H. A., Findaway World, L., Jackson, T.
D., & Turpin, B. (2017). Allegedly [Audio Book]. New York, NY: [Harper Audio].
Mary Addison is a teenager
who is currently serving time in a halfway house for allegedly murdering
baby Alyssa, a friend of the family, her mother was babysitting one night. Mary
and her mother were babysitting for baby Alyssa one night as her parents went
out to a Christmas party. Alyssa would not stop crying. Mary was trying to get
her
mother, when Alyssa was dropped, causing the “death” of the baby. Which in
reality the mother shook the baby to get her to stop crying as she noticed the
baby choking on her cross pendant. She was unsuccessful with saving the baby so
she put the blame on Mary and convinced her she was at fault for the death of
the baby. When Mary was young her mother had her evaluated by a number of
doctors who diagnosed her with ADHD and blackout episodes that caused her to
fall into moments of rage, therefore prescribing medication to alleviate her symptoms.
Mary is faced with the realities of other girls in the house and their cruel
demeanors towards her. She meets her boyfriend, Ted at the nursing home, where
they are both serving community hours. She gets her pregnant and decides she
wants to keep it. Ted encourages Mary to prep for the SATs and attend college
so that the baby will have a good life. As the state is threatening to take her
baby away, she ready to tell the truth about the alleged murder she committed.
She gets a hold of an organization who is willing to her case and is appointed
to Ms. Cora as her attorney. Ms. Cora helps Mary reopen her case as questions
arise surrounding the mother’s action on that night. Who is to blame for baby
Alyssa’s death? As the case is still up in the air Mary is relocated to another
home where she will be able to care for her child. Tiffany does a great job
with creating the right amount of suspense starting at the beginning of the
story until the end. Although the story is fiction, there are many individuals
who may feel like Mary when they are “wrongfully accused”. Other books that are
similar to Allegedly are Throwaway Girl by Kristine Scarrow and Saying good-bye to London by Julie
Burtinshaw.
Osborne, M. J., & Fish,
V. (2018). The Wendy project. New York, NY: Super genius.
The Wendy Project is a graphic novel that follows Wendy, a
sister who blames herself for her brother’s death. One day she found herself
trying to stop an argument between her brothers. This caused her to swerve off
the road and into a body of water, causing her brother Michael, to drown.
Wendy’s younger became mute after the accident. The story continues following
Wendy and her family as she comes to terms with the accidental death of her
brother. She is convinced her brother is still alive as she “sees” him flying
around her. She tries to prove to everyone around her that she is right. Wendy
experiences grief and acceptance with reality. The story is a parallel to the
story of Peter Pan. Characters such as Captain Hook, Peter Pan, Tinker Bell,
and Wendy are transparent throughout the novel. The graphics provide a perfect
visual for readers and they read the novel, very close to a silent movie
experience. The novel explores real life situations teens are experiencing
today. Grief, loss of loved ones, and guilt can be explained, taught, and
discussed with students using this graphic novel. Similar novels on dealing
with topics as previously mentioned is Halfway
Normal by Barbra Dee.
Lippincott, R., Daughtry, M.,
& Iaconis, T. (2019). Five
feet apart. New York: Simon &
Schuster BFYR.
The story begins with Stella
Grant a high school student who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. She deals
with constant trips to hospitals to get better and continue to live life
“normally” as she waits for a new set of lungs. Stella is also juggling
supporting her divorced parents who can’t stand the sight of each other, a best
friend, Poe, dealing with his own battle with his illness, the blame and guilt
of her sister’s death, and now Will’s life. She meets Will, another patient
diagnosed with CF along with B. cepacia, at the hospital. They must stay within
6 feet from each other at all times in order to avoid infecting each other
which will lead to their deaths. This becomes harder for them to do as they
fall in love with one another. Stella is adamant about doing what it takes to
keep living as long as they can. Will on the other hand can’t wait for his 18th
birthday to live his life the way he should live it, free. His mother sees it
differently. It takes Will everything in power to show his reasoning for living
to Stella. A life changing event occurs at the end of the story forcing Stella
to see what Will was trying to convey to her about living life. In the end her
parents get back together, she accepts her sister’s death, and is now living life
without any fears. Overall a great love story about young love and the
tribulations young adults face. A similar read is The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Five Feet Apart is now a
motion picture.
