Stay Gold

McSmith, Tobly. Stay Gold. 2020. 368p. ISBN 9780062943170. 

Starting his senior year at a new school is the perfect opportunity for Pony to leave his old self behind, literally, and begin with a new clean slate. Pony used to be Sarah, but even at a really young age he knew that the only girl thing about him was the body he had been born into. Going through hormone therapy, Pony is short and frail for the average boy, but bigger and stronger than the average girl. Hillcrest High is Pony's opportunity to escape the label transgender and just experience life as a normal boy.

Georgia is the stereotypical cheerleader, pretty, popular, driven. Behind an exterior of not caring, Georgia is in fact a smart student who would love to write for the school newspaper, but you can't do both activities without violating the cheerleading credo. Always telling stories and exaggerating, no one quite knows the real Georgia, and even Georgia doesn't really know herself. 

When the two of them cross each other's eyes at the beginning of school, the sparks lighting up mutual interests ignite more than a friendly relationship. Recovering from a bad breakup, Georgia has promised herself she wouldn't date her senior year. Pony has yet to date anyone, and though smart and witty, he lacks confidence that he would be accepted as he is, girl bits and all. With Pony's previous life a secret, can the two of them find common ground to resolve their differences, learn to trust each other, and become girlfriend and boyfriend?

Dust

 Swanson, Kara. Dust. 2020. Book 1 of the Heirs of Neverland series. 348p. ISBN 9781621841265.

Claire Kenton doesn't remember much as a child, aside from always being with her twin brother Conner. Bouncing from foster home to foster home, the pair could never find stability, mainly due to Claire's uncontrolled shedding of sparkling dust that could turn deadly when shed in anger. After accidentally burning a foster mother when she was 5, the twins have made their way through home after home, learning that the only thing they have is each other. Connor has always loved books and movies about Peter Pan, and used to tell Claire that they were from Neverland. He once successfully convinced Claire to jump out of a second story window and try to fly with her dust, but the result was a disfigured Claire, a broken dumpster, and a scarred body.

Connor went missing four years ago, Claire has spent her time and resources trying to track him down. She met the enigmatic N online, and after years of efforts he tells her he finally found some security footage from Los Angeles International Airport that shows Connor willingly following a stranger on board a plane to London.

Desperate to be reunited, Claire sells all of her meager possessions and heads to London, where she discovers that Neverland is not just a book, but a real place, and that Connor was brought to London by Captain Hook himself. Mad at Peter Pan for stealing her brother, Claire vows to destroy him if she gets the chance. 

Peter Pan has been exiled from Neverland and is unable to return. Tinkerbell is dead, the pixies are in disarray, and Hook and his band of pirates have joined forces with Lost Boys who are slowly aging to try to catch him. Peter has been looking for Claire for years, but has not been able to find her, so when he stumbles upon her by his statue in London, he is surprised and thrilled. When she reveals her hatred for him, however, he pretends to be a Lost Boy named Ben, and begins to explains to her the challenges that a wilting Neverland inflicts on its former residents.

But the boy who never wanted to grow up will need to be very convincing to get Claire to follow him back to Neverland to look for her brother Connor, for her distrust runs deep, and Peter Pan is not known for his honesty. Plus, he might be falling in love with Claire, which won't do. With Hook working his own angle, and the mysterious N still in the picture, Claire is about to enter into a fantastic tale despite her best efforts.

Fans of fiction and of Neverland will appreciate this twist on an old tale. For a different take, read Everland.

Monkey

Wu, Cheng-en. Monkey. 2020. 819 mins. ISBN 978-1094016429.

Monkey rules over a tribe of monkeys on the summit of a mountain. There, Monkey acquires enough smarts, weapons, and skills to pretend to join the Jade Emperor's court in Heaven. Monkey may be many things, but what he is most certainly not is patient and humble. In confrontations with deities, Monkey makes enemies, and fights many battles. He is quarrelsome enough that even the Jade Emperor is forced to banish him from Heaven. 

Seeking enlightenment, Monkey heads to a renowned school, where he learns the many forms designed to reach Buddha's grace. He unfortunately angers Buddha himself, who casts him off and imprisons him underneath a mountain. For five hundred years, Monkey is stuck and must reflect on his wanton ways.

When a monk tasked to head west from China to India, to retrieve holy scriptures and bring them back to the Chinese court passes by, he rescues Monkey, who joins him as a disciple. Accompanied by others who are also castaways from Heaven, the small group make their way to India where, after countless perils, adventures, and confrontations with demons, they secure an audience with Buddha himself, and gain a copy of the holy scriptures.

Returning to China, the group is redeemed and achieves enlightenment, and even Monkey learns to become a better individual.

Originally written in the 16th century but most likely told even before, this story tells of the many adventures of the Monkey King. Combining folk tales with lessons on humility and achieving enlightenment, these stories are entertaining and filled with advice. Fans of this story will also enjoy The Epic Crush of Genie Lo, inspired from the Monkey King's epic tales, or the graphic novel American Born Chines.

Crescendo

 Cheney, Allen and Julie Cantrell. Crescendo: The Story of aMusical Genius Who Forever Changed a Southern Town. 2019. 336p. ISBN 9780785217404.

On the day that Fred Allen died, his sister, who was pregnant, went into labor and delivered a healthy baby boy that she named Fred in honor of her deceased brother. The midwife who helped deliver baby Fred was also known as an oracle, and she predicts that the baby will be very smart, but also very different. Born in striking poverty in rural Georgia during the Great Depression, Fred soon reveals that he is a gifted musician when at three years of age he can play full pieces on the piano without missing a single note. 

