Part history lesson, part biography, part social commentary, part of our lives — Saturday Night Live is an institution in American television history and author Arie Kaplan opens the doors of the who, when and what this sketch comedy show has done for American culture in the past 40+ years.  After an opening chapter that chronicles sketches/characters decade by decade, Kaplan delves into the best chapter of the book, “Diversity…’Yeah, that’s the ticket!'” to shed light on the lack of diversity in the faces and roles on SNL.  While there were women and black men had roles in the show from the beginning, they weren’t leading roles.  Eddie Murphy broke out in the early 1980’s but other black male comics on the show weren’t given prominent sketches. 2 black female comics had one season each in the 80’s.  The 90’s witnessed minimal improvement with one black female cast member lasting 6 seasons.  Even Tina Fey didn’t become the 1st female head writer for the show until 1999, after nearly 25 years in production, though only her 3rd season on the show.  But where are the Asian-Americans, Arab-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans?  Saturday Night Live has more representing to do “fu-shur”.  A 3rd chapter about SNL’s foci on politics throughout its time on the air makes the contention that SNL swings popular opinions, using Sarah Palin’s Vice-Presidential candidacy as the prime example.  The 4th chapter nestles back into noting the most memorable comedians and what they went on to accomplish after SNL.  In addition to this accessible look into the life of Saturday Night Life, the physical presence of the book is also “Live” so to speak.  Well chosen, full-color pictures pop on the high quality, glossy paper.  The author also added a “Catch Phrase Quiz as well as other resource lists that lend to this text’s appeal for young adults.  Twenty-First Century Books did an A+ job for this 7-12 grade non-fiction title.  Highly recommended.

Sadie Bell is going into a wonderful summer where she gets to take a photography class in the mornings using a camera her father gave her as a gift — a father she has set up on a pedestal though she barely knows him because he lives in California and she lives in New York.  Sadie’s mother’s down to earth, yoga filled lifestyle seems to have kept Sadie grounded but this photography class will push Sadie in directions she didn’t see coming through her traditional viewfinder.  New friends will challenge the relationship with her best friend.  Boy drama will muddy the waters of Sadie’s usually smooth flowing river.  And the father figure Sadie longs to have will influence her in ways she hadn’t anticipated.  Juliana Romano does a fine job keeping Sadie multi-dimensional, surprising the reader with some choices that keeps Sadie as an authentic, somewhat angst filled teen trying to navigate the “streets” of New York city.  This reader likes how secondary layered personalities of characters come out onto the playground of the characters’ lives.  Recommended.

Want an idealistic, goodie two shoes, happy ending story to make you feel warm and fuzzy as the hormones of high school begin pouring out in spring?  Welcome to We Can Work it Out, the next part of Elizabeth Eulberg’s The Lonely Hearts Club.  Penny Lane is a high school student whose Lonely Hearts Club was created to give girls a group to hang out with and be independent of boys.  But when Penny finds herself attracted to and then dating a boy, she has to make hard choices as to which one will get her attention.  The boyfriend is very understanding at first, but as simplistic conflicts build, he turns away.  Will Penny be able to juggle her love for the club with her desire to get the boy back?  Full of many, many, many references to Beatles tunes, We Can Work It out is a perfect read for that 9th grade, boy obsessed person if they realize that everything doesn’t always time up in pretty bows in the end.  It wouldn’t surprise this reader if this became a Disney or Hallmark movies. This is an additional purchase and can be easily read without having read The Lonely Hearts Club.