Summers, C. (2018). Sadie. New
York, NY: Wednesday Books.
Sadie, a native to Cold
Creek, Colorado, is about this young girl who sister has been murdered. As she
deals with an unsustainable mother, who is in and out of her life, she leans on
a neighbor May Beth Foster. May is the park manager where Sadie lives and looks
after her. Sadie is devastated when she finds out her sister, Mattie is found
murdered. She takes it upon herself to
do whatever it takes to find out her sister’s murderer, then is reported as a
missing runaway. Sadie changes her hair color and name to hide her identity. A
reporter, West McCray has been assigned to investigate and reports his findings
through his podcast, which many people begin to tune into. As Sadie
investigates further, she discovers one of her mother’s many ex-lovers was
living different lives and had lied about who he was. Jack was a part of their
lives for a short time. Sadie uncovers this grim secret after figuring out his
real name and exposing his hotel room that hid his many different identities. After
Sadie had gone through tribulations she finally comes face to face with Jack.
Unfortunately, Sadie is still missing, but a new podcast titled The Girls by
West McCray will hopefully shed light on these missing runaway girls and help
find them. This book will have readers questioning the ending! A great read
young adults can get lost in. Author Courtney Summers, offers more of an
authentic feel to the story as half of the book is written in a scripted form
(podcast). You can’t help but feel for Sadie as her emotions are transpired
throughout the story. Similar titles by Courtney Summers like Sadie are All the Rage and Fall for
Anything.
Acevedo, E. (2018). The Poet X [EBook]. New
York, NY: Harper Teen.
The Poet X follows Xiomara a
sophomore in high school. She lives in Harlem and is dealing with the
obligation of following her mother’s religion, her father’s views of how she
should act, and her twin brother’s sexual orientation. Her twin brother, Xavier
gave her a leather bound spiral as an outlet to write down her thoughts. Within
the spiral Xiomara expresses herself and writes many poems over the course of
time. Her English teacher, Ms. Galiano
has created a poetry club and has asked Xiomara to join as she sees potential
in her writing. She uses these club meetings as an escape to fulfill her
confirmation to her mother’s religion. As if going against her mother’s wishes
is not enough and keeping her brother’s sexual orientation a secret, she has
fallen for a boy named, Aman. Her parents, especially her mother would not
approve of. Xiomara’s mother has insisted she is to finish college, then maybe
just then, she is allowed to date. After a couple of times sneaking out to meet
up with Aman, she is caught by her mother red handed kissing him on the bus. At
this point in time everything comes crashing down around her. Her mother finds
the spiral and figures out most of the poems are about her and her true
feelings about her religion. This causes her mother to burn the spiral as they
argue with one another. Xiomara finds comfort and stays the night with Aman.
She knows that things can’t be like this forever and decides she needs to have
a heart to heart with her family especially her mother. Xiomara invites their
priest and after a discussion and has concluded she is not ready for
confirmation, but both need to come to terms who they are as individuals. This
reunites Xiomara and her mother. They all find themselves showing support at
her next Slam Poetry performance. It is through Slam Poetry Xiomara is able to
express herself. Young adults are going through a period where adults such as
mothers, parents, or guardians may not fully understand them. The author
Elizabeth Acevedo has provided an outlet for these individuals. Poetry can be
taught within this book as it provides examples of slam poetry and haikus.
Other books that explore the same concepts as the Poet X are Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and I’m Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by
Erika Sanchez.
Reynolds, J. (2019). The boy in the black suit. London: Faber & Faber.
The Boy in a Black Suit is
about a teenager in his senior year of high school named, Matt Miller. Matt has
just suffered the death of his mother, was the rock of the family and the one
who kept the family together. After the death of his mother his father has
turned to drinking and involved in a horrific accident, which leads to rehab
and endures a long road of recovery ahead of him. As his father began to spiral
out of control, Matt decided to get a job with a local funeral home ran by Mr.
