When Nora was very young, she used to see rainbow-coloured animals in the periphery of her vision. This is something that came to her like a dream, yet it wasn't a dream. Now, as she's somewhat older, she's starting to see the animals again. What they mean to her is a mystery. What she does know is that her mum is suffering, some days are good, some are bad and some are really bad. Her mum has PTSD, and Nora tries her best to keep things running as smooth as she can in a home that seems more and more unstable by the day. When she meets Kwame, she finds a kindred spirit, and together they seek out the mystery of the rainbow-coloured animals that Nora sees. This is a heartbreaking novel. It is also a novel full of hope, anyone who has lived with someone with PTSD will instantly connect to it. Anyone who has ever felt lost or uncomfortable in their own skin will also feel a connection. It takes look at denial, grief, sadness, hopelessness and helps you as a reader make sense of it. I loved it, essential reading for ages 10+.
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Paige works on her high school newspaper, she enjoys the idea of being a reporter but struggles with the fake school garbage that surrounds her. not only that, she's been asked to work on the school yearbook. Attached to this are some awfully mean students, Grace & Laura for example. These two make a point to highlight the embarrassing moments of others, they want these toxic moments put in the yearbook, making Paige's life even harder. In addition, Paige's home life is a mess. Her father is a monster, the entire family has to walk on eggshells around him. Her brother, Adam, is the one the family adores, but he's gone off to university, leaving the brunt of her father's insecurities and outrage on Paige and her mother. Paige's only solace is her aunt Polly and someone else, a mysterious stranger in her school who leaves messages written in red ink in her assigned reading. Desperate to find out who it is, Paige tries to find out who she is at the same time, because nobody in her immediate life seems to care. The Yearbook is a searing look at the toxicity of high school, the social pressures that pile up along with the educational ones. In addition, it has some very real moments regarding family tensions. Her father is a brutal ogre but his sinister nature isn't all yelling and breaking things, it's the subtle ways the family must dance around him, creating prepared statements for him, readying the house before he gets home. This is how people must deal with a true narcissist, and true narcissism is a very, very scary thing to behold. Holly Bourne is a master at writing for the teenage heart in all its broken glory. I highly recommend this for ages 13 and up! Sarah is a young teen who is obsessed with basketball. She wants to be the best, because being the best is what makes her feel like she's important, like she matters. However, she's got a problem, she's no longer as fast as she used to be. Her legs feel sluggish, she sometimes feels lightheaded, it's like her body is fighting against her. It doesn't help that Sarah has a secret, her mother doesn't feed her well. Sometimes there is food in the fridge, sometimes there isn't. Sometimes Sarah has to reach into the bottom of her backpack and eat a crushed granola bar for breakfast. Her mother hides candy throughout the house and will occasionally only eat that. Sarah's friends know her mother is "weird" about food but they don't know how far it goes. Sarah has lists in her head of the good food and bad food, most of the "bad" food is food that her friends would consider healthy, but not Sarah, and definitely not her mother. Sarah decides the only way to get better at basketball is to lose eight and meticulously count her calories, because skinnier means healthier, right? When Sarah decides to join a cooking competition with the boy she likes, her issues with food come to the forefront. Taking Up Space brought to light an issue that I have had no experience with and that is a great thing to discover as a reader and more importantly as someone who works with teenagers. This novel sheds light on eating disorders in a way that is informative and never heavy handed. It's also a great story about friendship, competition, familial pressure and more. The clique that Sarah once belonged to largely abandons her because of gossip and misunderstandings. I felt myself getting outraged on Sarah's behalf, it's hard to know that there many children out there going day to day with these kinds of challenges around food. I feel this novel is a wake up call and it is important that teens and adults read it. As with all of Alyson's novels, I will be championing this one in the library, I know the students will engage and connect with Sarah immediately. Highly recommended for ages 11 and up! This is an important graphic novel that should be on every school library shelf. Aiden is at summer camp, in September he will be starting high school. He's not excited, he's terrified. He knows he's not gay but that doesn't stop others from talking about, pointing fingers, calling him names, casually yelling out homophobic slurs at him. In his head he knows he's not gay, he just knows it...does he? At camp he can find some solace, he's got some real friends there, at least he thinks he does. He learns archery with Elias, a boy that has wiggled his way into Aiden's brain and won't leave. He writes to his best friend, a girl he doesn't get to see very much. Even so, Aiden tells her everything. Aiden's home life isn't very good, his parents seem to do nothing but scream at each other. Aiden has something burning inside of him that he can't seem to grapple with, the story itself moves at a rapid, burning pace in a way that will make you go back and appreciate the haunting, powerful artwork. As life for Aiden becomes unbearable, he begins to feel that nothing will stop the hate being thrown at him, nothing will stop his parents from fighting, nothing will stop the feeling that he's wrong. This is a powerful story that should be in the hands of every student ages 15+, it's one that will stick with you for a very long time. All Ross wants is to be a normal seventh grade kid, but when he's diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer, he becomes thrust in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. With the help of his new friends at the hospital and his lifelong friend at school, he tries his best to distract himself against one wave of bad news after another. Ross develops a love of music and continues his love of drawing and comic books but will it be enough to stop him from snapping under the stress? Wink is a really lovely story with real humour and a strong heart. It's sad, realistic and at the same time doesn't sugar coat how terrible life can be sometimes. I loved how Harrell developed Ross' relationships with the people who work at the hospital and especially the school bully. All of the characters have real depth to them, it's a book that will be a sure hit with our students, recommended highly for ages 10+. isJoe and Imogen