When a massive earthquake traps Ruby under concrete, life didn’t flash before her eyes. Instead, time began to crawl. Ruby has a companion in the dusty dark, Charlie, who she previously wanted to ask if he’d buy her beer just seconds before the rumbling began. Crushed under the literal weight of the world, with a cell phone to mark the time but not call or text, Ruby will recount the last events before the earthquake – her final conversations and thoughts on her relationships with others in her life. She and Charlie will no longer be strangers though they will never see each other again. This is a character study, and still, a page-turner as the hours become days and survival seems unattainable. It is a quick read that will interest reluctant readers.

Alex is a visionary, literally. He can see the future of the things that he touches –every day things and things close to him. And it terrifies him, because not all futures are pretty. While the first few chapters set a groundwork, the rest of the novel is a groundswell of suspense. It takes diving deep into his past, and that of his family, to come to terms with how the future could play out. Brittney Morris asks readers to check themselves, and their preconceived notions, through Alex’s experiences. Shedding a tear or laughing alongside the characters, Morris gives us another look with a special-power twist into the life of a young Black American. A worthy addition because of the super-natural element as most black male protagonists that are being written are just realistic fiction tropes.

Brave Face, a memoir by Shaun David Hutchinson, is not light-hearted reading.  Hutchison explores his self-worth, sexuality, depression, and anxiety through a tumultuous time in his life. All of it – good, bad, and ugly. His journey is told honestly as he swirls through thoughts of self.

Shaun struggled to fit in even in parochial elementary schools with many trips to the principal’s office. High school finds him in all new surroundings in a much larger public school with none of his old friends around.  His love of fantasy stories allows him to land a part in a school play and he feels at home with the students in the drama department. He learns he can “play a part” even in real life because of his sexuality. This leads to little things setting him off with feelings of anger and rage, such as his mom asking him to do a simple chore. In Shaun’s words, “By society’s definition, any gay man was going to live a lonely life of constant lies, die of aids, become the victim of someone who didn’t even see him as a human being, or worse. There was no future to being gay.  Therefore, I couldn’t be gay. I had a future. I’d spent a lifetime building the vision of who I wanted to be, and that person was not a fag.” Some friends will walk away as he decides to come out after high school. But he is a smart man and continues to do well academically.

Throughout the book, Shaun shares his thought process and contorted inner self-talk and the role depression has played in his life. Which Shaun was he? Why was he smoking? The cutting and burning to hide his intellectual self-loathing. The drugs. The break-ups. The suicide attempt. The commitment for treatment. The recovery. The straight-A student. The brilliant writer.

His story is written to show there is light at the end of the tunnel. It could be an eye-opener that will help one in their understanding of self or others.  Ultimately, it is a look into the mind that is a beautiful, exciting, and scary thing.

As part of the History of Crime and Punishment series, Abdo’s For-Profit Prisons explains the concept and history behind the creation of for-profit prisons. As early as 1825, the state of Kentucky began the practice of making money by leasing out prisoners. When slavery was abolished, the use of prisoners became more common as a means to replace slave labor. Newspaper accounts of the mistreatment and inhumane conditions forced Congress to pass legislation barring Federal prisons from leasing out their prisoners, but it could not curb private prisons on a national level. Individual states enacted their own patchwork of laws. But when the US got “tough on crime” in the 1980’s with drug possession laws and the 1990’s with three-strikes laws, prison populations ballooned and taxpayers didn’t want to pay for more prisons. Private investors were back in action. Private prisons are on the radar again today because of cost and treatment of inmates. This text gives plenty of specific details to teach readers about both sides of the prison argument. If this is a topic students in your school might investigate, perhaps in a street law course, then Harris’ text is worthy.

Parvin Mohammadi outwardly shows confidence in her boisterous comments and snarky remarks. But as with most fourteen-year-old girls, Parvin second-guesses herself, especially when it comes to boys. As the summer wraps up, Parvin has fallen for Wesley, who held her hand and then kissed her. They are an item, now, right? So why won’t he acknowledge her at the 9th-grade orientation two days later? As he explains, Parvin is just “too much”. Why does she feel so sorry for herself is one question she should be asking. But instead, she asks, how can I get him back. Enter the plan to slow her roll and make him jealous. All Parvin has to do is get Matty to ask her to homecoming. Surely that will let Wesley know he’s made a grave mistake. With best friends Fabian and Ruth helping to run the plot, Parvin pretend-flirts with Matty while also subconsciously flirting with her Farsi teacher and friend Amir. Intentions will become muddied, in as much as Parvin is muddied in realizing that she should not have to change who she is to impress a romantic interest and if she does, she’ll lose far more. This Iranian-American teen will see that self-confidence begins with self-love and her crazy hair, room-filling laugh, and prank-loving spirit are what make her Perfectly Parvin.

