Lovely War by Julie Berry

Berry spins a fantastic tale of love and life, war and death. The story centers on a setup involving three Greek gods: Aphrodite, Ares, and Hephaestus. A trap is sprung. Aphrodite and Ares are caught. There will be a trial, with Hephaestus serving as judge and jury. Aphrodite pleads her case by telling two love stories set during World War I. ​James, an aspiring architect and Hazel, a talented young pianist meet in England and fall in love before he leaves for the front. Colette, a Belgian girl with the voice of an angel and Aubrey, an African American composer and performer meet in France where both are entertaining troops stationed in Europe. ​Apollo and Hades offer corroborating "testimony" and contribute important details. Interestingly, Hades relates his narrative from the perspective of those who experience death, both in the moments preceding death as well as the life after death.

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Elizabeth Wein's World War II series is classic. Code Name Verity earned a Prinz Honor Award.

Martha Brockenbrough's story of love and death involving two gods and two mortals.

Characters James Reese Europe and Noble Sissle are real individuals. Listen to this recording of their Ragtime music from the World War I era.  ​The period photographs and other images of music and African American musicians add context to the story.

For two decades Laurie Halse Anderson has been speaking out, giving voice to teens who have experienced horrific trauma. Speak has brought the shame and humiliation experienced by rape victims out of the dark recesses of suppressed memory. Acknowledging the suffering, the rage. Initiating the first steps to healing. In my early years as a youth librarian, Speak was constantly requested, always checked out. The story is as relevant to a fourteen-year-year-old girl from a small Texas town in 2000 as it is to a teen living in urban New York in 2019.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson It all started in 1999. Laurie Halse Anderson published her first book: a ground-breaking young adult novel chronicling the story of fifteen-year-old Melinda Sordino. Beginning her freshman year, this young student is ostracized by her former friends and classmates. She is singled out at a school pep rally for calling the police at a summer party. What Melinda cannot say is that she was raped at that party. School becomes unbearable. She is constantly confronted with the shame and agony of that night, as the boy who raped her is a student at her school. Shunned by her friends,

Speak: The Graphic Novel ​by Laurie Halse Anderson ill by Emily Carroll Publishing a graphic novel version of Speak is both an obvious choice and a brilliant decision. This visceral narrative translates to striking visual imagery. Anderson chooses to update the original story, including references to cell phones and Instagram. This gives the narrative a fresh, contemporary vibe. Her Author's Note serves as an introduction. A helpful list of organizations which support victims of sexual assault contains descriptions and contact information can be found in the back matter.

Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson Told primarily in verse, this memoir covers a wide range of events and emotions. Part One shares moments from Laurie’s difficult and conflicted childhood, her rape at age thirteen and subsequent reliance on drugs to mask the anguish, the slow ascent from depression during tenth grade, her year as a foreign exchange student in Denmark, and her foray into writing for teens. Part Two explores the publication of Speak and the impact it has had on her and a world-wide audience. Part Three returns to recurring symbols and themes: trees, blood, family, and stories. She acknowledges her parents’ personal troubles, but is willing to maintain a relationship with each. What a generous heart!

Bonus: Additional Resources

Since my early draft of this post, a twentieth anniversary edition of Speak​ has been released. It includes a new introduction by Ashley C. Ford as well as an afterword by Jason Reynolds. This edition also features an updated Q&A, resource list, an essay, and poem by Anderson. I look forward to reading this updated edition. I’ve Talked With Teenage Boys About Sexual Assault for 20 Years. ​This Is What They Still Don’t Know  Laurie Halse Anderson Time January 15, 2019

Laurie reads "Me,Too" from Shout. Laurie reads "Listen" from the 20th edition of Speak.

Under Water by J. L. Powers

After the death of her beloved grandmother, seventeen-year-old Khosi and her nine-year-old sister Zi must face the world alone. Her aunt, accusing Khosi of witchcraft, has stripped the girls’ family home of its contents. They have only mattresses, a cracked plastic chair, and an ancient T.V. Working as a sangoma, a traditional Zulu healer, Khosi abandons her studies in order to support herself and her sister. This should have been her last year of school prior to university. She wanted to study nursing, practicing modern medicine along with traditional healing. Circumstances impel her to break the two promises she made to her grandmother: that she would complete her schooling and that she would not get seriously involved with her longtime boyfriend, Little Man. Tensions rise when her boyfriend becomes enmeshed in the local tsotsi's (gangster) taxi war and the body of a murdered Somali shop owner is left on her property. Destitute, pregnant with Little Man's child, her home destroyed by fire, Khosi knows that she must take her sister and flee.

"What do you suppose Gogo is doing right now on the other side?" Zi asks.
I shake my head. I don't have to suppose. I already know. "She and the other amadlozi are sitting around gossiping about the funeral," I say. "Gogo is laughing about how many people came for a free meal, people who never visited when she was alive."
Zi shakes her head. "That isn't funny,"
...
​"The things that matter to us when we are alive are not so important when we are dead," I say. "Gogo is glad they had a good meal. And she's touched by how many of them brought money to give to us."

Getting Acquainted with South Africa

Introduce students to the history and culture of South Africa and the Zulu People. These resources may serve as a starting point for further exploration.

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. An opportunity to shine comes when Twinkle is asked to direct a movie for the local arts festival.  Film geek Sahil has offered to help 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. 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. Menon uses a series of imaginary emails that Twinkle sends to famous women of filmdom in this story of finding where one's heart lies.

