Norah Piehl

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Here in the Real World

Review by Norah Piehl

Ware’s parents have decided this is the summer they’re going to work overtime and save up enough money to buy a house. But just when 11-year-old Ware settles into a routine with his grandmother who’s caring for him, she suffers a fall—and Plan B is the dreaded Rec Camp, complete with fitness drills, peppy chants and stifling “art” projects. Creative, introverted Ware doesn’t need any more reminders that he’s not a “normal kid,” so when he spots a chance to escape, he jumps a fence and lands in a vacant lot, the remnants of a demolished church.

There Ware encounters Jolene, a tough-as-nails girl with an ambition to grow her own forest of papaya plants. When they look at the ruins of the lot, Jolene sees a garden and Ware sees a castle, but the adults around them only see a strip mall. Jolene, who’s seen enough of life to become jaded, is convinced their project is doomed. But Ware, ever optimistic, hatches a plan to try and save this special place.

Sara Pennypacker’s latest novel is a tender celebration of the quirks that make each person different. In an era when many young people are finding their voices as activists, Here in the Real World is also a hopeful account of collective social action. As Ware says, “I don’t want things to be magically what they’re not. I want them to be what they could be. And somebody has to want that, or nothing bad will ever get better.” True to the book’s title, Pennypacker doesn’t impose a fairy-tale ending on Ware’s story—but she does lovingly honor the beauty found in the people and places that too often go overlooked.

Ware’s parents have decided this is the summer they’re going to work overtime and save up enough money to buy a house. But just when 11-year-old Ware settles into a routine with his grandmother who’s caring for him, she suffers a fall—and Plan B is the dreaded Rec…

YA FictionYA

We Used to Be Friends

Review by Norah Piehl

At the beginning of their senior year, Kat and James (her parents were convinced she’d be a boy) are inseparable. At the end? Well, the title of Amy Spalding’s latest novel is a bit of a spoiler: We Used to Be Friends. These longtime BFFs both end up bruised and bewildered by their friendship breakup. As James observes in the novel’s opening chapter, “It was easy to believe that romance was the only heartache out there.”

Kat’s year starts when, after splitting from her boyfriend, she starts to develop feelings for a girl named Quinn. Between exploring her bisexual identity, idealizing her new girlfriend and embarking on a campaign to take down the heteronormative prom king and queen competition at school, Kat doesn’t seem to have much time for James anymore. In the meantime, James hasn’t told Kat that she’s dealing with her parents’ separation and her own decision to break up with a boy with whom, once upon a time, she imagined her own happily ever after. 

James’ and Kat’s stories unfold in alternating chapters and in opposite chronologies. Kat’s narrative starts at the beginning of the school year and moves forward, while James’ story begins the summer after senior year and goes backward. Each girl’s narrative voice is unique, introspective and often funny as they each navigate this pivotal year of their lives, at first together and then increasingly on their own or with others.

By the time Kat and James meet in the middle of their timelines, readers will have developed an appreciation for the ways relationships can evolve and sometimes even end, often without any kind of crisis or anyone to blame. It’s rare to find a novel that treats friendship so perceptively and acknowledges its potential end so truthfully.

At the beginning of their senior year, Kat and James (her parents were convinced she’d be a boy) are inseparable. At the end? Well, the title of Amy Spalding’s latest novel is a bit of a spoiler: We Used to Be Friends. These longtime BFFs…

YA FictionYA

Slay

Review by Norah Piehl

To her family and friends, Kiera Johnson is popular, a good big sister, an honors student, talented at math and likely to attend historically black Spelman College after she graduates from predominantly white Jefferson Academy, where she too often feels singled out as the “voice of Blackness.” But unbeknownst to everyone in her real life, Kiera is also Emerald, the developer of SLAY, one of the hottest new virtual reality role-playing games.

Tired of playing video games in which the only characters of color are villains or dwarves, and weary of encountering racial slurs hurled at her by other players’ avatars, Kiera developed SLAY to create a place where black gamers could play safely online. In the world of her game, black culture is not only respected but is actually the source of players’ power.

