Tag Archive | growing up

R is RAISED BY GHOSTS, she drifts through school and life, by Briana Loewinsohn (YA Graphic Novel) #AtoZ

Apr21
Book cover of Raised by Ghosts, graphic novel by Briana Loewinsohn. Shows girl with long brown hair seated at a desk, looking down at her sketches which rise into the air as white outlines of images on a dark stream.

Pencil and paper,
imagination and image,
better than reality…

In middle school, the other kids “seem to understand how to be in the world in a way that I do not,” notes Briana (pg. 5) during the mid 1990s.

Mum absolutely unpredictable, Dad completely predictable, distant from one another in the same house, distant from only child Briana, too… as they skirt the edges of being poor, is anyone the parent here?

At her Berkeley high school, Briana has a hard time concentrating in classes… is there a point?

Notes to friends, sketching on homework pages, notes from friends, making mixtapes instead of doing homework, repeat, repeat, repeat.

She literally draws herself into a dark place of loneliness, then draws herself back out into the real world again.

This graphic novel memoir chronicles the artist’s school years in muted tones, often sadly somber, yet ending with hope as she continues to draw: “Dear paper, dear pencil, you are saving my life…” (pg. 200). She shares three ways to fold a note and her favorite mixtape playlist, too.

What notes and messages from friends would you save forever?
**kmm

Book info: Raised by Ghosts / Briana Loewinsohn. Fantagraphics, 2025. [author site https://www.instagram.com/brianabreaks/] [publisher site https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/raised-by-ghosts] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Q is for questing with the SHEPHERDESS WARRIORS to protect her village! by Jonathan Garnier & Amelie Flechais (Graphic Novel) #AtoZ

Apr19
Book cover of graphic novel Shepherdess Warriors, volume 1, by Jonathan Garnier and Amelie Flechais. Amid a desolate gray wilderness, two very young warriors sit astride their mounts who rear up on their back legs - on the left, a boy rides a gigantic shaggy dog, on the right, a red-haired girl rides a large short-horned black ram. The youths hold aloft long lances with banners that cross at center.

Ten years with no news,
their men far away at war,
the women must keep their village safe!

Molly can’t wait! Now she’s finally old enough to start training with the Order of Shepherdess Warriors, to join her mother and grandmother in defending their village and their flocks. Only the oldest men and preteen boys didn’t go to war, so women began the Order to protect everyone.

Astride her ram, Black Beard, the ten year old and her friends learn archery, blade fighting, history, and how to stay awake on night watches.

Liam longs to be a defender, too. Even though the Order is closed to men, he and his gigantic dog tag along on training missions, aided by best friend Molly, of course.

Near the edges of the Deadlands, the apprentices encounter friendly-enough witches, bumbling bandits, and a dread unknown creature!

Can they prevent the evil creature from attacking the village?
Who is the girl wandering alone in this wilderness?
Will the being called ‘Great Botanist’ help the Order in their quest?

Volume one (issues 1 and 2) of the graphic novel series, which originated in France after artist Amelie created a squad of goat-riding warrior women for a cavalry-themed art challenge. Look for Volume 2, too!

What historic defensive skill would you like to learn?
**kmm

Book info: Shepherdess Warriors, vol. 1 / Jonathan Garnier; art by Amelie Flechais; translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger; lettering by Vibrant Studios. Ablaze Publishing, 2024. [artist site https://www.amelieflechais.com/] [publisher site https://ablaze.net/products?p=G9781684971695] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

P is GREEN PROMISES: Girls Who Loved the Earth, by Jeannine Atkins (YA fiction) #AtoZ

Apr18
Book cover of Green Promises: Girls Who Loved the Earth, by Jeannine Atkins. Shows 2 women in old-fashioned dresses and hats, one sitting on riverbank and sketching its tall grasses, one wading in the river and examining rocks she has picked up there.

Grasses swaying in the breeze,
different rocks in the river,
what stories do they tell about time and change?

Now packed into Grandmother’s small Chicago flat with her siblings and widowed mother, Agnes misses green meadows, learns to draw sidewalk flowers on old envelopes, wishes for school past 8th grade.

School soon for Marguerite, exploring the river’s edge with its intriguing rocks, across from Washington DC where her father and other Black men labor. Her parents never learned to read, yet she dreams of going to high school.

Agnes becomes a talented botanical artist, is asked to travel and survey grasses of the west at her own expense (because she’s a woman), at last working in the Smithsonian.

Marguerite longs to become a teacher, to make a difference in her world, to envision what factors increase flood risks in the nation’s capital.

Women march for the right to vote in 1913! Agnes jailed with other white women protestors, Marguerite and other Black women shunted to the end of the parade.

