When they were young, Jake met Emilia at an arcade birthday party – the only person he’d ever seen beat his high score at his favorite video game. But though they ran into each other at the arcade a couple more times over the years, they never really got to know each other outside of the arcade.
Now it’s high school. Emilia is a junior living a very full double life. During the day, she’s one of the popular girls, a star on the hockey team with a killer fashion sense, an amazing college portfolio binder, and a universally lusted-after boyfriend. She may look like she has it all, but success is hard-won and necessary – as a Puerto Rican, she has to be the best to get anywhere at all. She’s also agreed – against her better judgement – to run as vice president on her best friend’s school council run.
At night, though, Emilia is an elite player of the fantasy video game Guardians League Online and a new member of one of the top local teams, Fury. Neither her parents nor her best friend know anything about this passion. With that many things packed into her schedule, it’s no wonder that things quickly start falling apart – with the key election dates lining up clashing with the newly announced Guardians in-person tournament.
Jake, whom we see both in his own viewpoint chapters and in group chats with his game team and Fury’s rival team, Unity, is clearly a sweetheart. He has issues of his own – not just the secret crush he’s had on Emilia for years, but also parent and self-confidence issues. The group conversations, though, are where we really see the difference between the in-game support. Emilia is the only girl on Team Fury, which barely accepts her, and has been keeping her gender a secret online for the past several years. Team Unity, by contrast, has not only a lot of gender diversity, but also a caring, friends- and fun-first attitude.
This is a romance by the cover, so we’re expecting to enjoy Emilia and Jake’s slow development towards romance. We also get a lot of personal growth, especially from Emilia as she’s forced to stop compartmentalizing her life, improving her relationship with her friends and parents as she does. And while I had trouble keeping track of all the gaming acronyms, I really did enjoy the scenes set in the fantasy world of Guardians League Online, which underscore Jake and Emilia’s love of the game despite the opposition they’ve faced playing it.
This would pair naturally with SLAYby Brittney Morris, or Warcross by Marie Lu for high action in real life paired with the video game adventure.
Today, I’m very excited to share with you the latest book by John David Anderson – a return to the speculative fiction that first drew me to his work. Be sure to make it to the end for the giveaway and the other stops on the tour!
About the Book:
The beloved author of Posted and Ms. Bixby’s Last Day returns with the first book in a coming-of-age sci-fi duology about Leo, a kid trying to navigate the galaxy in order to save his family—and, possibly, the planet Earth.
Here are two books by authors I’ve enjoyed in the past whose books I was very much looking forward to – the companion book to Rajani LaRocca’s Midsummer’s Mayhemand a first middle grade fantasy from Justina Ireland, author of Dread Nationand Deathless Divide.
Much Ado about Baseball
by Rajani LaRocca.
Yellow Jacket, 2021.
ISBN 978-1499811018.
Read from library copy.
Rising seventh-grader Trish has just moved to Comity, Massachusetts for her doctor mother’s new job. As an Indian-American girl, she’s always had to be the best to be accepted in her favorite activities – Little League baseball and math trivia. She’s not looking forward to starting all over again in a new town.
Ben wouldn’t be joining Little League this year if he hadn’t lost a bet with his best friend, Abhi. He loves the math associated with baseball, but doesn’t trust his own skills at all. He certainly isn’t happy to see the girl who meet him at the last math trivia championship on his team.
Abhi loves baseball and Shakespeare, and thinks that two math- and baseball-loving kids like Trish and Ben should be friends. Maybe a little push would help? It seems like Ben’s dog, Fib, agrees with him…
Then, it turns out that their Little League team is sponsored by the new snack shop in town, the Salt Shakers. It’s run by the mysterious Mr. O, who has a strong rivalry with the bakery featured in Midsummer’s Mayhem. They have snacks that promise to help with team spirit and sports skills. Trish doesn’t believe in magic – but her new team could sure use help with both of these.