The Telling, by Alexandra Sirowy, is a murder mystery and a coming of age story, which deals with social issues confronting today’s teens sensitively.  Lana McBrook divides her life into “before” and “after.”  Before includes her stepbrother, Ben; after does not.  Ben was murdered under suspicious circumstances; then others involved with Lana and Ben are also murdered.  This story is tightly written, with believable characters having realistic interactions.  There are interesting plot twists, and very good storytelling.  However, Lana does tend to go on a bit with some of her descriptions. The author is in no hurry to delve into the murders, prefering to establish the main characters and their relationships first.  The main thrust, besides the murders, is in exploring interactions among the main characters.  Lana was never part of the “in-group,“ keeping to herself along with her best friend.  After Ben’s murder, she is welcomed into this group and devotes a lot of time in learning how to resolve the sudden change.  There are elements to attract audiences of different types of literature.  There is a murder mystery, a ghost story, high school tensions, the meaning of the changing aspects of friendship, and, above all, courage in the face of adversity.  A murder mystery with surprising twists, an element of otherworldlyness, high school social angst, and personal growth for the main characters, The Telling will draw the reader into its web from the very first sentence.  Highly recommended.

The wrath and tyranny of the Sleeping Prince is crashing down upon Errin’s world.  All of Tregellan is going into a defensive lock down mode but Errin’s greater concern is to take care of her ailing mother, whom she believes has “Scarlet Varulv,” a mysterious disease that takes over her mind and body during the full moon in such a way that she attacks Errin and leaves her limp and lifeless the rest of the month.  With her father dead from an accident partially cause by Errin’s bad judgment and her brother abandoning the family without explanation,  Errin sole survival tactic is to sell the apothacary remedies she was being trained to do before her world crumbled.  Befriended by a hooded, white-haired male who always seems to show up at the perfect time, Errin not only continues her quest to release her mother from the afflicting disease while getting wrapped right into the center of battle with the Sleeping Prince.  Reminiscent of myth and full of lore, chases, heartbreak and tension, this is sure to please any reader who likes a twisted good vs. evil story.

Note: This is book 2 of a series though it was previewed as a stand alone.  It has a different point of view/narrator than the 1st book, The Sin-Eater’s Daughter.  There are times in the last 80 pages where the background of the 1st book would help.  Ultimately a library would probably pick up all three as most readers like the full story.

Seventeen-year-old Ryan Poitier Sharp is a daredevil whose passion is skydiving at her father’s diving school, living life on the edge with confidence and wild abandon on and high above the Mojave Desert. Daughter of a vibrant Caribbean mother, a veteran father with PTSD, she is also blessed with a Caribbean grandmother who has shamanistic Obeah (voodoo) magic in her loving bones. Ryan fully inhabits her ‘rum and clouds’ skin, glorious curls and careless beauty in reckless ways without apology, making love to her sweetheart, Dom, and caring deeply for her gay friend, Joe. However, when suddenly thwarted by her father in her wish to make a dangerous group dive, she takes LSD at a party and everything about her changes, mysteriously and for the worse. How she and her loved ones deal with Ryan’s frightening change, trying to discover the roots of her new darkness, makes up the body of the book, which is definitely for older young adults, since it has explicit sex scenes, descriptions of self-harm, suicidal struggles and family tragedies brought on by hallucinations. Tracy Clark has explored an unusual theme in Mirage, taking a metaphysical journey through what is either devastating mental illness or a ghostly possession understood only by Ryan’s heroic shaman Grandmother, who teaches her to reclaim her being, soul and sanity by bravely singing ‘the song of her life.’

The Boreal Five – five friends how grew up on the same street, each quirky in their own teenage way but bonded through life’s events.   Suddenly they are cut to four as a classmate, also from Boreal street, guns down one of them during a presentation in English class.  Each of them has bullied the at one point or another over the years.  Though stopped and now locked up, they wonder if it could have been them.  Rem — our narrator– is even more tied into the mess as his scientist mother is now doing experiments on the gunman via probes inserted into his brain.  Rem is asked to come converse with the gunman so they can watch his brain react.  So begins Tattoo Atlas.

This story is very multi-layered.  School shootings make way for ethics in scientific research, which take a side seat at times to examples of outed and closeted gay students as well as the death of an enlisted brother, not to mention the betrayal in a mother/son relationship.   A psycho thriller at heart, Tim Floreen’s characterizations are what make this book so interesting even as it is soooo far fetched.  But where it falls miserably short is in the point of the title of the book.  Rem keeps a sketchbook that he calls his Tatoo Atlas but it never really ties dramatically into the story.  This reader kept waiting for an ingenious weaving of the plot to the atlas but it never came to a fruition that would make it worthy of the naming of the book.  And the tooth — the tooth swap at the end was too much!   Any editor should have axed that one line.

