Huntress, Melinda Lo

Title: Huntress

Author: Melinda Lo
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Year: 2011
Pages: 371
Genre: Fantasy
Themes: Destiny, Good vs. Evil, LGBTQ+
Age Range: 7th Grade and Above

Summary: (from Goodreads)

Nature is out of balance in the human world. The sun hasn't shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. The people's survival hangs in the balance.

To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet the two girls' destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever.

Review:
Fans of Melinda Lo's first fantasy novel, Ash, will not be disappointed in this companion novel, which takes place in the same world, but hundreds of years earlier.  I love the fact that Lo has created a world in her fictional (but Chinese-inspired) world of warriors and magic that turns traditional gender roles on their head. In fact, there appear to be almost no actual gender roles at all in the culture of the novel. How refreshing it would be to live in a place where that was actually true. Where people were free to follow their hearts and minds wherever they desired without fear of social repercussions. Lo is also completely at ease writing both same- and mixed-gender romances. In the Kingdom of Lo's creation, all romantic relationships are equally accepted and valued. As a gay woman I can only dream of a world where my relationship is so unremarkable in its nature that it doesn't require "coming out", or protection from people who may not accept it.

Of course, are we really free to follow our hearts and minds? Destiny and fate are both themes explored in this novel. When Taisin has a vision of Kaede, one that makes her feel great love for her, is their eventual romance really authentic, or did it come about because of the way the vision made Taisin feel? When Kaede defies her father to follow Taisin, is she doing it because she is choosing to, or because she is meant to? Every step of the journey Taisin and Kaede  fight to make their own decisions, yet every decision brings them closer to fulfilling the destiny that was foretold. HOw much control do we really have over our own lives? How much are we influenced by the things we are told we should be? How much are we influenced by forces larger than ourselves?

The book is well-written, and Lo appears to have avoided the sophomore slump that often happens with second novels. If I had a criticism, it is that while the main quest the characters take unfolds over most of the book, the culminating quest that is Kaede's alone gets squeezed into the last chapter or so of the book. Seems like a sign that the novel could be longer, or that it needed a sequel. But that is minor-for the most part I enjoyed immersing myself into the world that Lo had created, and I would recommend this book be included in any classroom library that was looking to be inclusive in both genre and representation.

One, Sarah Crossan

Title: One
Author: Sarah Crossan
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Year: 2015
Pages: 400
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Themes: Identity, First Love, Sisterhood, Coming of Age
Age Range: 7th Grade and Above

Summary:
Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins, attached at the waist. Defying the odds, they have made it to their teenage years mostly healthy and pretty happy. After being homeschooled their entire lives, Tippi and Grace transition to a traditional high school. Despite the curious looks and unkind words from many of the students, they manage to find Yasmeen and Jon, who quickly become their first and best friends. But their world is turned upside down when their mother loses her job, and suddenly they are struggling to pay for the girls' expensive medical care. And then a health crisis forces them to make the decision they've been avoiding their while life-whether to undergo separation surgery.

Review:
I really enjoyed this novel, told in a loose free verse. Grace is the narrator, which I thought was an interesting choice. This story certainly lends itself to alternating perspectives, but I think that Crossan made a good decision to focus only on one of the twins. This allowed her to show how Grace developed her sense of self and identity, both because of and in spite of her sister. Adolescence is a turbulent time for most of us, but having to manage hormones and crushes and the need for space while simultaneously being literally attached to another person heightened the angst and emotional impact.

To be honest, while I know that novel told in verse are a thing right now, that would be my only real criticism of this book. Not because I don't like novels in verse-I do. But for this story it felt unnecesary. When I think of novels in verse, I think of powerful poetry from authors like Jacqueline Woodson (Brown Girl Dreaming) or Thanhha Lai (Inside Out and Back Again), where the format adds to the beauty and impact of the language. I'm not sure the use of poetry in the case of One actually added much to the story, and it occasionally felt a little choppy. However, the story on its own is engaging enough that the format is really only a minor criticism. I think that reluctant readers, even boys, would find a story about conjoined twins interesting enough to give it a chance, though I suspect some male readers may find it girly. Given the subject matter, there are surely paired informational readings that could be found to make it part of a larger unit of study, but if nothing else it would make a good addition to any classroom library.

