The moment I saw the cover of this book, I knew I wanted to read it… but it took it making it to the Cybils graphic novel finalist list for me to get around to reading it myself. I was also thrilled when it won a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor.
Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas
HarperAlley, 2022
ISBN 978-0063056763
Read from a copy gifted to my daughter.
Ebook available through Libby.
Bree is torn between excitement and nerves as she and her dad move from Brooklyn to Florida and she has to start a new school. It’s a big change in more ways than one – not only does she have to make new friends, but her dad’s new job means he’s hardly ever home. That leaves Bree time to get to know her neighbors better – Ms. Etta, the upstairs neighbor, who helps out when her dad is gone, and Clara, who’s in her grade at school. Bree’s nerves take the lead, though, when it turns out that the only elective with space still left is swim. Not only can she not swim – she’s terrified to try. But she also can’t live with a bad grade, and the only way to improve it is to join the swim team. It turns out that both Clara and Ms. Etta know a lot about swimming. With Ms. Etta’s help, Bree gains confidence in her swimming – and the team as a whole grows enough that they might even have a chance to take on the team from the snooty private school that’s been on a winning streak.
My daughter loved this enough to nominate it for the Cybils herself, and was so excited that it made it to the finalists! That pushed me to read it myself, and it is well worth it! The art fits in well with the standard memoir-style art kids are used to, with slightly exaggerated body language conveying emotions perfectly. While there’s lots of good middle school dynamics along the lines of these books, Bree and the reader also learn a lot from Ms. Etta about how it was that Black people in America lost their ability to swim and love of swimming due to segregated pools. Bree and her team’s victory is reclaiming their right to the water. There were many other things to love – Clara accepting Bree as a friend even before she got good at swimming; Ms. Etta showing that kind coaching can be even more effective than the harsh coaching the private school coach used, and the revived friendship between Ms. Etta and her own high school swim team. This is one my daughter re-reads regularly and I’ll be recommending to readers.
When this book showed up on the hold shelf, as so often happens for me, I had forgotten how I heard about it and why I’d put it on hold. Once I started reading, though, I was very grateful to past me and whoever recommended it.
Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom by Nina Varela
Little, Brown, 2023
ISBN 9780316706780
Read from a library copy. Ebook available from Libby.
Juniper Harvey has just moved from Texas, where she had at least one friend, to Florida, where she has to start middle school knowing no one. It’s a tall order for an introvert, but that’s not what has her most rattled. That’s the dream she’s started having every night, set in an ancient-looking temple where a girl her own age turns to ivory. Juniper can’t stop thinking about and drawing her. After the fall middle school dance her mother forces her to go to ends in horrible embarrassment, Juniper draws a picture of the girl again and wishes she were there…
And the regular middle school story takes a sharp turn towards the fantastic as the girl shows up in Juniper’s room. The girl, Galatea, is single-handedly trying to save her kingdom, a floating island from which pieces are breaking off, before there’s nothing left. She’s hoping that Juniper can help her find their missing goddess. Meanwhile, though Galatea doesn’t know anything about cell phones or cars, she’s good at judging people, and helps Juniper reach out to likely friends at school even as the two girls are growing closer themselves. Juniper’s just starting to think about romance herself, but isn’t sure that a sword-wielding princess like Galatea would ever be interested in her that way.
This was such a good blend of characters, relationships, action and humor! I really appreciated Galatea and Juniper’s slow discovery not only of each other but also of the older relationship between Galatea’s goddess and another one – a moving story as well as a strong demonstration that same-sex love has always been with us. It was a really satisfying read, and I knew that it would be perfect for my daughter. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, she really prefers to stick to audiobooks and graphic novels and this book is sadly not available on audio – but once I made her sit down to read the first five chapters, until Galatea shows up, she finished the rest on her own and wants to make sure it ends up in her school library as well.
This book and my daughter’s request for more queer books for kids her age prompted me to make a list of LGBTQ+ Middle Grade Fantasy books.
I have now read all* of the 2022 young adult speculative fiction Cybils finalists – it’s been getting me in the mood to read more teen books than I have been the past few years. Read on, and let me know if you’ve read any of these or if they’re on your tbr list.
*okay, all of them except the Weight of Blood, because I have a hard time with true horror, so I don’t plan to read that one. But if you, dear reader, are a horror reader, I trust the Cybils judges to have picked out an excellent one.
