Category: Riot Grrrl!
Stories that center around the female-identifying teen experience.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart
As soon as Jule met Imogene, they were instant BFFs. Jule admired Imogene’s refusal to accept labels, and Imogen adored Jule’s stories of her hard-luck past. Imogene had money, and Jule had none, but that didn’t matter because benevolent Imogene always paid. But then Imogene asked one too many questions, Jule lied one too many times and suddenly, their fairy tale friendship was through. How will Jule survive without Imogene, or more specifically, Imogene’s generosity? With a lot of planning and a little luck, maybe she won’t have to…
This innovative thriller that starts at the end, and ends at the beginning, is exquisitely executed. Each meticulously plotted detail leads the reader deeper and deeper into a dizzying labyrinth of truth, lies and shocking consequences. As one of the fortuitous few who got to lay my eyeballs on this super advance copy, IÂ was giddy with anticipation and fear at each turn of the page, and finished the whole stunning thing in one long, delirious sick day home in bed. “Fraud” may be in the title, but this provocative puzzler is destined to be a bona fide hit! Mark your calendars for September 2017 so you can be among the first to read one of the most remarkable YA novels of the year. Too long to wait? Then try these other satisfying stories of slippery secrets and delicious lies
Saving Red by Sonya Sones
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
This is a book about black holes and bright suns and multiverses.  There are pink headphones, red neck ties and vinyl records. Someone has to stay and someone ends up leaving. There are no car chases, but there’s plenty of kissing and one fist fight. Poetry and physics are discussed, along with a smattering of philosophy. Kurt Cobain is mentioned and so is Eddie Vedder. Karaoke is performed, laws are broken and a grown man weeps. (You might, too. I know I did.)
This is a book about taking chances, stepping up and dreaming big:Â “We are capable of big lives. Why settle? Why choose the practical thing, the mundane thing? We are born to dream and make the things we dream about.” It is about coincidences and regret. It’s about being Korean and being from Jamaica and being all too human. It’s about practical Natasha and idealistic Daniel, and how they fell in love one NYC day despite being in the wrong place at the worst possible time. But mostly, happily, crazily, it’s a book about hope. This stunning new heartbreaker of a novel from the author of Everything, Everything brilliantly turns the tired old cliche of “love at first sight” upside down and asks the provocative question, can you scientifically make someone fall in love with you? Look for the surprising answer in a library, bookstore or e-reader near you November 2016.
Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel
Don’t You Trust Me? by Patrice Kindl
“It must be complicated, being a person with a conscience.” Fifteen year old Morgan is “cold.” She doesn’t know what it’s like to put herself  in someone else’s shoes, because the only feet she’s ever cared about are her own! That’s why when her parents finally get fed up with her self serving ways and decide to send her to a boarding school for “troubled teens,” Morgan makes a break for it. She meets a girl named Janelle at the airport who looks a lot like her, give or take a few pounds. She convinces lovelorn Janelle, who’s being sent to live with her rich aunt and uncle in order to separate her from her bad news boyfriend, to switch identities. With Janelle off in a love nest, Morgan is free to skip boarding school and take her place. Then the games really begin, as Morgan successfully convinces Janelle’s family that she is their niece, while running scam after scam that soon line her pockets with rolls of cash. But nothing good lasts forever. Morgan knows that sooner or later her parents or the real Janelle are going to show up feeling pretty angry and looking for answers. Does she have what it takes to pull off one last big con and head off in the sunset for fresh hunting grounds? You may not like Morgan, but you’re sure to be rooting for her by the surprising end of this snappy thriller. The plot is preposterous, but that’s precisely what makes it so much fun. Think Harriet the Spy
The Porcupine of Truth by Bill Konigsburg
The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks
