It Looks Like This by Rafi Mittlefehldt
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
This beautiful, devastating novel may have been published for an adult audience, but the powerful, precise prose reads like a timeless classic that should be experienced by everyone over the age of 14. I have no doubt that this book will find it’s way onto hundreds of high school reading lists and college syllabi by the end of next year, alongside the writings of Toni Morrison, Flannery O’Connor and Shirley Jackson. But despite it’s insta-classic feel, readers can also easily draw parallels between Cora’s endless trials and our current racial and social ills, including Stop and Frisk, hate speech and anti-immigrant rhetoric. While this book often made me soul sick, I couldn’t wait to finish it to discover how Cora’s extraordinary journey concluded. And because The Underground Railroad is the latest pick for Oprah’s Book Club, you should have zero problems getting a copy asap from your local library, bookstore or on your e-reader. Want more? Listen to this outstanding interview between Colson Whitehead and Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air.
The Plot to Kill Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero by Patricia McCormick
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 Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz
Three tweens walk into a tavern: a Christian, a Jew and an African. Too young to drink, they instead make miracles and take on the King of France with their devoted dog, a resurrected greyhound named Gwenforte. What sounds like the beginning of a classic joke or a superhero origin story is actually a fresh, irreverent all-ages take on the Middle Ages by A Tale Dark and Grimm
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.
Sweater Weather by Sara Varon
Anyone who has ever picked up a pen and dreamed of creating their own graphic novel is bound to be inspired by graphic novelist Sara Varon‘s latest charming short comic collection. Originally published in 2003, these eighteen vignettes are now accompanied by personal notes that detail her inspiration and who the different characters symbolize, giving a fascinating glimpse into the mind of the artist. Everything from the divine (the process of beekeeping!) to the mundane (a day in the life series) are represented here, along with all the in between stuff: friendship, heartbreak, and lots of and lots of eating delicious things. If you like food, animal folks and fun, or have an interest in the creative process (which is lovingly detailed in each and every story) then you are going to want to wrap yourself up in Sweater Weather.
Cloud and Wallfish by Anne Nesbet
Noah Keller, a pretty ordinary kid except for his “Astonishing Stutter,” is stunned when he comes home from school one day and his parents announce they are leaving their hometown of Oasis, Virginia and heading to one of the grimmest places on earth in 1989: East Berlin behind the Berlin Wall. While his mother explains that the family is going to Germany for six months so that she can study German children’s speech problems for her graduate degree, Noah is suspicious. If his mother is just conducting research, why do they all have to change their names? Why aren’t they allowed to talk about anything serious within the walls of their new apartment? And why can’t he go to school with other East German children? The less information his parents share, the more Noah’s doubt grows until he decides to investigate the strict boundaries of his new world on his own. With the help of his downstairs neighbor Claudia (who he dubs “Cloud”) Noah begins to ask some questions whose answers may put his entire family in terrible danger. Because in Noah’s new reality, no one is who they seem. Who are Noah’s parents, really? Who is Claudia? And how can Noah find out the truth without hurting everyone he loves? This unusual, fable-like mystery, set in the near past and chock full of fascinating facts about the claustrophobic, formally Communist East Berlin will captivate readers with it’s intriguing premise and cryptic characters. Coming 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
Snow Job by Charles Benoit
It’s the middle of winter in 1977 upstate New York, and seventeen year old Nick has decided he’s OVER being a burnout banger. So he ditches his pot-smoking friends, trades in his ratty concert tees for a shirt and tie and memorizes his new mantra: STAND OUT. STAND UP. STAND BY. STAND FAST. When his best friend makes a break for Florida, he makes a tentative plan to join once he has the cash. He starts logging serious hours at his crappy convince store job, but at a minimum wage of $2+ an hour, he’s hardly making any bank. Just as it looks like his beach dream may not come true, he is seduced by a Joan Jett look alike named Dawn who convinces him to dip back into the druggie world for one last big score. If Nick can pull it off, he will make enough for both he and Dawn to ride south into the sunset. Can he convince Dawn’s unstable drug lord boyfriend to trust him long enough to steal his stash AND his girl? This slow-burning thriller is full of twists and tension, with a setting that really captures the white 1970’s in rural/suburban America. I felt like I knew Nick and his crew pretty well, as they resembled the guys I stood next to at the school bus stop and watched trade cigarettes in the art and shop rooms at school. If you’re not entirely sure what I’m talking about, check out these 1970’s film gems about being a kid and teen back in the day and read SNOW JOB when it hits the library and bookstore shelves March 2016.
Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin
“The first thing you’re going to want to know about me is: Am I a boy, or am I a girl?”
After spending six weeks in a teen psych ward as the result of a severe panic attack, Riley is hoping to start over at a new school. But after a first day spent dodging the questions and stares of both curious and outright cruel classmates, Riley feels completely discouraged. It seems as though it’s going to be just as hard being in the closet as gender fluid in public school as it was in private school. So Riley sits down and starts an anonymous blog as a place to put all their feelings of sadness, anger and confusion about identifying as a girl one day and a boy the next. The blog helps, as does Riley’s blossoming friendship with geek-turned-football-player Solo and a shy flirtation with the enigmatic, blue-eyed Bec. But then an internet troll starts stalking Riley’s blog, hinting that he or she knows who Riley is and where they go to school. Riley is terrified because if anyone discovers that their father is conservative Congressman Cavanaugh who is currently running for re-leection, the entire campaign could be compromised. But when Riley is forced to speak out about after being assaulted, Riley realizes that nothing is going to feel right until they finally confess to both their new friends and family about being gender fluid. Because it shouldn’t matter if Riley identifies as a boy or a girl when the most important thing Riley identifies as is human. This ground breaking debut shines a bright light on gender fluidity that is bound to educate and illuminate anyone who reads it. Riley’s biological gender is never revealed, and while that annoyed me at first, I quickly realized that my binary thinking only narrowed my imagination and the options of who and what Riley could be as a person. The more I read, the less it mattered and by the end I truly didn’t care. Riley had emerged as a fully formed character with quirks and desires and emotions, and their biological gender was the least of their multifaceted personality.  For more information on transgender and gender fluidity issues, check out these resources recommended by author Jeff Garvin: Trans Lifeline, National Center for Transgender Equality and Transgender Law Center.