Will Agnes’s decades of work to find and catalogue the grasses of the world be recognized?
Can Marguerite find a university where she can earn degrees in geology?
How many women will they both inspire to learn and discover and succeed?

This evocative novel-in-verse brings us the lives and work of women who persevered in natural sciences when society’s expectations tried to limit them.

By the author of Hidden Powers: Lise Meitner’s Call to Science (recommended at https://booksyalove.com/?p=12527) and Stone Mirrors: the Sculpture and Silence of Edmonia Lewis (here https://booksyalove.com/?p=8212).

What’s your favorite museum of natural history?
**kmm

Book info: Green Promises: Girls Who Loved the Earth / Jeannine Atkins. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2025. [author site https://www.jeannineatkins.com/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Green-Promises/Jeannine-Atkins/Girls-Who-Love-Science/9781665950572] Review copy & cover image courtesy of the publisher.

N is for THE NIGHT ANIMALS, leading Nora to help and understanding, by Sarah Ann Juckes (MG fiction) #AtoZ

Apr16
Book cover of The Night Animals, by Sarah Ann Juckes. Shows dark silhouette of girl sitting on a tree branch in front of a large full moon, next to a rainbow-colored fox who is looking at her intently.

Alone at school,
home is too quiet,
but in the dark – ghost animals!

Mum has more bad days than good as her PTSD worsens, unable to get out of bed or fix dinner for Nora. Dad left them in England years ago and works at a wildlife rescue far away in India. Sigh…

What’s that on the middle-schooler’s bed? A ghostly fox, shimmering edges like rainbows!

At school, the fox leads her to artistic Kwame who’s also bullied by Joel. Kwame and his brothers are on Nora’s street often to help with their granddad whose memory is failing.

Now a ghost hare appears, running zigzags, away from the bully, then back to attack when Joel mocks her mother’s illness – flight?fight! The school office calls in their parents…

Oh, no! Kwame’s granddad needs help! Mum’s paramedic training calms them all.

Ghost ravens? What are they trying to tell Nora?

As Nora And Kwame race to follow the raven, she spies a ghost otter in the canal, swimming toward the harbor!
Train, docks, boat, stormy skies – should they follow the otter to the island?

Nora and Mum insist that “everything’s fine, we’re fine, no help needed” but perhaps not…

How have you coped with the mental health concerns of others?
**kmm

Book info: The Night Animals / Sarah Ann Juckes; illustrated by Sharon King-Chai. Kane Miller/EDC, 2024. [author site https://www.sarahannjuckes.com/the-night-animals] [publisher site https://www.kanemiller.com/the-night-animals.html] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

M is fake dates, real feelings, MAKE MY WISH COME TRUE! by Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick (YA fiction) #AtoZ

Apr15
Book cover of Make My Wish Come True, by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick. Two teen girls share a holiday blanket as they sit on a bench, slightly apart with hands touching. They look toward large decorated outdoor Christmas tree in town as snow falls.

Twelve very public fake dates,
Hanukkah and Christmas preparations –
what’s an act? What’s real?

After best friend and first crush Arden abruptly left their small Pennsylvania town 4 years ago for LA, Caroline has just concentrated on her writing portfolio for Columbia – journalism school, here she comes!

After teen flicks and rom-coms, Arden can have the movie role of a lifetime, if she reforms her Hollywood party girl reputation – fast!

Prodded by her stand-in parental figure/agent, Arden treks back to her Christmas-obsessed hometown and devoted grandma for the holidays, to her “secret girlfriend” Caroline (as her agent tells the producer), to a chance at redemption.

Caroline gets to write exclusive articles about their time together for Cosmopolitan ? Wow!
Convincing everyone, including the movie producer, that their relationship is real? Whoa…

Cutting down a Christmas tree together, voting in the town’s Best Cocoa contest, karaoke night, helping out at Gran’s diner – good times together before Arden heads back west on Christmas Eve.

Can they make a new town tradition for Jewish families?
Is this Arden’s last trip home?
Mistletoe magic or heartbreak again?

Told in alternating chapters by real-life partners who’ve written YA novels together and individually.

Would you like to live in a Christmas-is-everything town?
**kmm

Book info: Make My Wish Come True / Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024. [Rachael’s site https://www.rachaellippincott.com/] [Alyson’s site https://www.instagram.com/whoisalysonanyway/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Make-My-Wish-Come-True/Alyson-Derrick/9781665937566] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

K is for KEEPING PACE: running, academically, she’s gotta win! by Laurie Morrison (MG fiction) #A2Z

Apr12
Book cover of Keeping Pace, by Laurie Morrison. Shows 2 young teens in exercise clothes running up a hilly path; the boy is ahead of the pony-tailed girl and looks back at her.