From Dust, a Flame by Rebecca Podos. Read by Hope Newhouse. Balzer + Bray, 2022. ISBN 978-0062699060. Listened to the audiobook on Libby.
Hannah wakes up on the morning of her 17th birthday with a huge surprise: snake eyes. Every day that follows, she has a new mutation, each more difficult to hide than the last. She and her older brother Gabe are left alone as her mother leaves to find help, promising to be back soon. But as weeks turn into months, they grow increasingly worried. When a note arrives inviting them to the funeral of their grandmother Yitzka – whom they’ve never met – they decide they must travel to the old family farm in search of answers. They’ve grown up traveling from place to place, a strange contrast to the tiny town their mother turns out to be from.
This journey back to the place their mother fled is full of discovery. Hannah and Gabe never knew their mother was Jewish, and they begin to explore this heritage with help from Ari, the daughter of their mother’s former best friend, the same age as Hannah, and the friendly local rabbi. Spending time with Ari leads Hannah to other discoveries about herself as well, like why holding hands with boys always felt so unappealing. But the answer to Hannah’s problem turns out to be deeply rooted in her family’s past and in Jewish mythology, so that while the story is mostly Hannah’s, we also spend time with teenage Yitzka in 1943 as she is forced to leave her family and sweetheart behind in Prague to flee to safety, and with Hannah’s mother as a teen in 1992 as she chafes against the restrictions of an overly-protective family. This story includes sweet romance, a golem, a demon, and lots of family secrets, and I was thrilled that it won the Cybils award for teen speculative fiction this year.
See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon. Read by Emily Lawrence. Simon & Schuster, 2022. ASIN B09SK2HRQ5. Listened to the audiobook on Libby.
Barrett’s longed-for first day of college turns out to be a nightmare rather than the escape from high school she was hoping for. Her former best friend turned enemy wakes her up by moving in, there’s a truly annoying boy, Miles, sitting next to her in physics class, she bombs her interview for the school newspaper. Oh, and she accidentally burns a frat house down. It doesn’t seem like things can get any worse – until she wakes up to the same horror of a day happening again. The only person she can talk to is Miles, who’s been reliving the same day even longer. As weeks turn into months, Barrett digs into her past looking for things to improve even as their forced companionship blossoms into romance even as they grow increasingly desperate to escape. Barrett is especially heartbroken that she’ll miss her single mom’s girlfriend proposal, planned for two days after this one repeating day.
Overall, I loved Barrett and Miles. I’d say Jewish fantasy romances aren’t that common, but here’s the second one in a single post. I also appreciated that Miles is Japanese-Jewish. Barrett also works on improving her relationship with her former best friend. There is a lot of cringe in this book, too, so how much you like it will probably depend on how much you’re able to laugh at public embarrassment. The high school past that Barrett is running from involved being ostracized by the school and some horrific sexual bullying. This was really hard for me to listen to and felt at odds with the sweetness of the cover. Still, I know that I’m extra-sensitive and this might not be as big of a deal for other readers. Based on how long I had to wait for it, and how many people were on the list after me, this is a book that’s resonating with lots of readers.
How to Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy. Read by Tashi Thomas. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2022. ISBN 9780593354520 Listened to the audiobook on Libby.
Shayna Johnson is a junior with a passion for potion-making at the elite T.K. Anderson high school in Florida. In Shayna’s world, having magic isn’t enough – you also have to be accepted to a highly competitive licensing college to be able to get a job where you can use it. Shayna’s best friend Lex, an adopted Filipina, already graduated but hasn’t yet been accepted to a college. Her biggest hope is to win the prestigious Brockton scholarship offered at her school, which comes with a nearly guaranteed acceptance at one of the very best licensing colleges in the country. There are just two things standing in her way: one, Ana, her archrival at school, and two: the drama teacher Mr. B, short for Brockton, who’s on the scholarship selection committee and wants stage-shy Shayna to star in the school musical.
Being at school without Lex and entering the new world of drama people lead to big changes in Shayna’s life. She has to re-evaluate so many things she thought she was sure of, from her goals in life to her relationship with Ana. Shayna has to deal with entrenched racism, tacitly approved abuse – while also navigating first love and friendship changes. I appreciated this and the magic system, which while bleak was more well-thought out than that at most magical schools. (How many employees does the Ministry of Magic really need?) There was enough joy, humor, and good trouble to keep me going through the book.
