#tbt: Fat Angie by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo

Image: Candlewick Press

Fat Angie by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo. 272 p.  Candlewick Press, March 12, 2013. 9780763680190. 

#tbt features a favorite of mine, Fat Angie by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo. Angie is one of a handful of characters that are carved into my heart and I grew to love her more with each sequel, Fat Angie: Rebel Girl Revolution (2019) and Fat Angie: Homecoming (2021). The voice is riveting and raw. 

Fat Angie won a 2014 Stonewall Award and was named to the Rainbow list as well as several State Book Lists. 

Teen Tuesday: Stepping Off by Jordan Sonnenblick

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Stepping Off by Jordan Sonnenblick. 336 p. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., June, 2024. 9781339023175.

Teen Tuesday features Stepping Off by Jordan Sonnenblick. Sixteen-year-old Jesse Dienstag lives on Staten Island, commutes into Manhattan to attend a prestigious public school and yearns to leave the real world for his family's vacation home in Pennsylvania each summer where he teaches tennis at the local recreation center and hangs out with his two besties, Chloe and Ava, who also happen to live on the same cul de sac as Jesse. There's a wrinkle this summer though. Jesse realizes that he is in love. With both of them. If he's being honest though, he's a bit more in love with Chloe and hopes he can maintain his best friendship with Ava. Love problems aren't the only things Jesse is facing during the summer of 2019. He's devastated to learn that his parents' marriage is in trouble, though neither one addresses the issue with him. His perfect July 4th moment with Chloe and Ava is marred by tragedy, leaving Jesse and Chloe struggling to find ways to support Ava and her sister. 

Returning to the "real world" leaves Jesse stressed and his school work suffers. He also feels a bit left behind by his city best friend, Carson, who seems to have matured over the summer. Visits to Chloe and Ava don't help. As the stress builds, the pandemic hits. 

No one does male teen angst the way Jordan Sonnenblick does. Jesse is smart, self-deprecating and a bit wise beyond his years, but so dorky and cringey, yet hilarious in his romantic misadventures. My students love Jordan's books, and I know this won't sit. Stepping Off is the perfect romance for middle school readers. 

 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Once Upon a Quinceañera by Monica Gomez-Hira

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Once Upon a Quinceañera by Monica Gomez-Hira. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~10 hours. Read by Monica Gomez-Hira. HarperTeen/ HarperAudio, March, 2021. 9780063061415. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features Once Upon a Quinceañera by Monica Gomez-Hira. The only thing standing between Carmen Aguilar and her high school diploma is an internship. She didn't complete it during senior year due to the harassment she suffered from her project supervisor. The only internship she could find on such short notice was as a party princess. The last thing she wants to do is dress up as Belle and sing "Beauty and the Beast" for a bunch of five-year-olds, but that's what she needs to do. Her situation goes from bad to worse when she learns that her "Beast" partner is none other than Mauro, an ex who also had something to do with her estrangement from her cousin and the cancelling of her own quinceañera three years earlier.

Carmen is a wisecracking firecracker who doesn't suffer fools gladly. Yet, there is still chemistry between her and Mauro. The family dynamics are dramatic and sometimes hilarious. There is definitely a soap opera feel to all the angst. There's also foul language, underage drinking and other risky behavior in the story. Mature eighth grade readers who enjoy romance and know or want to learn about quinceañeras will be entertained. 

The lively narration kept things interesting.

#tbt: Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

Image: Sourcebooks

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach. Felton Reinstein Trilogy #1. 311 p. Sourcebooks Fire/ Sourcebooks, June, 2011. (Own)

Happy Thursday! Did you enjoy the break in the heat that we had here in northern NJ yesterday? I was able to take Boo for a nice long walk, which was nice because I hadn't been getting my steps in because of the heat.  

#tbt features Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach. This book introduces Felton Reinstein, a sixteen-year-old with one friend and no interest in sports until puberty suddenly hits and he has grown incredibly tall and become "stupid fast." Now the football coach is inviting him to train with the team and the track coach wants him to run. Oh, and a beautiful girl moved in next store for the summer. Before you think things are looking up for Felton, I need to mention that his family has some pretty heavy baggage.