Within the walls of the Nameless City, there are the conquerers and the conquered. The city is re-named each time it is taken over, but none of the names last for long, and none of the conquerers ever ask the citizens what they want. Kaidu, the bookish son of one of the current conquerers, is in training to become a warrior, which isn’t going so well. Rat, a conquered native, is a streetwise orphan who lives by her wits and is always hungry. They strike up an uneasy alliance when Kai sneaks out of his dormitory to explore the busy city on his own and soon becomes lost. Rat shows him the way home and reluctantly agrees to teach him her patented mode of getting around town quickly–by racing over rooftops–in exchange for food. It turns out that Kai is a much better runner (and friend) then he is fighter, and the two discover they have more in common than they ever would have thought. But when Rat gets wind of a plot that could help drive Kai and his kind from the Nameless City, she has to decide if her new friendship is worth more than her city’s freedom. Kai and Rat’s kinetic, shy-high exploits and hotly competitive relationship are expertly depicted by amazeballs graphic novelist Faith Erin Hicks in breathless panels that ooze with color. This cross-cultural adventure (which seems to be set in or inspired by medieval China) feels contemporary and fresh, despite it’s historical-ish frame. If you dig Gene Luen Yang’s Boxers & Saints
Speed of Life by J.M. Kelly
Stubborn, hard working high school seniors Crystal and Amber know what it’s like to make sacrifices. They have done without their whole lives, since their gambling addicted mom spends her paycheck on lottery tickets instead of groceries and their lazy stepdad spends more time passed out on the couch than he does working his pizza joint job. So when one sister accidently gets pregnant, they know that they have no one to turn to but each other. When Natalie is born, the sisters swear to stick together and raise her no matter what. They manage to stay in school by using the services of the school run daycare, while Crystal pumps gas and works on cars at the local garage and Amber washes dishes at their aunt’s bar. It’s hard but they’re making it work until Crystal’s head is turned by a guidance counselor who suggests she apply to a vocational college in another state with a special car restoration program. At first, Crystal scoffs at the idea. After all, “People like me work at gas stations their whole lives, go to cruise-ins with their cars and join softball leagues for fun.†But then she decides to apply just to see what happens, and to her great shock, gets in. Now she has to choose between staying in Portland with her sister and helping with Natalie or following her college dreams to Kansas. As the day of her final decision draws closer, Crystal struggles to justify her choice and to keep hidden a devastating secret that could destroy her relationship with Amber and Natalie forever. This solidly written, utterly realistic novel that details the day-to-day life of one working class white family on the brink of change is full of piss, vinegar and heart. There are so many engrossing particulars that pulled me in as a reader that are worth mentioning, but among my favorites were how Crystal had to use her junkyard dog Bonehead as a poor woman’s alarm system and let him sleep in her muscle car each night so it wouldn’t get stolen, and how Crystal and Amber hid their mom’s lottery winnings in small bills throughout the house so she wouldn’t spend it all at once. This family and their all-too-real problems stole my heart—and it will steal yours to when it comes to a library, bookstore or e-reader near you October 2016.
The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
In 1241 medieval France, the all-powerful Catholic Church doesn’t take kindly to anyone who questions its authority. So when Dolssa de Sigata, an eighteen year old noblewoman begins healing people by channeling the divine energy of Jesus, who she calls her “beloved,” the Church hands down a death sentence: she and her mother are to be burned at the stake as heretics. But just as Dolssa is about to be thrown on the pyre, her ropes are miraculously loosened and she is told to “RUN!” Believing she has just been saved by her beloved, Dolssa flees into the countryside, only to sicken and starve as she has no idea how to live outside the walls of her villa. Enter Bottile, a bawdy barmaid/matchmaker who finds Dolssa on the side of the road and brings her back to her  tiny seaside home of Bajas, where she hides Dolssa in the tavern she runs with her two sisters. As the gentlewoman begins to heal under the peasant’s tender care, the Church dispatches a team of priests and even a knight to find Dolssa and bring her back to be burned. Once Dolssa regains her strength, she wants to help those who have helped her. But when word of her miracles reaches the Church, their retribution is swift and it may be that instead of helping, Dolssa has doomed the entire village of Bajas to suffer her fiery fate. This delicious doorstop of a historical fiction is chock full of mystery, suspense, romance and setting details that will make your mouth water and your nose fill with the smell of roasted fish, sun-ripened grapes and sea salt. Frantic to find out what would happen to sweet Dolssa and saucy Bottile, I raced through the pages but look forward to going back and savoring the fascinating medieval vocab and spot-on historical detail. A thorough author’s note at the back will help you appreciate both, as will a character list, glossary and bibliography. Honestly, I was SHOCKED at how geeked-out I became about female heretics in medieval France! And I think you will be too when The Passion of Dolssa wings its way to your nearest library, bookstore or e-reader April 2016.
Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick
Has a book ever changed your life? When her English teacher hands Nanette The Bubblegum Reaper, an out of print novel about a disillusioned teen named Wrigley who decides to “quit” society, she quickly becomes obsessed with it, underlining sentences and memorizing passages that seem to speak directly to her. Then her teacher arranges a meeting between Nanette and Nigel Booker, TBR’s reclusive author, and Nanette is hopeful that Booker will explain some of the book’s cryptic symbolism. But the old curmudgeon refuses to discuss the novel at all, and instead introduces Nanette to Alex, a teenaged poet who’s just as obsessed with TBRÂ as she is. Â Together they start breaking the rules of society that don’t make sense to them, just like Wrigley does in the book. Alex goes after middle school bullies in order to protect his young friend Oliver and Nanette, a star soccer player with college scholarship prospects, suddenly quits the team senior year. At first they are exhilarated by their own daring, but they end up paying a price for their rebellion that lands Alex in reform school and propels Nanette in a terrifying direction that she’s not sure she’s brave enough to explore. Is she strong enough to reject society’s expectations of her? Armed with her copy of TBR and a playlist of Pat Benatar music, Nanette’s about to find out. This latest offering from the author of The Silver Linings Playbook
Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina
It’s the summer of 1977 in Queens, New York and situations both inside and outside seventeen-year-old Nora Lopez’s life are threatening to explode. Outside the tiny apartment Nora’s single mom works day and night to hold onto, it is the hottest summer on record. Arsonists are setting random fires around the city that are keeping the firemen like Nora’s best friend Kathleen’s dad busy day and night. There is a serial killer on the loose calling himself “The Son of Sam” who murders young couples in their cars and sends terrifying letters to the newspapers that give Nora nightmares. A city-wide blackout encourages a wave of crime that causes tempers to flare and feelings of fear and racism to flourish. Meanwhile, closer to home, Nora’s younger brother Hector, always a troublemaker, seems to be getting worse. A violent drop-out with a drug addiction, Hector rages at Nora, physically strikes their mother and rarely comes home at night. Nora is worried that he is possibly one of the city’s destructive arsonists. But she stuffs her misgivings deep inside, afraid of what telling the truth will do to her already fractured family. “How can you make people understand about brothers who hit and spit? How do you explain why you listen at your own door before going in? How do you explain that it’s not only parents who beat kids, but sometimes the other way around, too?” Nora longs to ask her father for help, but he has a new family in Manhattan and only calls on holidays to hear good news, not problems. The only bright spot in Nora’ life is her blossoming romance with her deli co-worker Pablo. His dreamy good looks and positive attitude give Nora hope. But when Hector takes his brutality to a new level and her mother loses her factory job, Nora pulls away from Pablo, afraid to draw him into her family drama. She’s never felt so alone, and wishes her mother didn’t always expect her hold everything together. “Shouldn’t she be able to take better care of us? Isn’t that what adults are supposed to do? Take care of their kids? Shield them from stuff? Pay bills? Why is everything the other way around for us?” Can Nora learn to ask for the help she needs before her entire world combusts? The novel takes it’s title from a well known disco song, but while Nora escapes to the club to forget her problems, the music can’t save her. I have deep love for Meg Medina’s books because they are set in my beloved Queens (my neighborhood of Forest Hills gets a shout out for it’s historical Tudor houses and because it was sadly a notorious site of one of the Son of Sam murders) and her teen characterizations are spot on. The feelings she conveys are honest and authentic, and her descriptions of NYC back in the day will make the 70’s come alive for you. Nora is a complex, original character who will bring your summer to its knees when you get your hands on this hotter than hot novel in March 2016.
The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
Ruth would do anything to get out of Gran’s “old person smelling” house, but the results are disastrous when cute Ray Stevens offers a sleepover with benefits. Dora wishes she had a place she could call home because no matter how kind Dumping’s parents are, she can never forget that she is a guest in their house due to her father’s inability to stay away from the bottle. Dumpling always wears a red ribbon on the end of her braid for luck, but it doesn’t save her from what fate has in store. Alyce is torn between the two worlds of professional ballet and commercial fishing, and making a choice means disappointing one of her divorced parents. Hank is forced to take his two younger brothers on the run in order to find out where he truly belongs. This group of disenfranchised Alaskan teens living on the edges of their white, Athabaskan and Inupiat communities in the 1970’s end up coming together in complicated and unexpected ways that will delight and surprise readers. Based on the debut author’s own experiences growing up in Alaska, this character-rich, poetically-written, all-ages read will be available at a library, bookstore or e-reader near you February 2016.
A Big Dose of Lucky by Marthe Jocelyn
It’s not easy being a sixteen year old orphan in 1964 Ontario. But it’s even harder when you’re a brown-skinned girl who’s just lost the only home you’ve ever known. When the Benevolent Home for Necessitous Girls goes up in smoke one terrifying night, Malou is thrust out into the wide world with just $138, a shopping bag full of used clothing and a hospital bracelet with the words, “Baby Fox.” With her only clue being the hospital address, Malou boards a bus to the tiny town of Parry Sound, where she hopes to solve the mystery of her birth. She quickly finds a room to rent and a cleaning job to pay for it, but it’s rough being on her own for the first time in her life. “Alone is a hard thing to be. There is not enough inside my own head to fill all the hours it would take to live alone. Especially without books.” As she starts investigating her background, Malou begins noticing and meeting other teenagers in town who look an awfully lot like her. Soon Malou finds herself entangled in an local secret that is far more complicated than she ever could have imagined. I tore through this fast paced and plotty novel in about twenty four hours, completely engaged by Malou’s singular voice and the riddle she is trying to solve. If you find yourself in a reading slump, this captivating historical identity mystery is the perfect antidote!
