March 2020 Books

Young Adult

New Kid, Jerry Craft (2019) 

In this graphic novel, Jordan plans to be an artist when he grows up, but he’d first got to make it through middle school. His parents transfer him from his neighborhood school to begin at Riverdale Academy, a rich private school where microaggressions and more make each day a struggle for brown kids like him. He turns these struggles into art in his sketchbook, and slowly makes a couple friends. The pages that show his sketchbook simplify the book’s style, but the message and characters are not sacrificed. Written for ages 8-12, this would be a good read for anyone older. New Kid is the first graphic novel to win the Newbery!

Truly Devious, Maureen Johnson (2018)

Stevie wants to be a detective. She brings to school books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy Sayers, as well as many nonfiction crime studies. As a high school sophomore, she is thrilled to be offered a spot at Ellingham Academy, a school for geniuses in the Vermont woods. The school was founded in the 1930s by a millionaire who loved games, but is still haunted by the disappearance of Ellingham’s wife and daughter in 1936. Stevie plans to solve this crime, hoping to one day see a dead body like her favorite detectives. And then, she does. At a time I cannot focus well, and have put many books back on the shelf, the riddles, characters, and clues made this quite readable. If you want to escape into a mystery, this one should hold your interest.

It Sounded Better in my Head, Nina Kenwood (2020)

Natalie’s a bit surprised when her parents calmly tell her, at the end of a lovely Christmas Day, that they’re divorcing and have planned it for 10 months. It’s both heartbreaking and funny. She has two best friends, but is otherwise a social outcast, in part because of an extreme case of acne, now past. Her friends Zach and Lucy are fully developed characters, usually helping her through her problems, but now they’re in a romantic relationship and Zach’s older brother is becoming Natalie’s love interest. What Natalie expected from her life and friendships is all changing, and fast, sometimes in funny ways, sometimes threatening to be tragic. The Australian setting has some interesting differences from the US, but the social media and the wait for college acceptances translate for teens anywhere. While sex and drinking are part of her friends’ lives, they are not part of Natalie’s. 

Check Please!, Ngozi Ukazu (2018)

Eric Bittle is a small naive skater on Samwell’s University team, awed with older and famous players on the team. His favorite things besides hockey are baking, and vlogging. This graphic novel follows his frosh and soph years of team drama, with the brash guy talk countering a surprisingly charm-filled story. When I finished, I was delighted to find Bittle’s tweets, extra comics, hockey terms defined, and read them all. The sequel, due out next week, should arrive at my door then.

Tweet Cute, Emma Lord (2019)

So, what I can handle best right now in our stay-at-home quarantine is books that are funny, light, and sweet. This one lives up to the promise of the title. Pepper’s mom runs a growing burger chain, and Pepper agrees to help out the failing social media manager, starting a twitter war with a small mom-and-pop sandwich shop. Their son (and employee) Jack is her classmate, and he fights back well. Making lovers of enemies contrasts the real world with the online one. Ah, I remember when those two were separate!

Heretics Anonymous, Katie Henry (2018)

I brought this Brave Read home after a student told me it included our recent controversy: a Catholic school teacher was “let go” after she married someone of her same gender. The students want to protest the loss of a well-liked leader. Micheal, the narrator, is sarcastic in an almost annoying way, an atheist forced by his parents to attend Catholic high school when his family moves during the school year. While he learns about himself and the world, partly by joining the title’s group, and partly through a budding romance, Henry reveals a vast knowledge of church history and a snarky sense of humor dispensed generously with grace and sweetness.

Love a la mode, Stephanie Strohm (2018)

While I know books shouldn’t get judged by their covers, this one really matches well, with the upside-down Eiffel Tower an ice cream cone on a bright turquoise background. In this romance, teenagers arrive in Paris to attend the culinary school of a celebrity chef. One main character, Rosie Radeke, is from small town Ohio, and lacks the experience and worldliness of her fellow students. Henry, the other narrator, meets her on the plane to Paris and is charmed. Henry’s missteps in pursuing Rosie, and Rosie’s struggles to prove herself and avoid getting expelled are the background to their teacher’s cooking lessons, which follow the pattern of television competition shows. Paris, of course, is romantic and full of great food, a great place to learn lessons about yourself and who you can become.

Lumberjanes: The shape of friendship, Lilah Sturges, Shannon Watters, et al  (2019)

A group of friends at summer camp terrorize their counselor with pranks. One night, they sneak out and find a group of pookas in a nicely-furnished cave. Pookas are shape shifters, and they steal the campers’ identities and return as them, having fun with crafts and camp songs. The campers locked in the cave search for an escape, and the graphic novel’s single color scheme works particularly well in their underground scenes. This creative and funny graphic novel shows characters growing up, learning about friendship, and working together to save the day.

Adult

Lawn Boy, Jonathan Evison (2018)

This book has been on my list of books to read for a while!  Mike Muñoz works for a landscape business and still lives with his mom, taking care of his disabled brother when he’s not working. They live on the Olympic Peninsula, in a trailer home on reservation land with low rent. Mike has little ambition, except to read. During this low-key book, his commentary made me laugh and delight in what actually is a world set up against him. Evison’s voice is understated and fun to read. At a time humor is needed, this book provides and is never saccharine.

Tough Love, Susan Rice (2019)

Susan Rice was US ambassador to the United Nations, and then became Obama’s national security advisor. In this book, chapters begin with an event from those days, and then go back to explore how her life prepared her for that moment. Rice was brought up by privileged, college educated parents, who descended from slaves. They taught her she could do anything, and she went to Stanford, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and wrote her doctoral thesis on Zimbabwe. She worked for Clinton, though the focus in this book is Obama’s administration, which she supports wholeheartedly, noting that what critics call failures were results of a pragmatic policy. Rice doesn’t criticize others, though the media’s vilification of her interviews after the 2012 Benghazi attacks which killed 4 Americans is carefully presented; it destroyed her chances to become Secretary of State. Her book is a wonderful anecdote to today’s Presidential tantrums, showcasing her love for her family, an ability to express regret and grow from it, and the value she places on respecting others and doing what is right in difficult times. She is patient and intelligent, and I learned more about government and  recent history from this book.

Photos taken at Greenlake, during Stay Home afternoon dog walk