Felton's voice in this first-person narrative is at once utterly endearing and infuriating. He's so guileless, so naive, that I wanted to protect him and yell, "Wake up!" at once. If you're a mature teen reader who enjoys sad books with a side of hilarious, you will enjoy the entire Felton Reinstein Trilogy.

Stupid Fast was published in 2011. It was named to the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults list and won a Cybils Award for YA Fiction as well as some state awards. Nothing Special was published in 2012, and I'm with Stupid was published in 2013.  Happy reading!

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Family of Liars by E. Lockhart

Image: Penguin Random House

Family of Liars by E. Lockhart. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~531 minutes. Read by Kimberly Farr. Listening Library, May, 2022. 9780593608852. (Review of downloadable e-audiobook borrowed from the public library.)

Teen Tuesday features Family of Liars by E. Lockhart. This story is a prequel to Ms. Lockhart's We Were Liars. This book is wildly popular among TMS eighth graders and was published in 2014. It contains one of the best plot twists in YA lit. While Family of Liars is a pre-quel, there are spoilers to We Were Liars, so while the book can be read as a stand alone, I'd read We Were Liars first.

Carrie Lennox Taft Sinclair is asked "What's the worst thing you've ever done?" by her son during one of his late night visits to their vacation compound. Yes, compound. The Sinclairs are very wealthy and own an island off the coast of Massachusetts. Carrie reluctantly returns to the summer of 1987 to tell her son the story. It was a year after her youngest sister drowned. She's still grieving, but the family never shows any emotion and so, Carrie is grieving alone. She's also becoming addicted to pain killers after having jaw surgery at her father's insistence. That summer she not only discovers a family secret, but also falls for Pfeff, the flighty friend of her cousin's boyfriend.

This story surprised in the best possible ways. I was pleasantly surprised by the narrator's performance, because I didn't love her narration of French Braid. Fans of the first book will WANT this book and love it. 

Middle Grade Monday: Stuntboy, In the Meantime by Jason Reynolds.

Image: Simon & Schuster

Stuntboy, In the Meantime by Jason Reynolds. Illustrated by Raúl the Third. 272 p. Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/ Atheneum/ Simon & Schuster, November, 2021. 9781534418165. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Middle Grade Monday features Stuntboy, In the Meantime by Jason Reynolds. Portico Reeves has an active imagination and a lot of anxiety about things he has no control over. His parents are arguing, he's dealing with a bully and cares immensely for the residents in his apartment building aka the castle. The pace of this graphic novel hybrid is fast, with the action broken into ten "episodes" of his life as a superhero along with "commercial breaks" which offer sage advice. 

There's plenty of heart and humor in both the prose and the illustrations. Fans of the author & the illustrator will be delighted by this collaboration. More please. 

Middle Grade Monday: Starfish by Lisa Fipps

Image: Penguin Random House

Starfish by Lisa Fipps. 256 p. Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Young Readers Group, March, 2021. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Happy Monday! I hope you had a spectacular weekend! I spent a lot of time in my garden and took Boo on some really long walks. I have a 17 hour biography loaded on my phone and was able to to do my three favorite things at once.

Middle Grade Monday features Stafish by Lisa Fipps. Twelve-year-old Ellie is struggling. Not only is she bullied mercilessly about her weight at school, but she finds no respite at home. Her older sister dubbed her "Splash" at a pool party when she was five and the nickname stuck, along with whale and others even crueler. Her mother dictates what she can and cannot eat and is investigating bariatric surgery even though the surgery is dangerous, almost killing her aunt and not recommended for children. Now, she feels extra alone because her best friend and next-door neighbor has moved away.

Ellie is a swimmer. She finds refuge in swimming laps in her pool every day. She also appreciates the efforts of her dad, her only ally, though he is often ineffective. She's especially disappointed to learn that she has to visit a therapist and vows not to say a word. Her therapist is very good and allows Ellie the time for silence. Soon Ellie grows into her own voice and learns to use it.

This verse novel is so real and raw that it was hard to listen sometimes. Jenna Lamia is always convincing as a teen. Her voice sounds naturally youthful and her performance is emotionally honest. 

Readers will root for Ellie and hopefully ponder why so many people feel it's okay to fat-shame another. Starfish is Ms. Fipps' debut and was inspired by her own childhood struggles. I look forward to reading her sophomore effort and can't wait to share this powerful story with my students. 

