Play Like a Girl

Wilson, Misty and David Wilson. Play Like a Girl. 2022. 272p. ISBN 9780063064683. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

Always very athletic, Misty decided to join her school's football team in 7th grade, to the boys' disdain. Surprised that her mother and stepfather would allow her to play, Misty brought her best friend Bree along. Craig, her stepfather, told her this was probably the best time to play, as boys were about her own size, and he looked forward to watch her compete.

Though she thought she was in good shape, Misty quickly realized she needed to work harder to compete with the boys. Bree soon gave up, and Misty found herself along on a boys' team. Her dedication and hard work paid off, however, as she gained a starting role on the team. Her friendship with Bree drifted, however, as Bree and Ava, a long-time frenemy, started spending more time together doing "girly" things, activities that Misty didn't really care for.

As Misty navigates the complicated social and emotional life of middle school, she keeps an eye on the football field, and, from victory to victory, the march towards the state championship. In the end, can Misty find happiness during 7th grade?

Fans of graphic novels and of sports will love watching Misty discover herself, which relationships are important, and which are not. Beautifully illustrated, Misty's true story will stay with the reader long after they've finished reading the book.

Honor Girl

Trash, Maggie. Honor Girl. ISGN 9780763687557. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

Now 15, Maggie has spent every summer at Camp Bellflower for Girls. From Atlanta, Maggie travels to the heart of Appalachia and enjoys the amenities that camp offers, from arts and crafts to archery and shooting. This year is harder than most, however. Being a teen is hard, and being attracted to girls is even harder. Maggie has never been kissed, and she finds herself attracted to Erin, a talented camp counselor. She's also in competition to complete the distinguished expert gun certification. 

Maggie's nascent feelings for Erin threaten both the stability of camp life and her own attitude towards life. Camp expects conformity, but Maggie is finding it increasingly difficult to stay within the boundaries of what is considered "normal." Can Maggie discover her voice and explain how she feels about Erin and her life?

The Gilded Ones

Forna, Namina. The Gilded Ones. Book 1 of the Deathless series. 2021. 432p. ISBN 9781984848697. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

In Deka's society, all girls who turn sixteen participate in a blood ceremony, where the color of their blood is examined. Red, and the girl is allowed to live in the village as a full member of the community. Gold, and the girl is executed for being a demon, a cursed being who represents a threat to the village and the empire. As the ceremony nears, Deka hopes her blood is pure, but fears that it isn't. Deka is already much different from the other residents of the village, with a skin darker than most, and with an intuition that seems to be right more often than not. With her mother long dead, all Deka has left is her father.

But just before it is time for her blood letting ceremony, Death Shrieks attack the village. As warriors run to attack the monsters, Deka's eyes turn gold, and her voice seems to paralyze the creatures. Accused of being in league with the demons, and denounced by her own father, her blood is revealed to run gold, and Deka is killed ... only to return. Those with gold blood are known as the Alaki, and they are nearly immortal. Each Alaki has one true death, but until it is discovered, they can be slain but will always awaken again. 

Recuperating from another painful death, Deka meets White Hands, a mysterious woman from the capital who offers her a position among an army of Alaki being assembled by the emperor to fight a mass of Death Shrieks now assembling on the borders of the empire. Faced with the prospect of certain death if she remains in the village, Deka agrees and travels to the capital. She meets other Alaki like her, and eventually discovers that the empire's reasons for training Alaki may not be what they seem at first glance.

With armies assembling on the field of battle, Deka will be faced with a painful choice: Fight for what's right, or fight for her friends?

A tale inspired from West African myths and legends, The Gilded Ones offer a different view of fantasy that is unfamiliar yet very relatable. Deka's struggle to accept her new role feels realistic, and the world-building includes several twists and turns that propel the story forward.