But when a black teenager is shot to death over a SLAY-related dispute, Kiera begins to question everything, from the possibility of her own culpability in the player’s murder to whether, as one particularly insidious online troll suggests, the game’s Afrocentric focus and referrals-only membership system discriminate against gamers who are not black.

Debut novelist Brittney Morris admirably melds Kiera’s real-life and online worlds in Slay while illustrating the diversity of experiences and philosophies within the black community. Morris intersperses vignettes that explore the varied experiences of black gamers around the world and what SLAY means to them amid detailed depictions of online gameplay and Kiera’s rapidly escalating real-world crises. 

Readers will cheer for Kiera as she slays her own demons, and they’ll come away from the novel desperately wishing SLAY were more than the product of Morris’ imagination.

To her family and friends, Kiera Johnson is popular, a good big sister, an honors student, talented at math and likely to attend historically black Spelman College after she graduates from predominantly white Jefferson Academy, where she too often feels singled out as the “voice…

Science Fiction & FantasyYA FictionYAFantasy

Pet

Review by Norah Piehl

Akwaeke Emezi, the acclaimed nonbinary author of last year’s buzzy adult novel Freshwater, further asserts themself as a unique, bold new voice in fiction with the surreal Pet.

The people of the town of Lucille live a blessed life. The heroes known as angels chased away all the monsters, and kids like Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up without the threats that kept their parents and grandparents in fear.

Jam’s mother, Bitter, tells her daughter that monsters and angels aren’t like the ones she might have seen in old books. “It’s all just people,” she says, “doing hard things or doing bad things.” But Jam starts to reconsider her mother’s words when a frightening creature in her mother’s latest painting comes to life. The creature asks Jam to call it Pet and says that it’s on a mission—to hunt and kill the monster that, Pet claims, is lurking unseen in Redemption’s otherwise loving and happiness-filled home.

Jam is skeptical, not to mention fearful. But as she begins to trust Pet, she starts to question much of what she’s been told, and soon she and Redemption must decide for themselves what brand of justice is best suited for the monster that might lurk in their midst. 

By conceptualizing sexual violence, physical abuse, drug use and other social ills as literal monsters, Emezi gives young readers much to think about, from questioning authority and received wisdom to redefining justice. Emezi’s characters are diverse in race, physical ability and especially gender. Jam is a transgender girl, and Redemption has three parents, one of whom is nonbinary.

Despite Jam’s growing realization that Lucille is far from the utopia she’s been told it is, readers might see in Jam’s surroundings a version of a world that they, like Jam, might choose to fight for.

Akwaeke Emezi, the acclaimed nonbinary author of last year’s buzzy adult novel Freshwater, further asserts themself as a unique, bold new voice in fiction with the surreal Pet.

The people of the town of Lucille live a blessed life. The heroes known as angels…

YA FictionYA

The Spaces Between Us

Review by Norah Piehl

The summer between junior and senior year in high school is a crossroads for many people, but perhaps especially so for Serena Velasco and her best (and only) friend, Melody Grimshaw. Both of them have just failed Western Civ—Serena because she prefers to use her considerable intelligence and anti-authoritarian outlook to challenge her teacher’s pro-democracy viewpoints, and Melody because she believes on some level that she, like all the Grimshaws before her, is fated to never graduate from high school.

The Grimshaws have a bad reputation in Colchis, the small, economically depressed upstate New York town where they live. Serena doesn’t care about public opinion, but that’s easy for her to say. Her mother is the school principal, and her stepfather is a realtor, so although they still need to worry about money, they are worlds away from Melody and the rest of the Grimshaws. Serena knows that she could easily go to college and even get a scholarship if she only applied herself. Melody’s road out of Colchis is much less obvious. She is a talented dancer, but without means or opportunity, how can she pursue her talent and her dream?

Tolman’s debut novel is mature and sophisticated, both in its subject matter, which is frequently dark, and in its narrative structure. The chronology covers a little over a year, and the prose, especially near the novel’s end, is beautifully ambiguous. At the heart of this sometimes difficult but ultimately rewarding novel, however, is a realistic portrait of two friends coming to terms with the widening gulf between their future paths, and navigating whether and how they can reconverge.

