Tag Archive | A2Z

P is PEARL OF THE SEA, fighting poachers & monsters! by Silverston, Della Donne & Samuel (YA Graphic novel review) #A2Z

book cover of Pearl of the Sea, by Anthony Silverton, Raffaella Della Donne, Willem Samuel. Published by Catalyst Press | recommended on BooksYALove.com

The ocean is more home for Pearl and her one-eyed doggy than the rundown house that she and Dad share in their struggling South African coastal town.

In fact, the teen is often late for school because she’s diving for sea creatures to sell for rent money.

Pearl spots something interesting through the restricted offshore area’s fence near the sunken trawler, just before the poachers overfishing the abalone beds spot her – and the police boat spots all of them!

Dad says they have to move inland to the city so he can find work, but how can Pearl leave the sea?

Reluctantly helping the poachers find more abalone, she ventures into the fenced-off area and finds an amazing creature!

Now, to keep her new friend Otto safe from everyone, responsibly harvest enough shellfish to pay back the poachers, and stay awake in class…

Easier said than done, as her school friend Naomi worries about Pearl, the poachers spy on her, and Dad says it’s time to move – now!

A stunning graphic novel from creators at Triggerfish Animation Station in South Africa, coming to North America through Catalyst Press.

How have you helped a friend through difficult times?
**kmm

Book info: Pearl of the Sea / Anthony Silverton, Raffaella Della Donne, Willem Samuel. Catalyst Press, 2023. [creators’ site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

O is for on campus, starting college at FIRST-YEAR ORIENTATION! edited by Eric Smith & Lauren Gibaldi (YA book review) @A2Z

book cover of First-Year Orientation, edited by Eric Smith & Lauren Gibaldi. Published by Candlewick Press | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Move-in day,
time for goodbyes and hellos –
your new life after high school begins!

Welcome to Rolland College, home of the Owls! Many first-year students (we don’t say freshman anymore) come from other states or countries to this small New Jersey institution, which is a hometown fixture for a few.

This year’s entering class includes marching band buddies and theater stars (on stage and behind the scenes), a football player with brains and brawn, former child actors trying to escape rerun fame, youth with helicopter parents or a missing family member or a big secret…

Through these 16 short stories by YA authors and an actress, we meet students who are first in their family to attend college and those following relatives’ footsteps at Rolland, young people who want to reinvent themselves or finally get to show their true selves.

Get ready for dorm drama, an emotional support rabbit, a crack in the universe, and campus ghosts in these stories by Adi Alsaid * Anna Birch * Bryan Bliss * Gloria Chao * Jennifer Chen * Olivia A. Cole * Dana L. Davis * Kristina Forest * Lauren Gibaldi * Kathleen Glasgow * Sam Maggs * Farah Naz Rishi * Lance Rubin * Aminah Mae Safi * Eric Smith * Phil Stamper.

I love how main characters in one story appear in others as the first-years and returning students at this fictitious college rush to and from orientation, the student organizations fair, welcome parties, and the much-anticipated live concert… a kaleidoscope of encounters and emotions.

Just published this month in hardcover and paperback! From the editors of short story anthology Battle of the Bands, another look at a single day from multiple perspectives by several YA authors – recommended here.

What “how I got here” story do you tell on your first day in a new place?
**kmm

Book info: First-Year Orientation / edited by Eric Smith & Lauren Gibaldi. Candlewick Press, 2023. [Eric’s site] [Lauren’s site] [publisher site] Review copy via Edelweiss and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

N is for the dangerous NIGHT RIDE – can she stop it? by J. Anderson Coats (MG book review) #A2ZN

book cover of Night Ride, by J. Anderson Coats. Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

For the chance to stay near her favorite of the King’s horses, Sonnia dares to become a stable hand at the racetrack.

Some coins will go to help her family on the poor side of town, some saved for her dream of buying Ricochet.

Another stable worker is a girl? Great! They’re actually junior jockeys in training? Wow! They get to exercise the messenger fleet horses by riding them through the woods and meadows every afternoon? Even better!

Her big brother’s teasing ways prepared her for working with boys, but not for their reckless night riding on the King’s fleet horses, with bets placed…

Sonnia’s first pay, reduced by room and board fees, is much less than she promised to her father, even keeping none back toward Ricochet – will he make her return home to the family pony ride business?

Ricochet is moved into the fleet stables and can now be ridden in the peril-filled Night Ride! Harm to a horse is punished severely by the King. Who at the racetrack can help her stop this before Ricochet is injured?

Will Sonnia’s love for Ricochet help keep all the fleet horses safe or will it hurt the young riders who care for them at the racetrack?

A girl and a horse and a chance to do what’s right…

By the author of R is for Rebel, recommended here, and The Wicked and the Just (more here).