In as much as this could be a recommended read for high school students, the flaws weigh heavily on this reviewer.

This refreshing, engrossing book by Carol Lynch Williams, winner of the PEN award, features cheerful, well-adjusted, well-loved and newly-turned 15 year old Evie Messenger, whose life has just changed forever as the legacy of the Messenger Family Gift is revealed to her…she can see the dead. Each woman in her family learns of their specific Gift at age 15, but Evie’s is special, rare and hard to take at first, since she sees Tommie, the dead daughter of her mother’s new husband. Tommie is mysteriously haunting her, and as Evie comes to terms with her Gift and the significance of Tommie’s persistence, the story of a gifted and loving family unfolds along with an irresistible new love.

In an era when many characters in the Young Adult Fiction genre are tormented, unhappy and depressed, this book sings with life and joy. Evie is surrounded by and helping interesting people who are living unusual lives. Each step in Evie’s discovery and exploration of her newfound Gift is crafted to reflect Evie’s own sense of trust in those around her and finally, in herself. Ultimately, this is an affirmation of the possible magic we all might share while still revealing special skills way beyond the ordinary ken of most. It’s an easy-to-read, satisfying book.

Messenger is Highly Recommended.

Edgy.  Surprising.  Will she go that far?  These are gut reactions to Remix, a young adult novel by Non Pratt.  Best friends Ruby and Kaz, age 16, take off with Ruby’s older brother and his partner to a music festival for 3 days.  Ruby is the experienced one, the push it to the brink to make it exciting one.  Kaz is the responsible one, even programming in the local Chinese take-out phone number for her mother to have on speed dial while she is away.  Both enter the weekend without a boy to worry about, yet both of their former boyfriends also show up at the festival — #dramawillinsue.  Told in alternating voices of each girl, Pratt’s characterization of each is refreshing but leaves this reader questioning the reality of the girls’ choices.  The lines are definitely blurred between teen and adult as this could be read as an adult storyline.  Sex, drugs and rock n roll, they say.  First published in Great Britian, this U.S. print could gain an audience as it was an enjoyable read and one worth considering as an additional purchase.

Ben wants nothing more than to have a beard.  All of the coolest, “boss” people he knows have beards, including his dad.  After creative experimentation with different ways to have something like a beard, including an incident with the permanent marker, Ben’s dad throws Ben for a loop when he cuts off his beard.  This is not what Ben wants.  A quick trip to the costume store helps solve the problem for both son and dad.  The alliteration of “B”s throughout the text keep the story bouncing along.  Another “boss” attribute is the line “Both of Bobby’s dads rocked boisterous beards.”   It’s so refreshing to have this as seamless as any other line in a children’s picture book today.  For this and many other reasons, Beard Boy is recommended for all libraries.

What happens when 10 different pigs bring their favorite foods to add to a sandwich?  Using slant rhyme, Derek Anderson builds suspense as each pig throws in their item to become a towering meal.  When the 11th pigs shows up, every pig is stopped in its tracks as there should only be 10 pigs total.  What’s a wolf doing there?  A silly ending is only the downfall of this super cute read, well maybe that and the choppy cadence.  Still, the illustrations are amazing and will carry the story in young kids’ minds.  Illustrator Derek Anderson, of Hot Rod Hamster fame, has produced his second “pig” book incorporating his own writing with his fabulous illustrations.    Most kids will enjoy Ten Hungry Pigs.

The title and cover of Manners Are Not For Monkeys will draw young readers into this book instantly.  I mean, who doesn’t like to see monkeys behaving badly?  But the problem is that after a move to a cage near the children’s playground, the monkeys do the exact opposite.  They start mimicking the children and use their manners.  Their mother can’t stand this and orders then to chew with open mouths, screech loudly, drop food on the ground and swing around crazily.  The little twist at the end of the story is a perfect finish for this fun review of good manners.  Full-color illustration throughout, though this reader thinks they could be “cuter” — maybe cuter wouldn’t match the message.  Regardless, it will be entertaining and is a worthy purchase if you have additional funds.