Teacher Resources
Bloomsbury Kids Reading Guide
Centre for Literacy in Primary Education Teaching Sequence

Henrietta Hornbuckle's Circus of Life

Title: Henrietta Hornbuckle's Circus of Life
Author: Michael de Guzman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Year: 2011
Pages: 160
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Themes: Family, Change, Overcoming Loss, Coming of Age
Age Range: 3rd-5th Grade

Summary: 
Henrietta and her parents are clowns in a travelling clown circus. Henrietta thinks her life is perfect. Instead of going to school, she gets her education from the other clown in her troop. And instead of soccer practice or swim lessons, she gets to perform every night with her beloved father in their two person act. Henrietta wants nothing more than to spend the rest of her life with the circus, but changes are coming. Attendance at their shows is getting smaller, and some of the clowns are leaving to find real jobs in the real world. Then, tragedy strikes. Her father is killed by a hit and run driver. How will she and her mother survive the loss of her father, and will Henrietta be able to survive the loss of her beloved circus life?

Review:
Poor clowns! They get a lot of bad press these days. Seems like every time you turn around there is another creepy clown photo or tv show or movie. You don't see too many people wanting to be clowns in the 21st century. But Henrietta and her travelling clown troop brought back those old feelings of wanting to run away with the circus-live in a tent, travel the world, make friends with the acrobats and lion tamers. The troop that Henrietta and her family belong to is one big, happy family, and you can completely understand why Henrietta wants to spend the rest of her life surrounded by the people she loves best.

The story is a simple one, but full of heart. You feel Henrietta's joy at working with her father, her deep fear of losing the circus, her distrust of her aunt (her mother's sister, who was not well pleased when Henrietta's mother ran away with her father), and her deep sorrow at the loss of her father. The first person perspective allows the reader to get immersed in Henrietta's inner life. The unique setting should engage elementary age readers, and there is enough emotional depth that you could have some decent discussions with students. It would make a decent addition to a classroom library, and could be used for novel study as well, depending on the themes being studied.

I'll Give You the Sun, Jandy Nelson

Title: I'll Give You the Sun
Author: Jandy Nelson
Publisher: Dial Books
Year: 2014
Pages: 371
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Themes: LGBTQ+, First Love, Art, Sibling Rivalry
Age Range: 8th Grade and Up

Summary:

Jude and Noah are twins. They have always been close, like two sides of the same coin. Noah is shy and isolated, spending all of his time drawing and dreaming of life as an artist. Jude, the outgoing daredevil, is equally protective of and a little frustrated by her gentle brother. Part of this story is told from the 13 year old Noah's perspective, the other part from the 16 year old Jude's. By the time Jude is telling her part of the story, the twins' family has been torn apart, and Noah and Jude are both struggling to survive some both the death of their mother, and personal tragedies that neither will share, driving them farther and farther apart. Can they ever find a way to bring their stories back together?

Review:

In preparation for my new job as a high school literacy coach, I have been spending a lot of time reading YA literature this summer. I have read some fabulous books, and some not so fabulous-everything from gritty realistic fiction about growing up black in America to fantasy novels dripping with magic and folklore. But I think I'll Give You the Sun takes the prize for best-written, most creative YA novel I've read in 2016.

Both Noah and Jude are fully drawn, fully realized characters, with rich inner lives that are the driving force behind the action of the story. My heart ached for both of them at different points in the narrative. They were both dealing with circumstances that were not of their making, though often their own choices contributed to the drama they were wrestling with. Noah's feelings for the boy next door were achingly tender and raw. Jude's desire to break away from her parents and blaze her own path are so familiar. Both of them find themselves in vulnerable situations, and while Noah loses his art in the process, Jude finds hers. There is a strange push-and-pull between them, with one gaining strength while the others weakens. It is beautiful and heartbreaking and I could not stop reading.

