Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World

Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World  by Ashley Herring Blake

Ivy is 12 years old (almost 13!), and feeling adrift following the birth of baby twins in the family.  Her friends are just starting to think and talk about boys, but Ivy is starting to think about girls.  Then, Ivy's world literally flies apart:  a tornado flattens her house and leaves her family homeless.  

Ivy is a smart, talented, and creative protagonist who finds more than a little help from friends--new friends and familiar friends.  

This is a beautiful, sweet middle-grade book about Ivy and her family and friends, and their attempts to find their own places in the world.  Highly recommended for readers ages 10 and up.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda  by Becky Albertalli

16-year-old Simon Spier is in the closet, and he isn't sure how to get out.  But he's been corresponding online with another local boy called "Blue," and Simon is pretty sure that Blue (or whatever his real name is) will be worth all the drama that will probably accompany coming out. 

Then, Martin finds the emails and blackmails Simon.  

Did somebody say "drama"?

The book features all of the heartache-y, up-and-down drama of a John Hughes "brat pack" movie, updated with modern characters and modern sensibilities.  It's fun, it's funny, it's surprising, and it's a feel-good book with a happy ending--perfect summer beach reading.

And if you liked Simon, you'll love Leah:

Leah on the Offbeat  by Becky Albertalli

A year has passed since Simon learned Blue's true identity, and in that time, nobody has made much progress getting to know Leah better.  She's smart, she's snarky, she's a damn good drummer and a good friend.  But even though her mom has known for ages that Leah is bisexual, Leah hasn't told anybody else yet.  Not even Simon.

Now senior year is almost over.  Prom-drama is running high, with graduation and college coming soon, and Leah is torn when her rock-solid group of friends begins to fracture in ways she never dreamed. 

Sweet, warm and funny, with all the melodrama that only 18-year-olds can muster.  It makes me remember my high school days with a smile, even though I'd never want to re-live them.

Recommended for ages 12 to adult.  Some cussing, lots of under-age drinking, and more sexual situations and angst than you might have thought possible.  Gold stars for appropriate mentions of safe sexual practices.

Once and For All

Once and For All  by Sarah Dessen

Louna is a high school senior set to graduate in a few weeks.  Her summer job is (as always) helping with her mom's wedding planning business.  Her college plans are set, her best friend is in place, and there is no romance for Louna on the horizon--which is just as well.  She has survived being in love with the perfect boy, but recovering from that wasn't easy and she's not eager to do it again.

Then Louna meets Ambrose:  trouble-making brother of the bride, always late, always fidgeting, always irreverent, always flirting with every girl he meets.  Louna wants nothing to do with Ambrose.

Because this is a Sarah Dessen novel, readers totally know where the story is going and where all the characters will end up.  The journey is familiar and relatively predictable, but it's still kinda fun.  Behind-the-scenes details of wedding planning are amusing, the banter between characters is catchy and cute.  There are some poignant details scattered gently into the story, but this is essentially a rom-com that should have starred Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks when they were both 17 years old.

Gold star for the appropriate mention of a condom, but no body parts on the page.  

If You Could Be Mine

If You Could Be Mine  by Sara Farizan

Seventeen-year-old Sahar has shared kisses and romantic dreams of the future with her best friend Nasrin since they were little girls.  But modern Iran is a dangerous place for two girls in love.  The punishment for homosexuality might be a beating, or it might be death by hanging.  So far, their love has stayed secret...but when Nasrin's family arranges a marriage for her, Sahar feels she must act.

Although homosexuality is a crime in Iran, transsexuality is not.  In fact, the government will pay for sexual reassignment.  Sahar knows she isn't really a man in a woman's body.  But, what if this is the only way she can ever be with Nasrin?

This absorbing peek into another culture features a wide cast of well-written characters:  Sahar, who loves Nasrin.  Nasrin, who loves candy, and Bollywood movies, and pretty clothes, and being the center of attention...and probably also loves Sahar.  Sahar's father, who still mourns for his wife and refuses to move forward with his life.  Sahar's cousin Ali, a gay man trying to find his place. Ali's friend Parveen, who tries to help Sahar sort things out.  And Reza, the doctor engaged to marry Nasrin, who is not as simple and two-dimensional as Sahar might wish.