Well woven biographical sketches and social history lessons will open many eyes of students who pick up LGBTQ+ Athletes Claim the Field.  Author Kirstin Cronn-Mills was able to capture both the agony and pride these athletes have felt in such a variety of sports.  The unfortunate reality is that their athleticism is shadowed by their sexual orientation, whether they come out while still participating or in retirement, is surprisingly sad.  Cronns-Mills portrays each athlete as the human being they are, with the same rights as the next person, yet those rights have to be fought for in court and in the court of people’s hearts.  Gatekeepers are being challenged and toppled, from Major League teams to K-12 education policies.  LGBTQ+ Athletes Claim the Field should make lists of recommended books for libraries for its well-rounded, primary source filled coverage of the issue.

Morgan is a rule breaker.  And a liar.  And a thief.  And her parents have had enough.  When the opportunity comes for them to send her to a “reform” school of sorts, she can’t believe her dad locked the door of the car after she gets out to walk into the airport. But Morgan is also super smart.  And a quick thinker. And can make it on her own.  Even if it means “borrowing” someone’s identity to fly across the country and become a girl named Janelle for the fall.  In this new identity, Morgan will continue to lie, manipulate and theve herself into the people’s good graces, but how long can Morgan keep up the act without being caught?  Don’t You Trust Me is a fast-paced, though slightly far-fetched quick read for girls.  G-rated, this could easily stretch down to middle school as an additional purchase.

When deep in your soul you know what you’ve been taught your whole life is not true, could you be strong enough to do something about it?  Hans Scholl, like most German children in the 1930’s, was indoctrinated to become a Hitler Youth.   He willingly joined against his father’s wishes at 14.  For 3 years he followed whole-heartedly the cry of “Heil Hitler”, rising among the ranks of his peers.  But in 1935, at a Nazi Rally gathering in Nuremberg, Hans’ doubt in the purpose and process began. Much like his father, Hans was an intellectual.  His frustration with the militaristic, brainless Hitler Youth drove him underground to an outlawed group of youth and to conversing with family members against Hitler.  Younger sister Sophie and younger brother Werner were arrested, interrogated and released, as was Hans in the autumn of 1937, which solidified their distrust of the regime.   Fast forward four and 1/2 years to a time where German has conquered much of Europe and Hans and Sophie are both at University in Munich.  Hans and 3 other men wrote their 1st leaflet, a non-violent form a resistance.  One year, 3 months and 6 leaflets later, most of the above were beheaded with others to follow and family members to be inprisoned.  The last leaflet does make it out of the country, reprinted and airdropped by British war planes across all of Germany.  In We Will Not Be Silent, award-winning author Russell Freedman writes a poignant, beautiful biographical sketch woven in intricately with the prose and pictures of history to bring forward the story of the White Rose at a most poignant time in our own American history.  Highly recommended for awards, libraries and classroom use.

Getting the chance of a lifetime to become an intern at a top teen magazine could open many doors for Harper Anderson.  Too bad it begins with a lie.  In Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies, witty and intelligent Harper lands this position by writing a sample teen dating blog post using her best friend’s reality as her own.  Now in Manhattan at Shift headquarters, Harper is expected to write a blog every Wednesday that’s as juice and drama filled about the teen dating scene as her application’s sample.  The problem is that Harper has had no real dating life.  She doesn’t go out of her shell.  Nor does she fit into New York style.  Her aunt, whom she will live with for the summer, helps her continue the facade by dressing Harper to look her part with designer clothing.  Harper must them continue to tell little white lies as she gets to know the other interns she’s competing with for the call back next summer.  Harper learns to think on her feet and navigate the dog-eat-dog path of interns while cracking her own shell along the way.  Ultimately though, the lying can not last and a pivotal weekend when her best friend surprises her with a visit sends the book spiraling to its conclusion.  Chic lit at its best, this title has romances, budding feminism, and inner turmoil that will keep a reader entertained.  Recommended for high school and public libraries.