Striving all year for best grades,
applying for the prestigious writing camp…
No, and no – now what?

Grace worked so hard to get highest 8th grade GPA and impress her novelist dad, but lost the award to former friend Jonah. The summer before high school stretches out before the Philadelphia teen.

Babysitting the young son of Dad’s new girlfriend… not as easy as it looks.
Creative writing class… ahh, like her favorite verse novels, not Dad’s blockbuster novel.
Training for the half-marathon to benefit local wetlands… just as she and Jonah planned in 6th grade…oh.

The treehouse between her house and his grandmother’s next door was their happy place every summer, at least before Jonah’s dad got sick and died a few years ago.

Their competition for grades and honors pushed the friends apart… should they try to fix it?
Getting closer to him at her birthday party… awkward? just right?
Jonah not at the same high school next year… what!?

This summer means new friends at creative writing class, talking through big sister Celia’s plans after high school, running with her and sometimes with Jonah, half-marathon and high school on the horizon!

Who is she if she isn’t the smartest student?
Will she beat Jonah at the half-marathon?
Would she rather be with him instead of being rivals?

Goal-setting listmaker Grace’s weekly training plan for the half-marathon starts each group of chapters as she moves through a summer where winning might not be all that she wants.

When did you decide that an outside goal wasn’t yours anymore?
**kmm

Book info: Keeping Pace / Laurie Morrison. Abrams/Amulet, 2024. [author site https://lauriemorrisonwrites.com/books/] [publisher site https://store.abramsbooks.com/products/keeping-pace] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

J is for journeying, SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF MAYBE, by Jo Watson Hackl (MG fiction) #A2Z

Apr11
Book cover of Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe, by Jo Watson Hackl; shows title words on signpost signs pointing in different directions, placed in a field with cricket jumping. In background, a girl sits on treehouse porch at sunset watching birds.

A grieving girl,
a ghost town in the woods,
where is the secret painted room?

Every time Cricket’s artist mother stopped taking her anxiety medicine and disappeared, the twelve year old and her Daddy coped and hoped, but now that he’s in the cemetery with Grandma…

Oh, no! The tween overhears that she’ll soon be sent away to another state! How will Mama know where to find her?

Time to find the art-filled “Bird Room” that Mama saw once and searched for every after – surely, that will make Mama stay, whenever she comes home again!

Cricket journeys through the nearby woods to a ghost town from South Carolina’s lumber days, using all the survival skills that Daddy taught her.

Emergency! Need help! HELP!

Miss V. takes Cricket in, agreeing that the runaway can stay a few days, but no snooping!

Can Cricket contain her curiosity?
Will Miss V. help her follow clues that she finds?
Will Mama ever come home?

Cricket won’t give up!
Are you as persistent at chasing what’s important?
**kmm

Book info: Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe / Jo Watson Hackl. Yearling/Random House, 2018. [author site https://johackl.com/about-smack-dab-middle-maybe/] [publisher site https://www.rhcbooks.com/books/543975/smack-dab-in-the-middle-of-maybe-by-jo-watson-hackl] Personal copy; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

H is spooky HARVEST HOUSE, a stalker nearby, and young Native women in danger! by Cynthia Leitich Smith (YA fiction) #AtoZ

Apr9
Book cover of Harvest House, by Cynthia Leitich Smith; shows a native teen boy walking away from a haunted house, surrounded by crows; upside down image of dark-haired young woman walking through dead trees with flying crows.

She was killed at the crossroads.
He still stalks young Native women,
so her spirit lingers there and attacks!

School budget cuts mean no fall play, and Hughie is bereft. Guess the indigenous teen will have time to volunteer at the haunted house fundraiser with new pal Sam after all.

Ick – the Harvest House organizer makes the legend of a Native girl killed at the Kansas crossroads into a racist trope and asks Hughie (Muscogee) and Sam (Hispanic) to dress up as murderous savages.

Sam’s sister works at the crossroads’ Grub Pub, is stalked by a guy one night, and then saved by the intervention of …a wolf!

Hughie helps student reporter Cricket connect with local elders and area history as the teens begin researching the mystery of the crossroads.

Progress on Harvest House maze (no Indian burial ground, please), seeking info on past encounters with the crossroads stalker, trying to ask Marie on a real date – Hughie’s life is suddenly complicated and not just a little dangerous.

Why do so many weird things happen at this particular crossroads?
Will Hughie’s spring play script with non-White characters be accepted?
Will the crossroads ever be safe for young dark-haired women?