If you’re interested in more of the Cybils Teen finalists, but are finding them all checked out as I did, may I suggest some of the 2021 finalists? Or these two great 2020 finalists?
Kids save the day and the unicorns in the exciting finale to the Unicorn Island trilogy, which I’d classify as not-quite-middle-grade.
Unicorn Island: Beyond the Portal by Donna Galanti. Illustrated by Bethany Stancliffe.
Epic! 2023
ISBN 9781524878702
Review copy kindly sent by the author.
The previous book of this series, Secret Beneath the Sand, ended very appropriately with the revelation of some big secrets – including a magical portal to the original home of the unicorns, from which they had escaped to the safety of Unicorn Island. Our girl Sam also learned that her mother has been trapped on the other side of the portal since Sam was a baby. Now, Sam and her best friend Tuck develop their research skills by searching through the secret unicorn protector library for a way to open the portal so that they can find her mother. Sam may have lived her life so far first unaware that she didn’t know her mother and then that her mother might still be alive – but now, she needs to find her.
Once through the portal, though, their problems are many, starting with a very short time window in which to make it back through the portal and avoid leaving their respective parents stuck not knowing what’s happened to them. Unicorns are still being hunted in this land, putting Sam’s young unicorn friend Barloc in even more danger than they’d thought when he decided to come along. Most horrifying of all, Sam’s mother is easily found – the hunter who’s tracking Barloc! How could her mother have so betrayed her unicorn protector roots, and is there any way to win her back?? This turned out to be a tough moral dilemma of the sort that’s very rarely shown in literature for children of this age (I’d guess about 9 or 10.) It’s combined with a threat to the local water supply, a timely issue, if painted in broad strokes here. Happily and appropriately for the audience, the kids are able to find a solution that works for everyone when the adults couldn’t.
Once again, Donna Galanti pens an exciting tale sure to inspire young readers to keep turning the pages, while Bethany Stancliffe’s bright illustrations enhance the emotional beats of the story, show Sam and Tuck’s frustration, fear, excitement, and betrayal. There’s enough going on to keep it interesting for adults reading aloud to younger children as well. This remains an engaging series for the almost-middle grade set, one I think will see a lot of use in my daughter’s school library.
Friends, usually I try to group books of similar themes for similar age groups in my reviews. But today, in the effort to get some reviews out where you can see them, I am just putting out a teen book and a middle grade book together rather than waiting for good companion books to come along. They’re both realistic, both have important sister relationships, and I really enjoyed them both, so there’s that.
Drizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck Things by Maya Prasad
Hyperion, 2022
ISBN 9781368075800
Read from a library copy. Ebook available through Libby.
Rani Singh is a romantic. Living in her family business, the Songbird Inn, off the Washington Coast, with three other teen sisters would seem to be the perfect setting for the perfect romance – except that it hasn’t happened yet. But as the seasons turn over the course of a year, each of her sisters does find romance, something that both makes their hearts sing and brings out their truest selves. Oldest sister Nidhi had her whole life after high school planned out – pastry school in Paris with her long-term boyfriend – but after a tree crashes into her bedroom, she’s suddenly ready for a change. Rani’s twin Avani feels like she’s the only one who’s unable to move on since their father’s long-term boyfriend, Pop, died three years earlier – but planning to run his signature Winter Ball again just might bring her the closure she needs -as well as bringing her closer to the boy she won’t admit she likes more than any other. Shy Sirisha usually tells stories through her camera lens and has trouble talking to people – but a beautiful young actress with a resident theater company might just push her to expand both her photographic and her spoken vocabulary. And Rani might have had her heart broken the summer before – but that won’t stop her from letting all the cute boys try to woo her this summer – even if it doesn’t go the way she planned!
The romances are sweet – including a new romance for Dad Singh – and the sisters bond more with each other, their island community, and even get to know the family their father left behind in India. This is a perfect sweet treat for any time of the year.
Figure it Out, Henri Weldon by Tanita S. Davis
HarperCollins, 2023
ISBN 9780063143579
Read from a library copy. Ebook and audiobook available through Libby.
Henri Weldon is starting 7th grade at regular public school for the first time, leaving the special education school behind. It’s the same building as the high school, but her formerly close older sister Kat won’t give her any tips. Until, that is, Henri befriends four siblings who don’t look anything alike – and then Kat yells at her. But if Kat won’t tell her what’s wrong, Henri isn’t about to stop being friends with the only people who’ve reached out to her just because they’re all foster kids. Vinnie, for example, was the first friendly person she met in the overwhelming school cafeteria, makes a great math tutor, and is devoted to his pet rat – Henri, with a beloved pet snake, sympathizes with his love of his less popular pet. Ana encourages Henri to try out for the soccer team, which she is excited to do, though her family is not sporty and would prefer she focus on academics.
