African-American twins Maya and Nikki and their neighbor Essence have always had their lives completely planned. They’ll date the right boys, attend historically black all-female Spelman College and be best friends forever. 

But as their senior year starts, their surety gets shaky. Nikki appreciates the freshness and variety that gentrification has brought to their neighborhood, but Maya resents the lack of local black-owned businesses. Essence and her perpetually drunk mother move across town, and a wealthy white family—including a cute boy and his racially ignorant sister—move in. As student council president, Maya finds herself constantly at odds with the new Richmond High principal, an outsider whose vision for the school doesn’t match that of many students. As the year progresses, the three friends find that relationships can evolve, goals can shift and the past can help inform the present as well as the future.

There’s never been a better time for author Renée Watson’s YA debut. Narrator Maya is perceptive, whether participating in an ongoing hallway-postering campaign or explaining why a celebration of “tolerance” shouldn’t replace Black History Month. A single racial slur appears in a particularly tense moment, but otherwise this is a gentle yet powerful reflection on choices, changes and contemporary African-American teenage identity.

RELATED CONTENT: Read a Q&A with Watson about This Side of Home. 

Jill Ratzan teaches research rudiments in central New Jersey. She learned most of what she knows about YA lit from her terrific grad students.

This article was originally published in the February 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

BookPage Teen Top Pick, February 2015

If you discover a magical world through some kind of portal, that’s one thing. Wardrobes and rabbit holes make it easy to believe you’ve left the real world behind. But what if you live in a normal house with normal-enough parents and attend school with other normal kids, and something starts to change, to twist even as you go about your daily life? That would be a bit harder to accept.

Sarah’s life had only a tinge of the weird: Her parents fought a lot; her mother wasn’t very affectionate; and they moved more often than the average family, or at least for no good reason that Sarah could see. The night her mother leaves for good, however, is the final push that changes everything. Sarah’s father seems to fall apart and ends up taking her to live with grandparents she didn’t even know she had. It’s just a long drive in a car—no special doors or portals needed—but the world is definitely different.

As Sarah comes to acknowledge that things are not what they seem—that her father is not falling apart so much as changing into a beast, that her grandfather already is one and that her grandmother’s anger is a powerful thing—she decides to find out the truth about this magic, this curse, this story of love and revenge. Her determination to remain human through it all is the heart of this wonderful, compelling story. Beastkeeper is highly recommended for lovers of fairy tales with a twist.

This article was originally published in the February 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Laura Rose Wagner’s debut novel tells the heartfelt, gritty story of a girl living through the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Sixteen-year-old Magdalie and her cousin, Nadine, are like sisters, both raised by Nadine’s mother, who dies in the quake. The boredom, poverty and filth of the makeshift refugee camp are made bearable by the girls’ friendship, but then Nadine’s father procures an American visa, and she moves to Miami. Nadine promises to send for Magda, but as the months drag on, Magda stops expecting a reunion and must rediscover her connection to the people and opportunities that remain in Haiti.

Hold Tight, Don’t Let Go is an excellent choice for readers searching for a diverse narrative. Wagner worked in Haiti for three years, including the year of the earthquake. She is sensitive to reductive and sensationalist portrayals of Haiti, and she tackles these issues in a particularly compelling moment between Magda and an American photographer. There is darkness, anger and despair in what Magda endures, and Wagner is harsh when she needs to be, depicting the hazards faced by young women through moments that are difficult to read. With a realistic balance between righteous anger and sardonic humor, Wagner produces an empathetic and enlightening portrait of a teen’s life in Haiti.

This article was originally published in the January 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Marcus Sedgwick’s latest offering is the perfect book for readers who are still pondering the multiple paths in his Printz Award-winning Midwinterblood and are seeking something new to captivate and astound them.

The Ghosts of Heaven is divided into four parts, which might be four different stories or four parts of the same story. In settings as varied as a prehistoric cave, a gossipy village, an insane asylum on the cusp of modernity and a spaceship en route to other worlds, readers meet a series of eager but flawed characters. A girl yearns to make her mark with charcoal and powder; a teenage herbalist is helpless to stop the accusations of witchcraft that surround her; a doctor’s fears are echoed in his patients; and a space sentinel faces decisions that might affect all of eternity. The four stories are linked through a motif of spirals and helixes, geometric shapes that carry mathematical, artistic and spiritual significance.

Sedgwick advises readers that the four stories can be read in any of 24 different combinations. Like the spirals that follow humanity through space and time, readers of this unusual novel will find themselves turning in apparent circles, yet always ending up in a slightly different place from where they started.

