Alex is a visionary, literally. He can see the future of the things that he touches –every day things and things close to him. And it terrifies him, because not all futures are pretty. While the first few chapters set a groundwork, the rest of the novel is a groundswell of suspense. It takes diving deep into his past, and that of his family, to come to terms with how the future could play out. Brittney Morris asks readers to check themselves, and their preconceived notions, through Alex’s experiences. Shedding a tear or laughing alongside the characters, Morris gives us another look with a special-power twist into the life of a young Black American. A worthy addition because of the super-natural element as most black male protagonists that are being written are just realistic fiction tropes.

Brave Face, a memoir by Shaun David Hutchinson, is not light-hearted reading.  Hutchison explores his self-worth, sexuality, depression, and anxiety through a tumultuous time in his life. All of it – good, bad, and ugly. His journey is told honestly as he swirls through thoughts of self.

Shaun struggled to fit in even in parochial elementary schools with many trips to the principal’s office. High school finds him in all new surroundings in a much larger public school with none of his old friends around.  His love of fantasy stories allows him to land a part in a school play and he feels at home with the students in the drama department. He learns he can “play a part” even in real life because of his sexuality. This leads to little things setting him off with feelings of anger and rage, such as his mom asking him to do a simple chore. In Shaun’s words, “By society’s definition, any gay man was going to live a lonely life of constant lies, die of aids, become the victim of someone who didn’t even see him as a human being, or worse. There was no future to being gay.  Therefore, I couldn’t be gay. I had a future. I’d spent a lifetime building the vision of who I wanted to be, and that person was not a fag.” Some friends will walk away as he decides to come out after high school. But he is a smart man and continues to do well academically.

Throughout the book, Shaun shares his thought process and contorted inner self-talk and the role depression has played in his life. Which Shaun was he? Why was he smoking? The cutting and burning to hide his intellectual self-loathing. The drugs. The break-ups. The suicide attempt. The commitment for treatment. The recovery. The straight-A student. The brilliant writer.

His story is written to show there is light at the end of the tunnel. It could be an eye-opener that will help one in their understanding of self or others.  Ultimately, it is a look into the mind that is a beautiful, exciting, and scary thing.

As part of the History of Crime and Punishment series, Abdo’s For-Profit Prisons explains the concept and history behind the creation of for-profit prisons. As early as 1825, the state of Kentucky began the practice of making money by leasing out prisoners. When slavery was abolished, the use of prisoners became more common as a means to replace slave labor. Newspaper accounts of the mistreatment and inhumane conditions forced Congress to pass legislation barring Federal prisons from leasing out their prisoners, but it could not curb private prisons on a national level. Individual states enacted their own patchwork of laws. But when the US got “tough on crime” in the 1980’s with drug possession laws and the 1990’s with three-strikes laws, prison populations ballooned and taxpayers didn’t want to pay for more prisons. Private investors were back in action. Private prisons are on the radar again today because of cost and treatment of inmates. This text gives plenty of specific details to teach readers about both sides of the prison argument. If this is a topic students in your school might investigate, perhaps in a street law course, then Harris’ text is worthy.

Parvin Mohammadi outwardly shows confidence in her boisterous comments and snarky remarks. But as with most fourteen-year-old girls, Parvin second-guesses herself, especially when it comes to boys. As the summer wraps up, Parvin has fallen for Wesley, who held her hand and then kissed her. They are an item, now, right? So why won’t he acknowledge her at the 9th-grade orientation two days later? As he explains, Parvin is just “too much”. Why does she feel so sorry for herself is one question she should be asking. But instead, she asks, how can I get him back. Enter the plan to slow her roll and make him jealous. All Parvin has to do is get Matty to ask her to homecoming. Surely that will let Wesley know he’s made a grave mistake. With best friends Fabian and Ruth helping to run the plot, Parvin pretend-flirts with Matty while also subconsciously flirting with her Farsi teacher and friend Amir. Intentions will become muddied, in as much as Parvin is muddied in realizing that she should not have to change who she is to impress a romantic interest and if she does, she’ll lose far more. This Iranian-American teen will see that self-confidence begins with self-love and her crazy hair, room-filling laugh, and prank-loving spirit are what make her Perfectly Parvin.

The third and final book in Rebecca Schaeffer’s trilogy that started with Not Even Bones and gained depth in Only Ashes Remain, might leave readers feeling a little disappointed in characters in When Villians Rise. Character development was a strong suit in book two of the series, yet this reader felt it could have been taken a step further here. While the main focus is on Nita surviving, the best aspect of this book is that Schaeffer didn’t let the text turn into a teenage romance novel. Instead, the reality of relationships not going down that path was refreshing. Much of the end was a shock with many twists and turns — maybe too many. Nonetheless, the storyline wraps up leaving a reader feeling satisfied. Finish the trilogy in your library if you have the other two.

In the sequel to Not Even Bones, Rebecca Schaeffer’s energy continues from the first and dives further into Nita and Fabricio histories — character development being the focus of Only Ashes Remain. It’s not often that an author can bring that energy to the backgrounds of characters and move the plot along as well. Schaeffer masterfully keeps readers guessing what will happen next while they also watch characters start to change, grow, and be resilient. This resiliency is a trait young readers need to recognize more often in today’s world. The villains are rising up, leaving a nice cliffhanger to keep readers wanting the next in the series and is aptly named as such. A well-constructed sequel, if students liked Not Even Bones, they will most likely enjoy this continuation Nita’s struggle to succeed in getting revenge.

The Seventh Raven, by David Elliott, ropes readers into a fantasy story of a family, their dreams, and their reality. In a family of seven boys, Jack and Jane would like a girl. Once born, April struggles to stay alive until a curse allows her to thrive at the cost of all of her brother’s lives. April will spend her young adult life trying to find a way to break the curse. But Robyn, the seventh boy, will not want to escape the curse. David Elliott’s poetic creativity here is masterful. He found just the right word choice, just the right cadence, and just the right tone for each character. All of these choices are also explained at the end of the text — an ah-ha for those that didn’t catch the stylistic and tonal shifts. This novel in verse could easily be used in the classroom for students to discover many aspects of poetry. For IB schools outside of the US, this would be an excellent work in translation. Highly recommended for lovers of literature.

The NBM Graphic Novels publisher has another home run with the terse writing of Alex Nikolavitch combined with the creative reflectiveness of Feliz Ruiz’s art in The Disney Bros.: The Fabulous Story of Walt and Roy. Nikolavitch thrusts the reader into the tension of Roy and Walt’s working relationship. Both men are “ideas” men but Walt comes off as a little more savvy and a little more gruff. Success was not immediate once Mickey Mouse came to life, but with playing his cards right in the Hollywood market, Walt and Roy are able slowly become the dominant force in the cartoon industry. Walt has been coined a visionary before and Nikolavitch portrays this aspect of his story as the strongest characteristic of the man — always looking for the next opportunity to go bigger. From comics to talkies to full-length feature movies to the crazy idea of an amusement park, Walt may have vented his frustrations in boisterous ways but he did not let frustrations stop his creativity in how the business could grow. Readers will also see that the business life of all things Disney were not all happy endings, despite their overall success.

Ruiz’s graphics were spot on, from the “Hollywoodland” version of the Hollywood sign in the 1920’s to TV cameras on set in the 1950’s. The variety of sizes of panes and overlapping of backgrounds felt perfect for the tension that existed between the two brothers. While students might not see this during a 1st read, it wouldn’t surprise this reader if students checked it out again and again, slowly realizing how well the graphics support the “angle” Nikolavitch refers to in the introduction of the book.

Overall, this is a highly recommended graphic biography for school and public libraries.