When have you turned away from the crowd, for the right reasons?
**kmm

Book info: Night Ride / J. Anderson Coats. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2021 hardcover, 2022 paperback. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

M is for Hayao Miyzaki masterwork: SHUNA’S JOURNEY west to save his people, translated by Alex Dudok de Wit (Graphic Novel review) #A2Z

book cover of Shuna's Journey, by  Hayao Miyazaki; translated by Alex Dudok de Wit. Published by First Second Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Shuna’s people are ever-hungry as no crops can thrive in their cold desert land.

When a traveler tells of a strong golden grain that grows far away, the young prince is determined to bring its seeds back to their mountain valley.

Riding west on his yakul, Shuna traverses strange landscapes, fights those who would capture him, despairs at the fortress slave market.

He rescues two sisters at great peril, and the trio travels west without stopping until they reach the cliffs of World’s Edge.

Can Thea and her little sister safely reach their home in the north?
Can Shuna reach the God-lands past these dreadful cliffs and find the golden grain?
Will Thea and Shuna ever meet again?

Just before co-founding Studio Ghibli in 1985, Miyazaki created this stunning illustrated story based on a Tibetan folktale about a prince’s epic pilgrimage to bring barley to his people.

Four decades after its publication in Japan, the classic graphic novel (read back to front) is available to English readers for the first time. Visit the publisher’s page here to look at its gorgeous artwork.

When the going gets tough, how do you respond?
**kmm

Book info: Shuna’s Journey / Hayao Miyazaki; translated by Alex Dudok de Wit. First Second Books/Roaring Brook Press, original 1983, English translation 2022. [translator interview] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

L is LOVE RADIO: advice, music, more? by Ebony LaDelle (YA book review) @A2Z

book cover of Love Radio, by Ebony LaDelle. Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Someday, he’ll be a hip-hop DJ and radio host.
Someday, she’ll be a noted writer on New York’s literary scene.
These days, maybe they can find time to find each other…

Sharing relationship advice on the radio is a highlight of Prince’s senior year, so very full of helping his mom who has multiple sclerosis and caring for his 6-year-old brother Mook.

Dani has an iron-clad plan for getting out of Detroit: be accepted to a great college in NYC, earn her Master of Fine Arts in writing, and become an author who changes the world.

As their paths cross for the first time since middle school, Prince thinks he might have a chance with his long-time crush, but Dani is intent on her exit plan. She does give him three dates to change her mind about starting a relationship – just three.

Sweet, thoughtful dates – interspersed with her flashbacks to an awful incident some months ago and his mom’s medical needs and…

Can you schedule falling in love?
When is a relationship past recovering?
What about a friend who lets you down one time too many?

Told in alternating chapters by the two teens, including transcripts of Prince’s radio shows and Dani’s unsent letters to noted Black women authors as she struggles with writer’s block on her all-important admissions essay.

What love song would you play to ease someone’s heartache?
**kmm

Book info: Love Radio / Ebony LaDelle. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2022. [author site] [author video] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

K is Kyr battling in space for vengeance and SOME DESPERATE GLORY, by Emily Tesh (YA book review) #A2Z

book cover of Some Desperate Glory, by Emily Tesh. Published by Tordotcom | recommended on BooksYALove.com

“While we live, the enemy shall fear us.”

They’re the last true humans, hidden in a hollow asteroid, living on scant food, training for vengeance after Earth was obliterated by the alien Majo.

Genetically-enhanced Kyr expects the other teen girls to train for combat with her focused ferocity, so they’ll be placed on a battleship instead of being trapped in the nursery as breeding stock.

Only her brother Mags is a stronger warrior, yet he is sent on a suicide mission to a planet of Majo-cooperating humans, and the Commander assigns Kyr to her worst nightmare.

Desperate to save Mags and herself, Kyr enlists the help of his tech-savvy friend and crush Avi to escape their fates by using the recently-captured Majo ship and its alien pilot Yiso.

Away they flee, to the same planet that their big sister defected to, the planet that the supreme Majo leader will soon visit…coincidence?

The history relentlessly drilled into Kyr gets a reboot, a shadow engine of subreality makes their toughest training sims seem like babies’ play, and the young people have only a short time to help Yiso keep things from getting worse.

And then time twists… and twists…

Who’s the hero here?
How can anyone gay survive in a society where reproduction is paramount?
What other ways could Kyr’s life have turned out?

In the future, as now, different views of the same events bring conflict as well as opportunities for peace.

What “fact” of history learned in childhood have you unlearned?
**kmm

Book info: Some Desperate Glory / Emily Tesh. Tordotcom, 2023. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

J is Jade and growing up and WHAT THE JAGUAR TOLD HER, by Alexandra V. Mendez (MG book review) #A2Z

book cover of What the Jaguar Told Her, by Alexandra V. Mendez. Published by Levine Querido | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Jade didn’t want to leave Chicago and her friends and her abuela, but Mom’s new job with TV news in Atlanta is a big deal.

Thankfully, the first person she meets at private school is Chloe who explains things and introduces her to other 8th graders.

Little sister Katerina favors their Mexican-American mom, while Jade got her blonde hair and freckles from Dad, the professional gardener.