There is so much to love about this book! Dyscalculia is of course a real problem, and one I’ve never seen a book about before. But Tanita does a great job of making Henri a fully-rounded person, still figuring out what she might be good at outside of that issue, as well as dealing with things like siblings, pets, sports, and adjusting to a new school. As with herPeas and Carrots, Tanita includes foster kids, an important and under-represented population.
This is an engaging book that deserves a wide audience.
“You know what we need more of?” my 13-year-old daughter said the other day. “We need more queer books for kids. Like the Wings of Fire books. They have so many gay ships.” (She has listened to the whole very long series multiple times on hoopla.)
It so happens I’ve read a few LGBTQ+ fantasy books, and am happy to say that there are more of them coming out every year. There are more teen books, of course, but middle school is so often when kids are dealing with first crushes or wondering why they aren’t having them. That’s why I was so excited to put this list together for you today (aka I did not write up reviews of any of the books in my review queue) and I have a separate graphic novel list started, too.
Cattywampusby Ash Van Otterloo. Ebook available from Libby. Audiobook available from hoopla.
The Counterclockwise Heartby Brian Farrey. Ebook available from hoopla. Ebook and audiobook are available to purchase from Libby, though my system doesn’t own them.
I’m nearly done with reading all the excellent Cybils middle grade graphic novels the panelists picked as finalists! Here are the most recent three I’ve read.
Flamingo by Guojing. Random House Studio, 2022. ISBN 9780593127315. Read from a library copy.
In this nearly wordless book, a little girl flies all on her own to visit her grandmother in what feels like Florida. At first, the story is nearly all in shades of gray, with only the little girl’s hat and backpack and her Lao Lao’s outfit in red. Then, the little girl finds a pink feather displayed in the house. After days of exploring beaches and forested swamps, Lao Lao tells her stories of another little girl – perhaps Lao Lao herself – finding and hatching a flamingo egg, and the friendship they shared. All of these stories are shown in full color. As the little girl sees a flamingo herself, she comes up with more imaginative adventures to share with her grandmother after she goes home. I especially loved that the little girl’s story included her grandmother, where many of children’s imagined adventures (at least in books) leave adults out entirely.
The story here is meant for the early chapter book audience, and it’s a great book for filling in narrative skills – being able to retell what happens in a story, whether the original has words or not, is an important element of literacy. And the art here, a mix of watercolor, colored pencils, and digital, is just stunning. My 13-year-old felt it was young for her, but I think there is a large audience that would find it perfect.
Invisible by Christina Diaz Gonzalez & Gabriela Epstein. Graphix, 2022. ISBN 9781338194555 Read from a library copy.
Over-achieving middle schooler George is shocked when he’s called in to the principal’s office – to be told he must find a place to volunteer to keep the school’s perfect 100% community service participation record. When the principal tells him he should show up first thing in the morning to meet with other students like him, George assumes he means other honors students. But no – he’s sent to meet up with four other Latine students, all with families from different countries and all in very different places in the school’s social hierarchy. They aren’t initially inclined to get along with each other either, especially as George speaks almost no Spanish, while some of the others speak almost no English. But they start to bond as they’re assigned menial clean-up jobs in the cafeteria, where the cafeteria lady thinks they’re all illegal and juvenile delinquents to boot. At the same time, they discover a single mother and her little girl living in a van by the park on the other side of the school fence. Could they find a way to help them? Like Jacqueline Woodson’s Harbor Me, this is a story of kids getting to know each other and the reader getting to know them beyond their stereotypes. The graphic novel format gives it a more cheerful, approachable vibe, though. And the dialog is mostly in Spanish with translations, making it more approachable for Spanish-first kids while still being perfectly understandable for English speakers. This is the book that won this year’s Cybil in the category, and it’s easy to see why.
Squire by Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh. Quill Tree, 2022. ISBN 978-0062945846. Read from a library copy.
