Race to the Sun - Rebecca Roanhorse

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Lately, seventh grader Nizhoni Begay has been able to detect monsters, like that man in the fancy suit who was in the bleachers at her basketball game. Turns out he's Mr. Charles, her dad's new boss at the oil and gas company, and he's alarmingly interested in Nizhoni and her brother, Mac, their Navajo heritage, and the legend of the Hero Twins. Nizhoni knows he's a threat, but her father won't believe her.

When Dad disappears the next day, leaving behind a message that says "Run," the siblings and Nizhoni's best friend, Davery, are thrust into a rescue mission that can only be accomplished with the help of Din Holy People, all disguised as quirky characters. Their aid will come at a price: the kids must pass a series of trials in which it seems like nature itself is out to kill them. If Nizhoni, Mac, and Davery can reach the House of the Sun, they will be outfitted with what they need to defeat the ancient monsters Mr. Charles has unleashed. But it will take more than weapons for Nizhoni to become the hero she was destined to be..."

In a post-Hercules (the Disney movie, not the TV show with garbo Kevin Sorbo) world, I was a kid very into mythology, so I loved Percy Jackson and Rick Riordan's other fantasy series focusing on Greek and Roman mythology. I'm thrilled that there are now so many books like this one coming out that tell stories from the mythology of other cultures - it's high time! I also particularly love this story for including a main character and sidekicks that, while smart and resourceful, are not necessarily physically strong or skilled. Nizhoni is learning and getting more confident, but she also has much more in common with real-life kids her age than many of the hero protagonists I've read about, and I love that she's a character that kids will really get to see themselves in (particularly her goal at the beginning of the book of becoming Internet famous!).

I do wish the pace of the action was slightly faster, but that said, I really enjoyed the main cast of characters - Nizhoni, Mac, and Davery, with honorable mention going to Mr. Yazzi - as well as how fully Nizhoni's quest centered around Navajo legends and how central the Diné Holy People were to each part of the quest. This book left me wanting more, and I was going to say that I can't wait for more books about Nizhoni, but then I looked it up and discovered that this is a standalone book. So...I guess I can't wait to read more Rebecca Roanhorse!

Midnight Strikes - Zeba Shahnaz

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Seventeen-year-old Anaïs just wants tonight to end. As an outsider at the kingdom’s glittering anniversary ball, she has no desire to rub shoulders with the nation’s most eligible (and pompous) bachelors—especially not the notoriously roguish Prince Leo. But at the stroke of midnight, an explosion rips through the palace, killing everyone in its path. Including her.

The last thing Anaïs sees is fire, smoke, chaos . . . and then she wakes up in her bedroom, hours before the ball. No one else remembers the deadly attack or believes her warnings of disaster.

Not even when it happens again. And again. And again.

If she’s going to escape this nightmarish time loop, Anaïs must take control of her own fate and stop the attack before it happens. But the court’s gilded surface belies a rotten core, full of restless nobles grabbing at power, discontented commoners itching for revolution, and even royals who secretly dream of taking the throne. It’s up to Anaïs to untangle these knots of deadly deceptions . . . if she can survive past midnight."

I got this book in my most recent YA book subscription box. Unpacked the box, got one look at the book in all its beautiful-cover-gold-gilt-edged glory, skimmed the included letter from the author, and immediately sat down and started reading. Cinderella, but with explosions and murder and coups and stuff? Sign me up! Not sure I've ever gone from knowing nothing about a book to needing to read it this quickly before. 

Anais has a bit of blood magic, inherited from her father's side of the family, but other than that she is...just a young woman. She isn't a super hero, adventurer, powerful mage, what have you. She's a teenager whose mom made her go to a party, and now she's caught in a time loop trying to save the country that colonized her home. 

In this impossible position, she cycles through some pretty understandable emotions - sometimes she's energized, excited by a good idea, ready to stop the loop. Others she's discouraged, hopeless, ready to give up. Through it all, she never gives up, even when some of the people she manages to convince to help her (the prince among them) point out that she has every reason to be okay with the royal family and all the nobility at the palace being left to suffer their fate. 