The third and final book in Rebecca Schaeffer’s trilogy that started with Not Even Bones and gained depth in Only Ashes Remain, might leave readers feeling a little disappointed in characters in When Villians Rise. Character development was a strong suit in book two of the series, yet this reader felt it could have been taken a step further here. While the main focus is on Nita surviving, the best aspect of this book is that Schaeffer didn’t let the text turn into a teenage romance novel. Instead, the reality of relationships not going down that path was refreshing. Much of the end was a shock with many twists and turns — maybe too many. Nonetheless, the storyline wraps up leaving a reader feeling satisfied. Finish the trilogy in your library if you have the other two.

In the sequel to Not Even Bones, Rebecca Schaeffer’s energy continues from the first and dives further into Nita and Fabricio histories — character development being the focus of Only Ashes Remain. It’s not often that an author can bring that energy to the backgrounds of characters and move the plot along as well. Schaeffer masterfully keeps readers guessing what will happen next while they also watch characters start to change, grow, and be resilient. This resiliency is a trait young readers need to recognize more often in today’s world. The villains are rising up, leaving a nice cliffhanger to keep readers wanting the next in the series and is aptly named as such. A well-constructed sequel, if students liked Not Even Bones, they will most likely enjoy this continuation Nita’s struggle to succeed in getting revenge.

The Seventh Raven, by David Elliott, ropes readers into a fantasy story of a family, their dreams, and their reality. In a family of seven boys, Jack and Jane would like a girl. Once born, April struggles to stay alive until a curse allows her to thrive at the cost of all of her brother’s lives. April will spend her young adult life trying to find a way to break the curse. But Robyn, the seventh boy, will not want to escape the curse. David Elliott’s poetic creativity here is masterful. He found just the right word choice, just the right cadence, and just the right tone for each character. All of these choices are also explained at the end of the text — an ah-ha for those that didn’t catch the stylistic and tonal shifts. This novel in verse could easily be used in the classroom for students to discover many aspects of poetry. For IB schools outside of the US, this would be an excellent work in translation. Highly recommended for lovers of literature.

The NBM Graphic Novels publisher has another home run with the terse writing of Alex Nikolavitch combined with the creative reflectiveness of Feliz Ruiz’s art in The Disney Bros.: The Fabulous Story of Walt and Roy. Nikolavitch thrusts the reader into the tension of Roy and Walt’s working relationship. Both men are “ideas” men but Walt comes off as a little more savvy and a little more gruff. Success was not immediate once Mickey Mouse came to life, but with playing his cards right in the Hollywood market, Walt and Roy are able slowly become the dominant force in the cartoon industry. Walt has been coined a visionary before and Nikolavitch portrays this aspect of his story as the strongest characteristic of the man — always looking for the next opportunity to go bigger. From comics to talkies to full-length feature movies to the crazy idea of an amusement park, Walt may have vented his frustrations in boisterous ways but he did not let frustrations stop his creativity in how the business could grow. Readers will also see that the business life of all things Disney were not all happy endings, despite their overall success.

Ruiz’s graphics were spot on, from the “Hollywoodland” version of the Hollywood sign in the 1920’s to TV cameras on set in the 1950’s. The variety of sizes of panes and overlapping of backgrounds felt perfect for the tension that existed between the two brothers. While students might not see this during a 1st read, it wouldn’t surprise this reader if students checked it out again and again, slowly realizing how well the graphics support the “angle” Nikolavitch refers to in the introduction of the book.

Overall, this is a highly recommended graphic biography for school and public libraries.