Aiza chafes at her life of selling fruit at the marketplace while enduring taunts and rejection from people who recognize her outsider status – tattoos on her forearm mark her as an Ornu, a minority ethnic group only grudgingly accepted into the Empire. She dreams of joining the army and becoming a Squire, and perhaps even a Knight one day, winning fame, living a life of adventure, and getting to see the whole empire. But getting her parents to agree, as hard as that is, is just the first step. And once she’s there, will the reality of empire-building be what she dreamed it would be?
This book has an appealing blend of action and adventure, friendship building, and beautiful Turkish-inspired landscapes, along with the looks at the draw and downsides of empires. The recruits we see are diverse in ethnicity and gender, from a range of social standings. Backmatter from the creators explain the cultural and historical context (though it is a fantasy world) and the need for stories starring middle eastern girls with swords, as well as a stage-by-stage progression of how a scene is built from script to final version. I’ll note that my library has this in the teen zone, but there doesn’t seem to be more violence than many middle grade fantasy graphic novels. It does seem aimed more at middle schoolers than elementary-aged kids to me, though. Regardless, highly recommended.
Here are two reflective books that won honors this year – Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Finalist for Yonder and a Newbery Honor for Iveliz Explains It All.
Yonder by Ali Standish
HarperCollins, 2022
ISBN 978-0062985682
Read from a library copy.
Ebook and audiobook available on Libby.
In June of 1943, 12-year-old Danny Timmons lives in a small Appalachian town, caring for his pregnant mother while his father is away at war. His morning routine includes delivering the papers with his older friend Jack. Through a story that alternates between present and past, we see how that friendship developed as Jack stayed with his family after a bad episode with his abusive father. But how did Danny and his former best friend Lou, who shared all her Nancy Drews with him, stop talking to each other? Why was his mother’s best friend and her family forced to leave town? And most importantly, when Jack disappears – where did he go and why? All of this is wrapped in a discussion of what makes a hero and whether or not all stories have them, as Jack slowly learns more about the atrocities both overseas and those that are quietly allowed to flourish right in his own kind-seeming hometown. This shares themes of coming to recognize bullying with Jennifer Chan is Not Alone. For more adventurous stories of America during World War II, try Kate Hannigan’s League of Secret Heroes series
Iveliz Explains It All by Andrea Beatriz Arango
Random House, 2022
ISBN 9780593563977
Read from a library copy.
Ebook and audiobook available on Libby.
In this novel in verse, Iveliz hopes to make seventh grade a fresh start, wiping away her past academic and behavioral challenges. However, the grief and guilt over her father’s death three years ago are overwhelming, putting her constantly on edge, so that she explodes every time classmates (who already target her because she speaks Spanish) deliberately push her buttons. She’s not able to talk to her mother or her counselor, and hopes that her grandmother moving in will be a comfort. But though she’s used to having to explain things like how to pronounce her name over and over again, it still hurts when her grandmother forgets who she is and tells her that she’s weak to need medication for her mental health problems. Even her relationship with her best friend, Amir, is strained, and she’s not sure if she’ll be able to make any other friends. On top of all of this, she’s seeing and hearing her father, but knows that if she tells anyone, they will think she’s crazy. Will Iveliz ever be able to reach out for help??
All of this is told in free verse on lined paper, with cute line drawings and moments of fun that help alleviate the weight of Iveliz’s many problems. I am torn about this book. It is really effective, showing how Iveliz’s intertwining roles affect her and her mental health, all the different areas interacting messily. I really cared about her, laughed a few times, and cried really, really hard as I read it in the bleachers while waiting for my son’s robotics tournament to start. On the other hand, it was a lot of weight reading about a kid with severe depression when I am dealing with a lot of depression in my family already. Ultimately, it was really good… and I had to go and read some heartwarming teen romance afterwards.
Here is my annual list of books that I rated at 9 or above. I rate most books I really enjoy as 8, but since that list would be over 100 books, I feel the need to limit myself.
I always have dreams of getting this list out in early January, or at the very least closer to when I put out my By the Numbers list. That’s maybe a goal I should be more realistic about, as both lists are quite time-consuming to put together. With this list in particular, I always want to have reviewed all the books I’m telling you were my favorites. I did go back and review some more of them, so that now slightly less than half of my 40 favorite books have reviews linked to them. Perhaps another year! In the meantime, the book covers will give some idea of the books.
