"Why is straight the default?" - Becky Albertalli

Here is yet another queer book that I wish had been out (pun intended) when I was working through my identity in high school. Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, by Becky Albertalli, is a delightful novel that combines all of the heart-satisfying romance of a John Green novel with the delicious queerness of a David Levithan book. Simon, a junior at Shady Creek high school, has a secret email friendship and relationship with another boy at his high school. Both boys write under pen names because they are not ready for their identities or their sexualities to be revealed yet to the world. However, through a series of unfortunate circumstances (Simon is basically blackmailed by another student who threatens to reveal his sexual orientation if Simon does not help him get a girlfriend), Simon must deal with the reality of the world knowing he's gay before he's ready. There's so much great stuff in this book about the process of coming out. Yes, it's a delightful teen romance, but it's also got really deeper ideas about when and how to make the decision of coming out, what it means to belong in a community (not just in terms of sexual orientation, but also race and gender issues are addressed). This is a great read for any high school student or mature middle school who also enjoys reading John Green, David Levithan, Rainbow Rowell or the like. There's a bit of kissing and mentions of safe sex, but all in all it's quite tame. And, more than anything, it's quite delightful.

"Think of one sentence -- just one. It has to be the truth. It has to come from your heart." - David Levithan and Nina LaCour

Nina LaCour and David Levithan (admittedly, the latter is one of my favorite YA authors) have created a touching masterpiece with their new novel, You Know Me Well. Told from alternating perspectives, the novel centers around a gay teenager and a lesbian teenager whose lives become inexplicably linked over the course of San Francisco's Pride Week. Mark, whose love for his baseball teammate is not quite returned, seeks the help of Kate in coming clean with his feelings. Meanwhile, Kate is desperately in love with a girl named Violet, but Kate runs from her every time she gets near. Both Mark and Kate feel safe in their identities but not in how to build healthy, meaningful, deep relationships. Their inner feelings scare them and they learn to rely on each other to make the loving declarations they need. This book moved me in so many ways! Mark's story of being in love with his best friend felt so true to me; while his best friend, Ryan, is struggling to come out, he uses Mark as a sort of "experiment" in his sexuality but does not return the romantic feelings. This reality is brutal for Mark to take but ultimately helps him get to a better place where he knows he can love again.

I loved, loved, loved this book. There's a bit of kissing and definitely some references to sex, however there are not sex scenes depicted. I really wish this book had been written when I was a teen. It filled my heart today.

"It’s a common belief that losing your sight heightens your other senses, and it’s true, but not by magnifying them. It just gets rid of the overwhelming distraction of seeing everything all the time.” - Eric Lindstrom

Lindstrom's novel, Not If I See You First, stars prickly and biting Parker, a teenage girl who lost her vision in a terrible accident. Blind, but refusing to be treated differently because of it, and untrusting, but refusing to push everyone out because of it, Parker navigates high school, romance and friendships with sarcasm and wit. Parker has rules, most importantly. These rules are for how others should treat her if they want to stay in her good graces: mess with Parker's rules, and you're banished for life. Parker isn't playing around and for good reason: her life has been altered so completely by those that she loved and trusted, she has built a wall not meant for scaling to keep herself together. Parker was not my favorite protagonist and this was not my favorite book. However, I really liked the way that this book was narrated. Something about Parker's fierce independence and steadfast refusal to be different in the face of difference made her relatable even as she pushed the world away. This book has real heart, and kissing (so parents just know that ahead of time!), and is worth reading for the voice alone.

"Because racism was alive and real as shit. It was everywhere and all mixed up in everything, and the only people who said it wasn’t, and the only people who said, “Don’t talk about it” were white. Well, stop lying." By Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely should be required reading. It is exactly the kind of fiction that allows teenage readers to explore deeply personal, deeply present topics and build relationships with characters that feel meaningful and real. The story of two boys, Rashad and Quinn, who are unknowingly tied together when Rashad becomes the victim of a racist, false and all-too-real attack by a local police officer. The police officer, Paul, happens to be a family friend of Quinn's, but Quinn begins to doubt everything he knows about Paul when he realizes the violence that Paul has perpetuated upon innocent Rashad. Rashad, at the same time, becomes the symbol for the town's Black Lives Matter movement, as Rashad's face and a friend's tag (reading: RASHAD IS ABSENT AGAIN) become household conversation. Rashad isn't sure he wants to be a symbol. Quinn isn't sure he wants to betray his family. But both characters come together knowing that America's deeply rooted racism needs to change now.

