York : Flatiron Books, 2016.
280 p. ; 22 cm.

I'm glad I read Russo's book about a transgender teen girl who has moved to live with her father and attend a new high school after bullying and brutal assault at her previous hometown and school.

I think what I loved most is that the book manages to be basically a sweet tale of friendship and romance - while threading that narrow ground of avoiding being either a tale of brutality and violence or a naive upbeat "everything will be okay" fable.  As the review from Kirkus notes, it is "a sweet, believable romance that stokes the fires of hope without devolving into saccharine perfection or horrific tragedy."

It's a great book for trans teens, adults and cisgender folks like me! 

I also really liked that the author, a trans woman, has an afterword, especially meant for cis readers, where she explains ways in which her story reflects only one version of reality (and a creatively fictionalize one at that), and should not be taken as plain truth guide to what life is like for trans teens.  She also includes several hotline resources for readers who may be contemplating suicide.

Too Sunny, but It is the Sun!

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
New York, N.Y. : Dial Books, an imprint of Penguin Group, 2014
371 p. ; 24 cm.

This is a book that won me over.  Thirty or forty pages in, I was thinking, "It's just too overwrought; the writing is trying too hard." However, by the time I finished it, I was lost in it, and - honestly - kind of sad to be done with it.  Nelson achieves something that is very hard to do: the writing style captures the inner and emotional life of the narrator's point of view - and does this with two alternating narrators. Additionally, her novel manages to be interesting, thoughtful, emotional, and at times, truly profound.

I told a friend that I had really enjoyed I'll Give You the Sun, and they said, "What's it about?" I ended up saying things like,  "It's about a family falling apart.  It's about the passion for art.  It's about the secrets people keep.  It's about making art.  It's about falling in love.  It's about coming of age.  It's about death." So you get the idea.  There's a lot to like about this book.

I recommend checking out Jandy Nelson's web page, where you can see all the crazy praise that her book has received, and - what I loved best - take a look at the "Gallery" to see some of the art and hard work that inspires this novel.

This is definitely a book I'll be pointing students to. And yes, that is a hanging preposition!

    

Swoosh!

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, [2014]
237 p. ; 22 cm.

One advantage of being home sick is getting around to reading books that were on my backlist.  The Crossover is one of those, and it helped that I mentioned it a few weeks ago to a student, who told me he liked it.    

The Crossover is a "novels in verse" which I'm not as taken with as some readers are, but Kwame Alexander's novel received such glowing praise and awards - including  the prestigious Newbery Award and honors from the Coretta Scott King Awards - that I felt I had to read it.

I have no complaints about the book.  Alexander dazzles with his lively poems and energetic vocabulary and style.  The narrative of the book - involving twin brothers who are very young basketball phenoms - is exciting, fascinating, filled with sports and family drama, and is unpredictable.  What more could you want?

Really my only gripe is that the book is pretty young for a high school audience.  It feels VERY middle school - including the one twin brother's utter incomprehension that his other brother is more interested in romantic love than in hanging out with him! I guess I'll still recommend the book, but just mention that the main characters are middle schoolers, not high schoolers.

Floats Like a Butterfly

Bed-stuy Setting of When I was the Greatest

When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds
New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2014]
231 p. ; 22 cm.  

This is one of those books that really exceeds expectations!  I read it because I saw that it had won the John Steptoe - New Talent / Coretta Scott King Award for 2015 and had received numerous positive reviews (e.g. Publishers Weekly and Kirkus), and I wanted to see for myself if it was a book I could recommend.  Also, I'm always on the lookout for diverse authors - our school is a very diverse school - and Jason Reynolds, a young African-American writer living in Brooklyn, interested me.

Would I recommend this book?  The answer is a definite Yes!  I loved this book.  One of the reviewers on Goodreads writes, "Jason Reynolds just slays the voice in this book.  Slays it," and I have to agree.  His voice reminded me a lot of Christopher Paul Curtis, the wonderful author of Bud not Buddy. But, where Bud not Buddy is aimed at middle school readers, Reynolds book hits right at the high school age reader.