Art and artists are central to this story. It ends up exploring the very nature of art. What is it for? Is it worth making? What happens when you lose it? What are you willing to give up to make it? I realize that art classes don't generally do novel studies, but I couldn't help but think that high school art students, ones who are really serious about their art, would find a lot to relate to in this book.

There are some adult themes here that would be lost on less mature readers. Sexual assault, extramarital affairs, and parental death are all major plotlines. But they are handled with skill by an author who is not looking to sensationalize, but to create a world for her characters that the reader can empathize with. I think this book is an excellent addition to any high school library or literature class.

Teacher Resources:

Jandy Nelson's Website
Penguin Discussion Guide
The Nudge Discussion Questions
Lit Lovers Reading Guide

Dorothy Must Die, by Danielle Paige

Title: Dorothy Must Die
Author: Danielle Paige
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2014
Pages: 452
Genre: Fantasy
Themes: Power, Good vs. Evil
Age Range: 7th-12th Grade

Summary:
Amy Gumm, a trailer-park dwelling teenager from rural Kansas, is swept up in a tornado and finds herself in Oz. Sound familiar? Amy had read the books, seen the movie, but nothing prepared her for the Oz that she found. Good witches couldn't be trusted, and wicked witches were trying to save the world. From what, you ask? From Dorothy! That sweet little girl who landed on the Wicked Witch of the East and defeated the Wicked Witch of the West returned to Oz as a young woman bent on total domination of the land of munchkins and talking trees and flying monkeys. Addicted to the magic that powers the Land of Oz, she seized power from the rightful ruler of the land, Ozma, and enslaved the people in service to her never-ending desire for more and more magical energy. Oz, in short, was being sucked dry. Amy finds herself partnering with the formerly wicked witches to try and free Oz from the oppressive rule of the girl in the gingham dress-but to do that, she has to kill her.

Review:
If you prefer your fairy tales dark, this book might just be for you. There are plenty of things wrong in Oz, and the book examines oppression, slavery, redemption, and the evils of absolute power. I'm convinced that Paige modeled Dorothy's Oz on North Korea, it was that oppressive.

Amy herself is not just dealing with her Dorothy and her minions. She is also processing her feelings of self-doubt and helplessness in the face of her mother's addiction to pain killers, and the feelings of abandonment that came about as a result of her father deserting the family when she was in elementary school. There are also the regular cast of high-school bullies, girls who have convinced Amy that she needs to keep her head down and her mouth shut. But through the course of the book, Amy learns to own her power, both literally as she learns to fight and wield magic, and figuratively as she overcomes her lack of confidence and becomes a stronger person. In the topsy-turvey world that is the present-day Oz, she discovers a capacity for darkness within herself that has her constantly asking the question, "Am I am good witch, or a bad witch".

The rest of the series (The Wicked Will Rise, Yellow Brick War, and The End of Oz) follow similar themes, and are just as enjoyable as the first book. This is a great series to have as a part of a classroom library, and I could see it being used to compare with the original version, or as part of a study of classic tales updated for modern realities.

Putting Make-Up on the Fat Boy, by Bil Wright

Title: Putting Make-Up on the Fat Boy
Author: Bil Wright
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Year: 2011
Pages: 219
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Themes: Acceptance, LGBTQ+
Age Range: 7th-12th Grade

Summary: from Goodreads

Carlos Duarte knows that he's fabulous. He's got a better sense of style than half the fashionistas in New York City, and he can definitely apply makeup like nobody's business. He may only be in high school, but when he lands the job of his dreams--makeup artist at the FeatureFace counter in Macy's--he's sure that he's finally on his way to great things. 
But the makeup artist world is competitive and cutthroat, and for Carlos to reach his dreams, he'll have to believe in himself more than ever. 

Review:

I've read a lot of LGBTQ+ themed literature for youth, and I find that they sometimes go out of their way to show that not all gay men are flouncy, flamboyant, or feminine. And while this is certainly true, there are also gay men that proudly all of those things. I understand the desire to bust stereotypes, but where is a young, flamboyant gay youth who loves fashion and drama to go for a fictional character that looks like them?