This is an excellent book, particularly for any white parents or teachers who want to teach white young people about what it means to be an active ally, a comrade, and a friend. Doing what's right isn't always easy, but Reynolds and Kiely implore that it is necessary and do so with great impact.

"I dropped like a rock onto the second porch step, a little ways away from my parents, and tried to remember why I had wanted to come here." - Jacqueline Davies

Jacqueline Davies may have convinced me to enjoy historical fiction. Typically, I can't get on board with reading fictionalized accounts of historical times, especially when they're written for YA. I generally find that these stories oversimplify complicated history for the sake of a more comforting story.  However, this novel, Where the Ground Meets the Sky is beautiful, engrossing and full of suspense. The novel follows the story of Hazel, a twelve year old girl whose family uproots from NJ to the middle of the desert in New Mexico for some reason unbeknownst to Hazel. What Hazel does know is that her father is a scientist, her mother is wary of his latest project, and nothing else of his work may be spoke in or outside the home. Hazel suddenly finds herself living on a military base and can't help but wonder what it is that her father is up to that seems so important. Set against the background (foreground? it's clearly relevant!) of WWII, Hazel attempts to uncover what her father's work is and why it seems to be making her mother so anxious. Ultimately, although I think that the mother's mental health issues resulting from the stress of the situation seem a bit too easily wrapped up, this is a great middle grade book for students with an interest in the past and a brave, go get 'em female protagonist. 

"Tell those who are cruel to you that in their cruelty, they are the terror. Then inform them that they are forgiven, for such forgiveness may shame some toward kindness." - E.R.Frank

E.R. Frank's debut novel, Life is Funny, was one of my favorite books when I was in middle school. Interweaving the stories of eleven teenagers growing up in New York City, Life is Funny was the first book that I remember independently reading which encompassed many voices all sharing the same struggles to belong at school, in families and at home. The teenagers' stories, all fiction, range in their struggles and scope; serious issues, from sex to race to alcoholism to family violence, are played out as the teenagers attempt to figure out how to grow up. Although some of the wording may now be dated, this book can serve as a good introduction to interweaving narratives, perspective and voice. It definitely is a late middle/early high school read, with clear depictions of sex and violence. Still, it's completely engrossing and will leave a lasting impression on the mature teen reader.

“You know how teachers are. If they get you to take out a book they love too, they're yours for life.” - Gary D. Schmidt

Orbiting Jupiter took our middle school by storm this year, as a recommendation to the ESL teacher meant that all students in ESL were suddenly reading it. Rightfully so, the students and teacher cried and mourned together as they read the book in its entirety. Gary Schmidt's novel is moving right from the start. The novel centers around the story of Joseph, a thirteen year old boy who is placed in foster care with a family in rural Maine after finishing serving his time in a juvenile detention center. Determined to meet his daughter (yes, Joseph is also a father), Joseph has the daunting tasks of navigating a new school, overcoming the trauma of the time he has served (for reasons I'll let the book tell you) and working to find a way to meet his daughter. All of this is told through the eyes of his foster brother, Jack, who isn't sure what to make of the short-on-words, Joseph. This book is sad. It's terribly, terribly sad. But it must be read because what it does, it does so well. Schmidt has written a heartbreaking masterpiece.

With violent moments, references to sex (there's a baby so...obviously), and heartbreaking sadness, this novel isn't for the faint of heart. Still, I'd recommend it for students above the 6th grade. If you're a teacher, this is probably the kind of book that you want to let families know in advance you're reading together. But read it, please, because it leaves a lasting impression well beyond the novel's pages.