The Unwanted is a vivid description of life experiences that result in the people of Syria leaving their homes to find a new place in the world.  In this graphic novel it is easy to relate to the plight of the refugees and understand why they undergo risky and harsh conditions to flee the life threatening war in their homeland.  It is highly understandable as the refugees speak simple sentences about their viewpoints. This book describes the obstacles to finding a new home plus why other countries may not welcome them.  It talks about historical events and the underlying political forces. The stories do tend to be sad. Anyone who wants to build a wall to keep out immigrants should read this book. It is interesting and informative for all levels of readers and I highly recommend it.

With apologies to 12th century romantics Abelard and Helouise, Laura Creedle’s The Love Letters of Abelard and Lilly is a romantic story that skims the surface of complicated issues such as ADHD, Autism, divorce and possibly depression.  Unrealistically, Abelard and Lilly end up in the principal’s office after breaking into a classroom at their school.  After a passionate kiss while awaiting their detention sentence, the two students who have known each other since elementary school obviously are following their loins.  Eye-rolling high school aged drama slowly carries the story until Lily has to decide to have a surgery or run away from home with Abelard.  The mother’s decisions at the end are even more far-fetched and leave this reader wondering how an editor led the author down this path.  This story will be pulled because of its title but I’m don’t think teens will really enjoy it’s trite writing.

In her memoir, March Forward, Girl, Arkansas public school’s integration pioneer Melba Pattillo Beals offers an important perspective on racial oppression in the 1940’s and 50’s American south.  Seen through a child’s eyes, the picture she presents is at both shocking and inspiring as she describes her life leading up to the moment she enrolled in the 1957 all white Little Rock Central High School as one of the “Little Rock Nine”.

Simple prose, detailed events, child’s point-of-view as honest and frank are highlights of this appalling oppression and mistreatment.  Written for readers from 7th grade and up, this is an adult looking back at her childhood that shaped her immensely.  Witnessing a lynching at the age of five, an abduction by the KKK at the age of eleven and escaping an attempted rape are terrible highlights of her narrative.  The subject matter is jarring, which should sadden readers with the reality of our nation’s past.  Lower level ore reluctant readers will be drawn in by the subject matter and accessibility of the writing while more advanced readers will find plenty to ponder.

A charming collection of stories of chance meetings, star-crossed lovers and random coincidences: serendipitous encounters that are remembered forever. Can entwining hands with a handsome stranger give a glimpse to your romantic future?  Can a chance meeting at the airport alter your choice of college? Can hiding out in the bathroom to escape being busted by the cops reveal a secret crush? The brief vignettes in this short story anthology are delightful and thought provoking, representing some of the best twenty-first century YA writers.  Easy to read one or two stories quickly or the whole book, Meet Cute is worth browsing.

A taxidermist, a percussionist, and a fanfic writer walk into a… convention center, not a bar since this is a YA novel. And this begins this humorous, kitchy story from three different authors — Alison Cherry, Lindsay Ribar and Michelle Schusterman.  Callie Buchannon, a taxidermist assistant to the recently separated father, wanted her week to be the chance to reconnect with him. Pheobe Byrd, traveling with her school’s underfunded percussion team, hoped to just make it through the week without too much embarrassment, on the stage and off, now that her two former best friends on the team are dating each other, causing Phoebe emotional strife.  Laden romantic interest in another team member further spins Phoebe’s mind.  Vanessa Montoya-O’Callaghan’s week looks better in person now that she’s met her online college-aged non-monogamous girlfriend, with whom she’s sharing not only the weekend but a room.  Each character’s issues arise in good times and bad in their 1st person voice as the chapters proceed.  Vanessa is coming to realize that the girl who she thought the world of is not all that.  Well-placed inner monologue and discussions with minor characters about gender pronouns help to make this coming-of-age week realistic in today’s world.   And any reader who is into fandoms will love chapters involving Vanessa.  Phoebe’s sudden feelings for her once rival bandmate and Callie’s frustration with her father’s lack of being a father fall into more traditional teen angst topics.  Early in the story Callie states, “Openly talking about taxidermy with someone I liked and respected was such a weird experience.”  For this reader, it is also a weird experience to read it.  Opening the book with Callie’s voice was a risk as young adult readers might not be willing to break through the taxidermy talk before they meet the other characters, but if they can pull through, it is well worth it because once all three worlds start colliding around page 100, this story takes off.  The dust jacket’s premise doesn’t do this book justice.  The interlacing of the stories by these three authors is seamless and the ending transcript and final pages are a basketweave of wedding cake icing — FANtastic.  A clever, episodic (in the best way) read high school students will look forward to when they find it.

