BookPage Teen Top Pick, October 2018

Haunted by the tragedy that upended her life last year—and the source of her trauma, whom she refers to as the Taker—Annabelle takes off running from her hometown in Seattle. Her destination: Washington, D.C. Why? She’s not going to think about that. For now, all she can do is run. But with the support of her grandfather, who follows her in his RV, and her brother and best friends back home, Annabelle becomes a reluctant activist. As her feet bring her closer to her destination, Annabelle begins to hope that someday she’ll be able to shake her guilt and shame over what happened.

National Book Award finalist Deb Caletti (Honey, Baby, Sweetheart) makes readers wait until the end to find out why Annabelle is running 2,794 miles, but from the very first page, she tackles issues that will be painfully familiar to teen readers, including the constant, simmering fear of assault, the recurring realization that leaders—in school or in D.C.—are unable or unwilling to protect them, and the infuriating internal tug of war between being kind and being vigilant.

Written in driving prose that conveys a powerful sense of urgency and with loving characterizations of Annabelle and her family and friends in all their flawed, tender glory, A Heart in a Body in the World delivers a powerful look at love, loss and guilt as readers follow Annabelle’s cross-country journey to self-forgiveness.

Equal parts heartbreaking and hopeful, A Heart in a Body in the World reads like a battle cry for young women in the #MeToo era.

This article was originally published in the October 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.

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.

Ariel Kaplan’s We Regret to Inform You is a compelling novel about every highly motivated college applicant’s worst nightmare. High school senior Mischa Abramavicius should have had it made. She goes to a tony prep school on scholarship where she’s a star student. But when college acceptances start rolling in and her classmates are accepted to places like Harvard and Princeton, Mischa gets nothing but rejections. She doesn’t even get into her safety school, Paul Revere University.

Shocked and ashamed to tell her single mother, Mischa visits Revere’s admissions office and discovers that her transcript has been altered. But her original transcript is in order, leading Mischa to realize that something fishy is going on. With help from her best friend, Nate, and a group of hacker girls who call themselves the Ophelia Syndicate, Mischa begins to dig deeper.

As unlikely as this all sounds, Kaplan makes everything seem believable with the help of her wisecracking yet thoughtful narrator. Without any college acceptances, Mischa begins to question her very identity. But as she gets to the bottom of her application disaster, she also re-examines her dreams, goals and all-consuming pursuit of success.

We Regret to Inform You is an entertaining look at the college admissions rat race that includes crime, a cover-up and plenty of heart and soul.

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

Sisters Rumi and Lea are going to make music together forever. Rumi plays piano, Lea plays guitar, and together they write lyrics. That is, until Lea dies in a car crash and Rumi is sent to live with her Aunty Ani in Hawaii.

Rumi spends the first few weeks of her summer pondering impossible questions: Why did her mother abandon her with a relative she hardly knows? Is Rumi just like her absent father, scared of commitment and bound to abandon everyone she loves? Why does she feel so physically attracted to Aunty Ani’s teenage neighbor, Kai, even though she doesn’t have any desire to touch or kiss him? And how can she ever write, perform or even hear music again, when she’ll always have to experience it without her sister?

Akemi Dawn Bowman’s Summer Bird Blue is a story of healing. As Kai gradually coaxes Rumi back into a world of friends, summer jobs and days at the beach, Aunty Ani’s other neighbor, the grumpy Mr. Watanabe, provides an unexpected haven. Hawaii’s geography, food and language (Hawaiian Pidgin) are authentically researched and lovingly portrayed. Bowman, author of the William C. Morris YA Debut Award finalist Starfish, once again offers a diverse, sensitive and hopeful portrayal of a teen simultaneously struggling with questions of personal identity and difficult external circumstances.

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

With his brilliant debut, Darius the Great Is Not Okay, Adib Khorram has given us one of the most compelling and humorous teen narrators in recent memory.

Darius Kellner is half Persian, half white and constantly out of his depth. With no friends, a penchant for “dietary indiscretions” and a titanic sense of insufficiency, Darius is not OK.

When his Iranian grandfather gets sick, the family jumps aboard a plane to Iran, and Darius finds a whole new world waiting for him—along with all his same old problems. With more knowledge of Klingon than Farsi, Darius once again finds himself on the outside looking in. But after a lifetime of playing the odd man out, Darius finds his first true friend—and perhaps his first true love—and begins to accept that not being OK might be OK after all.

With a host of perfectly imperfect characters and more “Star Trek” and J.R.R. Tolkien references than you’ll likely find outside of a Comic-Con, Khorram takes on a host of weighty topics with uncanny lightness and care. Whether depicting Darius’ depression, his budding romance or his struggle to unravel his cultural, familial and sexual identities, Khorram approaches his narrative with a rare mix of humor, respect and deep sympathy.

Equally entertaining and endearing, Darius the Great Is Not Okay is a must-read if you’ve ever felt out of place or insufficient.

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

Kit Frick’s debut YA novel, See All the Stars, is part love story, part thriller, part coming-of-age story—and definitely a book to be devoured all in one sitting. Frick, who is also a poet and poetry editor, has a love of words (and, as she puts it, “putting complicated characters in impossible situations”) that is clearly on display in this story about the relationships among four high school students.

Ellory, the narrator, begins the story in June following her sophomore year. She calls it “then.” Then, she was best friends with Bex, Jenni and Ret. To Ellory, her friends are the stars and planets of the solar system. Ret is the bright center sun, and Ellory sees herself as “the moon, dark and cold without the sun’s light. Ellory Holland—constant satellite.” So, when Ret wants to go to a party, Ellory follows. At the party, she meets and falls in love with Matthias Cole—a beautiful but complex boy with plenty of secrets.

See All the Stars shifts between these past events and now—Ellory’s senior year. Now, Ellory is attemping to brave out the school year by hiding in metalwork class and trying to focus on her dream of going to art school in Portland.

Frick deftly keeps the suspense and mystery of what happened “then” just out of reach until the very end, when the pieces fall into place and we can see all the stars—and understand the full nature of the gulf between then and now. Frick’s debut will especially be a treat for fans of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars.

Evie has never fit in. The local fisherfolk scorn her as uppity because her two best friends, Prince Nik and Anna, have royal blood in their veins. But even with her friends, Evie feels like an outsider—and not because she lacks a royal title. Evie has a secret: She’s a witch.

Evie’s sense of estrangement only increases when she challenges Anna to a race, and Anna drowns in the rough ocean waves. Awash in grief, shame and uncertainty, there is nothing in the world Evie wants more than for her friend to be back beside her, breathing and alive.

Desire and delusion conspire so that when a mysterious girl shows up on Evie’s doorstep, looking very much like Anna and bearing the strikingly similar name of Annemette, Evie is convinced her friend has returned. Evie’s confidence cannot be shaken, even when she learns Annemette is a mermaid.

Annemette has just four days to gain a kiss of true love from Prince Nik, or she will dissolve back into the ocean like sea foam. Sounds familiar, right? But Annemette is not the pure-hearted Little Mermaid we know so well, and she is harboring secrets of her own.

Journalist Sarah Henning’s compulsively readable reimagining of The Little Mermaid is a cleverly plotted tale of love, loss and revenge. While familiarity with either Hans Christian Anderson’s original or the Disney adaptation will add layers of meaning and pleasure, you need not be a Little Mermaid fan to enjoy Sea Witch.