Tim Howard, Dwayne Wade, Stephen Curry, Jim Abbott, Althea Gibson, LeBron James, Shane Battier, R.A. Dickey, Serge Ibaka, Caron Butler, & Jacques Demers.  These 11 athletes began their lives heading down a path that one would not expect to lead to stardom.  Some felt the pangs of abuse – drugs abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, neglect.  Others overcame the challenges of physical impediments.  Each athlete gets 15 – 24 pages of story time.  Dreamed up by a father and sons triple threat, the writing is seamless between the authors.  Even if a student only reads about a few of their favorite athletes, the message is taught and it is a win for libraries.  Highly recommended!

This is an extremely well thought out and organized book directed at kids and teenagers who tend to be quiet or introverted.  This reviewer tends to be quiet, but always in the middle of introversion versus extroversion, since I love crowds and lots of activity.  I wish I had had this book when I was a very quiet teenager, afraid to speak up in class.  One example of this advice is in Chapter 14, The Restorative Niche, which describes people who need to have alone time and how to create a space where they can go to recharge their batteries.  This was helpful for me as a parent, especially since I don’t need this as much as some of my children.

Each chapter presents different characters in everyday scenarios with their varying personalities and needs.  The author then goes on to show how these characters were able to overcome difficulties and be powerful.  At the end of every chapter, there is practical advice on how to deal with these situations. Most chapters also have a cartoonish infograph to make it light in its topics, such as finding a way to leave a party when uncomfortable.  

This is a book that one can read only a few chapters, picking and choosing, and still get a lot out of this book; although I enjoyed reading it from cover to cover.  My favorite chapter was Chapter 12, Changing the World the Quiet Way as it is helpful for Girl Scouts who are looking for Gold Award projects or Boy Scouts looking for Eagle Scout projects.  I highly recommend this book for students, introverts, parents, and teachers.

-Sherrie Barrett for Capital High School Library

We Know It Was You‘s intensity right at the beginning hooked this reader.  Someone was definitely  a psychopath!  We’re not talking blood and guts– this killer in this  works on an emotional level. Formatted as a detective’s log book with dates and times rather than chapters, this is a murder mystery with plenty of twists and turns.  As part of  the initial shock of an opening, readers meet Benny Flax, a nerd who attends the private Winship Academy in Atlanta.  Benny had started a club years prior where he investigates unusual events in the school.  The only other member of his club is Virginia.  While he wants to solve mysteries, she just wants to be part of them.  Throughout the story, these two will work as foils for each other until the mystery is solved.  While Benny and Virginia are as innocent as can be, readers need to be aware that there are definitely upper high school/adult content to the point where there were times this reader felt uncomfortable and wondered the purpose of the talk about sex and body parts.  It did not help the plot at all.  Because of this, a novel that could have been a starred recommendation dropped significantly to just an additional purchase and not really recommended.

Bridget Heos’s enthusiastic, creative voice in It’s Getting Hot in Here: The Past, Present and Future of Climate Change is inspiring.  This is not your typical piece of non-fiction for student research.  Heo’s passion for the who, what, when, how and why is evident throughout.  Students will walk away knowing the science in how climate changes have happened historically, not just warming but the times of cooling and freezing as well and how the two have interplayed.  They will be taught how nature is constantly changing its climate and that we are actually just making it happen exponentially faster.  Of course, she gives the standard ways to help stop climate change and the most recent research behind this, but students will learn how the little things we do without thinking also add to the big picture, such as how tilling the soil to plant a new crop is releasing naturally produced underground methane gasses or how our expectation of readily available food sources has a direct impact on climate in terms of mass breeding of animals and the amount of waste they produce, let alone all of the steps to get that animal fed and on our table for dinner.   Every chapter ends with a “Be the Change” segment with real life ideas that we can do to help slow down global warming.  Additionally, this is a gorgeously printed book.  While closer to the size of hardback novels, it is the vivid pictures are used as examples and  every 15 pages or so as wallpaper, making the book visually stimulating.  But the best part of this addition to all of the literature out there on climate change is Heos’s voice.  She is enthusiastic and clever in every aspect of her writing.  In talking about the Big Bang and how the Earth began evolving, she explains how bacteria in the ocean first started photosynthesizing light and releasing oxygen about 2.4 billion years ago.  But oxygen was poisonous to bacteria not in the ocean.  Heos writes a little typed note stating:

Dear Oxygen,

Thanks for destroying the world.  We’re going to go live in a hole now.