This is such a fun blend of baseball magic, mystical magic, and the real issues kids have with friends, parents, and loss. There are math puzzles woven in, as well as really sweet dog. I’m not a baseball person myself, but I would recommend this wholeheartedly to any young baseball fan, as well as fans of the previous book.
Ophie’s Ghosts
by Justina Ireland.
Balzer + Bray, 2021.
ISBN 978-0062915894.
Read from library copy. Ebook and audiobook on Libby.
This one is for those who like their magic decidedly on the spooky side. It’s 1922, and 12-year-old Ophie has just woken up to her father telling her to take her mother and their emergency fund to safety. It’s not until they’re leaving that she realizes her mother can’t see her father, because she’s only seeing his ghost. Her father was killed earlier that day for trying to vote.
While Ophie and her mother escape to family in Pittsburgh, life is very different. Ophie now sees ghosts of all kinds everywhere – most especially in the grand but grim Daffodil Manor, where she and her mother take jobs as maids, though her mother forbids Ophie to talk about ghosts.. Her Great-Aunt Rose teaches Ophie a little, mostly to stay away from ghosts. But how can Ophie stay away from them when she’s surrounded by them every day? And when she finds that the one person who’s been able to help her deal with the crotchety and racist old lady she has to take care of all day is the ghost of a young murdered woman, she’s determined to solve the mystery no matter what Great-Aunt Rose told her.
This was such an excellent story! I was pulled in right from the beginning, and found myself thinking frequently in between reading sessions. Content note: there are lots of ghosts who died of gruesome causes, but Ophie herself is never in personal danger once she and her mother have escaped the South. It feels like the perfect level of spookiness for middle grade. The difficulty of life for African-Americans in this era – decades after slavery ended, but with so many unwritten but heavily enforced rules for Blacks to follow – is viscerally on display. I will second Charlotte in hoping that there will many more middle grade books from Justina Ireland.
It’s summer for me right now – and as a kid I had favorite books set in the summer that I loved to re-read every year. You can see some of them on my list of Top 10 Re-Read Fantasy Books – but meanwhile, whether you like to read books to match the current season or take you out of it, here are some more recent books set during the summer or in hot climates.
Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston. Ebook and audiobook on Libby. “Thirteen-year-old Amari, a poor Black girl from the projects, gets an invitation from her missing brother to join the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs [with training for kids over summer vacations] and join in the fight against an evil magician.”
Catalyst by Sarah Beth Durst. Ebook and audiobook on Libby. “Zoe must figure out how to keep a giant kitten safe in this magical adventure about change, expectation, and accepting all for who they truly are- regardless of shape or size.” This is now one of my daughter’s favorite books.
Curse of the Night Witchby Alex Aster “After changing the fate he has known since birth, twelve-year-old Tor Luna, accompanied by his friends Engle and Melda, must visit the notorious Night Witch to break the curse he now faces.”
The Girl and the Witch’s Garden by Erin Bowman. Ebook on Libby. “The Secret Garden meets Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children in this rich, charming middle grade adventure about a girl determined to infiltrate her grandmother’s enchanted garden with the help of some magically gifted friends.”
Just South of Home by Karen Strong “Twelve-year-old Sarah, her Chicago cousin Janie, brainy brother Ellis, and his best friend, Jasper, investigate a tragic event in their small Southern town’s history.”
Lalani of the Distant Sea by Erin Entrada Kelly Ebook and audiobook on Libby. “Twelve-year-old Lalani Sarita takes on the impossible task of traveling to the legendary Mount Isa, towering on an island to the north. Generations of men and boys have died on the same quest–how can a timid young girl in a tiny boat survive the epic tests of the archipelago?”
The Last Last Day of Summer by Lamar Giles. Ebook and audiobook on Libby. “When adventurous cousins Otto and Sheed Alston accidentally extend the last day of summer by freezing time, they find the secrets between the unmoving seconds are not as much fun as they expected.”