Kissing, mild cussing, sexual decisionmaking and sexual situations.  Recommended for ages 14 to adult.

Learning to Swear in America

Learning to Swear in America  by Katie Kennedy

Apparently, it's difficult to calculate how much stuff from space lands on Earth in an average year.  But in Learning to Swear in America, there's only one object that anybody worries about. 

Asteroid BR1019 is a big one.  Not kill-the-dinosaurs big, (probably), but destroy-the-West-Coast-of-America big (possibly).  That's why NASA has borrowed Russian teen physics prodigy Yuri Strelnikov:  in the hope that Yuri can save California with math.

Yuri's research in antimatter will win the next Nobel Prize (presumably), but he is still a seventeen-year-old boy and the NASA scientists are disinclined to listen to him.  That's enough to drive Yuri to use obscenities, if only he knew how.

With help from hippie-girl Dovie (who declines his offer of quick sex before the world goes cold) and her brother Lennon (who sees the world clearly from his seat in a wheelchair), Yuri learns how to swear.  

And then, Yuri (maybe) has a chance to save the world (or at least, California).

Highly recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.  An excellent pair for The Martian by Andy Weir with (significantly) fewer cuss words.

Mechanica

Mechanica  by Betsy Cornwell

Nicolette is an inventor of amazing tools and toys, just like her mother before her.  

Oppressed by her selfish "Steps," she spends days cooking, cleaning and sewing, and spends her evenings in the magical hidden workshop left behind by her mother, where she builds gadgets to help her with the daily tasks.  But when the king announces a spectacular Exposition and Gala (with accompanying ball to seek a prospective wife for the Prince), Nicolette emerges from her sooty basement to grasp at the opportunity.

This recasting of the traditional Cinderella story is delightfully constructed, with nods to a fairy godmother, a magical coach, and the essential glass slipper...but with an unexpected twist.  And perhaps a sequel?  We can hope!

Fans of Cinder will demand this similar but unique tale.  And they will join us in demanding a second book. 

Recommended for ages 12 to adult.

The Prom Goer's Interstellar Excursion

The Prom Goer's Interstellar Excursion  by Chris McCoy

Bennett has always loved Sophie from a distance, but he never really talked to her until the night her motorcycle broke down and they ended up walking together in the New Mexico desert.  Minutes after he gathers the courage to ask her to the prom -- and she accepts -- Sophie is abducted by aliens.

Following the close encounter, Bennett does the logical thing:  he goes for a burger at the local In-N-Out.  But the restaurant has just sold all the food in the building to a psychedelic band bus, and in short order, Bennett is on board the bus with the Perfectly Reasonable, the one-billion sixteenth most popular band in the universe.

Will Sophie ever escape from the Ecological Center for the Preservation of Lesser Species?  

Will the teens ever return to earth? 

Will bandleader Skark Zelirium ever write a new song?  

Will somebody please hand me a Babelfish?

This is the book that Douglas Adams would have written if he were writing for a teen audience.  (And if he was an American.  And if he had ever been sober sometimes.)  

It's cute, funny, quirky, and strange.  It's not nearly as funny as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,  but since nothing in the Universe is as funny as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it's not unkind to say so.  There's the sweet romance between two kids who are dying to get out of Gordo, New Mexico, and what happens after. 

Also, there's a ram in the closet.  Just in case you wondered.

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club  by Genevieve Valentine

Jo and her sisters are known to the dancers and musicians and club owners and bartenders only as "Princess."  

They don't disclose their names to anyone, they reveal no details about themselves or their lives outside of the speakeasies.  And at the end of a night of dancing, with their shoes wearing thin, the twelve dancing princesses slip away together, disappearing into the anonymous darkness.  

With a nod to the Grimm's version of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," twelve sisters escape imprisonment by a domineering father to the freedom of the dance halls.  Even with a fairy tale as a root story, these characters are firmly rooted in Prohibition-era New York City, and are heavily influenced by the fast-changing social landscape for women in America of the 1920's.  

Readers will keep pages turning to discover what happens to the "princesses" when their secret is discovered!

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.  The audiobook, deftly read by Susie Berneis, is also recommended.