Lynette Noni’s darker adventure fantasy, The Prison Healer, will bring vibes of other popular fantasy, from Incarceron to The Hunger Games. Kiva Meridian has been living inside the prison of Zalindov for the past 10 years, using the teachings of her father to guide her as the prison’s primary doctor or healer. Kiva’s past comes to the reader in waves, while the plot rolls along quite rapidly over the course of fall season. Kiva also has the job to give new inmates the mark of the prison, as she cuts a “Z” into the top of an inmate’s hand upon arrival. The physical scarring doubles as mental scarring for Kiva as she believes she is wrongfully imprisoned. Yet she does want to do her job, one of the best ones to have in the prison, to the best of her abilities, including protecting the most important patient, the Rebel Queen. Kiva will be tested in her abilities to navigate a budding romance, maneuver political turmoil, and survive deadly “ordeals”. Two of the three she passes with flying colors as a pro-fem protagonist. This reader wishes Kiva discovered her own superpowers to survive the “ordeals” rather than relying on those of others. Still, the quick pacing of the plot and dialogue, with many twists and turns, will keep any fantasy reader entertained, even if they skim a few pages here and there. Complete with a cliffhanger that came at the last minute, The Prison Healer is worth adding to school library shelves grades 7 and up.

As a sequel to Give the Dark my Love, Revis didn’t grasp this reader’s attention as much as with the first book. It focused on the politics of the story and less on character development. It was a slower read as the character’s ideas were repetitive. The romance of the entire story didn’t sit well because of what felt like a forced coupling. Characters who had different goals and beliefs were put together leaving this reader thinking it would never work out. Only the last part of the book was worth the time to read as there is an unexpected twist.

For the past 16 years, Hazel has been living with a small radius of her house that includes her school, a few stores, a mini-golf course, and one restaurant. Her town is not small, but if she goes outside of this radius, the universe literally begins to freak out. When she was born, a rift, or a tear into the universe, was formed. The rift acts up now and again spitting out things from other dimensions — trees, furniture, and not known to Hazel, other Hazels. The government had set up barns on their property to monitor the rift and government agents had become Hazel’s friends as they had to track her every move. But her 16th birthday is the flashpoint. The rift begins its meltdown on a whole new level. Hazel will meet her versions from other dimensions and will slowly learn her destiny in the process of saving her world from being entirely sucked into the rift. Corrine Duyvis’ incorporation of current coming of age issues into an out-of-this-world experience feels surprisingly authentic. Teens will appreciate Hazel’s struggle to be her true self, even if it is something she learns through the eyes of her other selves.

Four accomplices, like the four letters of the title Meme, each will question the motives of the others after a wickedly committed murder, a murder they believe has gone viral. It is the fall of their senior year. Cole and Meeka’s relationship has gone south, with Meeka feeling that Cole may cause her physical harm. Cole has had a very rough life and is smarter with computers than with people. Holly, Grayson, and Logan felt there was only one way to protect Meeka. A single picture is taken at the murder site that would connect all of them if one were to confess. It was taken as a sort of security blanket, then all phones were destroyed and left with the buried body. Except the picture began to circulate as a meme shortly after the killing. Who else has the picture? Does that person know what happened that night? Could Cole still be alive? All have a point of view to share as narrators of alternating chapters as the story unwinds. Yet Meeka’s is that last voice. While Aaron Starmer’s title is trite, the writing is pretty good and fans of Gretchen McNeil will enjoy this suspenseful tale.

Aaron and Tillie stand on the George Washington Bridge expecting to end their lives.  Aaron and Tillie don’t know each other but they’ve come to the same conclusion that suicide is the only viable option for each.  What happens in Aaron jumps and Tillie doesn’t.  Or vice versa?  Or if they both jump?  Or if neither do? Bill Konigsberg’s genius is in his character development, and the story-telling technique of four possible plotlines allows for finite details of Aaron and Tillie’s personalities to emerge. They are genuine, they are real, they have issues, they have choices. Readers are led to consider how “life” is impacted by the choices we make. Bill Konigsberg develops an authentic description of what depression might feel like and he doesn’t glamourize suicide. It is questionable whether or not readers will find the fourth story to be repetitive but overall this unique take on a serious topic will keep readers intrigued.

The Kingdom of Back is a historical retelling of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s real-life older sister, Nannerl Mozart, with heavy threads of fantasy. The story follows the young lives of the siblings growing up in a family whose future depends on the recognition of their family talent by the nobility.

Nannerl is at first the gem of the musical Mozart family until the genius other brother seeps out to steal the focus. It seems her talent cannot compete with his innate gift. As she feels more diminished, she turns to the fantasy world they had created. The prince of the Kingdom of Back becomes her focus as she drifts between the realness of the two worlds trying to find her place.

The story unveils itself easily as it follows Nannerl through to adulthood. The symbols and analogies presented in the Kingdom of Back creatively convey the emotion and thought processes of a young adult girl trying to find her way in a world with a domineering father and a child prodigy younger brother. A shift from her adventure-focused fantasy writing, Lu presents the story of a person coming to grips with her future by finding a way to deal with it.

