Teen Tuesday: A Thousand Steps into the Night by Traci Chee

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Happy Tuesday!  Teen Tuesday features A Thousand Steps into the Night by Traci Chee. Seventeen-year-old Otori Miuko is doomed. She was born, plain and clumsy, into the serving class, bound by restrictive gender and class roles. Still, her father took care of her, even after her mother deserted the family. Then, Miuko is cursed by a demon and she's driven from her village. She has two weeks to undo the curse before she's changed into her demon form forever. She rescues a magpie from some foxes and discovers that it is the shape-shifting trickster, Geiki, who is now in her debt for saving his life. The two set out across Awara and they encounter evil humans and gods as well as unexpected allies.

This fast-paced adventure is filled with gods from Japanese mythology, memorable characters and vivid world building. Atmospheric, suspenseful and filled with moments of humor, this dark fantasy will appeal to fans of Studio Ghibli. 

The narration was well-paced, with the narrator sounding suitably youthful. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Debating Darcy by Sayantani Dasgupta

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Debating Darcy by Sayantani Dasgupta. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~8 hours. Read by Deepa Samuel. Scholastic Audio, April, 2022.  9781338813746. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library. Own hc.)

Happy Tuesday! It's a dreary, gray, rainy but mild day here in northern NJ. Teen Tuesday features Debating Darcy by Sayantani Dasgupta. This updated and fun retelling of Pride and Prejudice centers around Leela Bose, a star on her public school speech and debate team and Firoze Darcy, a member of the exclusive Netherfield Academy debate team. This hating to dating romance wonderfully captures Jane Austen's themes of classism and sexism and adds issues of racism and homophobia.

The cast of characters is diverse, with Leela being a Bengali American and biracial Darcy being half Pakastani and half white. Leela's teammates are multiethnic and very smart. Dr. Dasgupta brings the world of high stakes high school speech and debate culture to life and cleverly hides easter eggs for fans of the original. Fans of Pride and Prejudice will get a kick out of this clever retelling, but readers unfamiliar with the classic will be able to enjoy it as well. Recommended. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

Image: Scholastic

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~ 7hours, 39 minutes. Read by Alaska Jackson. Scholastic Audio, 2020. 9781338637625. (Review of finished audio borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson. This delightful first-person narrative is Ms. Johnson's sparkling debut. Liz Lighty is our narrator and she charms from the start with her wry, occasionally snarky observations about her prom-obsessed town in the midwest. One example I had to jot down is, "Derek's grand finale, I kid you not, is the lift...looks less like Baby and more like Simba looking over the Pridelands, but, whatever." I read this one with my ears. Had I been reading with my eyes, the entire book would've been flagged with post-its!

Not only is she too poor to be concerned about all things prom, but as one of few Black students, she has never seen anyone who looks like her on the prom court. Besides, music is her thing and she has a plan to get out of her small town - obtaining a scholarship to her dream school, playing in their orchestra and studying like mad to become a doctor. When the scholarship falls through, Liz is crushed until she realizes that the prom queen winner gets a scholarship. Hm. Should she put herself out there? While the book is often laugh-out-loud funny, thoughtful readers will contemplate timely issues like privilege, anxiety and identity. 

I just loved this one! New-to-me narrator perfectly embodied Liz and she had a nice range of voices and superb timing and pacing. I will look out for more books narrated by her as well as Ms. Johnson's sophomore offering.

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

Image: Tantor Media

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~10 hours. Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller. Tantor Audio, 2019. 9781977304018. (Review of E-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee. Seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan is an orphan who lives with Old Gin, a grandfatherly man who took her in as an infant and fostered her for her entire life. The two squat in the basement of a building that houses a struggling newspaper. Jo has just lost her job at a milliner even though she is a gifted hat maker. The reason? Jo is Chinese and the owner does not want her patrons to have to deal with Jo, even as she steals Jo's ideas. Old Gin, who works as a groom for one of Atlanta's richest families, has found Jo a job as a lady's maid to the spoiled daughter. Jo had previously worked for the family but was inexplicably fired several years earlier. She's not happy to return, but she needs the money. She's also worried about the newspaper closing. The family that runs it are nice, but more importantly, where will she and Old Gin sleep if the paper shuts down? She wonders what she could do to help. After she notices that the rival newspaper's advice column seems to be popular, she writes and submits a sample, "Miss Sweetie" column. 

This is epic historical fiction, after a bit a slow start. It was needed to set up the many characters and vivid Post-Reconstruction setting. I also needed to get used to the narrator. Once that gelled, I was fully invested and immersed in the story. While I was eager to find out the mystery of Jo's parentage, I really didn't want the story to end. The book was peopled with characters I would want to know in real life. Narrator Emily Woo Zeller had distinct voices for all the characters. 

Teens who are fans of historical fiction will gobble this up. I sure did love it. The audiobook cover is rather nondescript. I love the book's cover. 

Image: Penguin Random House