What I loved about Reynolds book is that it deals with the rough life of the urban working poor and unemployed - and does so with humor, a light touch and a lot of heart.  There is action in this book, a bit of sex (or almost sex), physical violence, lawbreaking, and cussing, but the heart of the book is about loyalty, friendship, acceptance, and - dare one say it? - love.

It's funny to me that the cover, seen here,

was actually controversial!  I was disappointed with the cover, but not for it being too provocative.  On the contrary, I think it's a weak cover that doesn't grab the attention of a high school reader.  A stunning portrait of a kid in a fight, or shadows on a Brooklyn street, or hustlers on a street corner would have been far more compelling.  Honestly, when I first saw the book, I thought "Oh, cool it's a new LGBT book!" For the record, it's not.

Cover aside, I will definitely recommend this book to any student looking for an all-around good read or a fresh take on urban life, drama, and growing up.

Honey and Dream

Bone Gap by Laura Ruby
New York, NY : Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015.
345 p. ; 22 cm.

What a fine and unusual novel this is.  In some ways I think I should end my review here and say, "Just read it for yourself, and see."

I read Bone Gap after seeing it come up several times - a finalist for the National Book Award and a Printz Prize winner this year.  As you can see on the author's website, the book has received a great deal of high praise - and I'd have to concur.  The author both employs - and cleverly does away with - realistic narrative.  Several reviews acknowledged "magical realism," but it is more than that - dreamy, psychological and mythical.

I love that the novel is set in a town that actually exists in my home state, and yet it really only exists between the covers of the book. I also appreciate that the novel could well be a lovely little adult novel and not just a young adult novel.  It tells the story (stories) of two brothers, the likeable and unlikable characters of the town, a Polish immigrant, a kidnapping, a romance (two romances?) and the magic of love and imagination.  What more could you want from a simple, and not so simple, coming of age story.

The novel made me think a bit of Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, Master's Spoon River Anthology, and even works of Günter Grass.  If you like well written novels, with a touch of romance, mystery, magic and danger, then Bone Gap should definitely be on your to-read list.

Ghostly Thrills

Famous Last Words by Katie Alender
New York, NY : Point, 2014.
312 p. ; 22 cm.

I'm usually no fan of books about serial killers - but I decided to read this one since it got many positive reviews, including being chosen for YALSA's 2015 Top Ten Quick Picks for reluctant readers.

I found Famous Last Words an entertaining read.  I liked that its focus is not so much on the details of the murders that are happening in the world of the main character, but instead on the life of teen protagonist, Willa, as she has wrestles with grief over her deceased father and her radically new life in Hollywood where her new step-father is a well-known and very wealthy movie director.

To complicate matters, there is a ghost in the new house where Willa and her mother now live.  Willa also has to navigate life as a new student in a new high school where she makes one new friend, Marnie, and comes to have a reluctant friendship with Wyatt, her lab partner who has a creepy obsession with the murders. Throw a very cute and romantic young assistant to her new father into the mix and the plot just zooms along.

It's not a great read, but it's a fun read, and one I'd recommend to any student asking if we had a good thriller, or murder mystery, or ghost story, or romance - or all of the above!

Homage to Gatsby

Even In Paradise by Chelsey Philpot
New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2014]
360 p. ; 22 cm.

This debut novel received a lot of praise and I think it is well deserved.  So often I'll read a young adult novel where the characters are on witty overdrive, or hyped-up cynicism - but not Chelsey Philpot's Paradise. The Booklist reviewer notes that there is "nothing...we haven't seen before" - and notes that Philpot knows this too, and so offers a graceful pleasure of a read as she probes the intensities of love - in friendship, in family, and in romance.

The novel revels in the private boarding school setting, the old-money wealthy setting of the Buchanan's vacation estate on Nantucket.  She also conveys the way that this wealth and Buchanan's sense of having an elite place in the world wows the narrator who - from a working class family - is attending the boarding school and becomes a part of the Buchanan "family" due to fortunate happenstance.

I was pleased that Philpot did not over use the upper class - lower class differences to create false drama, but instead leaves it to the main character to figure out what can work, and what can not as she finds herself more and more involved and more and more in love with the "great Buchanans."

I'd definitely recommend this to a student who likes well written relationship novels.