Midsummer’s Mayhemby Rajani LaRocca. Audiobook on Libby and Hoopla. “Loosely based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, eleven-year-old Mimi Mackson entangles herself and her family with mischievous fairies when she seeks to win a baking contest.” Be sure to catch the sequel, Much Ado about Baseball, out in 2021.
The Thief Knot by Kate Milford. Ebook on Libby. “Marzana and her best friend, Nialla, are bored. In a city where normal rules don’t apply, it seems that adventure should be everywhere, yet nothing exciting ever happens to them. Nothing, that is, until Marzana’s parents are recruited to help solve a kidnapping that makes no sense. This could be the excitement Marzana and Nialla have been looking for-if they can crack the case without getting caught meddling.”
A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat “All light in Chattana is created by one man – the Governor, who appeared after the Great Fire to bring peace and order to the city. For Pong, who was born in Namwon Prison, the magical lights represent freedom, and he dreams of the day he will be able to walk among them. But when Pong escapes from prison, he realizes that the world outside is no fairer than the one behind bars.”
Do you like to match books to seasons? What books would you add to this list?
Every year I participate in the Cybils Awards, I read books more quickly than I can review them. Here’s another one left over from the fall. And though it didn’t make it to the finalist round, I was very excited when it won a Pura Belpré Honor this year.
The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cuevas.
Farrar Straus Giroux, 2020.
ISBN 978-0374313609. Read from library copy.
Nestor is starting sixth grade at his sixth school – his father is deployed disarming bombs at an undisclosed location, probably Afghanistan. Now, instead of living on base, he and his mother are moving in with Nestor’s Abuela in New Haven, Texas. Nestor is a fast-talking kid, used to using his words and humor to help with the struggles of always being the new kid. But though he’s very used to change, even he is surprised when a smart-aleck raven starts talking to him. He is also rather alarmed to hear stories from multiple people of pets and goats disappearing in the woods. School life includes new friends Talib and Maria Carmen, as well as a bully, Brandon, and actually joining the trivia team at school. But one of the teachers, Miss Humala, is so over-the-top cruel that it’s truly frightening. Then, the kids catch glimpses of giant animals – a snake, a spider and a wolverine – creatures that fit too neatly into the old Panamanian and Costa Rican legend of the evil witch or tule vieja. If they can believe the stories, the only way to stop her is during the eclipse – coming up in just a few days.
Nestor is an utterly believable kid, his patter and wit covering the deep pain of having his dad gone most of the time and never having had a place to put down roots. Even as he’s getting to know his grandmother better and making real friends, he has a hard time believing that this is the place he’ll actually stay. Life as part of a military family is covered only rarely, and it’s good to see this portrayal. Though the scope of the baddie is limited to the town rather than the whole world, this has enough action and ties to myths (even if less familiar ones) to appeal to fans of the Rick Riordan style, as well as to kids who enjoy stories of kids learning to put down roots.
Though the feel is lighter, the Love Sugar Magic series by Anna Meriano is also excellent middle grade about magic in Texas.
All too often, being tender-hearted is seen as a weakness to overcome. Here are two recent books – one fantasy and one realistic – where kindness is the secret strength that wins the day.
Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls by Kaela Rivera.
Harper, 2021.
ISBN 978-0062947550.
Read from library copy. Also available as an ebook and audiobook on Libby.
Cece Rios lives in the tiny town of Tierra del Sol, surrounded by a desert full of criaturas – some malevolent, all of them dangerous. When she was young, she had an eventful meeting with Tzitzimitl, the criatura of Stars and Devouring, who “cursed” her with a soul of water, rather than the soul of fire all the other residents of the sun-worshipping town follow. But when her fierce and beautiful older sister, Juana, is kidnapped by the dark criatura El Sombrerón to be his bride, Cece decides she’s done trying to fit in and follow the rules. She’s going to do whatever it takes to get Juana back.
