The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Have you seen or read this book yet? It was sort of everywhere last year. I finally got my hands on it and read it a few weeks ago, and WOAH. 

Starr Carter lives in Garden Heights, but goes to school in a more prestigious part of the city. None mostly as being the daughter of her father the store owner, Starr is a bit in limbo. She doesn't really fit in in Garden Heights, but going to a school in a different neighborhood is somewhat surreal as well--she goes home to a different world than all her classmates. 

After a party breaks up, Starr is heading home with a childhood best friend when they are pulled over by a cop. They have been told how to act when a cop stops you, but Khalil goes a little off script by moving to see if Starr is okay when the officer doesn't expect it. Within seconds he is dying on the ground. 

Suddenly, Starr is in the maelstrom emotions--grief over losing yet another childhood friend to senseless violence, disbelief as the media paints a completely different picture of Khalil than the Khalil she knew, and indecision about whether she should speak out as the only witness to his death. She has spoken to the detectives, but she is only referred to as "the witness" in the media. Should she speak out? Would her family be in danger if she did? How would her friends and white boyfriend at her prep school react? 

In the midst of her grief and indecision, Starr's older brother's step-dad starts getting more and more out of hand. As the local drug lord, King has reigned over his small kingdom of Garden Heights and destroys those who question him. When their neighborhood is the center of media attention, a neighbor speaks out against King and so begins an internal, neighborhood struggle while this larger police brutality struggle is being played out in national media attention. 

Full of amazing characters, interesting family dynamics, timely racial discussions, and a pervading sense of hope, this book is FABULOUS.  

I loved Starr. Her strength, her humor, her kindness, and resiliency... She is sort of majorly awesome. 

Angie Thomas is kind of majorly awesome too. 

Read this.

Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

This book was so gripping. And while I loved and sympathize with Kiko and exalt with her every victory, it is her awful, horrible, narcissistic mother that caught my imagination so much. She is just SO HORRID. Really. Like no redeeming qualities at all. There is something so fresh and freeing about a character you can hate with no reservations. You don't have to feel conflicted and try to see their good points. Nope. Nada. 

Kiko is a Japanese-American teen dealing with rejection from her only college application--Prism, the prestigious art school she had set her heart on. A chance encounter with her childhood best friend  after a particularly painful episode with her mother leads to a cross the country road trip, romance, (I mean, a cross country road trip and romance is already pretty fabulous, but there is MORE) an incredible mentor and a second chance at dreams. 

I really, super-le-douper loved this book. I mean, obviously her mother is painfully despicable, but that means your emotions aren't pulled out of whack. You are 100% for Kiko and you can follow her story with no reservations or side interests. 

A great quick read! 

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

I have already admitted my book crush on Jason Reynolds, so I don't need to rhapsodize about him all over again. BUT THIS BOOK. 

I am a happy book, happy ending kind of person, so reading the premise for this book, I was pretty hesitant. I mean, the basic idea is a grieving brother heading out to seek revenge on his brother's death by murdering the suspected killer. 

Happy and cheery right? 

Also, I tend to be a little leery of novels told in verse. 

Still, since it was Jason Reynolds, I decided to push through. And let me tell you, I was richly rewarded. 

I remember Beverly Cleary, in talking about how she came to write Henry Huggins, saying young boys came into the library she was working in and asked where the books about kids like themselves were. Cleary realized there weren't many books about regular little kids, and presto! A literary legend was born. 

Jason Reynolds is writing books so that urban, black teens don't need to ask where the books about them are. 

Will, is reeling from his brother's death only a day earlier. A seemingly random shooting that Will thinks is gang related. And if there is one thing Will knows, he knows you have to follow the rules. No crying, no snitching, and get revenge. So Will does what any self-respecting boy would do--follows the rules, grabs a gun, and heads out to get revenge. 

Except, on the ride down in the elevator, Will is visisted by ghosts from his past. They get on one by one at each floor of the building. As they talk to Will and share their stories, Will begins to see that maybe the rules are better off broken. 

As the ghosts share their stories, we see a messy, senseless culture of violence--accidental shootings of children, mistaken revenge killings, burglary gone wrong murders, and a lot of needless pain and sorrow. 

This book begs angry young teens to rethink the vicious cycle of violence. To put down the guns, to find a better way to solve problems, to look to their future and see a world where you don't need to be worried about being gunned down. 