Walking the woodland path home from school, Jade meets an old man who tells stories like Abuela, about the early people of Mexico. Itztli’s tales fuel Jade’s drawings, moving her beyond pencil and notebook paper to vivid colors and deepest shadows that reflect their history and drama.

Chloe encourages her to practice with the cross-country runners, and Jade is thrilled to qualify for the team! If only the young woman could be confident about flirting and wearing makeup like her friends…

When Abuela must come stay with them, Jade learns more of their family history, painting the stories like Itztli does. Did her grandmother see animals in the obsidian mirror like Mom did? What will Jade glimpse there now?

Did Itztli look like a jaguar when she first saw him?
Will she see Chloe’s cute big brother at the high school during cross-country practice?
Wait, Mom is on TV reporting from New York City, where planes just flew into the Twin Towers…

This novel of magical realism starts in 2001, yet goes far back into ancient history with Itztli’s vivid stories as strong as oak trees, as nourishing as corn.

What story from your family starts furthest from where you are now?
**kmm

Book info: What the Jaguar Told Her / Alexandra V. Mendez. Levine Querido, 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

I is for IT ALL BEGINS WITH JELLY BEANS, by Nova Weetman (MG book review) #A2Z

book cover of It All Begins With Jelly Beans, by Nova Weetman. Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Since her dad’s sudden death, 12 year old Meg does all the errands (Mom’s depression is so deep) and suffers panic attacks at school.

Moving to a new Australian town and getting used to her new insulin pump has been no fun for Riley at all.

As 6th grade winds down, the two girls find themselves in the nurse’s office together more and more often. Jelly beans there help Riley when her blood sugar drops and can be the only breakfast Meg has – small things, small steps toward understanding.

Will Meg’s mom ever be able to leave their house again?
Will Riley’s diabetes keep her from doing fun things forever?
What will either of them write for their graduation speech, due in just a few days!?

Told in alternating voices by Meg and Riley, as they negotiate stresses at home, not being understood by their classmates, and anticipating junior high.

How do you help friends with medical needs in tactful ways?
**kmm

Book info: It All Begins With Jelly Beans / Nova Weetman. Margaret K. McElderry Books/ Simon & Schuster, 2021, paperback 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

H is Hayley & horror & HOW TO MAKE A MOVIE IN 12 DAYS, by Fiona Hardy (MG book review) #A2Z

book cover of How to Make a Movie in 12 Days, by Fiona Hardy.  Published by Kane Miller/EDC | recommended on BooksYALove.com

A movie script by Hayley and Grandma,
a new video camera,
three weeks of summer break –
it’s time to make this horror movie!

An evil rosebush that eats people and a clever woman who solves the mystery – as tribute to her recently deceased movie-loving grandmother, Hayley will now use her new video camera to make their planned horror movie, to show at Grandma’s memorial celebration in a few weeks.

Location, location – wow, that old house in their Australian town with the giant rosebush is perfect! And the nice old man there with the country accent is happy for the preteen crew to film there.

Henry has great ideas about the people-eating rosebush, Samson is brilliant with the boom microphone he borrowed (gulp…), and the shooting schedule has time built in for retakes and more retakes.

If Pilar won’t play Grandma’s role, can Hayley convince ultra-snobby classmate Rissa to do it?
When will her cello teacher Clay finish the soundtrack so she can edit it into the film?
The video camera SD card is where??

Fighting sabotage and the calendar, the film team works around problems (like her little sister and big brother) and finds alternate solutions as time speeds toward the evening when the film will be screened for Grandma’s friends and movie-fanatic family!

Check in again with these school buddies in the companion book, How to Make a Soundtrack in 12 Days here.

What’s the best group project you’ve ever done for fun?
**kmm

Book info: How to Make a Movie in 12 Days / Fiona Hardy. Kane Miller/EDC, 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

E is EVERYDAY HERO MACHINE BOY – can he ever control his powers? by Irma Kniivila & Tri Vuong (MG Graphic Novel review) #A2Z

book cover of Everyday Hero Machine Boy, by Irma Kniivila & Tri Vuong. Published by Skybound Comet / Image Comics | recommended on BooksYALove.com

A grandfather’s routine errand to buy tomatoes for spaghetti sauce turns violent as something crashes down from the sky!

The machine-boy tries to atone for his destruction by rebuilding the tomato greenhouse, but needs Grandma’s help to harness his powers.

He practices karate with her all summer long, anticipating the epic Orphan Universe concert and preparing to go to high school.

The school Frosh Dungeon obstacle course victors will get to meet Orphan Universe, so of course Machine Boy is eager to win – his partner Bea with the mysterious past, not so much…

His interstellar pet goes haywire, and Bea may not truly be his friend.

Can Machine Boy be the grandson that Grandma needs?

Includes a reading guide with questions and activities for this middle grade graphic novel, as well as the recipe for Grandma Mei’s Spaghetti and Meatballs!

How are you an everyday hero?
**kmm

Book info: Everyday Hero Machine Boy / Irma Kniivila & Tri Vuong. Skybound Comet / Image Comics, 2022. [Irma’s site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.