The other traditional villains in the area are the brujas – powerful and cruel humans (both male and female) who have stolen the souls of criaturas and use them as their enslaved soldiers and in battles and to bolster their magical power. That’s the surest way to power and getting close enough to rescue her sister that Cece knows. But can she become a bruja and keep her heart of water, with its tendency to make her cry whenever she sees someone in pain?
Along the way, she is helped by the priestess of the sun, Dominga del Sol, who still talks about the other three gods – Moon, Ocean and Desert – and tells stories of the curanderas, who once knew how to use magic for healing rather than harm. Cece also meets the legendary Coyote, the Namer, whose human form is currently that of a boy just a year older than she is. Must Cece become a true bruja, or will she be able to rediscover the lost art of curanderia?
The Mexican-inspired world-building felt really strong here, both solid enough to hold up the story without the rules being so tediously laid out that there was no room for breathing. Cece of course is a very strong character, one struggling with what those around her consider both curse and weakness. Her mother wants to wash and charm the curse out of her, while her father runs away to the bar and whose brief attempts at parenting turn out more abusive than helpful. This isn’t easy by any means, but I loved the message that came throug the adventure loud and strong: kindness requires even more strength than cruelty, and it has enormous power.
Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden.
Nancy Paulsen Books, 2021.
ISBN 9781984816061.
Read from library copy.
In the modern-day United States, four kids from four places are all having a rough time. In a city in Vermont, Libby tries to express her feelings and add cheer to the world with art – on paper and on the walls of the school. But the school interprets this as part of her family’s history of bullying, while her family takes it as a sign of weakness.
Jack, in a tiny nearby community, goes to a two-room school that looks like it’s about to be closed, as it can’t afford to follow new state regulations. He’s also mourning the death of his younger brother some years earlier, and has a close relationship with a boy about his brother’s age.
In Seattle, Vincent loves triangles, puffins and mathematician Katherine Johnson, and is tired of being bullied for not fitting into any of the triangle sides he sees making up his school’s social circle. He’s charted out his days at school to avoid the popular bullies who like to steal his clothes and push him into lockers, but so far, none of this is working.
Also in Seattle, on the sidewalk in front of the church that offers free meals, is T, who’s run away from home and is trying to survive with just a sleeping bag and their dog for company. T’s story is told in verse and very short segments, so that T is the character initially most closed-off to the reader. But though we don’t know much about T, their thoughts on passing through days being hungry, willing to give up nearly everything to live true to their identity, is hugely expressive.
All these stories start out separate and slowly inch their way to connection. Libby sneaks out of her house to spread postcards with positive messages. And as people receive postcards, they start sending them as well, creating an increasing circle of kindness and allowing all of our main characters to take important steps in growth that improve their own lives as well as that of those around them. Though the message of kindness is apparent from the start, a message of the importance of understanding and loving kids and teens who don’t feel that they fit into the standard boy and girl gender boxes comes to the surface as well.
As in Braden’s The Benefits of Being an Octopus,the issues here are gut-wrenching while feeling absolutely grounded in reality. The first three-quarters of the book, with all four main characters suffering so much before they came together, was really tough for my sensitive maternal heart, though I think kids are often less bothered by this than I am and I cared enough about the characters and trust Ann Braden’s writing enough that I was never tempted to give up reading. And the ending came together gloriously. I could see this making a great classroom read-aloud, with kids making their own inspiring postcards to pass out in their communities, or as Braden herself has done, to mail to communities in need or impacted by hate crimes.
I am easily coming up with more desert fantasies – Paula Santiago and the River of Tearsby Tehlor Kay Mejia, or The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cuevas (this is also when I realize that I still haven’t written up my notes of that last one into a full review) – but am having a harder time thinking of fantasies with a focus on kindness. Please let me know in the comments if you know of any! Flight of the Puffin might also pair well with A Place at the Table by Saadia Faruqi & Laura Shovan, which also has themes of different people getting to know and help each other.
