​The Everything I Have Lost by Sylvia Zéleny

Thirteen-year-old Julia keeps a deeply personal journal describing her life near the Mexico -United States border. Over the course of approximately two years she discloses her fears, her uncertainty, and the longings of her heart. Detailed lists and commentary reveal her life, her everything. Living in Juárez with father, mother, and younger brother Willy, Julia’s life experiences a seismic shift when her father begins working for the mafia. She assumes that he is a courier. Suddenly the family has a new car, a new house, and many luxury items. But wealth has a downside. Mamá is no longer her confidant. Her mother's primary objective is to protect and care for her husband. In an attempt ​to shield her children from the mob's influence and possible retribution, she sends Julia and Willy to live with family in El Paso: Aunt Tia, Cousin Jose, and their dementia- afflicted great grandmother.

Voices from the Border

The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner

It’s Halloween and thirteen-year-old Moth Hush has given a lot of thought to the costume that she will wear to school. She decides that she will definitely ​be a witch. Black dress. Pointed hat. Nothing unusual about that. ​The girl who doesn't fit in decides that a traditional Halloween costume is a great way to assimilate. Maybe not. ​While trying to help the new kid in school, she discovers that she has extraordinary powers. Her mother confirms that she is, in fact, a witch. Moth learns that she comes from a long line of witches, both her mother and maternal grandmother are witches. I’m a witch... Everything finally DOES make sense. I always thought I was just weird. Local lore tells of a witch colony that disappeared centuries ago. Each year students reenact the story. In a strange twist of fate, Moth the costume assistant and her friend Charlie assume the roles of their ancestors in the production. Will they follow the script, or will they choose to reject the town’s traditional witch mythology and create a new reality?

This wide-eyed thirteen-year-old navigates the perilous life of middle school while simultaneously exploring Hecate, a witch’s realm existing in a parallel universe. It's new and exciting but strange and frightening. When history collides with the present, old wounds are reopened and past injustices exposed. Three generations of witches. ​Three manifestations of Hecate: maiden, mother, crone. Three different perspectives on the practice of witchcraft. Mothers try to protect daughters. Daughters seek to break away and create a new life. Who is right? Magic is an integral story element. Moth explores the past by jumping into her mother’s diary with a cat who is the reincarnation of a family friend and benefactor. Moth's mother, who appears ageless, reveals that she was born in 1675. Mommy looks a lot younger than she actually is. And it's not just because she moisturizes regularly.

Field Notes on Love
​by Jennifer E. Smith

It's the most unlikely of circumstances. Hugo, a biracial British student slated to begin studies at the university shares a cross-country train excursion with Mae, an aspiring filmmaker with her heart set on earning a place in a prestigious training program. ​Hugo was dumped by his long-time girlfriend. One of the “Surrey Six” sextuplets, he wants to establish his own identity. ​Mae was devastated when her application to film school was declined. Her beloved Nana has serious health issues. She wonders: is this a good time to leave home? Mae and Hugo create a documentary, interviewing the train’s passengers and recording each individual’s perspectives on love. A charming romance filled with humor, heartbreak, and transcontinental travel.

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
​by Ben Philippe

Norris Kaplan, a black French-Canadian leaves all that is familiar and heads to the weird world of high school in Austin, Texas. The school’s counselor offers him a blank notebook. He decides to create a field guide, documenting high school life. He catalogs cheerleaders, athletes, and loners with biting insight, Kaplan carries the diary with him everywhere, skewering his classmates with his wit. Then he makes the mistake of showing his diary to a student. Mistake. Bad mistake. Norris realizes that several of his initial assessments are not only inaccurate, but cruel. The cheerleader is more than a “laboratory engineered little bag of evil.” The tall rich kid who wants to play ice hockey has a pain-filled history. ​Norris has misjudged his classmates. It may be too late to repair the damage that his notebook has caused.

The Line Tender
​by Kate Allen

​Lucy Everhart lives in a small town on the Massachusetts Coast. Her father is a member of the Salem Police dive team. Her mother, a marine biologist with a special interest in sharks died five years ago of a brain aneurysm. Lucy and her next-door neighbor Fred are inseparable companions. Recently they undertook a monumental summer project: creating a field guide to document Rockport animals. Fred, the detail-oriented science nerd writes the copy. Lucy illustrates. A shark is caught off the coast and brought ashore. Lucy is baffled and intrigued. She wants to learn more about sharks in order to precisely enter the fish into the field guide.  Without warning, Fred dies in a tragic drowning accident. Lucy’s narrative is raw, painful, and honest.  Her struggles to make sense of the deaths of her friend and her mother are revealed in simple details. Her voice is one of wonder, hope and small moments of joy.

Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America
edited by Ibi Zobio read by Bahni Turpin and Ron Butler

Short stories by Justina Ireland, Varian Johnson, Rita Williams-Garcia, Dhonielle Clayton, Kekla Magoon, Leah Henderson, Tochi Onyebuchi, Jason Reynolds, Nic Stone Liara Tamani, Renée Watson, Tracey Baptiste, Coe Booth, Brandy Colbert, Jay Coles, Ibi Zoboi, and Lamar Giles explore what it means to be a contemporary teen as experienced through the lens of racial identity: self acceptance, coming out, parental expectations, friendships, dating, loss. Bahni Turpin and Ron Butler alternately narrate these seventeen obsidian gems. Their nuanced performances in Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America give added meaning to the term #ownvoices.

Listen Up

Butler reads a portion of Black Enough by Varian Johnson. You can hear the voice of a young man raised in an affluent white community, trying to fit into a very different culture in South Carolina. ​Note the exchange between the high school debater and his Nigerian mother in Tochi Onybuchi's "Samson and the Delilahs." Listen to Bahni Turpin read Ibi Zobio's introduction to the anthology  and a brief snippet of Renée Watson's "Half a Moon​."

Forward Me Back to You by Mitali Perkins

Kat, skilled in the art of Brazilian jujitsu, is brutally assaulted in her school’s stairwell by a popular member of the basketball team. She escapes, but the incident has scarred her, leaving her wary of men and emotionally shattered. When she reports the assault, her attacker pleads a convincing defense, denying her accusation. School becomes unbearable due to the constant presence of her assailant as well as the questioning looks and snide remarks from fellow students. A family friend arranges for her to leave her California home and live with an understanding friend in Boston. Robin, the adopted son of wealthy, well-connected Boston parents, is completing his high school senior year. His father plans his life trajectory beginning with a college education. Robin feels unsure and unsettled, with questions regarding his birth and subsequent adoption. Guess everyone has a backstory. ​They make us real, even if they make us cry.

Piece of Cake

There is a lovely scene where the Asha House residents surprise one of the volunteers with a birthday cake. In turn, each girl feeds the honoree a piece of cake, while telling her something they admire about her. I like this tradition and will continue it by sharing some virtual bites of cake with Ms. Perkins.

A Personal Perspective

​“People who are adoptive parents know that they aren’t a hero or a villain. They are just a parent.” Mitali Perkins, mother of adopted twin brothers, shares her perspective on adoption and the adoption triad: birth mother, child, and adoptive parents. Read her Huffpost opinion piece and her recent interview with Lakshmi Gandhi in an NBC news report.

Recently, several books about menstruation have been published for young readers. Most are collections of information presented in an engaging manner. The Moon Within takes a refreshing approach. Salazar weaves poetry, astronomy, and mythology together with Mexican and Caribbean culture in this intimate view of a young girl anticipating and experiencing her first menses. The book is divided into sections mirroring the lunar cycle: New Moon, First Quarter Moon, Full Moon, and Last Quarter Moon. This journey from childhood to maidenhood is like the moon: at times dark, at other times shimmering with reflected light.  Twelve-year-old Celestina Rivera lives in East Oakland with her father of Puerto Rican heritage, mother of Mexican ancestry, and younger brother Juju. Magda, a drummer in her bomba class is "better than my best friend," and "my best echo." The two are inseparable.

Culture, Identity, and Menstruation

Pay Attention, Carter Jones by Gary D. Schmidt

Carter Jones' life is in disarray. Dad is stationed in Germany. The family car is beyond repair. His three younger sisters function in crisis mode. Their dog is constantly barfing. The Joneses are trying to keep the family together and their heads above water.  They are not succeeding. Then the doorbell rings. It's the Butler. Thanks to arrangements from a deceased relative, the family now has a Butler. But this is no ordinary gentleman's gentleman. His major task is restoring order to a crumbling household. Homework, piano practice, and a proper breakfast are promptly instituted.  The Butler takes the unusual step of introducing Carter to cricket and organizing a group of boys, teaching them the game's fundamentals. Separate story threads come together on a blustery Saturday morning when Team Britannia meets Team India on the local middle school football field for an exhibition game. ​Schmidt brings the contest between the two teams to a riveting finish that will have readers holding their breath until the final moments of the game. No one will want to stop for coffee.

I was there.
In the Blue Mountains of Australia.
I was wet and cold and the wind was up, and my father had scattered my fire and now he was kneeling by the fire he had built and now he was stacking twigs onto it.

Look at all the shiny medals!