Part of Abdo’s Hip-Hop Artists series, Alicia Klepeis biography of Kanye West is both smooth and dynamic, much like the focal artist himself.  Many unique qualities and factoids are brought up by Klepeis.  Readers will get to learn that Kanye was mainly self-taught and pursued other artists, begging them to teach one or two skills at a time.  He first made a name for himself as a producer and as he tried to get a recording contract, industry leaders didn’t think his own rap would sell because he didn’t come from the wrong side of the tracks.  His upper-middle-class household was supported by a single mother though; she was a university professor mother who provided a comfortable, supportive environment.  But Kanye worked for his own money from an early age as well to support his high-class fashion-forward tastes.  Focusing on his multi-faceted talents, Klepeis goes on to chronical Kanye’s albums, awards, and milestone moments in 96 pages of text and photos.  This is a highly accessible biography for middle and high school students, one that probably should be in most high school libraries.

A Few Red Drops by Claire Hartfield tells the story of the Chicago Race Riots of 1919 in a thoughtful, compelling manner.  It presents this event, which was one of many during that sweltering summer of 1919, arising from a build up of social and economic tensions between immigrant European and blacks.  This telling examines not only the event but performs an in-depth analysis of the antecedent conditions that led to this element of a nationwide explosion.  The book begins with an excerpt from a poem by Carl Sandburg, who witnessed the riot, titled “I am the People, the Mob”.  The gist of the poem is that people collectively create history, then collectively forget its lessons so that nothing is learned.  This work is the author’s effort to correct this collective inability to remember so that people may learn about and correct this collective inability to remember so that people can correct past injustices.  The effort is facilitated by the use of photographs, political cartoons, period pamphlets and flyers that effectively support the text, making it come alive and providing the reader with a feeling for what life was like during this period.  A Few Red Drops is a poignant presentation of a, particularly bleak period in the sincere hope that we may, by reliving it, be able to remember and actually begin the work necessary to make a real change in the nature of society.  The work is appropriate for more advanced readers and is highly recommended.

100 Days of Cake, by Shari Goldhagen, is a book about an American high school girl named Molly Bryne whose mother makes a new cake every day in an effort to make life better.  Molly has mental health issues and faces challenges including with her employment where they are so bored they watch TV and a younger sister who seems so perfect. She goes above and beyond when her job seems to be ending and then the unthinkable happens.  Will Molly crumble? The easy readability of this book with highly relatable characters will appeal to young adults. Set in the summer when life slows down,  what happened to Molly is shocking and brings readers back to the harsh realities of life. While the background of Molly’s family life is sad, they now live a more “normal” life. Will that normalcy help Molly in her time of questioning, crisis and grief?   Will cake help?  Highly unlikely.  Recommended as an additional purchase for high school and public libraries.  

No Good Deed, Goldy Moldavsky’s latest Y.A. offering, certainly lives up to what the famous phrase declares: “No good deed goes unpunished”. It is true for the lively cast of characters who head to tech genius Robert Drill’s summer camp for youthful activists, Camp Save the World, run haphazardly by his new stepson, Jimmy.

Ablaze with zeal and commitment to Feed the Children of the world, Gregor Maravilla signs up for what he expects to be a summer of learning how to achieve his lofty goal while meeting others with their own burning issues, such as Men’s Rights, Diabetes Awareness, Down with Styrofoam, Boycott Camp and Stop Clubbing Baby Seals. Unfortunately, once a prize is introduced to the mix, underhanded competition and dirty tricks prevail as things get dangerous.

When teen movie star Ashley Woodstone (Eat Dirt) shows great interest in Gregor, he feels annoyed. Ultimately, however, their unlikely friendship helps Gregor realize that saving the world happens first in the heart, and then in the many little worlds where change can be truly made.

Engrossing, funny, tender and totally on-point, this book explores what happens ‘when doing right goes wrong’ while being a delicious satire on activism and activists going quite a bit too far. Highly recommended.  

Reviewed by Holly Graham for Kristi Bonds