Here is my standard disclaimer about rating books:
“I have never liked doing a public scale rating of books – the librarian in me would rather describe what’s in the book and let you decide if it sounds good for you. But I do give books number ratings on my own private spreadsheet. I shamelessly borrowed the Book Smugglers’ 10-point rating system for this, where 0 is “I want my time and my money back”, 5 is “meh” and so on. For my purposes, 7 is a book I enjoyed, 8 is one I loved and 9 is one I really, really loved. 10 only gets given out retrospectively to books I find myself re-reading and thinking about a lot – a true personal classic.”
Middle Grade
Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality by Roshni Chokshi
Black Bird, Blue Road by Sofiya Pasternack
Button Box by Bridget Hodder and Fawzia Gilani-Williams. Illustrated by Harshad Marathe
Cece Rios and the King of Fears by Kaela Rivera
Friends Forever by Shannon Hale & LeUyen Pham
Kiki Kallira Conquers a Curse by Sandu Mandanna
Last Mapmakerby Christina Soontornvat. Read by Sura Siu
Congratulations on making it to the end of this list! Please let me know which of these books you also love, and if there are any I haven’t reviewed that you’d especially like a review of.
Finally, my friends, I am bringing you my reviews of the last two of the finalists from my middle grade speculative fiction Cybils panel last year. And in case you missed it, the round 2 panel just announced the winners this past week – Mirrorwoodwas this year’s winner in my category, and Freewaterin the realistic middle grade category.
Children of the Quicksands by Efua Tratore Read by Tyla Collier
Scholastic Audio, 2022
ASIN B09VCTX78S
Listened to audiobook on Hoopla. Ebook and audiobook available on Libby.
Simi has grown up in the busy city of Lagos, Nigeria. Her mother has never even talked about her grandmother – but when her mother has to do training in London while her father is busy with his new wife, Simi is sent to stay with her grandmother in a remote and tiny village. The culture shock is enormous – with no electricity, no running water, and no internet, Simi doesn’t know what to do with herself. It’s also shocking to learn that her grandmother is a priestess of the goddess Oshun, following the old religion that her mother looked down on as nothing but harmful superstition. She’s also thrown into the middle of the village story – children disappearing into the quicksands in the forest, never to be seen again. As Simi learns how to survive and help her grandmother with the daily work, she is also drawn further into the magic. Together with the son of a local chief – who lives both in Lagos and in his village – she investigates this mystery and determines to stop the disappearances.
This is a fascinating look at two sides of Nigeria in both the real-life and the magical aspects. Simi grows in so many aspects- in her personal self-reliance, in joining the community in the village, and in strengthening the relationships between her mother and grandmother. The magical part – with children trapped in childhood in a world through the quicksands – is also captivating. It’s interwoven with goddesses like Oshun, whom I’ve read about before, as well as aspects that are new to me. I especially appreciated that while mistakes were clearly made and very bad things have happened, there were no villains here. I listened to this on audio, which I highly recommend for capturing the full feel of the transitions between worlds with the shifting accents. For more fantasy set in Nigeria, try Onyeka and the Academy of the Sunby Tọlá Okogwu and Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor.
Eden’s Everdark by Karen Strong
Simon and Schuster, 2022
ISBN 978-1665904476
Read from a library copy. My library system doesn’t have it through Libby, but it is available for purchase there, so your library might have it.
Eden and her father decide to visit the tightly-knit island community her mother grew up in only after her death. There, she meets the extended family and learns about the history of their island, where whole Black communities purchased the land they had worked while enslaved after emancipation. In her mother’s childhood bedroom, Eden finds an old journal, with pictures of people in a place called Everdark.
Though her mother must have found her way out of Everdark, Eden stumbles through a doorway and finds herself trapped in an Everdark that hasn’t changed in the intervening decades. There, two other Black girls from different eras live in the plantation house, overseen by Mother Mary. Though they dress in elaborate clothes and eat delicious food, they aren’t allowed to leave, and dangerous creatures stalk the ever-twilight woods outside. Eden can feel herself being more and more tightly bound to this shadow world as time passes, knowing that if she can’t find a way to escape, she’ll die in the real world. This is an atmospheric story with multiple strong and memorable characters. I loved that it covers Black history from multiple eras, and that while Mother Mary keeps the girls captive, she genuinely cares for them and believes she’s doing the right thing. It’s a powerful blend of history, horror, and personal growth that was one of my favorites of 2022. If you haven’t read it yet, Strong’s 2019 book Just South of Homeis one I’ve been adding to my lists ever since I read it in 2020.
alibrarymama 