Love, Bacteria.

That flash of wit shows up many, many other times and keeps the tone educationally fun.  For all of these reasons, I would highly recommend this book.

Life is Funny by E.R. Frank is an intense fiction novel that is anything but funny. The author gives insight into 11 teenagers growing up in Brooklyn, NY over a span of 7 years; each character has a voice and portrays an in depth look into their modern day life and struggles dealing with topics of unwanted pregnancies, drug and sexual abuse, love, suicide, cutting, and what it’s like to be a teenager. It’s at times graphic and slightly intense for younger teen readers, but at the same time gives raw perspective into 11 teenagers lives all living in the same area. Originally published back in 2000, this new cover art will also help pull in readers.  I recommend this book older teens and adults who want a look at what some students in our system have to deal with, and how they react.

This is a silly tale of three characters, Eenie, Meenie, and Harold.  Harold was supposedly in the bathroom when Meenie discovers a sword, then a shield and then a helmet in the stove.  Eenie is mellowdramatic about the whole series of events, even after Meenie starts to suggest that maybe the items are actually Harold’s, but he can’t quite put 1+1 +1 together.  In the end, the dragon gets them all, which was a surprising resolution that little boys might satisfaction with.   Illustrations slightly are reminiscent of the David Shannon books.  You medieval fans will flock to The Sword in the Stove.

My Dog Spot could become a classic for generations.  The simplicity of the illustrations and text make it accessible for preschool students through the recommended age of 8.  The tan-textured, recycled paper background for every page present uniformity and focus for the illustrations of the dog and his activities.  For librarians, this would lend itself to call and response because of the repetition of “My dog Spot…” throughout.  Spot is black and white, smaller than some but larger than others.  He likes to do all of the classic activities a dog likes to do.  I envision this text selling well with millennials who pine for suburbia while acting like they are tres chic.  The heart-felt preface written by the authors’ son just makes one smile.  Recommended as a gift and for all libraries.

Most people totally take for granted the food that arrives in their grocery story.  They also probably feel that their store gives them a large variety of fruits, vegetables and grains.  But many, many facts in The Story of Seeds will surprise readers and more than likely push them to try new varieties that are offered and/or buy from farmer’s markets and co-ops.  Only 150 of the 12,000 plant species are grown for sale in the world today.  Because of this, seed varieties have gone extinct.  This book examines both the factors that have led to this condition as well as the pioneers in cultivation and preservation that are trying to retain what we have left.  Who would have thought that seeds were a goal for capture in World War II?  Would one believe that there is a Doom’s Day Seed Vault in a mountain in Norway?  There is much to be said to the complexity of the world of seeds.  This book would be fabulous for a student wanting to research a unique topic.

Henry has the perfect life, or so it seems.  Born into the riches of Medina (aka land of Bill Gates and friends), he has made all the right moves to prepare himself for  Harvard Law School and a career as a politician.  With girlfriend Catharine by his side, this power couple couldn’t be stopped—until dark eyed, dark haired Anne Boylen crashes into their lives.  Henry’s whole being flips out whenever Anne appears.  There’s nothing he can do to stop his passion for everything that is different about Anne.  Though Anne is not the type of person who will bend over  to fit into a new crowd, to please Henry she is led into situations that totally compromise her.  The constant tension in the book is whether they will make it through together or apart.  A play on the love story of the real Henry VIII and Anne Boylen, readers can wonder how far the author will stray from history while being whipped up in some over the top lusty lines.  There is no outright sex but foreplay abounds.  Some will see this as too “oh, my” while others will drink it up like they did for Bella and Edward.  It could be a fun addition to most high school libraries.