It’s 1963 in South Carolina, and Jezebel and Jay Turner are mourning the recent death of their grandmother, an admired practioner of Root, the Gullah Geechee traditional magic. Now that her grandmother is gone, Jez is being targeted by supernatural monsters for her untamed power. Their mother had always been skeptical and not wanted them to learn Root, but under the circumstances, she allows the kids’ uncle, Doc, to begin to teach them.
This would be plenty exciting on its own, but school integration is just beginning. The members of the Gullah Geechee community, island dwelling and mostly poor, are looked down on even by the mainland Black kids at school. So when Jez meets a new girl, Susie, she’s excited at the possibility of friendship, even if Susie isn’t willing to take Jez to her own house. There’s also a power-hungry sheriff who sees his position as an opportunity to make the lives of all the Black residents difficult, especially anyone who dares to stand up to him. And the Turner family is not one to submit to injustice easily…
The sticky air of the swamp, the warm connections of family, the danger and thrill of Root – its potential joys and the danger lurking under the surface of every body of water and behind any trees – as well as the atmosphere of entrenched oppression – are all brought vividly to life here. It was very interesting to compare the Root as shown in Root Magic with the Root of Legendborn – clearly related, though used differently. I also loved the little doll that Jez’s grandmother left her, which was animated enough to help her, much like Vasilisa’s doll in “Vasilisa the Beautiful”. But most of all, I enjoyed seeing Jezebel grow in power, confidence, and kindness.
This is the first book I have seen from a Gullah Geechee perspective, but other books that mix a strong sense of place with magic and African-American history and culture include Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes, The Forgotten Girlby India Hill Brown, Just South of Homeby Karen Strong, and of course Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Skyby Kwame Mbalia.
You know how sometimes you pick up a book and it’s a little surprising how perfectly it is just what you wanted to read at that moment? And maybe it shouldn’t be surprising because after all, you did pick it (or perhaps let someone you trust pick it for you), but somehow it is.
Here are two moving stories from authors I’ve enjoyed in the past, both telling stories of middle school life for first-generation Americans, and which hit the spot for me so perfectly it was really hard to put them down. (Also, I ended up reading Red, White and Whole right after reading Red, White and Royal Blue. They are very different genres, despite the similar titles, but both made me both laugh and cry.)
Red, White and Whole by Rajani LaRocca.
HarperCollins, 2021.
ISBN 978-0063047426.
Read from library copy.
It’s 1983, and Reha feels like she’s living a double life. There’s the self she is on the weekends, when she spends time with her Indian best friend Sunny (short for Sunita), and the self she is at school, where there are no other Indian-American kids and her best friend is Rachel, who at least understands belonging to a religion no one else at school does. When she partners with a new boy in English class, these two parts come into conflict as her parents don’t approve of being in such close contact with someone of the opposite sex. And of course there’s lots of pressure for Reha to be more successful than her parents. She wants to be a doctor, but when her mother becomes gravely ill, this wish is put to the test.
The central metaphor is of our blood – how we have red and white cells in our body, very different, but both the same. This novel in verse also looks poetically at the meaning of Reha’s name – star – while her mother’s name, Punam, means moon. This moving, sad and hopeful story is very different from LaRocca’s Midsummer’s Mayhem, but also excellent.
Amina’s Song by Hena Khan.
Salaam Reads, 2021.
ISBN 978-1534459885.
Read from library copy.
As this sequel to Amina’s Voiceopens, Amina and her family are just winding up a trip to visit their relatives in Pakistan. The uncle she dreaded in the first book is now beloved, but having health problems, and they are all relieved to see him. She’s now good friends with her slightly older cousin, Zohra, who’s 16. Amina spends lots of time filming moments of the stay – the marketplace, the joy of the afternoon chai, where the family gathers to drink chai and eat delicious sweets every afternoon.