The summer between junior and senior year in high school is a crossroads for many people, but perhaps especially so for Serena Velasco and her best (and only) friend, Melody Grimshaw.

YA FictionYA

This Time Will Be Different

Review by Norah Piehl

Her family’s unofficial motto is Katsuyamas Never Quit, but that hasn’t held true for 17-year-old CJ, who knows she’s never going to be as high-powered as her ambitious single mom. CJ prefers helping her Aunt Hannah at their family floral shop, Heart’s Desire.

Heart’s Desire is a point of family pride. CJ’s grandfather spent 30 years saving enough money to buy back the shop at an astronomical markup. When the Katsuyamas and thousands of other Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during World War II, her grandfather was forced to sell all of his property to an investor named McAllister for a fraction of its true value. But now, with Heart’s Desire struggling, CJ’s mom is threatening to sell it right back to a McAllister who currently serves as the head of the venture capital firm where she is a partner.

This outrage stokes CJ’s activist spirit, especially when she learns that the Heart’s Desire scandal is only one of many examples of the McAllister family profiting off the losses of Japanese Americans.

Misa Sugiura’s This Time Will Be Different shows CJ wrestling with her growing awareness of racism and the injustices of history while also grappling with more typical teenage concerns like an unattainable crush or a changing relationship with her best friend. With the help of a history-loving boy, CJ starts to realize that although we might never be able to fix past mistakes—both globally and personally—we can learn from them, tell their stories and try our best to avoid making them again.

Her family’s unofficial motto is Katsuyamas Never Quit, but that hasn’t held true for 17-year-old CJ, who knows she’s never going to be as high-powered as her ambitious single mom. CJ prefers helping her Aunt Hannah at their family floral shop, Heart’s Desire.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Far Away

Review by Norah Piehl

National Book Award nominee Lisa Graff (A Tangle of Knots) deftly captures that brief moment in childhood when you’re young enough to believe in magic while also coping with very real, serious life concerns in her latest novel, Far Away, about a girl must decide what to believe in—and whom to trust.

CJ Ames has been on the road for pretty much all of her 12 years. She’s traveled to all 48 contiguous states on a huge tour bus with her Aunt Nic, who has developed a growing reputation as a medium. Nic’s ability to communicate with the spirit world comes in handy for CJ since her mother, Aunt Nic’s sister, died when CJ was a newborn. Fortunately for CJ, she’s been able to maintain a closeness with her mother thanks to Aunt Nic’s gifts.

But when Aunt Nic reveals that her mother is being drawn “Far Away” and will no longer be able to communicate with the living, CJ is distraught. Along with a new friend, she follows a series of mysterious signs that, she hopes, will help her find a tether that can draw her mother’s spirit back to her. But what she finds is something even more profound—and more devastating.

Far Away is a novel about learning to appreciate the truth, even when it’s not pretty, and knowing when to trust in portents—and when to trust the knowledge in your own heart.

National Book Award nominee Lisa Graff (A Tangle of Knots) deftly captures that brief moment in childhood when you’re young enough to believe in magic while also coping with very real, serious life concerns in her latest novel, Far Away, about a girl must decide what to believe in—and whom to trust.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Sweep

Review by Norah Piehl

Novels that blend history with imaginative fantasy are particularly hard to pull off and particularly special when they’re written just right. Jonathan Auxier’s Sweep definitely falls into the latter category, as this accomplished storyteller combines Victorian labor history and Jewish mythology for an unforgettable tale of a friendship that transcends time and place.

Nan Sparrow is the best chimney sweep London has seen in a generation. She learned from the best, having been tutored by her kindly guardian known only as the Sweep. But the Sweep has been gone for years, and Nan is now in thrall to a cruel master with little regard for his young charge’s well-being. Although Nan is smart and creative, she can’t imagine a different future until she finds herself cleaning the chimneys at a girls’ school and a teacher recognizes her potential.

But then Nan becomes trapped in the school’s narrow chimney, risking being burned alive on the job. That moment of crisis, however, brings to life the Sweep’s last gift to Nan, a kindly soot golem named Charlie who transforms her life.

