Book Trailer

For the last five years, Nora O’Malley has lived with her sister, Lee, cobbling together a normal life. Her biggest problem now is how to apologize to Wes, her best friend and ex-boyfriend, for hiding the fact that she and their mutual friend, Iris, are a couple. When the three of them meet at the bank for an errand after Wes walks in on Nora and Iris, Nora’s braced for an awkward scene, not a violent one—but life-or-death is exactly what she gets when two men initiate an out-of-control bank robbery. But five years ago? Nora wasn’t Nora—she was a string of different girls, raised to help her mom con shady criminal businessmen; Nora has spent years recovering from the traumas those girls both endured and inflicted. She’ll need every bit of cunning she learned from them if she’s going to get Iris and Wes out of this bank alive—even if it means showing the girl she’s beginning to love her darkest self. Sharpe (Far from You, 2014) puzzles together an arrestingly incisive narrative that darts between the past and present. With breathtaking precision, she tracks each moment Nora spends in the bank, while also layering in piecemeal the moments from her past, tinged with pain and resilience, that made her who she is. Fiercely captivating and impressively characterized, this tightly plotted thriller is engrossing from start to finish.  Grades 9-12. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.

Book Trailer

Nineteen-year-old Lazarus (Laz) Weathers and his half brother, Antonio, live with their mother in Jet City, a dilapidated trailer park in Seattle. When the boys’ high school scraps its baseball program, the former coach convinces a few guys to play in the summer, among them Laz. The ragtag team goes up against other high schools in the area, and Laz’s incredible pitching catches the attention of Mr. Thurman, the father of a star player at affluent Laurelhurst High. Mr. Thurman offers Laz a room in their house so that he can attend Laurelhurst, play baseball, and help his son’s team win the state title (the main reason for his generosity). Itching to get out of Jet City, Laz knows this could be his chance at a better future and accepts. Just as everything seems to be going his way, including catching the eye of some major league scouts, Antonio gets into trouble, forcing Laz to weigh the value of family against getting an offer from the pros. With short, fast-paced chapters, Deuker’s realistic novel pits poverty, friendship, teamwork, self-reliance, and supportive adults against wealth, privilege, overambition, and overbearing helicopter parents. Even readers who don’t like baseball will be riveted to this human-interest, underdog story. Readers who still love Matt Christopher’s and John Feinstein’s books won’t want to put this down. Grades 7-11. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.

Book Trailer

Ahmed (Internment, 2019) introduces readers to Chicago high-school journalist and Indian American Safiya, who, after an Iraqi refugee student from another school is murdered, is determined to find his killer and hold them accountable. As Safiya gets closer to solving the case, her own safety is put in increasing jeopardy, and she starts to realize that not everything is as it seems. Told in alternating perspectives and interspersed with multimedia clippings, some taken from real-world sources, this is an all-too-real story that educates as much as it enthralls. As Safiya deals with racism, Islamophobia, and more, her story packs a heavy punch that brings some nuance to wealth and white privilege as well as to the process of white supremacist radicalization. But the fast-paced, intense story remains realistically grounded and centered on those most affected by the horrific consequences. Ahmed masterfully manages Safiya’s naivete, which leads her to make the poor decisions that drive the issue-focused plot. For social justice–minded readers who love mystery and crime fiction, this will be popular with fans of Courtney Summers’ Sadie (2018). Grades 9-12. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Book Trailer

Sepetys (The Fountains of Silence, 2019) once again masterfully portrays a dark, forgotten corner of history: Bucharest, Romania, winter 1989. For nearly 25 years, Romania’s communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Heroine Mother Elena, perpetrated unspeakable human-rights abuses on their people. By focusing on one voice, 17-year-old Cristian Florescu, Sepetys amplifies the isolation, fear, and uncertainty experienced during the final months of Ceaușescu’s regime. Cristian shares a tiny apartment with his parents, older sister, Cici, and beloved, rebellious grandfather, Bunu. They speak in whispers and spend hours in line for cooking oil or a single onion. Cristian writes in a journal he hides under the floorboards and dreams of kissing his beautiful classmate, Liliana. When a dollar bill appears in his stamp collection, the secret police use it as leverage to force him to inform on a U.S. diplomat. Cristian’s short, almost breathless first-person chapters are interspersed with chilling interview reports by his assigned Securitate agent. Cristian, Liliana, and their friend Luca join the final uprising, from University Square to notorious Jilava prison. The worst tortures take place offstage, but beatings, mental torment, and near starvation do not. Suspenseful twists continue to the very end, when Cristian’s betrayer is revealed. The back matter, too, is fascinating; it encompasses archival photographs, an author’s note, an extensive source list, and a description of the research process and several in-person interviews. Grades 8-11 Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Book Trailer

amilet is a gay, Mexican American 16-year-old who’s about to start Catholic school.

She tells herself it has more to do with being there for Cesar, her genius brother one year her junior who skipped a grade and earned a scholarship, but there’s more to it. She’s also glad to start over away from ex–best friend Bianca, who outed her to their social circle. It’s not easy for Yami to lose someone she trusted as much as Bianca, especially when she feels alone and is still nursing the heartbreak of her dad’s being deported to Mexico 6 years ago. She loves her busy, hardworking, very Catholic mom, but that doesn’t mean Mami would accept her sexuality if she knew the truth. In her new, wealthy, and mostly White school, Yami immediately faces casual racism, but it’s not all bad. She also meets Bo, a Chinese American girl who has chosen the school uniform’s trousers over skirts—paired with rainbow Vans, no less—and they immediately get along. Yami likes how outspoken and confident Bo is, but she’s also intimidated by her new friend’s being an out lesbian. As their friendship blossoms into more, so do the problems with keeping who she is a secret from the world. The portrayal of found family and the threads of love and acceptance woven into this story make it a satisfying read with a hopeful ending. Grades 9-12 Copyright 2022 Kirkus Review

Book Trailer

Salama, an avid horticulturalist, is living a nightmare: Her father and older brother were captured by government forces during a protest; her mother died in a bombing. Salama’s left with Layla, her pregnant sister-in-law and best friend—and Khawf, Arabic for fear. Khawf is the personification of her trauma who pushes her to attempt the treacherous journey by sea to seek refuge in Germany. Starving and exhausted, Salama nevertheless wavers. Wracked with guilt over what might happen to Layla and her baby if they delay, she finds meaning in helping her beloved homeland by volunteering at a hospital. But the burden of treating streams of victims, many of them children who die in agonizing ways, takes a toll on her fragile mental health. Salama meets 19-year-old Kenan, who is caring for his orphaned younger siblings and is committed to doing his part by uploading videos of protests to YouTube. Their blossoming love is an act of hopeful defiance, but as the Free Syrian Army’s hold on Homs becomes increasingly tenuous, the reality of their dire fate should they be captured heightens the urgency. Harrowing moments are juxtaposed against painfully beautiful memories of peaceful times, and readers will linger over the many exquisite sentences in this memorable novel that honors the stories of countless Syrians. Grades 9-12. Copyright 2022 Kirkus Reviews.