Anya's Ghost

Brosgol, Vera. Anya's Ghost. 2011. 221p. ISBN 978-1-59643-713-5. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

Anya is an immigrant to the United States. Her mother is Russian, and Anya only arrived in time to start primary school. Now in high school, Anya has lost her accent, and adopted a different last name (honestly, who can pronounce Borzakovskaya?). Despite that, she has only one friend, feels ostracized by her classmates, and resents the attention she receives from Dima, another Russian immigrant who is a more recent arrival in her private school.

Cutting class and smoking are Anya's favorite activities in school, something she does often with her friend Siobhan. Angry one day, Anya runs through the forest near the school, only to fall into an old abandoned well. Recovering from her drop, she discovers a skeleton, and meets the ghost of Emily, a girl who fell in the well 90 years ago and was never found. Emily tells her her parents were murdered, and she barely escaped the house, only to fall here and die of thirst and of a broken neck. Emily is stuck in the well, as her ghost cannot abandon her skeleton. Fearing for her own life, Anya spends the time nursing her small stash of food, and smoking cigarettes.

Rescued by a passerby, Anya finds that she spent two days in the well. When she wakes up the next morning, she realizes that she must have picked up one of Emily's bones by accident, because Emily is with her. At first Anya is annoyed at this ghost that is always there, but she soon realizes there are advantages to having a ghost. She can get answers on tests. The ghost can be her wingman as she tries to woo Sean, who is perfect Elizabeth's boyfriend.

As time passes, Emily becomes more demanding, and the lifestyle changes she's promoting don't seem right to Anya. How do you back away from a ghost who's trying to control your life?

The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan

 Springer, Nancy. The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan. Book 4 of the Enola Holmes series. 2008. 183p. ISBN 9780399247804.

Following her resolution of the mystery of the bouquets and the disappearance of Dr. Watson in The Curious Case of the Mysterious Bouquets, Enola attempts to return to a semblance of normalcy. Secure in her knowledge that her enterprise of solving mysteries has not been detected by her brothers Mycroft and Sherlock, Enola nonetheless has put off finding her mother.

When she runs into Lady Cecily, from The Case of the Left-Handed Lady, she is very perplexed. Last time she had seen Lady Cecily she had revealed her true identity to the left-handed youth. Imagine her surprise, then, to see Lady Cecily flanked by two aristocratic matrons and being forced into an arranged marriage. Using a pink fan, Cecily manages to communicate her distress to Enola, who decides to investigate the manner.

Her inquiries reveal that Lady Cecily's mother has departed the family home with the children, and that Lady Cecily's father, concerned that his daughter is now damaged goods following her disappearance, has decided to marry her off to a less than desirable suitor. Enola runs into her brother Sherlock, who is on the same trail but possesses less information than she. Putting her grievances against her brother aside, the two of them team up to discover where Lady Cecily is being kept against her will. With the revelation that Lady Cecily is being held in an orphanage on the outskirts of London and that the wedding is this very day, Enola must infiltrate the place and device a plan to rescue Lady Cecily without being captured by her brothers!

The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets

Springer, Nancy. The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets. Book 3 of the Enola Holmes series. 2008. 170p. ISBN 9780399245183. Available at FIC SPR on the library shelves.

After successfully escaping her brother Sherlock Holmes in The Case of the Left-Handed Lady, Enola returns to her home to recuperate and consider her next move. When Dr. Watson goes missing, however, Enola knows she cannot remain hidden and must help find the good doctor, especially since even her own brother is despairing of finding a solution. Weary it is a trap to lure her out in the open so Sherlock can capture her and make a proper lady out of her, she approaches Dr. Watson's wife only to discover that Dr. Watson is indeed missing and hasn't been seen for days. One of the bouquets of flowers left by well-wishers attracts her attention. Why would there be flowering aspargus?

Armed with this smallest of puzzle piece, Enola sets forth on a dangerous path to discover what might have happened to the good doctor, who might have done it, and, more importantly, whether or not he is still alive. This time, Enola will have to effect the most radical disguise of all, and turn herself into a beauty the world cannot ignore. With dangers lurking, time is of the essence to resolve this mystery!