Students see TEDTalks much like they view a teacher – sharing information to teach. But TEDTalks are the public speaking events of today that can reach massively more ears and eyes. Anderson and Oberweger smartly build this guide to public speaking by analyzing what goes into a great TEDTalk — starting with the premise that there is no one way to give a great talk. The best talks are “fresh” and innovative rather than stale. Instead one must “breathe, play, and practice, practice, practice”.

First there’s the foundation – what is the throughline, the connecting theme that ties the ideas together? This touchstone needs to be what holds the speech together, even if a diverse number of ideas are presented. One also needs to consider the audience – who is that one person that needs to acknowledged, accepted, invited via the speech — and consider the topic — is it a topic that you can handle well and your audience can digest.

Second there are tools – think of structures here – what is the journey, the story, or the truth to be told. Compare this to the foundation. More than likely they are naturally interconnected. If not, why not. And will that still work? It might.

Third, it’s time to prepare — whether scripted or unscripted, one needs to practice. Period. Lots of reasons why are discussed – from technology glitches to physical itches. Practice, practice, practice.

This is a nice, relevant addition to any school or public library.

From the Science Adventurers series comes Animal Conservationists, a look at six different facets in protecting different animal species of life. Chapter 1 begins with a hook — the work around saving something that creeps many people out– bats! After a end chapter covering the history of animal conservation, the author begins to drill down into the realities of the task. First, is the reclaiming/protection of habit, because if the habitat is not hospitable, the animals will die. Second is the issues around breeding and how humans help in this realm. A special chapter is reserved for breeding in water as well. Then time is given for the process of bringing a creature back to or introducing it to its native habitat, called “reintroduction”. The technology employed by conservationists as well as the human actions to help fight off predators help round out the text until a final chapter of “the future” is warranted. Abdo does such a nice job with its series topic choices, layout of text and sidebars, as well physical print/binding quality. The sidebars of this text in particular were very intriguing, leading this reader to wander there often before focusing on the main content as pages were turned. This will be a worthwhile addition to the 500’s in any school library.

This is a text that could easily be incorporated into middle school or high school classroom curriculum. This is a text that could be adapted for a school theater program. This is a text that will stick with you for awhile. Kent State, by Deborah Wiles, is the telling of the four days of protesting from May 1st – 4th on the campus of the university. Various voices share their chronological recollection building up to the deadly shootings by Ohio National Guard troops. But it is the positioning of the text on the page that makes this worthy of its multiple starred reviews. The voices come to the reader in snippets of text, much like a discussion, and are arranged based on likely political affiliation. Student protester voices more left justified, to National Guard troops right justified on the page. There are other voices of citizens caught in the middle that are situated on the page somewhere between the two based on their content. The anger, the frustration, the anxiety, the outrage, the disbelief –it can all be captured by the use of these various voices. The book jacket says, this text show the “human truth” in this tragedy. This text should be in every middle and high school library for its lessons in history, in the craft of writing, and in the depiction of humans reacting crisis.

Co-authors Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige alternate chapter by chapter the star roles of Scarlett and Vivi, a senior and freshman respectively at Westerly College. Scarlett is aiming to become her sorority’s president while Vivi doesn’t even think the sorority life is her thing. But Vivi is destined to become a Raven, the nickname for the Kappa Rho Nu sisters. The Ravens are witches, each specializing in one of four powers, but bound in sisterhood, they can also draw upon the other powers. And sisterhood is the most important part of being in this sorority — above all else. Vivi arrives on campus, against her mother’s pleas, and is drawn to attend a party at the Kappa house. Vivi and Scarlett clash immediately. The current president assigns Scarlett as Vivi’s magic mentor, setting up internal struggles for both girls. But a previous mistake by Scarlett will bring evil magic to Westerly and all Ravens will need to work together to fight it off. This is the beginning of a series, though it reads like a stand-alone. Those readers who like the motif of sisterhood above all else or who are fans of magical tales with spooky spells, ancient myths and tense scenes will probably enjoy this tale.

Cardi B has risen to the top of music world with her determination, her showmanship and her shock value — two positives, one negative, postive wins. This is the love/hate relationship that seems to surround her. Love her rhythm, hate her lyrics. Love her come up from dancing on tables for money, hate her overt sexual overtones. The same love/hate follows with this text. Love that there is something relatively easy for students to grab and be interested in, hate the overly simplistic tone. High school students will feel like the language is dumbed down. Abdo is a strong publisher and while there are interesting sidebars, references and bibliography at the back, most student probably won’t linger there. The colorful pictures will entertain but the drama that is Cardi, the voice that is Cardi, is not reflected in this chronology of her life. Therefore this is an additional purchase for libraries that can afford it.