His parents work in the cotton mills, and their abject poverty and crushing existence lead to Fred being neglected and sexually abused by an uncle. He finds salvation in music, however, and rediscovers his love for singing and playing. Motivated and encouraged by dedicated educators and mentors, Fred escapes his family and heads to college. There he meets Winnie, the love of his life, and after graduation they marry. Fred continues to play music and to seek out a career in the field. Having made many contacts along the way, he moves to New York City with his wife and young daughter and enrolls at the Juilliard School, Union Theological Seminary, which possesses the best organ anywhere in the world, and Columbia University. Juggling all three schools, playing in a church in New Jersey, and his wife and daughter, Fred earns a position at RCA records, and wins Grammies for his producer talents.

None of these accomplishments are fulfilling, however, and Fred still dreams of Broadway. A crushing depression brought on by the developing awareness of his abuse as a child forces him to re-evaluate his priorities, and he moves his family away from New York back to Thomasville, Georgia, where he becomes the leader of a youth choir, and soon joins the faculty at the local high school. With his wife and daughter, he creates an amazing musical program that forty years later continues to be successful.

Fred's life as a musician and educator forever changed so many lives. His positive outlook and his dedication transformed sulky and taciturn teenagers into some of the best singers of his time. Fred's life is proof positive that the impacts educators have on their students can never truly be measured.

My Hero Academia, Vol. 26

Horikoshi, Kohei. My Hero Academia, Vol. 26. 2021. 200p. ISBN 9781974719778. 

Kicking their training in higher gear, Endeavor has taken Midoriya, Bakugo and his son Todoroki under his wings with the express mission that they must be faster than he is. Midoriya continues to work on his control of air force and his black tendrils, while Bakugo seeks to improve his speed yet again. Todoroki remains conflicted about the role his father played in his life. Invited by his sister Fuyomi to their house for dinner, the boys find themselves in an awkward family reunion when they are joined by Natsu, Todoroki's older brother. He too holds their father responsible for their mother's nervous breakdown and subsequent hospitalization.

Following the dinner, Natsu is taken hostage by Endgame, a villain recently released from prison who seeks to be killed by Endeavor. The current #1 hero is cut at the knee with his son's life in the balance, The boys, however, do not lose their cool, and they manage to rescue Natsu, thus being faster than Endeavor.

Meanwhile, the Safety Commission and their secret infiltrator Hawk have secured vital information that a massive villain attack from the Liberation Front is in the final planning stages. This attack seeks to destroy all heroes. All Might is but a shadow of himself, yet he holds high hopes that Midoriya will help them defeat the villains...

Sasha Masha

Borinsky, Agnes. Sasha Masha. 2020. 256p. ISBN 9780374310806.

Alex has never been comfortable in his own body. His parents love him and are supportive, but they've never really understood him. The only person that really got him was his queer friend Mabel, but at the beginning of junior year Mabel's father has been relocated to Pittsburg from Baltimore, and Mabel's calming presence in his life becomes tenuous, hanging only by texts and the occasional phone call. It is with Mabel that Alex first became Sasha Masha, a truth he discovered about himself when he first put on a beautiful dress. It suddenly made him feel that everything was right.

Now that Alex is alone, he reconnects with some old friends, and they stir him towards Tracy, a beautiful girl who has more than a passing interest in him. The longer their relationship lasts, however, the less right it feels for him. Every day that passes, he feels less like Alex, and more like Sasha Masha. Sasha Masha ends up being dumped by Tracy, but meanwhile he connects with Andre, a lively boy who introduces him to another queer side of Baltimore Sasha Masha didn't know existed. As the two of them get to know each other, Sasha Masha also gets to know himself, and comes to the conclusion that it's okay to be who he is, regardless of what others think he should be.

Fans of self-discovery books will really appreciate Sasha Masha and the process of finding out who one truly is. The presence of guiding and supportive elder queer individuals add an element often missing in LGBTQ+ literature.

Trell

 Lehr, Dick. Trell. 320p. ISBN 9780763692759.

Trell has never gotten the chance to be tucked in bed by Romero Taylor, her father. He's missed all of her school events. He's only seen her once a week for a few hours, but it's not his fault. He's in prison, for the murder of a twelve-year-old girl named Ruby Graham who was shot and killed in 1988 by a stray bullet while sitting on a mailbox in Roxbury, a Boston neighborhood. For fourteen years, Trell has been raised by her no-nonsense mother Shey, who has looked after her and who has taken her to visit her father in prison every weekend.

He's always claimed his innocence, but Trell has never really cared about that until she meets Nora Walsh, a pugnacious defense lawyer who agrees to look into Romero's case. What she finds disturbs her. Following the death of Ruby, the police was under extreme pressure to find a killer quickly. Corners were cut, investigations were sloppy, his legal representation was awful, and Romero ended up convicted. 

Even with a heavy school load, Trell finds time to volunteer with Nora and help her build a case, but upon the dismissal of Romero's appeal for a retrial, Trell decides it's time to bring in a reporter to help investigate their case. She contacts Clemens Bittner, and despite several refusals, tenaciously pursues him until he agrees to take a look at the case. What he finds bothers him enough to join Trell and Nora and look at the circumstances that led Romero to prison. 

As the investigation progresses, Trell becomes convinced her father didn't do it. And if he was committed for a crime he didn't commit, then someone else out there killed Ruby Graham, and likely won't appreciate people looking again into that case. Threading a dangerous needle, Trell pursues her investigation, knowing that her life becomes more and more in danger the closer she gets to the truth!