Fans of the style of mysteries popularized by Sherlock Holmes will appreciate this take on his younger sister, who is both more motivated and more interesting!

The story continues in The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan.

The Case of the Left-Handed Lady

Springer, Nancy. The Case of the Left-Handed Lady. Book 2 of the Enola Holmes series. 2007. 234p. ISBN 9780399245176. Available at FIC SPR on the Library Shelves.

Having escaped her brother Sherlock Holmes in The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline, Enola has set up shop as an investigator of missing persons, hiding behind the persona of a recluse doctor and acting as his secretary. Her mother has gone with the gypsies, and Enola at 14 finds herself living alone in London, away from the strictures that were bounding her to be a "proper" lady. That's the way she wants to keep it, and she will do anything she can to escape the reach of her famous detective brother.

When Lady Cecily goes missing, Enola is intrigued. Acting as the young wife of her persona, she visits Cecily's mother to get more information about what happened. Cecily disappeared on a ladder from the fourth story of her house, and she took no clothes. No ransom note has been received, and no other details were noticed. Elona quickly realizes that Lady Cecily was left handed, which is rare in the British nobility. 

Following the clues, Elona visits a department store where the owner's son works. He was rumored to have a relationship with Cecily, but his lodgings were searched and no clue as to Cecily's whereabouts were found. From him, she discovers that Cecily was very interested in radical idea like Marxism, and that she thought workers should have a better deal than what they were getting. As she continues looking, however, Elona almost becomes the victim of a garroter. Looking for Lady Cecily has just turned deadly!

Fans of the style of mysteries popularized by Sherlock Holmes will appreciate this take on his younger sister, who is both more motivated and more interesting!

The story continues in The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets.

Wilder Girls

 Power, Rory. Wilder Girls. 2019. 357p. ISBN 9780525645580. Available at FIC POW on the library shelves.

Eighteen months ago, a strange sickness afflicted the girls and the staff of the Raxter School for Girls, a private school located on an island off the coast of Maine near Portland. The school was immediately put into quarantine while the Centers for Disease Control conducted research, trying to figure out what was wrong with the school's inhabitants. One teacher died, then another. The more of them did. Students also started dying. All of them suffered strange and often horrific deformations, such as a second spine growing, an eye bursting out, or plants growing inside bodies. Nature itself was also affected, with strange and vicious animals replacing the original flora and fauna.

For eighteen months, Hetty has lived with the Tox, the disease that affects them all. The school population has dwindled, and no one seems eager to rescue them from their plight. Now that only the headmistress and a younger teacher have survived, the girls are more or less on their own. As one of the oldest students there, Hetty and her best friend Byatt are trying to survive. Reese, the daughter of the school's custodian, completes this unlikely trio. The school has retrenched behind its iron fence, protected from the rogue animals on the other side. Girls are positioned on the roof with a gun to shoot those animals. And there's never enough food. The U.S. Navy sends a supply ship, but it seems to never have enough food. 

When Byatt goes through a Tox phase and disappears, Hetty enlists Reese in finding her friend. Their relationship was already rocky, but now this quest to find Byatt will reveal their true nature, as well as break the quarantine the island has maintained for so long. As they search, Hetty and Reese will discover secrets they weren't meant to have, while Byatt attempts to find out what happened to her.

Told from the alternating perspectives of Hettie and Byatt, Wilder Girls is similar to Lord of the Flies, but with an all female cast. Survival, betrayal, love, and sorrow percolate through the book, creating a satisfactory story. Fans of dystopia will appreciate the reality that guide the girls' actions.

Under the Jolly Roger: Being an Account of the Further Nautical Adventures of Jacky Faber

 Meyer, L.A. Under the Jolly Roger: Being an Account of the Further Nautical Adventures of Jacky Faber. Book 3 of the Bloody Jack series. 2005. 518p. ISBN 9780152053451. Available at FIC MEY on the library shelves. 