What was it like to grow up in a strict German Catholic family in the early 1900s? This work chronicles the life of Wilhelm Hosenfeld – a teacher, husband, father, thinker, leader and always a man with a Christian conscious.

Wilm Hosenfeld embraced the Wandervogel message that, “German youth wanted to shape their own lives, through self-determination, self-responsibility, and inner truthfulness.” He embraces the youth hostiles, competitions and camaraderie with people his age. WWI erupts and he proudly volunteers to join the Prussian infantry and fights on Flanders Field for the fatherland. By 1918 he was tired and disillusioned with war and happy to return to his studies to become a teacher.

He meets his future wife at a Wandervogel meeting.  Their shared interests include art, literature, music and the outdoors though they came from very different backgrounds: Catholic versus Protestant, upper class vs villager.   

By 1923 Wilm establishes a night school in his village.  It offered course once a week in the evenings to persons ages 15 to 25 in economics, history, civics, German language and literature. He wanted to captivate the minds of those engaged “in work that requires brute force”, exposing them to an awareness of the outside world and not just their rural area. 

The change in German leadership in 1933 to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, led by Adolf Hitler, Wilm Hosenfeld believed would put an end to Germany’s problems. He joined the SA. However his beliefs are in conflict with Nazi’s cruelties. Who can he trust? Can he challenge those in charge? What will happen to his family? He helps those he can. But he cannot help every one. He is captured and tried as a war criminal by the Russians yet his moral and ethical compass always remained intact. Wilm “saw each person as a fellow equal human being”.  

Among many awards and recognitions postumusually given Wilm these two stand out: in 2007 he was awarded The Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restitula by then Polish President Lech Kaczynski and in 2009 Wilm Hosenfeld was recognized with the Jewish honor as a “Righteous Among the Nations”. This young readers edition will be picked up by students who enjoy the details of this time period in history.

It’s not very often that a young adult mystery keeps you guessing until the very end, but Kit Frick did it in I Killed Zoe Spanos. What a great ride! Mix podcast transcripts with flashback narrative structure. Chill over the course of 10 months. Then surprise readers with more than they ever thought was happening in the back story.

Anna Cicconi has not been the perfect teen, but the summer after graduating high school, she wants to make better choices and believes leaving NYC for a nanny job in the Hamptons will be a fresh start and a great way to make money for college. Escaping to a place her mother tells her she’s never been to because her father was too cheap, she commits to being a good nanny. Not long in her new dwelling, Anna learns of a missing girl from the area that looks surprisingly similar to her. People in town notice too. Jump ahead to the fall and Anna is in juvenile detention for the killing of Zoe Spanos — but she went missing on New Year’s Eve/Day the previous winter. Anna had never met Zoe, yet she confessed to the crime. Memories keep flooding into her head of her being with Zoe, but there’s no truth to them.

Local detective-like teen Martina begins a podcast about Zoe’s death because she too feels something is not right with how the police investigated and why Anna confessed. She’ll discover more clues, but not everything will add up. Kit Frick wove together a mystery that has just the right questions without over-the-top tension or gore. Most mystery fans should enjoy it and I can highly recommend this for high school and public libraries.

Dance is something that has been in Ada’s bones since her birth. She could saunter across the floor of her home much easier as a little girl than when she matures because Ada’s life becomes one of inner turmoil, which reaches a breaking point while in the fall of her freshman year at college. Flipping between a narrative of her college life and flashbacks of various influential times in her childhood, readers are introduced to different aspects of Ada. She has been obedient to her deeply religious father. She has tried vehemently to show her self-centered, unequipped mother that she will always love her. She has dealt with her own inner body image demons as well as teen awkwardness and school hazing. She has witnessed the love in her Nigerian culture and its clashes with contemporary America. When given the opportunity to attend a Historically Black College, Ada leaves her father behind, but she won’t be able to leave her past. And it’s her past that will shape her future — to choose to dance or not to dance. Candice Iloh writes with tension that matches Ada’s strife. Because the novel is in verse, the plotline clips along despite its jolts between settings. Some readers will devour this in one sitting while others will slowly enjoy its introspection. Highly recommended for high school and public libraries.