Salvage the Bones is Jesmyn Ward’s National Book Award-winning story of a 14-year-old African-American girl and her family living near the Mississippi coast in the days before, during and after Hurricane Katrina.
Review: The Girl from Everywhere
The Girl from Everywhere, the debut novel by Heidi Heilig, puts family drama, relationship drama and the thrill of adventure aboard a time-traveling pirate ship. It’s a setup for an exciting book full of tension and suspense, and the book doesn’t disappoint.
Review: The Sun is Also a Star
The Sun is Also a Star is Nicola Yoon’s National Book Award Finalist bestselling novel. It’s told over the course of a single NYC day from two perspectives, and is so good you’ll have a hard time putting it down. NOTE: it will also make you cry.
Review: Don’t Read the Comments
Don’t Read the Comments, by author and literary agent Eric Smith, is a heartwarming story about a teenaged female gamer fighting back against online trolls who move their attacks to the real world.
Review: The Cheerleaders
The Cheerleaders, by Kara Thomas, is a thriller about five cheerleaders killed the same tragic school year. It was inspired by a true story from about 30 years ago in Dryden, NY, not far from my hometown.
Review: Stamped – Racism, Antiracism, and You
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You is Jason Reynolds’s remix of Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning. It makes Kendi’s vital 600-page history of racism in America much more accessible to a younger audience. I found it enlightening, both for the history I was unaware of, as well for casting a new perspective on the history I already knew.