#tbt: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. 368 p. Shatter Me #1. HarperCollins, 2011.  

Happy Thursday! #tbt features Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. This dystopian series starter is narrated by seventeen-year-old Juliette from solitary confinement, where she has spent nearly. year. She's there because her touch is lethal and the Reestablishment wants to use her as a weapon of terror. She's confused when she suddenly receives a roommate. Adam was a friend. He's also immune to her touch. Can she trust him?

This plot-driven first-person narrative is fast-paced, suspenseful and violent. The romance between Juliette and Adam sizzles with tension. The ending is not a cliffhanger, but leaves enough unresolved that readers will demand the next book.

Shatter Me is Ms. Mafi's debut. It was published in 2011. Five sequels were published between 2013 and 2020.

Middle Grade Monday: Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas. 240 p. HarperAlley/ HarperCollins Publishers, May, 2022. 9780063056763.

Happy Monday! Our students have off for the MLK weekend, but we teachers have PD. Middle Grade Monday features Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas.  Middle schooler Bree isn't too upset to move from Brooklyn to Florida with her single-parent dad. He has been offered a better job. She's even looking forward to starting a new school, hoping to get into an interesting math elective. When all the electives she wants are full and the only one that's available is Swim 101, she freaks. Bree has never learned to swim and she's afraid of the water. So she finds ways to cut the class until her father is notified. After a near-drowning incident at her apartment complex, an older neighbor, Etta, agrees to coach Bree. Bree is filled with anxiety and self-doubt and these thoughts appear in blobby gray thought bubbles that crowd the otherwise vibrant and sunny panel art. This graphic novel educates as well as entertains. Readers will root for Bree.

Swim Team is the author/ illustrator's middle grade debut. It was long listed for the National Book Award, was a Kirkus Best Book and also won a Harvey Award. It won't sit long on the shelf. Highly recommended!

Middle Grade Monday: A-Okay by Jarad Greene

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

A-Okay by Jarad Greene. 240 p. HarperAlley/ HarperCollins Publishers, November, 2021. 9780063032842. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Happy Monday. We had some weather last night! Phew! I hope you are all warm, safe and dry! I have skylights in my bedroom and watching that fierce wind whip around a hundred-year-old American Beech tree in my yard was nerve-wracking.

Middle Grade Monday features A-Okay by Jarad Greene. When thirteen-year-old Jay starts eighth grade with a few pimples, he's not too concerned. He's more concerned over the fact that he has zero classes with any of his friends, including his bestie, Brace. His nemesis, Aaron still has it in for him as well. Then, the pimples multiply. Jay's parents take him to a dermatologist, but none of the medications he prescribes works, so Jay starts Accutane, a drug that has some serious side effects, but works on bad acne. So now Jay has to watch his diet, check for side effects while worrying about why Brace and his other friends are ghosting him. He does make two new friends, Mark and Amy, both of whom seem to show some romantic interest in Jay, but Jay just likes both of them as friends. Is there anything more he can worry about?

This graphic novel is based on the author/ illustrator's own experience with acne as an eighth grader. The art is bright, uncluttered and easy to follow. Flashbacks are purple-hued. Jay is likable and relatable, including his concern over not having crushes on any of his classmates.

Graphic novels are so popular in my library, especially GNs about friendship and crushes. A-Okay is a welcome addition to any graphic novel collection. This won't sit.