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Enrolled at Riverstone High School (RHS) in Ohio, Jasmine and Jackson Ghasnavi are the mixed race (half White, half Iranian) children of doctors. Jasmine is a senior who loves pottery, and Jackson’s passion is theatre. When their parents divorce, Jackson develops abandonment issues and Jasmine struggles to find a lasting relationship. Jackson helps his sister cope with her breakups by constructing breakup lists. At the recommendation of his therapist, Jackson also uses lists to cope with his own anxiety. These lists and teen relationship drama form the plot for Adib Khorram’s novel The Breakup Lists. As a former “theatre kid” himself, Khorram infuses his novelRead More →

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A novel for middle-grade readers, Gigi Shin Is Not a Nerd by Lyla Lee tells the story of a seventh grade mixed race girl, Ji-Young who selected the American name Gigi. Living in Texas, Gigi draws for adventure. Although her parents want her to pursue a career that privileges math and science, Gigi loves art and creating comic characters like Meteor Girl and Choir Boy. When the opportunity to attend Starscape, a prestigious summer art camp, comes along, Gigi is determined to attend. However, when Gigi asks her parents about the camp, they tell her that money is tight. Frustrated by their lack of supportRead More →

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In her recent novel And Don’t Look Back, Rebecca Barrow has penned a psychological thriller with plot twists that parallel the intensity of a Criminal Minds drama. As the central character in this tale, Barrow creates Harlow Ford, who has spent her life on the run, moving to a new location whenever something triggers her mom’s paranoia. As a result, Harlow has had to reinvent, build, and dismantle several identities. Given this reality, the moments during which Harlow feels most at home are those moments spent with her mom in the car, “wherever they’ve been in the rearview mirror, whoever they’ve been fading away likeRead More →