Jacky Faber's stay at the Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls in Boston was rocky, to say the least, and following her tale in The Curse of the Blue Tattoo, Jacky decides to head back to London and see if she can reunite with the love of her life, Jaimy. First, she must secure passage on a ship leaving Boston and heading back to Britain. She signs on to the Pequod, a whaling ship, where she will serve as a cook's helper, a lady companion for the captain's wife, who is also aboard, and a teacher for their child.

Arriving in London without too much trouble, Jacky is told by Jaimy's family that the young man wants nothing to do with her. A maid informs her that this is a lie, however, and sets to find Jaimy who left for the race track. She reconnects with her old haunts, and finds that Judy, one of the children from her former gang has been forcibly impressed as a washgirl, so Jacky rescues her. At the race track, she sees Jaimy hanging out with a girl, and being hot tempered, Jacky storms off in a huff before Jaimy could tell her the girl was his cousin. 

Jacky is soon captured herself and brought by force onboard the HMS Wolverine to serve as a ship's boy. She reveals she's a girl, hoping she will be put back on land, but the captain decides he will have his way with her. Jacky joins the ship's crew and regains her midshipman's title, but soon finds herself confronted by the captain, who suddenly dies of a heart attack. Finding herself in charge of the ship, Jacky decides to continue waging England's blockade of Continental Europe. Now in command of a ship of the line, Jacky Faber is just getting started!

Fresh Ink: An Anthology

Giles, Lamar. Fresh Ink: An Anthology. 2018. 198p. ISBN 9781524766283. Available at FIC GIL on the library shelves.

The number of books written by authors who do not hail from a White Anglo-Saxon American heritage has increased over the last twenty years, but it remains low enough that many teens of diverse backgrounds still cannot find stories that showcase people like them as other than stereotypical sidekicks. Fresh Ink stands as a concerted effort to increase the number of stories available, not only for these readers but for everyone.  Twelve stories of all types are told, with the common theme of having the main character as someone not often portrayed in young adult literature.

In Eraser Tattoo, Shay and Dante have loved each other since they were five and in the same class together. Shay is now moving away from Brooklyn to North Carolina, and Dante's world is collapsing. In Meet Cute, Two girls meet at the Denver Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention. Nic is cosplaying a gender-flipped Sulu from Star Trek, while Tamia is dressed as an African-American version of Agent Scully. Both are attracted to each other, but neither wants to volunteer that they are queer. Don't Pass Me By features a Native-American boy who attends school off the reservation, and has trouble recognizing himself in the White culture that surrounds him. In Be Cool for Once, the main character is Muslim, and she confesses her love to a boy at a concert.

Tags is a one-act play that discuss how four boys died. In Why I Learned to Cook, a Persian-American girl is wondering about how to introduce her girlfriend to her grandmother. A Stranger at the Bochinche tells a science fiction story about a stolen book and the people who want to retrieve it. A young artist in A Boy's Duty has left the farm life and hopes to join the Navy and fight Nazis, and finds refuge in a big city cafe. Racial slurs undermine the college experience of an Asian-American girl in One Voice. Paladin/Samurai is an illustrated short story about boys involved in a roleplaying game and the girl next door. Tommy just came out as a boy to his swim team, and find himself in the boy's locker room for the first time in Catch, Pull, Drive. Finally, in Super Human, X, a superhero, has decided to destroy the world unless someone can talk him out of it.

Each of these stories feature a message that is most often well executed about race and belonging. Fans of paths less traveled will appreciate the range of emotions and stories featured and will connect all of them to the humanity that we all share.

Bone Witch

Cupecho, Rin. Bone Witch. 2017. 411p. ISBN 978-1-49263583-3. Available both as an ebook and as an audiobook from Overdrive.

