Teen Tuesday: Louder Than Hunger by John Schu

Image: Candlewick Press

Louder Than Hunger by John Schu. 528 p. Candlewick Press, March, 2024. 9781536234206. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Tuesday! Today is the final day of the school year and the heat wave is settling in. Best bet is to stay inside and read! Teen Tuesday features Louder Than Hunger by John Schu.

Jake is a lonely, miserable eighth grader. He has been relentlessly bullied by his peers for years and his only friend is his beloved grandmother and an angel he sometimes talks to. Jake's tormentors are not just classmates though. He has a voice inside his head that tells him he's not good enough, and it's getting loud and scary. He finds comfort in volunteering at a nursing home and it is one of his favorite patients who notices Jake's weight loss. She alerts Jakes parents and he is admitted to a residential treatment facility. He definitely does not want to be there following a schedule, getting weighed daily and, ugh, eating. He is resistant to treatment, but makes some friends. 

This verse novel is Jake's journal. It's a compelling, heartbreaking, yet hopeful read. The book is based on the author's own struggles with being bullied, and suffering from OCD and disordered eating. Back matter contains an author's note with organizations that can help. I started out reading Jake's story with my ears and the performance was fine, but I realized that there was much I was missing (line breaks, angry scribbles and such) by not reading it with my eyes, so I switched. This book helped me get out of my reading slump. Highly recommended.

Arc Review: Redwood and Ponytail by K.A. Holt

Image: Chronicle Books

Redwood and Ponytail by K.A. Holt. 422 p. Chronicle Books, October, 2019. 9781452172880. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Tam is a tall, popular volley ball player. Kate is a poised, ponytailed cheerleader angling for captain of the squad. The two meet during seventh grade registration and hit it off.

Redwood and Ponytail is a sweet and gentle verse novel about an unlikely friendship that turns into something deeper. It captures all the joy and pain of first crushes and even features a Greek chorus. It's a perfect romance for middle grade readers.

Teen Tuesday and Arc Review: Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo.424 p. HarperTeen/ HarperCollins Publishers, May 5, 2020. 9780062882783. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher, ALAMW.) 

Elizabeth Acevedo returns to verse form for her third novel and it's intense! Camino Rios lives in the Dominican Republic and sees her beloved father only during the summers. Yahaira Rios lives in New York City and misses her father terribly when he leaves each summer to visit the DR. Camino arrives at the airport to greet her dad to find crying people at the airport. Her father's plane crashed. Yahaira is called out of class and told by her mother that her father died in a plane crash. Two girls, two countries, one father. A secret exposed.

This dual narrative switches between Camino and Yahaira as they grieve and eventually learn of the other's existence. While Camino's dad sends enough money to provide tuition to a private school and some comforts for her and her Tia, she still lives in a poor neighborhood where girls often become prey to sexual predators. Her father has been paying off El Cero to leave her alone. Now that he's gone, not only are her hopes to attend Columbia as a pre-med gone, but she's not sure she can escape El Cero's plans for her.

Yahaira's situation is more stable with two working parents. Her life in Morningside Heights is comfortable. She has a girlfriend and was a rising star in the chess community until she abruptly quit a year earlier after discovering part of her father's secret. 

Don't let the page count intimidate you. Both girls' voices grab from the beginning. This is an intense read with a lot of heartbreak along the way to healing and hope. If you have Acevedo fans among your students, this is an absolute must read. If you haven't yet read anything by her, certainly start here. 

Arc Review: When You Know What I Know by Sonja K. Solter

Image: LBYR

When You Know What I Know by Sonja K. Solter. 216 p. Little, Brown and Company, March 24, 2020. 9780316535441. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher/ ALAMW)

Happy belated book birthday to When You Know What I Know. It released yesterday and I had really hoped to get this review up before its release date but most of my energy has been spent trying to switch to virtual teaching these past weeks. My reading for this month sure has taken a hit as well. My apologies.

When You Know What I Know is a tough book to talk about. It'll be tough a book talk to have if/ when we return to school. But we must. The topic cannot be relegated to YA because children are victimized. Sonja K. Solter's debut, written in blank verse, is Tori's first-person account that begins immediately after her Uncle Andy molests her when he's supposed to be babysitting her. 

It's enough to know it happened without having the details of what exactly happened. It's enough to understand that she's terrified. Then the terror of what happened is compounded when She. Isn't. Believed! Her mom doesn't initially believe it and Tori feels betrayed. Her grandmother refuses to believe it and takes her son's side, causing a rift in an already fragile family. 

She's terrified. She's embarrassed. What if someone finds out? Her best friend senses something is wrong but Tori can't confide and that jeopardizes the friendship. Tori can't learn anything at school. Activities she's previously enjoyed, such as chorus, become unbearable. Memories invade constantly. 