Well, one place they can go is this entertaining exploration of one young gay man's journey through his first job and his first love. It would have been easy for Wright to create a caricature of a flamboyant young gay man, and Carlos does have many qualities that have become tropes when writing gay characters. He loves fashion and make-up, he eschews friendships with boys to hang out with girls and women, and he is not afraid to wear thigh-high women's boots if they make him look fierce. But Carlos is more than just a pretty, well-made up face. He also deals with bullying from his sister's boyfriend and her co-workers, he vies for his mother's acceptance, and he navigates the tough neighborhood where he lives with grace and humor. Living in poverty is not easy for anyone, and for a young man with big dreams and expensive tastes, it's even less so. While Carlos is conflicted about his relationships with his mother and sister, he loves and deeply cares for them to the point that he is willing to stand up to some scary situations to help them.

He's also navigating the world of high school, and dealing with his first major crush. But he demonstrates an almost single-minded dedication to getting himself launched in the world of make-up. When he gets a job at a high-end Macy's counter, he is beside himself with joy. And when he accidentally ends up with one of daytime television's biggest stars as a client, he can't believe his luck. But he soon learns that in the real world, especially in the competitive make-up game, there are just as many people wanting to tear you down as build you up.

While some of the events are fairly unrealistic, Carlos himself feels pretty real. He can be selfish and self-centered, his moods can change in an instant, and he feels awkward and lonely more often than not. I've known young gay men like Carlos. I've watched some of them grow into confident young men, and some have continued to flounder as they reach young adulthood. The ones that make it have a quality that Carlos has in spades-a fundamental belief in themselves, and an acknowledgement of their own self-worth. May we create a world where all of the young Carloses out there in the world can feel the same. 

Title: Eleanor & Park
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Year: 2013
Pages: 328
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Themes: First Love, Acceptance, Domestic Violence
Age Range: 9th Grade and Up

Summary:
Park is a half-Korean teenager living in Omaha, Nebraska. He loves comic books, punk rock, and trying to stay under the radar of his judgmental peers. When the new girl, Eleanor, sits next to him on the bus, he is mortified by her crazy red hair, her outlandish clothes, and her obvious misfit status. As they ride to and from school every day, Park discovers that while Eleanor may be a misfit in general, she is the perfect fit for him. Eleanor, for her part, is just trying to get through each day the best she can, managing the "mean girls" at her new school, and staying as far away from her abusive step-father, Richie, as possible. She can't believe someone as "cool" as Park would want anything to do with her, but as their relationship progresses, she finds a level of acceptance and love that she never thought possible.

Review:
I realize I am late to the party on this one, but I loved pretty much everything about this book. I recognized a bit of myself in both Eleanor and Park. How many of us ever feel like we truly fit in when we're teenagers? Rowell has given us two characters who perfectly embody the sense if awkwardness and uncertainty that come with trying to navigate the world of first loves while simultaneously figuring out who you really are.

Set in the 1980s, Rowell uses the more restrictive social norms of the time to highlight just how challenging coming of age can be. I wish I could say that the relative ease with which Richie abuses his family is something that could only have happened 30 years ago, but the truth is that much of what Eleanor experiences is all too true for many young people today. She is equal parts strength and vulnerability, pretending not to care what other people think about her, while secretly cringing inside at every slight. It takes Park a long time to tear down the walls that she has built around herself, but his gentleness and patience are completely endearing, to Eleanor and the reader.

This would make a decent pairing with Romeo and Juliet, as it is reference quite a bit in the book, and Eleanor and Park's romance has qualities similar to that of the titular characters of Shakespeare's most beloved tragedy. It has a relatively low lexile level, so struggling high school readers may find it more accessible than other titles in a similar theme. There are references to sex and teenage drinking, but nothing graphic by any means. It would make a great addition to any middle or high school library, but there is so much fodder for discussion that I think it would work best in literature circles or guided reading.

Teacher Resources:
Macmillan Reading Group Questions
Book Rags Unit Plan