She knows no one could blame her for dusting her hands off and bailing on a problem that is not hers, but she is also the only one who knows what is about to happen each time the loop resets and, therefore, the only one who can do anything about it. She feels duty-bound to fix things, and she won't stop trying until she's exhausted every option. She's an amazing main character, and I loved her immediately. 

If there was anything I would change about this book, it would be that Anais wasn't alone in her awareness of the time loop. I get the decision, and it makes sense, but without spoilers at some point it gets hard to reconcile the level of...connection, for lack of a better word?...between the characters when for one of them there is endless history of interactions and for the other there is a few hours. It's fine, it ultimately works out okay, but I'm intrigued by what might have been if Anais had found some magical way to bring someone else into her loop and have a partner she didn't have to re-convince to help her every night. Were I to write a fan fiction inspired by this, that's what I would write.

April Read Harder update

Whoa, a quarter of the way through the year! Wait, a third! I'm very good at math. 

Finding Me was very emotional and, frankly, an indictment of the lack of social supports in the United States. Reading about Viola Davis and her family's experiences, I just kept thinking about all the kids growing up like Viola did, hoping that someone will look their way or some miracle will come along and change things for them, and how as a society we're still failing them as badly as we were then.  

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts was also emotional. The artwork was incredible, and Rebecca Hall not only uncovered overlooked historical events, she shone a light on how truth is erased from history ("you think you are reading an accurate chronicle written at the time...but if who we are and what we care about are deemed irrelevant, it won't be in there..."). This is a must-read.

📗📗📗

Now it's time for May challenges, baby! We've got #9, read an independently published book by a BIPOC author, and #10, read a book you know nothing about based solely on the cover. Easy choices! (Just kidding, they weren't.)

#9. Read an independently published book by a BIPOC author: I ended up googling recommendations from public libraries for this one and settled on Cupid Calling by Viano Oniomoh. Queer romance! Reality show! What more could one ask for?

#10. Read a book you know nothing about based solely on the cover: So at first I was like uhh this is hard to narrow down. I mean, I am a librarian. I work around books, I buy books for my school's collection, I subscribe to publisher updates...I see so many book covers, and it has been well established that I love a good book cover! So then I was like okay, think logically. Easiest way to narrow this down? Go to a bookstore! Browse! Buy the first book I see with a cover that makes me go "ooooooooh, intriguing" and read that. And then I realized that this plan was a meme.

Fortunately, I went to a bookstore in January to shop for my school collection, and while I was there I did a little personally shopping as well, purchasing a duology based solely on the covers! So for this challenge, I'll be reading Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko. I'll add to my TBR pile later. 

Rez Dogs - Joseph Bruchac

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Malian loves spending time with her grandparents at their home on a Wabanaki reservation. She's there for a visit when, suddenly, all travel shuts down. There's a new virus making people sick, and Malian will have to stay with her grandparents for the duration. Everyone is worried about the pandemic, but Malian knows how to keep her family safe: She protects her grandparents, and they protect her. She doesn't go out to play with friends, she helps her grandparents use video chat, and she listens to and learns from their stories. And when Malsum, one of the dogs living on the rez, shows up at their door, Malian's family knows that he'll protect them too. Told in verse inspired by oral storytelling, this novel about the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the ways in which Indigenous nations and communities cared for one another through plagues of the past, and how they keep caring for one another today."

Can I get a round of applause for this children's book that clocks in at under 200 pages? Glorious! It's such a rarity, and this book being written in verse makes it even more approachable for kids. Each chapter is a small, almost self-contained story, and the whole thing moves at a good pace. I think it would be a quick read for kids who love reading and a good challenge for kids who need a little practice to strengthen their reading skills. It is also super relevant and approachable for kids who went to school online during the pandemic, particularly those who are still going to school online and may be struggling with feeling discouraged or disconnected.

I particularly loved the way Malian's experiences were paired with stories from her grandparents and how seriously she took listening to those stories. At least once, she even remarks that although she has heard this story before, she loves hearing them multiple times because she always gets something out of it. It was really beautiful to see this silver lining come out of living through COVID, Malian getting to build a deeper connection with her grandparents, their stories, and where she came from.