Rain is Not My Indian Name by Cynthia Leitich Smith

​Fourteen-year-old Cassidy Rain Berghoff, still mourning the death of her best friend, agrees to photograph the local newspaper's story of this summer's Indian Camp, organized by her Aunt Georgia. Prominent members of this mostly white Kansas community protest the use of public funds for Indian Camp. Rain's heritage includes Muscogee Creek-Cherokee, Scots-Irish and Irish-German-Ojibway.  Her mother refers to the loving, close-knit family as her "patchwork tribe."  ​After introductory pages detailing her friend's  tragic death, readers follow Rain's  chronological description of nine days: June 26 to July 4.  Smith begins each chapter with a journal excerpt which gives the narrative intimacy and poignancy. ​​Rain uses her camera to help her face the world after her heartbreaking loss, acknowledge her heritage, and bring closure and peace to her heart.

Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide
​by Isabel Quintero ill Zeke Peña

Quintero and Peña employ a mixed media approach to this biographical graphic novel illuminating the life and work of  Graciela Iturbide.  The pastiche of eloquent text, artfully arranged sequential panels, and photographs blend together seamlessly. Quintero's glorious text is rich with layers of meaning. Peña's realistic line drawings combined with black and white photographs and artful panel and page design provide a stellar reading experience. This biography is much more than a chronology.  It is a celebration of art, creation, and culture.  "I photograph and exist in the in-between: those spaces where unknown worlds, real and imagined intersect."

Dear Heartbreak: ​YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love
​edited by Heather Demetrios

Hearts are fragile things. A heart can be pierced. It can shatter. Some hearts may slowly bleed. Every person, at some point in life experiences the pain of heartbreak. Dear Heartbreak edited by Heather Demetrios is compilation of real letters written by teens. Young adult authors respond to these deeply personal teen self-portrayals.  The original letters and the author's replies acknowledge the reality of heartbreak. Each author relates personally to the down side of daring to trust, of wishing for more, of saying no.   ​Here's what I predict will happen with this book:   It will be read and read again.  It will be misplaced several times. Librarians will find it scattered throughout the library in strange nooks and crannies. It will probably manage to leave the library without ever passing over the circulation desk. Librarians will need to order multiple copies.

Inventing Victoria by Tonya Bolden

Essie, daughter of a Savannah prostitute, spent her childhood nights sequestered in an attic above her mother' bedroom. At the age of fourteen Essie found work as a domestic, taught herself to read, and escaped a life of despair. Dorcas Vashon, a frequent guest in Savannah, notices this servant and offers her the opportunity to move to Baltimore and start a new life. Essie changes her name to Victoria and commences a rigorous regime of training in the art of becoming a lady of refinement.  It is difficult, but she is inspired by the writings of Frederick Douglass. If there is no struggle, there is no progress.

Bringing History to Life

You Are the Everything by Karen Rivers

The voice. The first thing I notice about a Karen Rivers novel is the voice. Always distinctive. Invariably haunting and unforgettable. Written in second person, You Are the Everything invites readers into the mind of Elyse Schmidt. Call me Elyse. If you call me Elyse, everything will be okay. ​Elyse and her best friend Kath are on their way home from a band trip to Paris. It's your first plane trip home, first time out of the country, first time for a lot of things, but nothing happened...Paris should've been the backdrop for so many amazing things, but it wasn't. ​A smallish sixteen-year-old flutist with a penchant for drawing, Schmidt finds that her seatmate on the return flight is Josh Harris, the object of her unrequited love. As he sleeps, she imagines a romantic relationship with the boy of her dreams.

The Everything of Everything

Sweet Revenge: Passive-Aggressive Desserts for Your Exes & Enemies
by Heather Kim

The holidays are upon us.  This may mean strained relationships. Stress with a capital S. Maybe it's time to throw  out the calorie count and indulge in decadent desserts. Sweet Revenge: Passive-Aggressive Desserts for Your Exes & Enemies has you covered. This tantalizing cookbook is fun to read. Text is replete with clever turn-of-phrase and precisely the right amount of snark.  It's a visual treat as well.  Book design has a slightly edgy feel with bold fonts, quirky graphic elements and eye-popping photographs.

Heather Kim states in her introduction that this volume is first and foremost a cookbook. So let’s talk food: not your standard chocolate chip and snickerdoodle fare. The recipes are inventive, and some are downright dangerous. Consider these: Pretzel-Peanut-Butter Cups, Cannoli Waffles with a candied Pistachio topping, Coconut Mochi Cake with Coconut Sesame-Pecan Icing, Carrot Cake Truffles with Cool Ranch Doritos Sugar.  Some venture into truly innovative: Elvis cupcakes (banana cake, peanut buttercream frosting and butterscotch candied bacon) or Flamin' Hot Cheetos Ice Cream Sandwiches. I tried the S'more Brownies.  It's basically a brownie topped with squares of homemade marshmallow and  graham cracker streusel.  There's a nice hint of cinnamon in the cracker/butter mixture.  Now the fun: toast the  fudgy little squares with a torch or under the broiler. Watch them lightly brown. Then devour.  Taste-tested by a panel of teens and adults, we all agreed that these are yummy!

Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Sawyer Taft isn’t exactly debutante material. Working as an auto mechanic, she has managed to keep a roof over herself and her oft-times absent mom. Grandmother Lillian Taft arrives and offers her a contract: a five hundred-thousand-dollar college education trust fund in exchange for living with Grandmother for one year and participating in the annual Symphony Deb Ball. Sawyer decides to sign up. Her primary motivation is certainly not for all the trappings of her grandmother's southern society life.  She wants to learn the identity of her father. ​

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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