Tag Archive | mothers

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.

B is BUILD A GIRLFRIEND from exes’ critiques? by Elba Luz (YA fiction) #AtoZ

Apr2
book cover of Build A Girlfriend, by Elba Luz; shows a Puerto Rican teen with 3 different outfits & hair styles. The image is divided into 4 horizontal slices that have been shifted sideways so the faces, torsos, legs, and shoes don't match.

Her family is cursed!
No “happily ever after” ever.
Maybe she can create a way to keep love!

Yet again, Amelia is single, just like her mother and her three aunts – no romantic relationship ever lasts for the Hernandez women.

Much as she loves them and her sisters, the high school senior doesn’t love the idea of running their family Puerto Rican bakery someday. She itches to get out of the big house they all share, so she secretly applied for a gap year program abroad and has almost enough saved up to go!

After Amelia’s most recent breakup, her sister sets up a “Romance Boot Camp” to help Amelia harness her best qualities. Why not try out her improved outlook on some of her ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends?

One leaves her hanging on a climbing wall (that video goes viral), another embarrasses her at karaoke.

And Leon is back, two years after he broke up with her – by text! She can’t avoid him as they both work toward the bakery’s grand opening… and perhaps she doesn’t want to.

How will her family react to her post-graduation escape plan?
Why can’t she master any job at the big fair?
Is there any possibility at all to reunite with Leon?

Supported by aura readings, makeup hints, empanadas, and unconditional family love, Amelia has to stop selling herself short and go for the future she longs for.

What kind of second-chance date with an ex would you choose?
**kmm

Book info: Build a Girlfriend / Elba Luz. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

She needs his help SHOOTING FOR STARS, by Christine Webb (YA book review)

May21
Girl sitting on ringed planet above boy looking up at her, holding a star - book cover of Shooting For Stars, by Christine Webb

Her mom’s research cut short,
Sky plans to continue it –
now is her chance!

Skyler’s sole focus for years has been getting into MIT so she can further her late mother’s research on neutron stars; her dad concentrates on bacterial research for the hospital; their paths cross occasionally.

Wow – a NASA contest that could get her onboard the International Space Station with the NICER telescope! All the Las Vegas senior needs is the perfect video application… which means she needs help.

Hiring classmate Cooper as videographer is easy, figuring out the script is tricky, hearing Dad forbid her to even try for this internship is impossible!

Add in Dad dating a popular beauty influencer he met in the hospital, Cooper’s sister needing tutoring to stay eligible for volleyball, and Sky fretting about upcoming SATs as the video deadline approaches…

Is the growing attraction between Sky and Cooper real?
Why would Cooper give up on his own dream career before it begins?
Why won’t Dad let Skyler go after hers?

Happy book birthday (21 May 2024) to Shooting For Stars!

When have you taken a chance to make a dream happen?
**kmm

Book info: Shooting For Stars / Christine Webb. Peachtree Teen, 2024. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

In TENMILE mining town, what future does she have? by Sandra Dallas (MG book review)

May9
Back of young girl with long hair, looking at old western town at base of mountains - book cover of Tenmile, by Sandra Dallas

Beautiful mountains above,
gold in the ground below,
the many toiling to benefit a few..

Some have enough, most have little, a few have so much – life in their Colorado gold mining town isn’t fair, her widowed doctor father tells 13-year-old Sissy.

“She’d asked him once why he hadn’t moved to Denver, where there were beautiful houses and grass and leafy trees. ‘Because people in Tenmile need me,’ he’d replied.” (p.85)

When their fathers are injured in the mines, some of her friends must drop out of school to support their families, working as maids, clothes washers, even down in the mines as young teens…

Willie Gilpin’s big brother died of scarlet fever, so his worried mother keeps him home from school. The rich mine owner’s son has gotten spoiled and mean; 13-year-old Sissy will tutor him, but not put up with his bad behavior.

Oh, no! Another mine accident! Sissy runs to help.
Doc has taught her many treatments and remedies; she helps him setting broken bones and delivering babies – but no one thinks a girl can be a doctor in 1880!

Look for this 2022 release in hardcover, paperback, or eBook at your local library or independent bookstore (not affiliate links).

What dream job are you aiming for, despite what others say?
**kmm

Book info: Tenmile / Sandra Dallas. Sleeping Bear Press, hardcover 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

They search to see WINGS IN THE WILD – wings of hope? by Margarita Engle (YA book review)

May8
Standing brown girl paints mural of tropical birds while seated brown boy serenades her with guitar - book cover of Wings In the Wild, by Margarita Engle

Creative people caged like birds,
our overheating planet –
where is justice?

Fleeing Cuba when their massive wood sculptures protesting the imprisonment of artists are revealed by a hurricane in 2018, Soleida is separated from her parents – the sixteen year old animal rescuer must continue out into the world, alone.

Yet another wildfire consumes his parents’ California mansion and the forest where Dariel serenades animals with Cuban love songs. Better to leave their elite expectations and go with Abuelo to help interview Cuban refugees stranded in Costa Rica, experience its natural wonders before climate change destroys them, too.

In spring 2019, Soleida and Dariel meet among the sea of refugee tents – her hopes of freedom shredded to the bone, his anger at these injustices burning hot.

What will she think of the tropical animals and birds that move in closer and closer to hear his songs and guitar?
What will he think of her journey-story, surviving fear and flood and hunger, leaving her parents behind?

Together, they find her artist cousin nearby in the cloud forest.
Together, can they let the world know about her parents, trapped in Cuba?
Together…can they have any future together?

Watching incredible birds, painting them, singing them near, pondering what could be – this novel-in-verse traverses difficult situations and wonder-filled landscapes.

Readers will recognize Soleida’s neighbors Liana and Amado from Your Heart, My Sky (recommended here), much like the interwoven stories of people who have left Cuba connect with those remaining there. Just released in paperback on April 23, 2024.

How far would you go to be free?
**kmm

Book info: Wings in the Wild / Margarita Engle. Atheneum, hardcover 2023, paperback 2024. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.