Jill Ratzan teaches research regiments in central New Jersey. She learned most of what she knows about YA lit from her terrific grad students.

This article was originally published in the January 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

BookPage Teen Top Pick, January 2015

Rural Russia is not a kind place for Jews in the early 20th century. Miserable, powerless peasants make their Jewish neighbors the scapegoats for everything that goes wrong—and things go wrong all the time. For teenager Clara, the repression tightens as she watches her father and brothers spend their days studying the Torah, while she sweeps floors and prepares meals. As a girl, Clara is forbidden to learn how to read, write or speak Russian—but secretly, she does all three.

When violence explodes against the Jewish villagers, Clara’s family immigrates to New York City. There, Clara feels trapped by the same Jewish traditions that bound her in Russia. While the men continue to read and study, Clara works 10-hour days in a sweatshop. But she will not be caged, not by tradition or injustice. Learning about the formation of unions to protect workers, Clara risks her life to join the crusade.

Based on the true story of Clara Lemlich, Audacity throbs with the emotions of this exceptional young woman who fought for equal rights and improved labor standards in factories. Melanie Crowder’s verses spit out Clara’s rage, cradle her longing and soar like the birds that are her constant companions. Pair with Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Uprising or Elizabeth Winthrop’s Counting on Grace to get a full picture of early labor conditions for young immigrants.

Diane Colson works at the Nashville Public Library. She has long been active in the American Library Association's Young Adult Library Association (YALSA), serving on selection committees such as the Morris Award, the Alex Award and the Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award.

This article was originally published in the January 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In There Will Be Lies, a young girl and her mother are on the run from an untrustworthy past filled with unsavory characters, all the while protecting themselves from everything and everyone under a freshly woven blanket of lies.

Shelby Jane Cooper is 17 years old and knows nearly nobody in her home of Phoenix, Arizona. Since she is homeschooled by her uber-protective, overweight, painfully shy mother who’s scared of everything—especially men—Shelby doesn’t get out much, or even have the chance to talk with other people. But this has been her life for so long that it doesn’t even seem unusual to her. That is, until she gets struck by a car after leaving the library one afternoon. While lying on the hot pavement, Shelby has a vision of a coyote—considered cosmically dangerous and ominous by the local Navajo tradition—trot up to her and tell her, “There will be two lies. Then there will be the truth. And that will be the hardest of all.” As soon as Shelby can be released from the hospital, her mother uncharacteristically rushes her into a rental car packed with all their belongings. As they put some ground between them and Phoenix, Shelby’s mom finally begins to reveal what may be the truth about her father: He’s not dead after all, and he may be coming after them at this very moment.

Nick Lake is a publishing director by day and a Printz Award-winning YA novelist by night. In this emotionally charged thrill ride, he honors the existential through his masterful storytelling to remind us that life is what we make of it, and that it is meant to be lived fully, regardless of how terrifying it may at first seem.

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

This skillfully rendered novel traces Malcolm X's life through flashbacks, from his father's death to his imprisonment and eventual understanding of his father’s wisdom. X reads like a biography, in part because the author is Malcolm X’s daughter Ilyasah Shabazz, written with the multiple award-winning Kekla Magoon.

Against the backdrop of the racist 1930’s, Malcolm is a promising student until a teacher tells him he won’t amount to much because of his color. This conversation sends 15-year-old Malcolm on a downward spiral across state and ethical lines.

The circular storytelling pattern works well as readers experience Malcolm’s struggles and insights right along with him. In Boston he is seduced by the underbelly of society and eventually moves to Harlem for more action. Wanted by a numbers racket boss, he flees New York, and when back in Boston, he engages in a hustle that lands him in jail.

Throughout Malcolm’s many tribulations, he searches for his true self. Eventually he, like the story, comes full circle, and Malcolm fully embraces his father’s words: “You can be and do anything you put your mind to.”

The book contains racial slurs, and readers will encounter episodes of alcohol and drug use, sex, violence, as well as a description of the aftermath of a lynching, though none are extremely graphic. The publication of this book marks the 50th anniversary of Malcolm X’s assassination (February 21) and is a worthy tribute to the man.

Comparing a new young adult author to superstar John Green is risky business. Fans of Green’s work are bound to bring a certain set of expectations to their next read—expectations that All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven meets and even exceeds.

Theodore Finch is the school freak. He can rattle off statistics about suicide as easily as literary quotations, and he’s never bothered joining Facebook because he doesn’t have any friends. His fellow senior Violet Markey is a frustrated writer struggling to redefine her identity and reframe her future plans after the car accident that killed her older sister. When the two teens find themselves working together on a geography project, they soon discover that there’s much more to be learned on their “wanderings” than mere sightseeing. As Violet draws Finch out his shell and Finch teaches Violet to make peace with the past, their relationship seems headed toward long-term happiness. But some problems turn out to be too deeply entrenched to be solved.