are meant to be together. At least that's what Joe thinks. There are signs that she's not always interested in him, she sometimes makes him feel like he's not good enough. Joe's dealing with some major issues at home, his dad has suddenly become very ill and he's dealing with an increasingly agitated and unpredictable Imogen. Things get weird, in that Imogen becomes angry if Joe does better on exams than her, she blames him for things that aren't his fault. Imogen's got issues at home too, her father is a downright scary figure, unpredictable, intimidating. When a tragic accident happens, Joe's life hangs in the balance, he's facing major prison time, something Imogen is more than happy to let happen. As the trial proceeds, we see flashbacks on Joe and Imogens' real relationship, and what actually happened on that terrible night. Written in verse, WRECKED is another powerful story by Louisa Reid. Joe's situation is terrifying, you can feel yourself standing in his shoes, sweating in the courthouse, hearing everyone tell the judge who you are, when nobody actually knows or cares about the truth. You will fly through Wrrecked, not only because you will need to know what happens, but it's got a pace to it that's truly something else, like a speeding car racing towards an unknown future. I highly recommend Wrecked for ages 13+, get your hands on it and get it into your libraries today! Donte wishes nobody could see him, especially Alan, the bully at school that taunts him. As one of the only black students in his new private school, nobody looks like him and everybody seems to notice him for the wrong reasons. Even his teachers subconsciously select him as the "problem" student even when he isn't. When Alan gets Donte into trouble, and then arrested, Donte is led out of school by the police. Released from jail, his parents furious at the system and completely broken, Donte discovers redemption through fencing and a coach that teaches him a lot about life. This is another powerful book by Jewell Parker Rhodes, Donte's arrest highlights a real threat in America, black students going from high school to prison in a highly organised and deliberate system. Donte's struggle is one that many black students face in the United States. This is an important book, like her previous work, Ghost Boys, and I'm very excited to introduce it to our students in September. Highly recommended for ages 11+. Frankie is a teen who loves astronomy, she does well in school and has had an amazing best friend, Harriet, since primary school. When Frankie notices Benjamin, he notices her back. Although he's athletic and a "guy's guy" kind of dude, he's very nice and charming. When the pair walk home from school one day, things get heated and Frankie's first sexual experience ends in humiliation when it coincides with her period. It's not something she should be humiliated about, but the current culture dictates that this is somehow abnormal and should be locked away where no one can talk or hear about it. Benjamin tells her it's no big deal, he seems genuinely concerned for her welfare more than he's grossed out. This makes Frankie fall for him even more. Then things start to change at school. There are whispers, accusations and gossip that spirals out of control and Frankie finds that she's been reduced to a meme. She starts to get targeted by strangers online, the abuse, the humiliation, it's all too much. Frankie is desperate to find out who created it, she keeps it from her parents and tries to weather the storm on her own. Blood Moon is a timely, powerful YA story that frankly all teens should get their hands on. It brings a topic to the forefront that is always taboo, Cuthew does not hold back, and she shouldn't. Frankie is a great character with flaws just like everyone else and how she endures the abuse is admiral. And the abuse, man oh man it is harsh, just like real online trolling can be. In a time of cancel culture, slut shaming, sexting and the very real dangers of online over indulgence, Blood Moon is a necessary read. Addie is autistic, she knows the kinds of things that can affect and make her feel uncomfortable: bright lights, lots of noise, even holding hands or being hugged can all be too much for her. Her sister, Keedie, is also autistic and the two share an unbreakable bond. Keedie is in university, she's been acting strange to Addie lately, something Addie can't quite figure out but she has a feeling something isn't right. Addie is obsessed with sharks, she loves taking books on them out from the library, she knows everything there is to know about them. When one of her friends decides that Addie should like dolphins instead, Addie tries to understand, she tries to become the person that the people around her want her to be but it's hard, she starts to think she's like a glove that doesn't fit anywhere. Her teacher is a walking nightmare, unsympathetic, mean and impatient with someone who needs understanding and love. Addie also has a deep sense of empathy and justice, so whens she discovers that witches were executed in her Scottish village centuries ago, she campaigns to have the local council erect a memorial for them. The townspeople are not impressed, their town is a good town, they don't want a memorial based on something terrible that happened. Addie is determined, though, she starts to feel like those witches, wrongly labelled, a misfit of sorts, someone who is always on the outside looking in. Addie's dream of getting a memorial raised encounters many roadblocks, and with her sister's increasingly withdrawn behaviour and mean classmates rearing their head, the tenuous hold that Addie has on her stability starts to crumble. I recommend A Kind Of Spark to anyone hoping to gain insight into the world of Autism, it's a powerful story with a lot of punch, heartbreaking and real. Addie's life pops off the page at a feverish pace, don't miss it! Great for ages 9+ Lucas is driving with his parents when his father loses control and goes off the road. Both of his parents dead, Lucas climbs out of the wreckage to see a wolf standing in the middle of the road. He's sent to live with his Nan, an ageing lawyer who lives far from his home. Sent to a new school and coping with trauma, Lucas becomes obsessed with the image of the wolf. Then he hears it, news stories about a wolf killing farmers' sheep. Lucas' Nan doesn't believe it, neither does his friend Deb, whose father is a farmer, someone that is convinced the wolf is real. Coping with dangerous bullies and forced to go to anger management therapy, Lucas feels that his mind is slipping, that he's losing control of his sanity. As the hunt for the wolf intensifies, Lucas decides to take matters into his own hands. I really loved this novel, Lucas is a dark, complicated character with a lot of guts. Lambert's writing is poetic and brooding, pounding away at you until you are completely absorbed into the story. It's a nice shot in the arm for anyone looking for a book to really grab you by the collar and give you a shake. I recommend it for ages 11+. |
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