Each chapter counts down the days until Halloween, interspersed with mysterious asides from Celeste who commands animals and birds to protect young women alone at night at the crossroads.

Find the story of Hughie’s big sister Louise during their family’s first year in Kansas in Hearts Unbroken, recommended at https://booksyalove.com/?p=10216.

Do you know a local legend that’s grounded in facts?
**kmm

Book info: Harvest House / Cynthia Leitich Smith. Candlewick Press, 2023 (paperback 2024). [author site https://cynthialeitichsmith.com/ya-books/ya_index/] [publisher site https://www.candlewick.com/9781536218602/harvest-house/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

G is for two girls, connected through time by THE MAILBOX TREE, by Rebecca Lim and Kate Gordon (MG fiction) #AtoZ

Apr8
book cover of The Mailbox Tree, by Rebecca Lim & Kate Gordon; shows leaf-filled silhouettes of two girls' heads looking down from upper corners to the outline of a large pine tree whose base is being flooded by water.

Just one tree remains,
a hope, a haven,
best place to leave a message.

Nyx wants to stay! She doesn’t care that rising sea levels threaten Tasmania, or that Dad wants to move to the Northland, or that solar radiation means no food can grow here. She escapes to the only tree left, pours her rage and sadness into the only scrap of paper she has left, and puts it in the knothole.

Bea wants to stay! She doesn’t think she’ll be less-bullied at school for her glasses and hearing loss if they move from Tasmania to Australia. Escaping to her favorite tree which never judges her, she pulls her notebook from the knothole and finds a scrap of paper with a message! So Bea writes back to the girl who also wants to stay here…

The next day, Nyx finds a book filled with blank pages of real paper in the tree – and a message from another girl who doesn’t want to move away from their island – so she writes back.

As the two tweens exchange messages via their Mailbox Tree, they realize that they live in the same place, but not the same time!

Nyx asks Bea to plant trees all around, hoping that some will survive the 50 years between their times. The trees appear overnight in Nyx’s neighborhood – a miracle?!

But Nyx also faces bushfires and storms and no electricity and no drinking water and no food supplies…

Can Bea do anything to help her friend fifty years away survive?
What place would be safe from natural and climate disasters for such a long time?
Will anyone believe Bea’s story about the Mailbox Tree and what they must do, quickly?

Told in alternating chapters by authors in Tasmania and Australia (“the Northland”), who have never met in real life either!

What message would you send back to our past?
**kmm

Book info: The Mailbox Tree / Rebecca Lim & Kate Gordon. Walker Books Australia, 2024. [Rebecca’s site https://annabelbarker.com/rebecca-lim] [Kate’s site https://kategordon.com.au/bio/] [US publisher site https://lernerbooks.com/shop/show/24700] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher via Publisher Spotlight.

F is for fashion, friendship & faith ANY WAY YOU LOOK, by Maleeha Siddiqui (MG fiction) #A2Z

Apr7
book cover of Any Way You Look, by Maleeha Siddiqui; shows 3 tween girls at a clothing store counter, 1 wearing hijab with skirt & leggings, 1 with modest top & leggings, 1 wearing hijab with trendy slacks.

Summer means time for fun,
time with her friends,
time to work in her mom’s custom clothing shop at last!

Aspiring designer Ainy is eager to build up her portfolio of modest fashions and give her Amma more time to make the stylish saris, dresses, and salwar kameez so popular with the Southeastern Asian women in their Virginia suburb.

Her grandmother’s cancer took dad back to Pakistan for a time, so the new shop must succeed!

So busy now! Friend time with Safiya goes down, and stress about their biggest client’s son Yasir harassing her goes up. Maybe if Ainy starts wearing the hijab now, instead of on the first day of 7th grade, he’ll stop noticing her.

Amma says Ainy can design the bridesmaids’ dresses for Yasir’s sister – will she finish in time?
Is her crush on Izyann immodest for a good Muslim girl, even when boys and girls don’t hang out?
Big sister Bajjo suddenly stops wearing the hijab – why?

Dressmaking deadlines, financial worries, wondering if she’s choosing to wear the hijab for the right reasons…
Any way you look, this will be a different summer than Ainy expected!

By the author of Barakah Beats, recommended here at https://booksyalove.com/?p=12568.

When have you had to decide to follow your friends’ lead or not?
**kmm

Book info: Any Way You Look / Maleeha Siddiqui. Scholastic Press, 2024. [author site https://www.maleehasiddiqui.com/books-1] [publisher site https://tradecatalog.scholastic.com/tradecatalog/any-way-you-look-9781339010267.html#key-details] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.