Teen Tuesday: Dear Justyce by Nic Stone

Image: Penguin Random House

Dear Justyce: a novel by Nic Stone. 266 p. Crown Books for Young Readers/ Random House/ Penguin Random House, September, 2020. 9781984829665. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Happy Tuesday! Teen Tuesday features Dear Justyce: a novel by Nic Stone. In this sequel to Ms. Stone's critically acclaimed debut, Dear Martin, seventeen-year-old Vernell LaQuan Banks, Jr. (You better call him Quan) is awaiting trial for the murder of a police officer. It's a crime he did not commit, but he was at the scene. He has an arrest record, an overworked, possibly incompetent public defender and knows he's looking at hard time in prison.

He writes a series of letters to his friend, Justyce. The two met on a playground one night while trying to escape difficult times at home. The two boys were bright, loved school and loved to read. Quan had an aptitude for math and hopes for the future despite experiencing the trauma of witnessing the violent arrest of this father when he was eleven. Justyce had a mother who expected him to excel and supported him; Quan's mother sided with the teacher who accused him of cheating on an algebra exam. As Quan began to lose hope, the school-to-prison pipeline became an increasing reality.

Dear Justyce is a difficult read. It's raw. It's sad. It's intense. It's important. You don't really need to read Dear Martin before reading Dear Justyce, but you should. Both books belong on every kind of library shelf. 

Middle Grade Monday and Arc Review: Stealing Mt. Rushmore by Daphne Kalmar

Image: Macmillan

Stealing Mt. Rushmore by Daphne Kalmar. 248 p. Feiwel and Friends/ Macmillan Publishing, August 18, 2020. 9781250155009. (Review of arc courtesy of Blue Slip Media.)

Middle Grade Monday wishes a happy book birthday next week to Stealing Mt. Rushmore by Daphne Kalmar. This story is set in 1974 in Somerville, Massachusetts and is narrated by thirteen-year-old Nellie Sanders, the girl who threw a monkey wrench into her father's plan to have four sons named George, Tom, Teddy and Abe, after the presidents carved into Mt. Rushmore. It's summertime, Nixon will most likely be impeached and her mother has recently abandoned the family. When her father discovers that she also stole the $500 he had been scrimping and saving to take the family to Mount Rushmore, he crawls into bed and stays there. Nellie knows what this means. It has happened before and it's scary. It leaves her to cook and clean and care for her two younger brothers. She thinks that taking that trip will help heal the family and so she and her younger brothers find ways to earn money. Her older brother has his own job and wants very little to do with his father or his siblings. 

This depiction of a dysfunctional, working class family in the 70s was so exquisitely and painfully on point there were times I needed to put the book down for relief and other times I needed to rush through reading it - like pulling off a bandaid. Sometimes tween narrators sound too grown up in middle grade fiction. Not so here. Nellie's voice was believable. Yes, she was a bit mature beyond her years but she was still so much a little girl who needed her mother no matter how despicable and negligent. This mom, oh man. I haven't felt this much enmity for a literary parent since Ada's Mam in The War That Saved My Life. 

While this story is decidedly sad, there is so much to love here starting with Nellie. She's appealing and resilient. Her relationship with both her younger brothers was so sweet. She's having the usually friendship difficulties but they work things out. The Somerville/ Boston/ Cambridge setting complete with Teddy's obsession with the Swan boats in the duck pond in the Boston Common is unique, as was Nellie's dad's obsession with Mt. Rushmore. Nellie's dad was a complicated character. He was a Vietnam Veteran, history buff and Nixon supporter who worked as a short order cook and tried his best to provide for his family.

Stealing Mt. Rushmore is the perfect book to hand to your readers who can't get enough sadness in their reading. 

Middle Grade Monday and Audiobook Review: We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~ 6 hours. Narrated by Ramon De Ocampo. HarperAudio, May, 2020.

