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Both a quick read and a somewhat hilarious book, The Tapper Twins Tear Up New York by Geoff Rodkey features sixth graders Claudia and Reese, who are as different as salt and pepper.  Their relationship reminds me of that shared by siblings Robert and Jessie in John Grandits’ companion books of concrete poems, Blue Lipstick and Technically, It’s Not My Fault. Claudia is a humanitarian and a reader who admires Gandhi and detests the social inequities she sees, while her brother Reese is a competitive, athletic, leet-speaking gamer.  Both sibs decide that Culvert Prep, an elite middle school in New York City, should hold aRead More →

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Set in Ireland, Moira Fowley-Doyle’s debut young adult novel bumps up against the difficult topic of abuse: sexual, self-imposed, child, and partner.  But The Accident Season stops short of really tackling the topic—perhaps to reflect the reality of trying to protect a terrible secret or to tread with sensitivity, given the YA audience.  Regardless of its somewhat nebulous approach, The Accident Season provides a rich opportunity for wrestling with a difficult topic and for examining life from some of its shadowy angles.  It invites conversations about abusive behaviors—its perpetrators, victims, by-standers, enablers, and allies. Known since childhood for having a big imagination, Cara Morris isRead More →

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Late last month, a new release from New York Times bestselling author of the Tiger’s Curse series, Colleen Houck, hit the shelves.  Packed with action and adventure, Reawakened awakens the reader to diverse ways of being in the world and imparts considerable knowledge about Egyptian culture and history. Houck’s book features image conscious, seventeen year old Lilliana Young who enjoys studying people.  During spring break of her senior year, Lilliana is trying to determine a career path.  While psychology and counselling are likely choices, she knows her parents want her to major in something that would make them proud, like medicine, business, or politics.  ToRead More →

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When she was eight years old, Bridget Barsamian loved Charlie Chaplin, Volkswagen Bugs, and roller-skating.  All three passions contribute to a life-changing accident on a New York street for this young Armenian-American.  After four surgeries and a year of physical therapy, Bridge is back in the game but uncertain about who she really is.  Now she’s in seventh grade wearing cat ears and trying to define love and the purpose of life. Although this is the basic plotline for Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead, the novel wrestles with some of life’s biggest complications along the way: youth, high school, and friendships—where reality really can be asRead More →

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“A little mud never hurt anyone” turns out to be a HUGE understatement in Heath Cliff, Pennsylvania, when fifth grader Tamaya Dhiwaddi defends her friend, seventh grader Marshall Walsh, by throwing a handful of fuzzy mud at Chad Hilligas, a bully at Woodridge Academy. The “fuzzy mud” is a genetically altered slime mold grown by SunRay Farms to produce a gas alternative that will address the energy crisis in an over-populated world.  What was created to save mankind was never intended to destroy it.  Yet, Jonathan Fitzman’s ergonyms—“single-celled, high-energy organisms” (29), the main ingredient in Biolene—might mutate and spiral out of control to do justRead More →

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Tiuri’s story begins in a small chapel on the hill outside the City of Dagonaut, where four other young men are keeping vigil with him, as they reflect on the eve of their knighting ceremony.  Despite being forbidden any contact with the outside world and despite the twelve hour vow of silence all aspiring knights must take, sixteen year old Tiuri cannot ignore the knock on the chapel door that comes with an urgently whispered plea, “In the name of God, open the door!”  (12)  Ignoring the voice means he will be a knight by morning, but Tiuri breaks the rules and acts as aRead More →

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Seven Reasons to Read The Seventh Most Important Thing Set in Washington, D.C. in 1963, The Seventh Most Important Thing recalls a time when Looney Tunes, Bazooka bubble gum, and Mad magazines were popular and when diner tables were often cloaked with red and white checkered table cloths and it took a dime to use the pay phone. It features characters like thirteen year old Arthur Owens who struggles to stop remembering his dad who died instantly when he hit a tree while riding his motorcycle and about whom his mother often said, “Tom Owens’s biggest problem was that he never grew up” (79); like probation officerRead More →

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A catalyst for sparking conversations on complex social issues like diversity, bullying, and the effects of prejudice, Alan Gratz’s novel Code of Honor raises social consciousness and invites collaborative conversation about tough topics.  Much like Maria Padian’s novel Out of Nowhere (2013), Gratz uses a sports story to explore the contemporary topic of cultural collisions.  Both books embody the definition of Cultural Identity Literature (CIL). I coined the term CIL to enlarge the traditional term multicultural literature.  As a category of literature, CIL also addresses issues of power and oppression and provides an opportunity to view these issues from a different perspective, thereby inspiring empathy-building. Read More →

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From a book that begins with the line, “We were the only ones left alive,” a reader will typically expect a terrifying story, and My Brother’s Secret by Dan Smith delivers.  Set in West Germany during the summer of 1941, Smith’s novel tells the tale of Karl Friedmann, a twelve-year-old boy, “trusted and reliable and ready to die for the Führer” (10).  Although Karl feels sympathy for his weaker comrades, he wants to make the world a better and stronger place, so he participates with vigor during physical education, which has been replaced with a Hitler Youth curriculum.  A lot transpires in Karl’s life toRead More →