Auxier’s melding of fiction and fact—much of which is explained in an author’s note—will inspire readers to learn more about the sources behind this tale. But what will ring truest for readers of all ages is the novel’s emotional core: “We save ourselves by saving others.” This message of generosity and compassion changes Nan’s life and will touch young readers, too.

 

This article was originally published in the October 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Novels that blend history with imaginative fantasy are particularly hard to pull off and particularly special when they’re written just right. Jonathan Auxier’s Sweep definitely falls into the latter category, as this accomplished storyteller combines Victorian labor history and Jewish mythology for an unforgettable tale of a friendship that transcends time and place.

YA FictionYA

‘Pride and Prejudice’ in gentrifying Brooklyn

Review by Norah Piehl

There’s no shortage of Jane Austen retellings. But it’s safe to say that none of them are quite like Ibi Zoboi’s modern-day reimagining of Pride and Prejudice. Zoboi, whose prior novel, American Street, was a finalist for the National Book Award, continues her exploration of the complexities of American neighborhoods through a love story worthy of the legacy of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy.

Zoboi’s novel is set in Bushwick, a Brooklyn neighborhood whose residents—like narrator Zuri Benitez and her family—are largely working-class African-Americans and Latinos who have lived there for decades. But Bushwick appears next in line for gentrification, and Zuri’s not sure she likes the changes. Her concerns come to a head when the Darcys, a wealthy black family, move across the street, completely changing her street’s culture. Zuri can’t deny that the younger Darcy brother, Darius, is fine—but she can’t get over her resentment of what the Darcys stand for, nor can she forgive Darius’ own prejudices about the Benitez family’s very different lifestyle.

Pride is not a connect-the-dots retelling, and that’s what makes it so compelling. Zoboi utilizes Pride and Prejudice’s dramatic potential to set the stage, but Zuri and Darius’ story stands on its own. Likewise, Zoboi’s treatment of race, class and gentrification will effectively open some readers’ eyes while also resonating deeply with those who see these issues playing out in their own lives.

 

This article was originally published in the September 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

There’s no shortage of Jane Austen retellings. But it’s safe to say that none of them are quite like Ibi Zoboi’s modern-day reimagining of Pride and Prejudice. Zoboi, whose prior novel, American Street, was a finalist for the National Book Award, continues her exploration of the complexities of American neighborhoods through a love story worthy of the legacy of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy.

YA FictionYA

Survival and reinvention

Review by Norah Piehl

BookPage Teen Top Pick, August 2018

If you ask me, there’s no better time to read a good old-fashioned survival story than at the height of summer, when long, lazy days and warm nights might make readers long for some heart-pounding humans-versus-wilderness drama.

Kate Alice Marshall’s I Am Still Alive certainly fits the bill, though there’s really nothing old-fashioned about it, since its themes and structures are boldly contemporary. The novel’s first half is divided into alternating sections titled “Before” and “After,” as 16-year-old Jess Cooper recounts how and why she came to live in a remote area of Canada with her estranged father, and how she’s been surviving in the days since his sudden murder and the destruction of everything that had been keeping her small family alive in this beautiful but unforgiving place.

By the time these two timelines merge midway through the novel, readers are bound to be thoroughly invested in Jess’ survival, made even more harrowing due to a painful disability that forces Jess to work twice as hard—and be at least twice as smart—as someone with two fully functioning legs. I Am Still Alive is full of the kinds of backcountry details that will intrigue fans of Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet and its ilk, from finding and killing food to making shelter, and there’s plenty of high-stakes conflict with humans and animals alike. But Marshall’s thrilling tale is also a deeply moving story about coming to terms with imperfections (both in oneself and in others) and about finding true resourcefulness and inner strength.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our Q&A with Kate Alice Marshall about I Am Still Alive.
 

This article was originally published in the August 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

 

If you ask me, there’s no better time to read a good old-fashioned survival story than at the height of summer, when long, lazy days and warm nights might make readers long for some heart-pounding humans-versus-wilderness drama.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Life and adventure after loss

Review by Norah Piehl

BookPage Children's Top Pick, July 2018

Eleven-year-old Dorothy, better known as Donut, knows what she likes—taxidermy, poker and geography—and what she doesn’t—the prospect of having to leave her beloved Vermont woods for a new life in stuffy, crowded Boston.