Happy first Middle Grade Monday of summer 2020! I read two books over the weekend and am on track for my book-a-day goal so far! Middle Grade Monday features We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly. This story is set in the weeks leading up to the launch of the Challenger Space Shuttle in January of 1986 and centers on a family in crisis. Bird and her twin brother Fitch used to be close; but Fitch is struggling with anger that is becoming uncontrollable and Bird, who is smart and interested in science, especially space science, feels invisible. Their older brother, Cash, was left back and can no longer play basketball because of his grades. He's in seventh grade with them, struggling and worried he may have to repeat seventh grade yet again. Their parents' marriage is not happy and the two fight all the time leaving the children feeling unmoored and unsafe. Their science teacher, who envies Christa McCauliffe's luck in being chosen to be the first teacher to go to outer space, has her students learning all about the Challenger Mission. Bird's personal hero is Judith Resnik, the only other woman on the crew and one of few female astronauts. This book is quite sad, but beautifully written. Really, the portrayal of dysfunction was exquisitely painful. Readers will root for these three siblings as they try to find their way.

Teen Tuesday: Dig by A. S. King

Image: Penguin Random House

Dig by A. S. King. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~ 11.25 hours. Read by the author, Mike Chamberlain, Tonya Cornelisse, and Kirby Heyborne. Listening Library/ BOT/ Penguin Random House, March, 2019. 9781984838186. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features Dig by A.S. King. Five cousins in a truly dysfunctional family attempt to find their way amid the chaos of their unstable lives and racist, controlling grandparents. The story shifts between five points-of-view and flashes backward and forward in time. Fans of the author already know that they are in for a mind-bending, surreal journey. Dig takes a while to come together, but mature, patient and thoughtful teens who love a challenge will face some uncomfortable topics and marvel at some breathtaking writing. 

Dig won the 2020 Printz Award. A.S. King and fellow Printz Honor winner, Geraldine McCaughrean are the only two authors to win both the Printz Award and a Printz Honor. King won this year for Dig and received an Honor in 2011 for Please Ignore Vera Dietz. McCaughrean won an Honor this year for Where the World Ends and the Medal for White Darkness in 2008.

#tbt: Chicken Boy by Frances O'Roark Dowell

Image: Simon & Schuster

Chicken Boy by Frances O'Roark Dowell. 202 p. Atheneum Books for Young Readers/ Simon & Schuster, 2005. 9780689858167. (Own.)

#tbt features Chicken Boy by Frances O'Roark Dowell. Published in 2005, this first-person narrative by Tobin McCauley opens with one of the more memorable first lines in children's literature. "You might have heard about the time my granny got arrested on the first day of school." Tobin lives in a dysfunctional family. His father never really recovered from the death of his wife and his older siblings have a bad reputation in town as delinquents. Tobin flies mostly under the radar, preferring not to call attention to himself. At turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Chicken Boy is one of my favorites. While the cover I found on the publisher website is fine, I prefer the cover of my first edition book.

Teen Tuesday: Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos

Image: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos. 320 p. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. 

Teen Tuesday features Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos. This 2013 debut is narrated by sixteen-year-old James who lives in a terribly dysfunctional family and suffers terribly from depression. His favorite poet is Walt Whitman and he loves to yawp loudly, especially because it annoys his parents. At turns heartbreaking and hilarious, this unreliable narrator provides a realistic glimpse into what it's like to struggle with depression.

Teen Tuesday: Fat Angie Rebel Girl Revolution by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo

Fat Angie Rebel Girl Revolution by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo. 344 p. Candlewick Press, March 5, 2019. 9780763693459. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Good morning TMS Readers! Teen Tuesday features Fat Angie: rebel girl revolution by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo. Readers of Fat Angie know that Angie was in a better place at the end. Unfortunately, KC decided to move in with her dad and moved away from Angie, leaving her to start the school year alone. Jake, her best friend has been acting weird lately. Her awful mother continues to be awful. Her brother, Wang continues to be Wang and her sister is still dead. So, she runs the gauntlet alone knowing Gary Klein is lying in wait. And then there's the monument the town has built to honor her sister. It's all just too much. When Gary attacks her and she fights back, bloodying his nose in the process, it is Angie who is suspended. Her mother grounds her and threatens have her committed to a psychiatric hospital before leaving on a business trip. Angie trashes her room and decides to take that road trip her sister wrote about in a postcard. She does this with an ex-best friend, Jamboree and her friend Zeke and her cousin Darius, of all people. Darius, who saw what Gary did and stood by. Did nothing. Said nothing. 