In a world where witches are not very rare, the most dreaded of them all are the bone witches, who are able to resurrect the dead and control the daeva, legendary monsters that reappear at regular intervals. Tea is not sure which type of witch she will grow into, but since all her sisters are witches she's sure to become one of them. Fox, her favorite older brother, who left to fight in the kingdom's wars, is returned home to be buried, and in her grief Tea brings him back to life with a power she didn't know she has.

Scorned by the people of her village, she is quickly entrusted to Mykaela, the last of the bone witches, so she can be trained in the proper arts of Ashas, those who are able to wield the magic of the elements. Accompanied by Fox, they travel to the kingdom's capital city to begin her apprenticeship. Agents of the Dark Prince, who first created the daeva out of dark magic, are creating chaos and spreading death, and Tea soon finds herself having to put her training to the test.

With the forces of the Dark Prince preparing for war, Tea finds herself faced with two distinct paths to follow... Fans of fantasy in an Asian setting will appreciate the world Cupecho created.

The Fill-In Boyfriend

West, Kasie. The Fill-In Boyfriend. 2015. 344p. 394 mins. ISBN 978-0-06-233638-5. Available as an ebook and an audiobook from Overdrive.

Gia Montgomery is the alpha of her group of high school friends. Her position has been contested since Jules joined their group. For months she's been telling them about her boyfriend Bradley, who goes to UCLA, and she's been looking forward to her high school prom and the day she can finally introduce Bradley to her friends, and shut Jules up.

When the day arrives, however, Bradley, who drove from Los Angeles for the night, realizes that Gia only wants him here to prove to her friends that he exists. Angry, he breaks up with her and leaves her in the parking lot, so tantalizing close to the entrance. Gia can already see Jules' gleeful look when she walks in alone, and this is intolerable.

So Gia does the only thing an alpha like her could do. She recruits the guy who just dropped his sister off at the prom to be her date. It takes some convincing, but Fake Bradley reluctantly agrees to go with her and to participate in her plan to break up at the end of the night. She shows up Fake Bradley to her friends, and all except Jules are impressed. Jules keeps a smirk on her face.

When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she decides to do the unthinkable ... convince the cute guy waiting to pick up his sister to pretend to be her boyfriend for the night. Will Gia turn her fake boyfriend into a real one without exposing her lie and possibly destroying her friendships and her newfound relationship?     

Light Filters In

Kaufman, Caroline. Light Filters In. 2018. 211p. ISBN 978-0-06-284469-9. Available as an ebook on Overdrive.

Raw and powerful, Kaufman's poetry strikes at the heart of being a teenage girl, with the angst, rage, love, loneliness, and not knowing oneself. The ideas are expressed with limited words but deliver a punch to the gut in strength of sentiment. Honestly presented, Kaufman does not shy away from the wonders and the pains of growing up and shaping one's identity into something that her earlier self might not recognize. A teenager herself, Kaufman manages to strike the right balance between melodrama and moping on one hand and the sugar-coated version of teenagehood most adults hope their child will experience.

Fans of poetry will appreciate the powerful feelings elicited by this book and will be left with more questions than answer about life and one's sense of identify. 

Rebel Angels

Bray, Libba. Rebel Angels. Book 2 of the Gemma Doyle series. 2005. ISBN 978-0-385-73029-2. Available at FIC BRA on the library shelves.

In A Great and Terrible Beauty, Gemma Doyle discovered that she is a priestess in the Order, a group of women who throughout history harnessed the magic of the realms and protected the world from outsiders. She and her friends traveled often to the realms, and that is where Pippa was ultimately lost. Gemma, Felicity and Ann agreed not to go back.

Now, however, things have changed. Gemma is plagued by the ghosts of three girls who appear almost angelic. They reveal a vision of themselves running on a beach with rocky cliff, with a fourth girl behind. Suddenly, a woman wearing a green cloak guides the fourth girl towards the water where a horrific aberration emerges from the water, ready to consume her. Gemma is certain it is Circe, formerly known as Sara, a student at Spence twenty four years ago. Gemma can't figure out what the ghosts are trying to tell her, but she knows this information could save her life.