The year is 1927, and Donut, whose mother died in childbirth, has been perfectly content in the life she’s led with her engineer father and the eccentric characters who occupy her remote corner of Vermont. But now, after her father’s death in a car accident, Donut is terrified of what a future with her Aunt Agnes might look like, hundreds of miles away from everything and everyone she knows and loves.

Desperate to avoid attending the girls’ school run by her aunt, Donut hatches a plan to take her dad’s innovative, collapsible boat and hide away in an abandoned cabin in the Vermont woods. But when a crisis strikes, Donut must reassess not only her own independence but also the meaning of family—and what it means to rely on one another.

For more than 20 years, debut novelist Daphne Kalmar was a teacher who loved introducing her students to the natural world. Her affection for the animals and landscapes of Vermont’s northern kingdom is apparent throughout A Stitch in Time, but what will really win over readers is her novel’s heroine. With her big heart and an openness to adventure, Donut is an affecting blend of toughness, vulnerability and fearlessness. A Stitch in Time would make a wonderful read-aloud and provides an opportunity for parents and children to talk about grief, love and self-reliance.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Eleven-year-old Dorothy, better known as Donut, knows what she likes—taxidermy, poker and geography—and what she doesn’t—the prospect of having to leave her beloved Vermont woods for a new life in stuffy, crowded Boston.

RomanceYA FictionYA

A sweet tale of backstage romance

Review by Norah Piehl

High school senior Megan Harper has always shied away from the spotlight. She loves the theater, but she wants to direct, not star. And Megan might be an incorrigible flirt, but she’s never been anyone’s true love. In fact, the many boys she’s dated have a history of finding their perfect matches right after they’ve dumped her.

When Megan—whose drama school application requires her to have some acting experience—accidentally lands the lead role in Romeo & Juliet, she’s terrified, especially when it turns out she’s acting opposite her most recent ex, who’s now madly in love with her best friend. Consequently, Megan is eager to find her next fling—but maybe she needs to slow down and find someone who believes that even supporting characters deserve their own happy endings.

Writing duo Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka know of what they write—they met in high school while studying Shakespeare. Readers will relate to Megan’s exuberant voice and her endearing imperfections, as well as to the challenges of balancing complex families, academic ambition and (maybe) love, all while trying to put on a show.

The course of true love never did run smooth—but, as in Shakespeare, navigating the rough parts is what makes for a funny, romantic and memorable story.

 

This article was originally published in the June 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

High school senior Megan Harper has always shied away from the spotlight. She loves the theater, but she wants to direct, not star. And Megan might be an incorrigible flirt, but she’s never been anyone’s true love. In fact, the many boys she’s dated have a history of finding their perfect matches right after they’ve dumped her.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Me and my imaginary friend

Review by Norah Piehl

Writing superstars Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead have long excelled at crafting insightful, emotionally rich stories for young readers. Their first collaboration—Bob, a novel about (what else?) a most unusual friendship—is something wonderful indeed.

For the first time in five years, Livy is traveling from Massachusetts to Australia to visit her grandmother. The last time she visited, she was only 5 years old, so there are certain details she doesn’t recall—like the small green creature living in the spare room’s closet. His name is Bob, and he’s been waiting very patiently for Livy’s return, spending his days building (and rebuilding) a Lego pirate ship and reading the dictionary. No one else can really see Bob (most people are convinced he’s a strange sort of chicken), and Livy’s memories of their prior time together are hazy at best, but new clues—and a new crisis—send the two friends in search of answers. Perhaps they saved one another once, and perhaps they can do so again.

Chapters alternate between Bob’s and Livy’s points of view, offering just the right blend of mystery and cozy magic in a rewarding story about how friendships—and people—evolve over time. Bob and Livy come to appreciate and love one another now while also feeling bittersweet about who they were then—and their fairy tale-like story proves that when friends get together, magical things can happen.

 

This article was originally published in the May 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Writing superstars Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead have long excelled at crafting insightful, emotionally rich stories for young readers. Their first collaboration—Bob, a novel about (what else?) a most unusual friendship—is something wonderful indeed.

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