The verse format lends itself well to portraying all the turmoil that Tori is feeling. The delivery is age-appropriate and accessible. She is resilient and, with support, takes steps toward healing. An author's note and resources follow. When You Know What I Know belongs in every library collection. We need to be having these uncomfortable conversations and we need to leave our hearts and doors open for these kids. 

ETA: Here's a link to an SLJ interview of Ms. Solter and another debut author, Mary Cecilia Jackson.

Teen Tuesday: Kent State by Deborah Wiles

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Kent State by Deborah Wiles. 144 p. Scholastic Inc., April 21, 2020. 9781338356281. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Teen Tuesday features Kent State by Deborah Wiles. This novel in verse relates the events leading up to what is now known as the May 4th Massacre or the Kent State Shooting. Students on college campuses were protesting the Vietnam War from the late sixties. At Kent State, in Ohio, there is a grassy knoll perfect for assembly and protest. Students gathered to protest the war on May 1 and planned another march for May 4. On that day, the National Guard was called in and when the students refused to disperse, the Guard fired on the crowd, killing four students and wounding nine others. Two of the four students killed were protesters, the other two were uninvolved, one of whom was actually an ROTC student, meaning he was committed to joining the armed services after graduation. 


The multiple and disparate view points can feel a tad overwhelming at times, which I think is the point. I enjoyed the book and found it emotionally intense; but then, I have a memory of the event. I am not certain what young readers will do with this without some background knowledge. I'm eager to book talk this and find out. Do not skip the very long but thorough and touching author's note at the back. The May 4 Massacre was a pivotal event in the Vietnam War Era and the book comes out just in time to mark its 50th anniversary. Don't miss it.

Teen Tuesday: White Rose by Kip Wilson

Image: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

White Rose by Kip Wilson. 358 p. Versify/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, April, 2019. 9781328594433. Review of purchased finished copy.)

During Hitler's rise to power, Sophie Scholl, like most young Germans, joined the Hitler Youth. Her older brothers eventually joined the German Army. Her boyfriend was also enlisted in the army. Instead of blindly following Hitler's edicts, Sophie and her brothers soon realized that Hitler's tactics were unconscionable. They believed that they were complicit by staying silent, but protesting was treasonous. Sophie and her brothers procured a copy machine and were soon printing and distributing anti-propaganda fliers that called out Hitler.

The verse novel flashes backward and forward and is told mostly from Sophie's POV. The spare yet often searing free-verse poems compel and the tension ratchets up with each page turn. Sophie's fear is palpable but so is her resolve, which should prompt most readers into reflecting about what they would do in a similar situation. 

I haven't had tremendous success book talking Russell Freedman's astounding, We Will Not be Silent: the White Rose Student Resistance Movement. Reading White Rose might be a way into the work of non-fiction. 

White Rose is a remarkable debut. It belongs in every public, school and classroom library!

#tbt: Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell

Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell. 416 p. Scholastic Inc., May, 2007. 9780439918480. (Own.)

If you are a fan of Arthurian legend or of verse novels, check out Song of the Sparrow. Inspired by the Tennyson poem about this minor character, Sandell depicts Elaine, the Lady of Shalott as a tomboy who is entirely at home and happy growing up in an army camp. She has many 'brothers,' freedom and is a healer though she can do without the constant mending and laundry. Her hopes that her love for Lancelot might be reciprocated are dashed when he fetches Gwynivere for Arthur and returns to camp with her, smitten. 

I adore the cover, the writing is lovely and the setting is vivid.

Teen Tuesday: Jazz Owls: a novel of the Zoot Suit riots by Margarita Engle

Jazz Owls: a novel of the Zoot Suit riots by Margarita Engle. Illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez. 179 p. Atheneum/ Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, May, 2018. 9781534409439. (Review from finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

Teen Tuesday features Jazz Owls: a novel of the Zoot Suit riots. This novel in verse is told from multiple points of view and dramatizes a little known (at least to me) event in 1943. Young sailors heading off to war spend their last nights on leave dancing with Jazz Owls, young,  mostly Mexican American women who work long hours in the local cannery under harsh conditions; but who contribute to the was effort by entertaining the troops through the U.S.O. at night. The girls are accompanied by male relatives for protection. These men often wore baggy suits known as Zoot suits. This fashion statement, much like certain fashion statements of today, was used as an excuse for police to start targeting the men, especially after a murder. Then, the sailors began a rampage. It was ugly. It was racially motivated. And, sadly, seemed all too familiar.

I can always count on Engle to educate me by writing about historical events that did not make it into mainstream history books. While I was aware of the cannery workers' dangerous conditions and brave efforts to unionize; I had no knowledge of the riots.

The primary characters are siblings, Lorena, Marisela and Ray. Their brother, Nicolás is off fighting overseas. Lorena longs to save enough money to attend secretarial school, Marisela loves to dance and Ray longs to be old enough to go and fight. Other voices show different points of view from sailors to policemen to reporters (who are not, shall we say, objective) to Manolito, a musician from Cuba who falls in love with Marisela.