Darius the Great is Not Okay
​by Adib Khorram read by Michael Levi Harris

Meet Darius Kellner, "Fractional Persian," slightly overweight sophomore, and tea aficionado. His commentary is liberally sprinkled with references to Star Trek and Lord of the Rings. He adores his Persian mother, dotes on his younger sister Laleh, and navigates a complicated father/son relationship. He's nerdy and possess a biting wit referring to classmates as the "Soulless Minions of Orthodoxy," and frequently doubts himself "That's normal. Right?" He is also a young man suffering with clinical depression. Life takes an unexpected turn when the family travels to Iran to visit his Zoroastrian grandfather who is diagnosed with a brain tumor. Darius confronts the reality of his identity as a young man of Persian heritage who has been raised in a decidedly western culture. Is he American or Iranian? Is it possible to be a part of each? ​He discovers that he has a talent for playing soccer/non-American football, a love for his maternal family, and the ability to forgive and be forgiven by a friend. Darius returns to America with increased acceptance of himself, greater appreciation for his family, and a clearer understanding his depression.

Bonus: Listen up

Random Musings

The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo

Clara is the class clown, the prankster. When she takes it too far, she and her arch-nemesis Rose get into a knockdown brawl. As punishment Clara and Rose must work together at KoBra, her father’s Korean-Brazilian fusion food truck. Complications arise when Hamlet from the coffee kiosk begins to pay Clara an inordinate amount of attention. After one date, he decides that she is his girlfriend. Whoa! This is more than Clara's typical superficial relationship. Our girl has some serious growing up to do. Can she sustain a friendship with a former enemy? Can she commit to one guy? Can she work through her complicated relationship with her mother? Can she repair the damage that her impulsive actions have caused? That’s a lot to ask of one sixteen-year-old. Maurene Goo’s romantic comedy is more than a smart, slick portrait of love and friendship. It’s also a tantalizing send-up to food trucks. Impossible to read this without having some serious cravings for walk-away eats.

From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon

Twinkle feels that she is a "nobody." Ignored by her parents, she longs to be noticed at school. The opportunity comes when Twinkle is asked to direct a movie for the local arts festival. Here is her chance to show the Colorado Springs community that she has talent. Film geek Sahil has offered to help her produce her filmmaking debut. They brainstorm an imaginative story concept, turning the classic Dracula into a gender-reversal version. But Sahil clearly wants more than just a business relationship. There is a slight problem. Twinkle has an ongoing crush on Sahil's athletic superstar twin brother Neil. When she begins receiving anonymous emails from a secret admirer, Twinkle assumes (hopes) that the sender is Neil. Sandhya Menon uses a series of imaginary emails that Twinkle sends to famous women of filmdom in this story of finding where her heart lies.

American Panda by Gloria Chao

Mei Lu's parents have her life arranged. At the age of seventeen, she has followed the life plan that they set for her and is about to enter MIT, studying to become a doctor. Her mother, who gives new meaning to the term helicopter parent, has obtained a copy of her class schedule and relentlessly voicemails Mei, wanting to know where she is and what she is doing every moment of the day. She has even selected a suitable husband for her daughter. Mei, a germaphobe, constantly worries about contracting a disease from normal human contact and struggles to stay alert in biology class. She loves dance and is attracted to a young man who is definitely not Taiwanese. Gloria Chao's heartwarming tale of the girl struggling to be true to herself, while honoring and respecting her family and culture is served with a generous quantity of humor. Love her. Laugh with her. Agonize with her. Mei’s story is the quintessential romantic comedy.

Bonus: Love currently available on a screen near you. ​

Copyboy by Vince Vawter

Those who have read Vince Vawter’s Paperboy, may be surprised with Copyboy The cover states that it is “the sequel to Paperboy, a 2014 Newbery Honor Book.” The cover image of a young boy, with bag slung over his shoulder suggests this is a continuation of this youngster’s story. However, the narrative does not pick up where Paperboy left off. Vic has grown up. He’s doesn't deliver newspapers. He’s a high school graduate, headed for college. He has secured a job at the local newspaper office, owns a car, and possesses a mind of his own. This is the story of Vic’s personal odyssey, fulfilling his promise to Mr. Spiro, the man who befriended the shy stuttering eleven-year-old. Before beginning a job at the Memphis newspaper and prior to his freshman year, Vic surreptitiously leaves home and travels to New Orleans. He is searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, where Vic plans to honor Mr. Spiro’s request to have his ashes scattered at the point where the river meets the ocean. "It’s just something I have to do. For Mr. Spiro...and ​m—aybe for myself.”

Wisdom from Mr. Spiro