Sixteen-year-old Saaket Ferdowsi—but please call him Scott—lacks grit. So while his parents are visiting family in Iran, he hops on a bus to Washington, D.C., in order to visit a Georgetown professor who’s just won the MacArthur Genius Grant for her research on grit. But the friends he makes along the way—Trent, an aspiring U.S. senator, and Fiona, a crossword aficionado—teach him more about “sticktoitiveness” than he ever could have expected.

Arvin Ahmadi’s charming debut, Down and Across, brings a strong new voice to teen literature. Scott’s uncertainty, and his panic over that uncertainty, will resonate with high school readers faced with the impossible task of figuring out what they want to do with their lives. The supporting characters’ efforts to juggle their own aspirations with their unique baggage will feel equally familiar.

Most of all, Scott’s spontaneous trip—and the lessons he learns about grit along the way—will likely help young readers relieve their own anxiety about the next steps in their lives.

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

BookPage Teen Top Pick, February 2018

Only Tareq, his little sister and his father are left after a bomb destroys their home and kills the rest of their close-knit family. In the wake of this unbearable loss, the three plan to leave Syria for the dream of asylum in Europe. The journey is terrible from the start, with desperate refugees packing into overcrowded camps in unsympathetic cities. From Turkey, Tareq decides their best chance is to cross the Aegean Sea, which requires giving all their money to unscrupulous smugglers. This arrangement, along with the dangers of the sea and hostile attacks by the Turkish Coast Guard, is enough to drain Tareq of his humanity. But when his family arrives in Greece, he makes the fortuitous acquaintance of an American volunteer, who encourages him with words from Mr. Rogers: “Look for the helpers.”

Destiny acts as the omniscient narrator of A Land of Permanent Goodbyes, granting insight into the hearts of the characters and a broader overview of the refugee experience. As author Atia Abawi artfully illustrates, refugees are created by circumstances that can happen anywhere. A perfect companion novel to Alan Gratz’s Refugee, this humanizing, often harrowing and sometimes transcendent novel fosters compassion and understanding.

Diane Colson is the Library Director at City College in Gainesville, Florida.

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

In the near-future, vast maguey fields span what’s left of the bone-dry Southwest landscape of Samantha Mabry's All the Wind in the World. Two teens must work themselves to the bone in order to survive, and they con their way through ranches while hoping to save enough money to finally live someplace where they no longer need to keep their love a secret.

Sarah Jac and James have been hopping railcars across the thirsty remnants of the United States for years now, working as maguey-harvesting jimadors and hiding their love by pretending to be cousins. They’ve learned, in the harshest of ways, that any emotional weakness can become someone else’s weapon. So they’ve adopted the mantra of “hard hearts”—all the while preying upon the naivety of their fellow ranch hands in order to avoid being taken advantage of themselves.

But after Sarah Jac accidentally causes the death of an overseer at a ranch in New Mexico, the young couple is forced to escape to The Real Marvelous, a Texas ranch long rumored to be cursed. What they find there, and who they meet, will test the depths of their sanity, their suffering, their trust and, ultimately, their love.

Mabry’s debut novel, A Fierce and Subtle Poison, was named one of the Best YA Books of 2016 by Paste Magazine. And in All the Wind in the World, she continues to craft mesmerizing characters. Most impressive is the way Mabry portrays Sarah Jac and James’ love—subtle, raw, honest, untrivialized—especially considering the direness of their circumstances throughout this modern, post-apocalyptic Western that's filtered through the haze of magical realism.

Justin Barisich is a freelancer, satirist, poet and performer living in Atlanta. More of his writing can be found at littlewritingman.com.

As the second installment in Neal Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe series, Thunderhead takes us back to the post-mortal utopia, which is watched over by the benevolent, all-knowing artificial intelligence known as the Thunderhead and where death only comes by the flawed, bloody hand of the Scythedom. But since Rowan and Citra’s last appearance at the conclave, the Scythedom’s political arena has only grown more fractured and dangerous—especially since murdered scythes have started turning up across the country.

What began as ideological differences on the methods and responsibilities of gleanings (government-sanctioned assassinations) has since evolved into a great divide between the old guard and new order Scythes. Citra, now ordained as junior Scythe Anastasia, continues to glean with respect and compassion. Meanwhile, Rowan has donned a black robe and has given himself the name Scythe Lucifer, living as a vigilante and slaying corrupt scythes. Yet no matter the approach, each character soon learns that there are things in their world far worse than death.