There's a lot of heartbreak on the road to hope here. Angie found a permanent place in my heart in Fat Angie so I was thrilled, but worried to visit with her again. (Kind of like the feeling I get when a student who had a hard time in middle school comes back to visit - equal parts delight, hope and anxiety.) Her inner dialogue is so brilliantly astute and often hilarious. It rarely comes out of her mouth because the people around her would prefer to pass judgment than to take the time to see. Her self-worth has been emotionally (and sometimes physically) beaten out of her and she is intensely grieving the loss of the only person who really knew her and loved her unconditionally.

Not gonna lie: this is a tough read. The violence Angie endures at the hands of Gary and her mother stuns. The debilitating panic attacks Angie suffers are so vivid, I didn't realize that I was holding my breath until I let it out. And, I dare you not to sob near the end in the scene at the Ohio River. It is so hard to read through tears.

Fat Angie Rebel Girl Revolution can stand alone but do yourself a favor and read Fat Angie first.  

Middle Grade Monday and Arc Review: Speechless by Adam P. Schmitt

Speechless by Adam P. Schmitt. 304 p. Candlewick Press, November 6, 2018. 9781536200928. (Review from arc courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Monday TMS Readers! Middle Grade Monday features one of the oddest, but most unique and intense debuts I have ever read. In Speechless, our narrator, Jimmy is attending his first wake and funeral. He's uncomfortable because he's wearing last year's suit with a waistband so tight he fears the button will not hold and he can't find his only belt. He's uncomfortable because funeral rituals are strange and sometimes scary. He is uncomfortable and terrified because his mother has just told him that he has to deliver the eulogy. 

You see, the wake and funeral are for his cousin, Patrick.  Jimmy petrified of public speaking; but that's not the only reason why he does not want to speak at Patrick's funeral. He couldn't stand Patrick. They were constantly thrown together because their moms are twins and very close. Jimmy and Patrick were not. Something was wrong with Patrick and none of the adults around him could do much to control him. Time spent with Patrick meant Jimmy's day would be ruined - by getting hurt, by having something stolen or ruined or by one of Jimmy's famous meltdowns. How can he speak honestly at Patrick's funeral? 

The story takes place in about twenty-four hours at the funeral home and at the church; but much of the story consists of flashbacks as Jimmy considers his highly dysfunctional extended family. Jimmy wants to do the right thing but wonders what that is. Does he get up there and lie about what a great kid Patrick was or tell the truth? 

Speechless is not for everyone. It's layered and sophisticated and while there are humorous moments to lighten the mood, there is tragedy in this story and it's not just because a young person has died. I am a bit stumped as to what sort of reader I would recommend it to; not because it isn't superb but because of all the emotions it evoked in me. I am having a hard time envisioning how a young reader would engage with it. As I got to know Jimmy, my rage at his parents grew and grew. First, that they would even just bring their son to his first wake and funeral without preparing him for what would happen and then the expectation that he would, in less than twenty-four hours come up with a eulogy - without the least amount of parental support or guidance! Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, they did nothing to protect Jimmy from Patrick.

Schmitt's portrayal of this dysfunctional, co-dependent family is masterful. Jimmy is a sympathetic character that readers will want to protect. I hope Speechless finds its readers and am looking forward to reading more from Adam P. Schmitt. Impressive debut. 

Teen Tuesday and Arc Review: Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Hey, Kiddo: how I lost my mother, found my father and dealt with family addiction by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. 312 p. Graphix/ Scholastic Inc., October 9, 2018. 97805445902472. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Teen Tuesdady features Hey, Kiddo: how I lost my mother, found my father and dealt with family addiction by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. Krosczka is an award-winning graphic novelist and illustrator. His books include the Lunch Lady series, books four, five and six of the Jedi Academy series and the Platypus Police Squad. In his graphic novel memoir, Hey Kiddo, we learn that his mother was a talented artist. Unfortunately, she was also a drug addict. She got clean when she was pregnant with Jarrett, but struggled with addiction before and after he was born causing Jarrett's grandparents to sue for custody of their grandson. Jarrett's grandparents were loving but had some problems of their own. The were rough around the edges but loved Jarrett fiercely. He grew up in the working class city of Worcester, Massachusetts during the 1980s and his art saved him. It gave him an outlet and also brought him attention. 

Krosoczka's grey and sepia toned illustrations and watery-bordered panels evoke the haze of memory and some sadness. The narrative is enhanced by the insertion of photographs of the author's mother's letters and art. Backmatter includes a lengthy author's note.