A lot happens in this brief, fast-paced novel. Readers will fly through the pages needing to find resolution. Hopefully, they will turn back to the beginning and reread to savor the language and the ink illustrations.

Jazz Owls is an important addition to any library.

Waiting on Wednesday: Swing by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess

Swing by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess. 432 p. Blink, October 2, 2018. 9781310761914.

I learned about this on an SLJ exclusive cover reveal last week. I love these podcasts.

Publisher synopsis: Things usually do not go as planned for seventeen-year-old Noah. He and his best friend Walt (aka Swing) have been cut from the high school baseball team for the third year in a row, and it looks like Noah’s love interest since fifth grade, Sam, will never take it past the “best friend” zone. Noah would love to retire his bat and accept the status quo, but Walt has got big plans for them both, which include making the best baseball comeback ever, getting the girl, and finally finding cool.

To go from lovelorn to ladies’ men, Walt introduces Noah to a relationship guru—his Dairy Queen-employed cousin, Floyd—and the always informative Woohoo Woman Podcast. Noah is reluctant, but decides fate may be intervening when he discovers more than just his mom’s birthday gift at the Thrift Shop. Inside the vintage Keepall is a gold mine of love letters from the 1950s. Walt is sure these letters and the podcasts are just what Noah needs to communicate his true feelings to Sam. To Noah, the letters are more: an initiation to the curious rhythms of love and jazz, as well as a way for him and Walt to embrace their own kind of cool. While Walt is hitting balls out of the park and catching the eye of the baseball coach, Noah composes anonymous love letters to Sam in an attempt to write his way into her heart. But as things are looking up, way up, for Noah and Walt, the letters set off a chain of events that change everything Noah knows to be true about love, friendship, sacrifice, and fate. 

In Swing, bestselling authors Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess (Solo) present a free-verse poetic story that will speak to anyone who’s struggled to find their voice, and take a swing at life.

Teen Tuesday: Rebound by Kwame Alexander

Rebound by Kwame Alexander. 414 p. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, April, 2018. 9780544868137. (Own)

Teen Tuesday features Rebound by Kwame Alexander. When Mr. Alexander wrote The Crossover, he had no intention of writing a sequel. But when he visited schools after he won the Newbery, students kept asking for another book. Rebound is more companion than sequel. It is the story of the twins' dad when he was twelve. It is 1988, Charlie Bell just lost his dad to a heart attack and he's making bad choices. His mom decides to send him to stay with his grandparents for the summer. He's tall enough to ball but he's not good enough. His cousin changes that. This bouncing verse novel tells about the summer Charlie became Chuck, Da Man Bell.

Middle Grade Monday: Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai. 262 p. HarperCollins Publishers, January, 2013. 9780061962790. (Own.)

Middle Grade Monday features Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhaa Lai. This free-verse narrative is set in 1975 first in Vietnam and then in Alabama. It is the story of ten-year-old Há as she and her family flee Saigon as it falls leaving behind relatives and her POW father. Loosely based on the author's own experience, this is an evocative story of a refugee/ immigrant's journey. It won both the National Book Award and a Newbery Honor. 

#tbt: Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. 112 p. Joanna Cotler Books/ HarperCollins Publisher, July, 2001. 0060292873. (Own.)

I don't want to
because boys 
don't write poetry.

Girls do.

My heart melted at the opening words of Jack's poetry journal. He is such an endearing character! He's equal parts resistant and eager to please and shows such growth over the course of the year he spends with Ms. Stretchberry. I read this aloud to many classes and cried each time. I also love the fact that Ms. Creech included the poems that were mentioned/ modeled in the book. Love That Dog is a perennial favorite at TMS.

Teen Tuesday: Death Coming up the Hill by Chris Crowe

Death Coming up the Hill by Chris Crowe. 208 p. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October, 2014. 9780544302150. (Own.)

Teen Tuesday features Death Coming Up the Hill by Chris Crowe. This blank verse novel is told in a series of haiku. As if the constraints of the form were not challenging enough, the total number of syllables in this book add up to the total number of soldiers killed in Vietnam in 1968. 

Douglas Ashe is a senior in high school. He's about to turn eighteen and has no college prospects to help him defer the draft. His social studies teacher posts the number of soldiers killed in action each week and regularly discusses the politics of the war. His new girlfriend is opposed to the war. Douglas is considering dodging the draft and fleeing to Canada after graduation. Only a war of sorts is being waged in his home that may force him into a different decision. His parents marriage is loveless and their fighting has escalated. This verse novel is powerful and perfect for any kind of reader. 