At Spence, the girls are readying themselves for Christmas vacation. All of them, except Ann the scholarship student, are returning home to be with family. Gemma is eager to experience all that the season offers, from balls and large gatherings of folks hoping to be seen to operas and gift giving. But it will be bittersweet, the first Christmas without her mother, while her father continues to sink in his own pit of despair fueled by opium.

At the last minute, Felicity invites Ann to stay with her, and the three girls look forward to spending time together in London, away from their chaperones. The arrival of a new teacher, however, upends their plans. Miss McCleethy is here to replace Ms. Moore, who was terminated for leading the girls to the cave where they first discovered how to enter the realms, and she seems to have an unhealthy interest in Gemma. Before leaving, the three of them visit the realms, and Gemma notices that Pippa has not crossed over to the realm of the dead, but is instead lingering. She's happy to see her old friends, but Gemma notices that her condition seems to have deteriorated. Pippa makes them promise to return and tell her about their vacation in London.

At Victoria train station, Gemma's brother is late to pick her up, and she is followed intently by a member of the Rakshana. Attempting to escape him, she runs into a gentleman, Simon Middleton, who is both a viscount and a friend of her brother's. Gemma is quite smitten by him, and is thrilled that he invites her family to dinner. While in London, Gemma reconnects with Miss Moore, and she tells her more about their ordeal and the realm.

As Gemma and her friends keep traveling to the realms, they notice that things are getting worse. It is untended and growing wild. When Gemma shattered the seal that contained the magic, it released it and now it is corrupting everything. Gemma, Felicity and Ann must locate the Temple, where the magic can once again be safely contained, before Circe or her agents discover it. Who will pay the high price necessary to bring hope back to the realms?


 Gemma and her friends from the Spence Academy return to the realms to defeat her foe, Circe, and to bind the magic that has been released.   

A Great and Terrible Beauty

Bray, Libba. A Great and Terrible Beauty. Book 1 of the Gemma Doyle series. 2003. 404p. ISBN 0-385-73028-4. Available at FIC BRA on the library shelves.

It is 1895, and Gemma Doyle longs to see London. Born in India of an English mother and father, Gemma has read extensively about London, and has always wanted to visit. Now that she's 16 years old, Gemma feels that it is time for her to experience her debut in London's fashionable society, and she's been badgering her mother to take her there. Her mother has always refused, however, much to Gemma's chagrin and incomprehension. During an outing, Gemma and her mother are separated. Lost and wandering the crowded streets, Gemma has a vision of her mother being attacked and willingly killing herself. But it was not a vision, but it really happened, and now Gemma's mother is dead.

Her mother's suicide unhinges her father, and the family returns to London, where her brother now studies. Gemma is enrolled in Spence, a boarding school for proper young ladies. Still hurt that her mother died because she was searching for her, Gemma tries to find comfort in the friendship of others. She meets mean girls Felicity and Pippa, and her roommate Ann, who is a scholarship student at Spence. At first Felicity and Pippa are mean to Gemma and Ann, but they soon come to see that Gemma possesses strange powers. Gemma's visions continue, and soon she and her friends find themselves in a cave, guided there by a teacher. She also encounters Kartik, a strange Indian teen who has followed her all the way from India to protect her. He was there when her mother died, and now he's here too.

When Gemma discover an old journal of two girls, who were members of the Order and who perished in the flames when Spence's East Wing burned down in 1871, Gemma is spurred on to explore the spiritual world, and discover what happened to her mother and to the two girls who perished in the fire. As she spends more time in the spiritual world with her friends, however, Gemma realizes that there are other forces at play, forces that could very well lead to her demise and that of her friends.

Fans of Bray's The Diviners series will enjoy this paranormal tale taking place in a Victorian era of repressed sexuality where presentation is everything. The story continues in Rebel Angels.