This memoir is a tough read. It is a raw, unflinching look at the effect addiction has on family. For those readers dealing with addiction within their family, this book is a mirror. For those lucky enough not to have an addicted family member, this window book will help readers temper their judgement. Addiction is complicated and addicts are as well. This brave graphic novel memoir belongs in every public, middle and high school classroom and school library.

#tbt: Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos. 154 p. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998. 0374336644. (Own)

#tbt features Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos. This is the first of five "Joey Pigza" books. It was published in 1998 and was a National Book Award Finalist that year. This is the first-person narration of Joey, who's up-front about himself. Consider this first line, "At school they say I'm wired bad, or wired mad, or wired sad, or wired glad, depending on my mood and what teacher has ended up with me. But there is no doubt about it, I'm wired." Joey is a good kid, with an unsettled home life and what he calls "dud meds." He wants to behave; but once those meds wear off after lunch, he's on a rollercoaster. So is the reader. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key is at turns hilarious and heartbreaking. Writing these words and remembering this character makes me want to reread the book! Perhaps I will, with my ears, later this summer. Jack Gantos narrates and his narrations are always a treat.

Teen Tuesday and Review: Solo by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess

Solo by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess. Unabridged 3audiobook. 4 hrs. 2 min. Narrated by Kwame Alexander with Randy Preston. Zondervan, 2017. 9780310761891. (Review from audio borrowed from cloud library.)

In this free verse collaborative effort, Alexander turns from sports to music. Blade Morrison is the seventeen-year-old youngest son of a rock star father who has been tabloid fodder thanks to his addictions and outrageous behavior. All Blade wants is to write music and be with his girlfriend, Chapel. But when his dad embarrasses him at his high school graduation and Chapel betrays him and his sister reveals a life-changing family secret, Blade has had enough. He heads to Ghana in search of some answers and distance from his family.

While Alexander's blank verse flows and is easy to read, hearing the poet read his own work is a real treat. Interspersed throughout are album titles, singers and record producers listed. Alexander even manages to make them sound like poems. He reads with energy and clarity and much emotion. Blade is a sympathetic character in search of identity. The original music performed by Randy Preston added depth. I highly recommend reading this with your ears!

Teen Tuesday (audiobook review): Far from the Tree by Robin Benway

Far from the Tree by Robin Benway. Unabridged audiobook on 1 MP3-CD. Read by Julia Whelan. HarperAudio, December, 2017. 9781538518755. (Review from purchased audiobook.)

Teen Tuesday features Far from the Tree by Robin Benway. Benway won the National Book Award for Literature for Young People for this book last November. The story is told from three perspectives - Grace, a sixteen-year-old girl who, having given up her own daughter for adoption decides that she wants to learn more about her own birth mother who gave her up at birth. She learns that she has two half-siblings, a sister, Maya, who was also adopted at birth and an older brother, Joaquin, who was surrendered to foster care, was never adopted and is about to age out of the system. This multi-layered, (make no assumptions) deeply emotional book (there will be tears) is best read by students in grade 8 and up. 

I enjoyed this one but I had to get over the narrator's annoying voices for any male character. While she was rather soft-spoken, the whole narration was a bit dead-pan and dry. 

Middle Grade Monday: Swing It, Sunny by Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm

Swing It, Sunny by Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm. Jennifer Holms Sunny Series #2. 224 p. Scholastic Inc., September, 2017. 9780545741729. (Review from finished copy courtesy of publisher)

In this sequel to Sunny Side Up, Sunny has returned home from spending the summer at Grandpa's during the summer. She's about to start middle school and her big brother, Dale is away at a military boarding school. She's missing him but also worried about starting middle school. Luckily, she has her best friend and Grandpa calls frequently to check on Sunny. She always says she's fine, even when she's not. When Dale does come home for a visit, he has changed, leaving Sunny bereft and confused. 

This installment seemed a bit more episodic and there were lots of pop culture references that made me smile. But I wonder if kids will get them. My suspicion is that they won't; but it won't matter because the Holms have a solid fan base and the story is compelling. Sunny is endearing and her middle school troubles are so relatable. Her concern for Dale is poignant and his treatment of her is heartbreaking. The story ends on a hopeful note. It looks as though the series might continue, which pleases me.