Middle Grade Monday: Crossing Stones by Helen Frost

Crossing Stones by Helen Frost. 183 p. Frances Foster Books/ Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2009. 9780374316532. (Own)

Middle Grade Monday features Crossing Stones by Helen Frost. This verse novel is set during World War I. Two families farm on either side of Crabapple Creek. The Jorgensen and the Norman families are great friends and they use the crossing stones in the creek to visit each other often. Muriel is discovering that her feelings for Frank Norman might be more than just friendship. Then he enlists to fight in the war and his brother, Ollie, lies about his age to join him. Muriel opposes the war and is also intrigued by her aunt's work for women's suffrage. 

The poems in this beautiful work of historical fiction are "cupped hand" sonnets and their shape also symbolize the crossing stones that connect the two families and their farms. This remarkable verse novel brings the events of America's entrance into the first World War as well as other issues of the day, to vivid life.

Teen Tuesday and Review: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. Unabridged audiobook on 3 compact discs. 3.5 hours. Read by the author. HarperAudio, March, 2018. 9781538500231. (Review from audiobook borrowed from public library.)

(This went on our broadcast this morning)Teen Tuesday features The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. Sixteen-year-old Xiomara Batista tries to follow her mother’s strict rules; but at six-feet tall, it’s hard to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. She has learned to fight with her fists and pours her heart out in a leather notebook her twin brother gave her for their birthday. Sophomore year brings X a language arts teacher who sees the poet in her and Aman, her biology lab partner with whom she shares her love of music and whom her mother must never know about. This debut is gritty and raw. Readers will root for X as she struggles to find her voice.

Review: The Poet X is one impressive debut! I loved X's voice from the first line. I also loved the author's performance. My heart ached for Xiomara, who is up against a lot - the catcalls and leers her curves elicit in her Harlem neighborhood and at school and her religious mother's assumption that she will succumb to those catcalls, all the while yearning for an education that will get her out of Harlem. She loves her twin fiercely but is upset that he doesn't stand up for himself against the bullying his gentle, nerdy self attracts. She's also a tad jealous that he's smart enough for a fancy magnet school that puts him that much closer to escape. X is fierce but caves to the discipline of her mother. She's a nuanced and complicated teen whom readers will relate to as she comes of age.

Not to be missed for teen collections.

Middle Grade Monday: House Arrest by K.A. Holt

House Arrest by K.A. Holt. 304 p. Chronicle Books LLC, October, 2015. 9781452134772. (Own).

House Arrest is twelve-year-old Timothy's court-ordered journal. He has to spend one year under house arrest as the terms of his probation for stealing money to buy his ailing baby brother medicine. The only other places he can go to are his weekly visits to a therapist and his probation officer. That gives him a lot of time to reflect. He's angry at his dad for leaving his family. He's scared for his brother who is often in danger of losing his life. He is supposed to be showing signs of remorse, but if he's honest, he would steal again if his brother needed medicine his mom can't afford. This blank verse novel is unputdownable. 

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!

#tbt: Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge. 128 p. Candlewick Press, February, 2003. 9780763621162.

#tbt features Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge. Eighth grader Kevin Bolland lives and breathes baseball. When he is benched for months thanks to mono, he needs something to do so he writes a poem in his journal. This leads him to look for a book about writing poetry in his dad's study and suddenly Kevin can't write fast enough. He writes about middle school, girls and grief over his mother's recent death. This brief verse novel was published in 2003 and has a sequel called Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs.

Teen Tuesday: Becoming Billie Holiday by Carole Boston Weatherford

Becoming Billie Holiday by Carole Boston Weatherford. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. 116 p. Wording/ Boyd's Mills Press, October, 2008. 9781590785072. (Own)

This fictionalized biography in verse covers Billie Holiday's life from her birth, through her troubled childhood to age 25, when she cemented her stature as a premier interpreter and singer of jazz. Holiday's life was not easy. Weatherford does not sugarcoat it, but stops the novel at a high point in the singer's life. The accompanying illustrations are beautiful, sepia toned and compelling. Readers will want to pause to savor the portraits as well as the words. Cooper's subtractive art is a marvel.

Waiting on Wednesday: Rebound by Kwame Alexander

Rebound by Kwame Alexander. 416 p. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, April 2, 2018. 9780544868137.

Publisher synopsis: Before Josh and Jordan Bell were streaking up and down the court, their father was learning his own moves. In this prequel to Newbery Medal winner The Crossover, Chuck Bell takes center stage, as readers get a glimpse of his childhood and how he became the jazz music worshiping, basketball star his sons look up to.    
 
A novel in verse with all the impact and rhythm readers have come to expect from Kwame Alexander, Rebound will go back in time to visit the childhood of Chuck "Da Man" Bell during one pivotal summer when young Charlie is sent to stay with his grandparents where he discovers basketball and learns more about his family's past.  
Ooh, I am so excited for this. My students will be too when I share the news with them.