SO GOOD. 

Powerful.

Which is why the cover is now awash in book awards. 

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Werewolves are so not my thing. I am boring, prosaic. I like real people and realistic fiction. I was almost an entire decade behind on the Harry Potter bandwagon. I never felt the need to squeal over Twilight. Dystopian novels are not my gig. I read mid-century girl lit for fluffy, thoughtless reading. (Betty Cavanna-Anne Emery-Janet Lambert devotees unite!)

I know! I. Am. Boring. The thing is, I had a depression/anxiety problem when I was a teen. (I still have it to some extent if I don't exercise/sleep/eat right. In other words, after each and every of my four pregnancies. Postpartum OCD. I didn't know it was a thing, I thought I was just bizarre. But it is legit and turned my world upside down each time.) Reading about uncertainty and never before conceived of things to worry about was not my idea of a good time. I wanted realistic things with problems that could be solved in a mostly happy way. I didn't want sugar sweet, I just wanted some sweetness somewhere. I wanted hope. 

So the depths of dystopian and fantasy themes in today's YA genre were left unplumbed by me. Until I had to take a Young Adult Literature class last spring. I didn't have high hopes, but I figured I could slog through the book list. 

As it turns out, I may not be keen on fantasy, but I do make exception for masterfully executed fantasy. JK Rowling is a genius. I adored the Harry Potter books. But the fact that everyone said Rowling was incredible made me even more convinced that I wouldn't enjoy lesser authors attempts. 

Enter Maggie Stiefvater. 

I am not sure I would go so far as to say she is on the same level as Rowling. But I loved this book. 

There was a bit of angst. There were mystical happenings. There are inter-species longings that were a little weird. 

But they all combine in a marvelous way. Things make sense. Inter-species longings are justified. The entire werewolf thing is believable. (If werewolves living in a brick house in a Minnesota suburb is believable.)

And there is romance. Love that transcends all the weirdness. And best of all, there is hope. 

Sam is a werewolf who is more human than wolf. Grace is a 17 year old human who is really drawn to the wolves in the Minnesota woods behind her home. One wolf in particular stands out--the one with yellow colored eyes. 

As the town demands the death of all the wolves for the suspected attack of a high school student, Sam suddenly finds himself wounded on Grace's back door step in human form. Fortunately, Grace's parents are completely non-involved. She can invite him in and care for him without worrying about her parents finding a teenage boy hanging around in her room. (Despite the werewolf thingy, this was one of the most unbelievable parts.) Of course, they fall in love. There is a connection between them. But why? 

Time is limited. The cold makes Sam turn into a wolf again. And it is October in Minnesota. How long will they have together before he turns? And will he ever turn human again or is this brief time their only shot at happiness? 

Angst. Love. Werewolves. Hope. 

They are all there in glorious technicolor. 

(Of course, there are additional books in the series, if you get hooked.) 

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

This was a really fun read! It is a lovely teen romance.  

Jessie’s mother died a year or so ago. Her father recently went off the deep end and remarried a wealthy movie executive in California. Jessie is uprooted from her familiar Chicago life to try to make a happy family with her father’s new wife and step-son. Her new life includes Wood Valley private school, filled with amazingly wealthy and beautiful people. Jessie feels hopelessly Chicago-an. The popular queen bees take delight in bullying her, most people act like she doesn’t exist, and no one seems even vaguely normal. But then she gets an email from somebody/nobody. He offers to be her guide to Wood Valley High and help her navigate the hazardous landscape of this new school. Is it Liam, the handsome lead singer? Or Caleb who spent his summer hiking Kilamanjaro? Is it her new step-brother who pretends she doesn’t exist, but is surprisingly nice at times? Or is it someone else entirely? Through this anonymous relationship, Jessie gains confidence, friends (“Dri is cool. Befriend her.”), and intrigue that get her through the bumpy first few months of her new life. And the ending, when she finally finds out who Somebody/Nobody is, is delightful and happy making.

So typical teen romance in many ways, but I cared about the characters. They felt realistic-ish. And the anonymity of the email format for Somebody/Nobody is sort of fun. Like a persistant secret admirer--Jessie can tell him things that she might feel awkward telling other people. And how fun to go around thinking I wonder if it is HIM? Or him? Someone nice and interesting likes me! That would have been pretty fun for my teenaged self. 

If you like YA romances without a ton of angst, you will like this!