Told in alternating perspectives, this heart-wrenching, deeply personal novel includes lots of motifs familiar to Green fans, like road trips, physics metaphors and even references to unusual Indiana landmarks. Niven expertly crafts both of her narrative voices to reflect her characters’ changing moods and perspectives, and she’s at her strongest exactly when her characters are at their most conflicted. In the end, as the two travelers learn, life isn’t as much about what you take as what you leave behind.

Jill Ratzan teaches research rudiments in central New Jersey. She learned most of what she knows about YA lit from her terrific grad students.

The 12 constellations that form the houses of the Zodiac are the backdrop for this intriguing debut novel. Cancrian Rho is attending school when she begins to have a recurring vision of a dark mass entering the universe beyond Pisces, the 12th House. Like everyone else, Rho has heard rumors of a mysterious 13th House, ruled by an evil renegade named Orphiuchus, and she suspects this might be his return to the Zodiac.

The mass seems to be stretching the fabric of the solar system and will cause disasters throughout all of the 12 houses. No one of importance credits Rho’s vision, however. But after she accurately predicts the collision of Cancer’s four moons, Rho becomes the new Guardian of her sign—a big responsibility for a 16-year-old girl. Fortunately, Rho has help from two young men vying for her affection.

Science-fiction fans will appreciate the complexity of the Zodiac universe, from the inventive ephemeral technology to the detailed creation of life in each of the 12 houses. Rho’s Cancer, for example, is a blue planet covered with water, beloved by home-loving Cancrians. Some readers may find the 12 houses to be similar in purpose to the factions and districts in other YA dystopias, complete with love interests from opposing camps. Like Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series, Zodiac blends elements of myth, futuristic technology and space adventure. The book’s end offers a satisfying tease for the next installment.

Diane Colson works at the Nashville Public Library. She has long been active in the American Library Association's Young Adult Library Association (YALSA), serving on selection committees such as the Morris Award, the Alex Award and the Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award.

Maddie Diaz is looking forward: to a new life once she starts college; to a better relationship with her mother, whose acrimonious divorce is finally coming through; and to a little distance from her friends so she can spread her wings. Cutting through a park after a late shift at work, she witnesses a crime that threatens her future happiness . . . and her life. On the Edge looks at the costs of integrity in an often-lawless world.

Author Allison Van Diepen’s (Street Pharm) books are often recommended for reluctant readers, and On the Edge is no exception. Maddie is an overachiever in school and a hard worker, but she parties hard in her free time. She’s editor of the school paper and uses her analytical skills to make sense of her new normal. After witnessing the crime, she's on the run from a gang but protected by an anonymous stranger known only as Lobo. Male and female readers alike will root for Maddie to succeed. This is a love story, but one with side trips through gang hideouts, drug abuse and the frightening realities of human trafficking.

Maddie and her friends are hardened by life in their Miami neighborhood, where crime is commonplace, but they never stop looking for a better life despite the odds against them. When she is jumped and severely beaten as a warning not to testify about what she’s seen, her friend describes her appearance as “so Guantanamo.” On the Edge is rife with harsh realities but reminds us that it’s how we face them that counts.

The diamond mines of Marange in Zimbabwe serve as the setting for this portrait of a family in turmoil, which focuses on a tenacious 15-year-old boy named Patson Moyo. Patson and his little sister, Grace, adore their father, a man who has dedicated his life to teaching. But it is their new stepmother, known simply as “the Wife,” who compels her husband to leave his home and seek wealth by moving to Marange, where her brother James is involved in mining. In Marange, she claims, there are “diamonds for everyone.”

“I had never met Uncle James, but I knew I wouldn’t like him,” reflects Patson before the family sets off on their journey. From the outset, it is clear they have entered a treacherous world. Their driver will not even take them all the way to Marange for fear of danger on the roads. The school Patson’s father hopes to work at has closed; the government housing is an empty promise.

Patson and his father go to work in the mines, with Patson becoming part of a syndicate of teen miners who hope to pool their profits to get a chance at a better life—and find that one priceless stone. But when government soldiers arrive to put an end to the “diamond rush,” Patson’s world is shattered.

Michael Williams, who has written young adult novels such as Crocodile Burning and Now Is the Time for Running, is also the managing director of Cape Town Opera in South Africa. He brings a strong sense of place and authenticity to this gripping look into events that took place after the discovery of diamonds in Zimbabwe in 2006.

Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is The Great Trouble.