Puddin'

Murphy, Julie. Puddin'. 2018. 428p. ISBN 978-0-06-241838-8. Available at FIC MUR on the library shelves

Millie is a fat girl. She knows she's fat, and everybody else constantly remind her of that fact. Even her mother keeps pushing her to discover the lovely girl that is present inside her fat body. Millie, however, knows that this is who she is. The real her is fat, but she's okay with that because it's not how she defines herself. After participating in the Miss Clover City beauty pageant with Willowdean Dickson (Dumplin'), Millie feels empowered to drop fat camp and instead pursue her dream of becoming a newscaster by spending the summer at a prestigious journalism camp.

Callie Reyes is a Shamrock through and through. The Shamrocks are Clover High School's best sports team. The dance team is better than the football team, yet the school is building a training facility to support the football program, while the dance team does without much funding and has to fundraise simply to make it to State every year. Callie's mother was a member of the Shamrocks, and she's happy her daughter joined in her footsteps.

As an athletic and pretty girl, Callie has the best boyfriend, the best life, and looks forward to becoming the team captain during her senior year next year. When the Shamrocks lose the financial support of a local gym, Callie and the rest of the team vandalizes it one night and cause a lot of damage. Recognized on the video footage by Millie, who works at her uncle's gym, Callie is confronted by the sheriff and given a choice. She can perform community service by working in the gym until she has paid off the repairs, or she can be arrested and charges can be pressed. Callie agrees to work at the gym, and comes into contact with fat Millie.

Bitter at her so called friends for letting her take the fall, Callie is suspended from the team, loses her boyfriend, and finds herself alone. Millie is worried that Callie will discover she's the one who turned her in, but is thrilled that Callie and her are working together. Spending time together, the girls soon discover that they are more alike than they thought, and that appearances often hide self-doubt, but that friends can help you reach for your dreams!

A companion novel to Dumplin', Millie and Callie's intertwined lives show that you should never judge someone simply based on how they look.

Wonderland

O’Connor, Barbara. Wonderland. 2018. 282p. ISBN 978-0-374-31060-8. Available at FIC OCO on the library shelves.

Mavis would love to have one best friend. She and her mother has been moving from place to place so often that they don’t even bother to unpack. Her mother is always looking for the next opportunity, and usually it never works out. When they move to Landry, Alabama, so that her mother can become a housekeeper to the Tullys and live in an apartment above their garage, Mavis is once again expecting another move in short order.

Rose Tully is the complete opposite of Mavis. Where Mavis is bold and decisive, Rose flies below the radar and avoids confrontations. She’s never had a best friend either, and she is keenly aware that the other girls in the neighborhood either ignore her or are downright mean. Her only real friend is Mr. Duffy, who mans the checkpoint to their gated community. But Mr. Duffy hasn’t been the same since his dog died, and even Rose can tell that he’s lost the will to live.

Henry is a race dog whose better days are behind him. Not wanting to be confined, Henry escapes from the race track and lives in the woods behind Rose and Mavis’ neighborhood. He’s attracted to kids, but he is worried they mean him harm.

Thrown together, Mavis and Rose suddenly discover that it is possible to become best friends with someone, especially when they share the mission to help Mr. Duffy regain a taste for life by finding him another dog. Challenges and misunderstandings abound, but friendship is stronger and can overcome loneliness.

Breakout

Messner, Kate. Breakout. 2018. 448p. ISBN 978-1-68119-536-0. Available at FIC MES on the library shelves.

Every teen in the small community of Wolf Creek, in upper New York, is looking forward to summer vacation. With only a few days of school left, Nora Tucker and her friends are already imagining the lazy days of swimming at the pool, eating popsicles, and enjoying the many hiking opportunities around their community. Except two prisoners have just escaped from the maximum security prison located on the edge of town, and now the entire area is on lockdown with hundred of police officers searching the area.

As an aspiring journalist and editor of her school newspaper, Nora is both thrilled and horrified by this brazen escape. Her father is the prison warden, and his job is on the line and times are thus very stressful at home, especially since her younger brother was looking forward to his birthday party barbecue outside, and now it won’t happen. As a journalist, however, this is the opportunity of a lifetime to witness live coverage and learn from the best.