As the Thunderhead watches the scythes tear themselves, each other and perhaps the rest of the planet apart with their nearly unrestricted power, all it can do is find loopholes in the laws and hint at possible solutions. And as its omniscient frustration mounts, the Thunderhead threatens to crack wide open in retaliation.

Shusterman’s writing in Thunderhead is never predictable, and his skillful control of the narrative is as strong as it was in his Printz Honor-winning Scythe. The addition of the normally placid Thunderhead’s frustrated journal entries interspersed between these chapters is as intriguing as the stories behind the Scythedom’s bloodstains.

Justin Barisich is a freelancer, satirist, poet and performer living in Atlanta. More of his writing can be found at littlewritingman.com.

Seventeen-year-old Eldon Wilkes counts the days in Madison—a dump of a town in the Mojave Desert—where he pumps gas to make ends meet. The only cool person in his family, his sister Ebba, is unresponsive in a care facility. But the town of Madison has a well-kept secret: Every resident on their 18th birthday walks deep into a cavern on the edge of town and makes a wish that comes true.

Eldon has 25 days to decide on his wish. His mom urges him to wish for money to hire specialists to heal his sister, but Eldon worries she’s beyond saving. Eldon decides to interview the people of Madison about their wishes and studies a history book that lists every wish ever made. From what he can tell, nary a wish has improved the lives of the wisher or anyone else.

In As You Wish, author Chelsea Sedoti (The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett) masterfully crafts a tale that draws together the stories of an entire town’s residents while focusing on Eldon and his friends. Through Eldon’s wrenching struggles, we see how the possibility of getting what you think you want is fraught with complications. Despite the magical elements, Eldon’s actions and longings ring true, reminding us that every day serves up life-altering choices, both large and small.

Billie B. Little is the Founding Director of Discovery Center at Murfree Spring, a hands-on museum in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

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

BookPage Teen Top Pick, January 2018

Seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz wants to make documentary films, go to NYU and date as she pleases. Her parents want her to choose a college closer to their suburban Chicago home, study law or medicine and marry a suitable Indian-Muslim boy. When such a boy, Kareem, materializes at a family wedding, everyone’s interests seem to dovetail. Kareem is sweet, funny and has all the right “biostats,” but Maya’s heart longs for Phil, the unreachable captain of the football team. As Maya attempts to balance her parents’ traditionalism with her own modern outlook, a terrorist attack in Chicago inspires violent anti-Muslim sentiment in Maya’s neighborhood, tying personal perspectives into a larger global picture. Maya’s best friend, Violet, and her liberal-leaning Aunt Hina encourage her to make her own path in the world, but how can she take a leading role in her own story when she’s most comfortable observing life from behind her camera lens?

The love-triangle trope may seem slightly stale, but debut author Samira Ahmed’s treatment is anything but. Mentions of travel bans and suicide bombers are extremely timely, and the themes of immigration, family and identity broached here are always relevant.

Reminiscent of Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier, Love, Hate and Other Filters brings an authentic new voice to Muslim-American literature for young adults.

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

Ryn is fidgeting on a plane, circling the Denver airport in a snowstorm, asking Google questions about turbulence, if planes can land on ice, and why some people live and others die. Ryn is en route to San Francisco, where she’s moved with her divorced mother. But San Francisco is not home. Nowhere is home anymore.

Ryn’s best friend—red-haired, risk-taking Lottie—died a year ago in a car crash, and as a result, Lottie is stuck. She’s stuck with anxiety, stuck with a mother she can’t talk to and stuck with Lottie’s voice in her head.

Because Ryn toes the line between her own headspace and reality, she is never truly present. This makes navigating the world a bit difficult. When a distracted Ryn trips on a moving walkway and drops her phone, she’s helped to her feet by a guy Lottie would have described as “hot.” Later, as the delays mount for her connecting flight, Ryn’s phone pings. It’s the hot guy. Ryn realizes she’s actually holding his phone, which is identical to hers. They arrange to meet in order to make the switch.

The blizzard eventually shuts down the airport, so Ryn can’t get home before the first anniversary of Lottie’s death. But while she’s stuck at the airport, she makes a friend or two, is arrested by security and finally opens her heart despite herself.

Anyone who has lost a friend, a family member or even a pet will love Jessica Brody’s The Chaos of Standing Still. Brody brilliantly captures the complex landscape of Ryn’s mind and nudges her protagonist back to a place of hope. Pick up this novel for any teen, but read it before you pass it on. You’ll be glad you did.

Billie B. Little is the Founding Director of Discovery Center at Murfree Spring, a hands-on museum in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.