The Grace of Wild Things - Heather Fawcett

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Grace has never been good at anything except magic - not that anyone believes her. While other children are adopted from the orphanage, nobody wants Grace. So she decides to make a home for herself by running away and offering herself as an apprentice to the witch in the nearby woods. After all, who better to teach Grace to use her magic? Surely the witch can't be that bad.

But the witch is that bad - she steals souls for spells and gobbles up hearts. So Grace offers a deal: If she can learn all 100 1/2 spells in the witch's grimoire, the witch will make Grace her apprentice. But if Grace fails, the witch can take her magic. The witch agrees, and soon an unexpected bond develops between them. But the spells are much harder than Grace expected, and when a monster from the witch's past threatens the home Grace has built, she may have to sacrifice more than her magic to save it."

 

This book made me want to read Anne of Green Gables again because 1. I love it and 2. I didn't really get how this was "inspired" by that story...aside from the main character being an orphan, I guess? Maybe that's all it was.

Anyway, it's a very fun story. Grace is so whimsical and imaginative, it's entertaining seeing her get into strange and sometimes dangerous situations and pretty unironically be like "hmm, how would a heroine in a novel react to this?" I loved her dedication to becoming the witch's apprentice, even when the witch was so openly hostile to her. I loved seeing her make friends at school, open up to Rum, and come to understand how deserving of love she is. It is loooooong, 360 pages, but very whimsical and lighthearted, even when things aren't going Grace's way. Overall, a delightful read!

Queen of the Tiles - Hanna Alkaf

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend's death, it's with the intention to heal. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It's macabre, but Najwa finds meaning in the gesture, because she's not ready to give up Trina just yet.

But the same can't be said for all the other competitors. With former Scrabble Queen Trina gone, her friends are eager to take the throne. All's fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina's formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina's death wasn't as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it.

As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it's up to Najwa to find out who's behind these mysterious posts - not just to save Trina's memory, but to save herself."

 Mystery, love triangles, word nerdery...this book has everything. I was excited to read this after I loved The Weight of Our Sky so much, and Hanna Alkaf knocked it out of the park again. Clues unraveled at just the right pace to make the book impossible to put down, and I loved the way that Najwa's assumptions about each character influenced - and sometimes hindered - her investigation. And there were so many perfectly-placed red herrings that I kept thinking I had it figured out only to have the rug pulled out from under me.

I don't want to get into details about the book because I don't want to accidentally spoil anything, but this is probably the most excited book set at a Scrabble tournament that you will ever read. Also, she would destroy me, but I would love to play Scrabble with Najwa and talk about the definitions of each word. I'm firmly on her side as far as word meaning - I don't understand how anyone could memorize a bunch of words for Scrabble and not want to know what they mean.

Amari and the Night Brothers - B.B. Alston

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Amari Peters knows three things.

Her big brother Quinton has gone missing.
No one will talk about it.
His mysterious job holds the secret …

So when Amari gets an invitation to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain this is her chance to find Quinton. But first she has to get her head around the new world of the Bureau, where mermaids, aliens and magicians are real, and her roommate is a weredragon.

Amari must compete against kids who’ve known about the supernatural world their whole lives, and when each trainee is awarded a special supernatural talent, Amari is given an illegal talent – one that the Bureau views as dangerous.

With an evil magician threatening the whole supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she is the enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t pass the three tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton."

This book was nominated for a 2024 Grand Canyon Reader award, and since I book talk all the nominees with my students and have them vote, I decide that I'm going to try to read all of next year's nominees. I think this is my first nominee that I hadn't already been planning on reading, and it did not disappoint. It starts off intense - not only has Amari's brother gone missing, with no leads on what could have happened to him, but Amari is about to get her scholarship revoked and essentially be kicked out of school. Not great.

Then a stranger shows up with intriguing information, they claim from her brother. Amari agrees to accept a package from this mysterious stranger and learns that her brother was a member of the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs - not just a member, in fact, but one of their best agents - and that he, along with his partner, went missing in action while investigating something top secret. Before he disappeared, Quinton sponsored Amari, so now she gets to attend the Bureau's summer program, where she can not only train as an agent just like her brother, but also investigate his disappearance. Will Amari find her missing brother? Or will she vanish along with him, leaving her mother alone? Amari isn't sure, but what she does know is that she has to try.