Back at home, she wants to share the beauty of Pakistan with her friends, but they don’t really want to listen. Worse yet, her best friend feels threatened by how much Amina misses Zohra. Worst of all, when she chooses Malala Yousafi as a topic for her school’s biography wax museum, her classmates think that Pakistan is a horrible backwards place she’s lucky to have escaped. And just to add to everything, she makes friends with a boy, Nico, whose interest in digital music meshes nicely with Amina’s love of singing and her new desire to write songs. But it’s upsetting when both her parents and her other friends think that they must be interested in each other romantically.
It’s very satisfying to see Amina come up with a brand-new way to share her love of Pakistan and renew her friendships. Her Muslim faith is important here as well as Amina works with people from her Mosque to help set up apartments for new refugees. This is another uplifting story of the challenges and joys of living between cultures, mixed with the ordinary hardships of middle school. I was so happy to spend more time with Amina!
Here are some more realistic middle grade books from the point of view of new and first-generation Americans:
I really enjoyed Celia Pérez’s First Rule of Punk, and a Scout-flavored book seemed right up my alley. It took me a couple years longer than I’d planned to get to it, but I’m glad I did!
Strange Birds: a Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers by Celia C. Pérez.
Kokila, 2019.
ISBN 978-0425290439.
Read from library copy.
Four very different girls unite in what starts out as a secret club just to have friends and grows into action for a cause. Cuban American Ofelia Castillo dreams of being a journalist, and is lobbying her parents to send her to a summer journalism course in New York. Aster Douglas lives with her grandfather, one of the first Black professors at the local university, while her mother is deployed overseas. She practices cooking from Julie Child and is nervous about going into seventh grade at the local middle school after being homeschooled most of her life. Cat Garcia is the youngest of four sisters, under pressure from her mother to enter the Miss Floras competition that’s the culmination of years of effort in this Scout-type group. Finally, Lane DiSanti is spending the summer with her wealthy grandmother while her parents are on two different continents getting a divorce. Her grandmother would also like her to join the Floras, but Lane is interested in modern street art, not old traditions. Still, she decides to put out secret invitations to form a secret Scout troop of her own.
Everything is awkward and uncomfortable when they first meet, but soon the new group bonds over a plan to stop the use of the historical hat with real endangered bird feathers used by the Floras in their ceremony. Shenanigans ensue, with all the girls learning that both friendship and activism are more important and more difficult than they had thought.
With chapters told from alternating points of view, we really get to know all the girls and their concerns well – great both for character readers like me, and for kids of different backgrounds to find characters they can see themselves in, including brief discussions of how the characters are treated differently depending on their skin color. The small-town Florida atmosphere is so vividly painted I could almost feel the humidity. A “handbook” at the end includes an activity based on each of the girl’s major interests – how to be a journalist, sew your own badge, start bird-watching, and bake Aster’s famous chocolate chip-chip cookies. Highly recommended!
I’ve now been putting together lists of Asian-American graphic novels since 2014. Since these lists would get out of control if I kept putting all the books in each one, this year I thought I’d start putting in just the books that have come out since my 2019 list (including a couple of older titles that I missed on that list.) Links are to my own reviews where available.
Adult
Apsara Engine by Bishakh Som (2020)
Ascender Vol 2: the Dead Sea by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen (2020)
Ascender Vol 3: the Digital Mage by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen (2020)
In Waves by A.J. Dungo (2019)
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist by Adrian Tomine (2020)
Monstress vol 5 and 6 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (2020-2021)
Red Sonja and Vampirella Meet Betty and Veronica by Amy Chu (2020)
Tamamo the Fox Maiden: and other Asian Stories by Kei Macdonald and Kate Ashwin (2019)
Tidesong by Wendy Xu (Nov. 2021)
This list feels pitifully short, even including things by Asian-American authors that don’t seem to have Asian-American characters. If you, dear reader, have any that I might add to this list – books published in the last two years – please let me know! Publishers, please give us more!
[Updated 7/16/21 to add more titles, especially Filipino-American representation. Thank you to Isabel Roxas for the tips!]
alibrarymama 