 For Elidee, Wolf Creek is a new place to live. Her mother and her have just moved here so they can be closer to her brother, who has to spend a decade behind the walls of the prison for a crime he committed in New York City. With more inmates in town than people, and with a large majority of the prisoners being African-American, Elidee feels the tensions in town, as one of the few African-Americans outside of the walls. She really wants to attend a prestigious school in New York City, but her application has been rejected.

Lizzie is a great comedian and loves to create parodies, and finds journalism little more than an afterthought. When her grandmother is arrested for helping the inmates escape, her life changes. How does one make light of a terrible decision? As racial aspects of the community that were hidden before are revealed due to the stress, Nora, Elidee and Lizzie have to figure out how they will survive a summer stuck in their now fortified and paranoid town.

 Told through text messages, transcripts of recorded conversations, lyrics, news stories, comics, and memoirs written for the Wolf Creek Community Time Capsule Project, fans of thrillers and friendship will appreciate Breakout.

 

Wicked

Shepard, Sara. Wicked. Book 5 of the Pretty Little Liars series. 2009. 310p. ISBN 0-06-156610-1. Available at FIC SHE on the library shelves.

With the death of Mona and the arrest of Ian in Unbelievable, Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer thought they were in the clear. “A,” after all, had now disappeared along with all of their secrets. As the winter semester starts, the girls head back to Rosewood Day, hoping things to quiet down so they can go back to their lives. That hope is quickly dashed, however, when the girls begin receiving more texts from someone identifying themselves as “A.” This person is clearly spying on them and know of many intimate details.

Panicked, the girls begin to make mistakes. Kate, Hanna’s stepsister, tries to get closer to Hanna, but worried about being undermined by her gorgeous rival, Hanna balks and decides to stab her in the back before it’s too late. Emily has broken up with Maya, and now finds herself attracted to Isaac. What team is she on? Even Emily doesn’t know. Aria is attracted to an older man again, but Xavier, an artist, has begun dating her mother and is sending her mixed messages. Spencer is in purgatory when she discovers that her dead grandmother’s will gives $2 million to each of her natural grandchildren, but Spencer is not listed in the will. What secrets are harbored by her family?

As the girls struggle to regain their footing, A keeps undermining their efforts. With Ian’s escape from custody, is A getting ready to kill them to exact his revenge?

Unbelievable

Shepard, Sara. Unbelievable. Book 4 of the Pretty Little Liars series. 2008. 335p. ISBN 978-0-06-088741-4. Available at FIC SHE on the library shelves.

At the end of Perfect, Hanna was hit by a large black SUV driven by A, and was rushed to the hospital. Thankfully, the damage was minimal but Hanna’s pretty face is marred by the trauma she suffered, and she has no recollection of A’s identity. She reconciles with Mona, and they begin planning Hanna’s recovery with a party.

Caught in Maya’s company despite her parents’ warning, Emma is sent to live with her very religious aunt and uncle in rural Iowa, but she is immediately betrayed by her cousins who take her to a barn party only to rat her out as the instigator the very next morning. Emma runs away, but upon seeing her parents in tears on television begging her to return, she heads back home. A, however is still after her.

Aria is kicked out of Sean’s house for pursuing a relationship with her English teacher. Not welcomed at her mother’s house, she reluctantly moves with her father and his girlfriend, soon to be wife, Meredith, who is now pregnant with her father’s child. Wishing to escape her life, Aria takes an art class at the college where her father and Meredith work. She runs into Jenny, who was blinded by Alison, and whom Aria suspects is A.

Spencer’s entry into the golden orchid competition is really her sister Melissa. Spencer knows she has forgotten crucial details of Alison’s last night before her disappearance, and she suspects she might be responsible for her death.

With A now out for blood and getting more bold, the four friends have to watch out for each other as their lives increasingly spiral out of control.