Ray. Mr. Ray has had his own misfortunes after suffering a busted knee that
ended his college basketball career and loss of his wife. Mr. Ray takes it upon
himself to look after Matt as his father recovers from his accident. As part of
Matt’s job at the funeral home he decides to wear a black suit in case they
ever need him to be a part of a funeral. Matt begins a little at a time in
understanding as he studies individuals going through their own grief that he
is not alone. Matt meets a girl, Love, who works at a local food chain
Cluckers, who has just lost her grandmother who raised her as her own daughter.
He sees a different side of grief as she comes to terms with the loss of her
grandmother. Anything is possible through love and lost, it is just how one
deals with it. Grief and Loss of loved ones are the major topics found within
this book, where young adults can relate to or see how others can cope with
losing loved ones. There are many titles that can help young adult readers
through these times such as The Sky is
Everywhere by Jandy Nelson and If I
Stay by Gayle Forman.
Buxbaum, J. (2016). Tell
me three things [Ebook]. New York: Delacorte Press.
Jessie, a teenage girl who
lived in Chicago all her life, has lost her mother to cancer and is left to
deal with her father eloping with a women he met online. Fast forward a month
or two and Jessie is now living in LA with her new step mother and step brother.
She is also enrolled in a tuition paid high school and feels completely out of
place. RF high school is nothing compared to her old high school in Chicago.
Students that attend RH High are dressed in designer clothing, drove expensive
cars, and students strive to be the top in their classes academically. All the
things opposite in contrast to what she was used to back home. Lucky for Jessie
she receives an anonymous email from an alias named Somebody Nobody. Somebody
Nobody has befriended her through email and takes her under their wing as they
provide advice on how to survive RF high school. Jessie is soon faced with
bullying as girls are jealous of her charm, charisma, and no need to try
attitude. She goes through her junior year of high school grieving her mother,
deals with her resentment towards her father for abandoning her, falls for her
first true love, and hold on to her best friend in a long distance
relationship. A boy named Ethan has claimed her heart after working on a class
assignment for English class. She suspects at different points in time that
Ethan may be Somebody Nobody, but shrugs off the possibility as she figures it
is another boy. After some time SN and Jessie agree to finally meet up, and to
her surprise Somebody Nobody is Ethan. Tell Me Three Things offers many
teaching points such as grief, loss, friendships, and new experiences. Similar
titles like Tell Me Three Things are Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone
and Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow.
T. M., Findaway World, L.,
Heyborne, K., & Smith, A. (2016). 100 sideways miles [Audio book]. Old Saybrook, Connecticut:[Tantor Audio].
100 Sideways Miles takes us
on a journey with a boy named Finn Easton who suffers from epileptic attacks
and has endured a horrible car accident involving a horse falling on Finn’s
back causing it to break. Finn is not your normal teen and quite doesn’t see
the world in the sense like everyone else does, as he measures time in miles
instead of minutes. Finn has a friend, Cade Hernandez, who is rough around the
edges. Cade is the total opposite of how Finn’s father expects Finn to be. Finn’s
father is an author who has a book, titled The Lazarus Door. Finn cannot help but
think the main character in the book is him. This story takes place during
their senior year of high school. Life is business as usual until a girl, Julia
Bishop transfers over to Finn’s school and can’t help himself but to fall in
love with her. Unfortunately, Julia is asked to go back home leaving Finn
behind. Finn becomes a little depressed and is even willing to back out of a
trip with Cade to visit a college in Oklahoma. Cade convinces Finn to go. One
night they stop and rent a hotel room. Cade picks up a copy of The Lazarus Door
and comments to Finn how the main character of the book is definitely him and
is baffled with the conclusion of the story. Cade is asking Finn what happens
to the main character and Finn shrugs it off with, I don’t know. They leave the
hotel and encounter terrible rain storm which causes a minivan to skid off the
road and fall into a river. The boys can’t help but quickly jump in and rescue
the individuals in the van. After a slight mix up of identities, they have been
labeled unselfish heroes. Cade rescued an elderly gentlemen and Finn, a young
boy. After recollecting the events that occurred Cade and Finn agreed life is
too short and must continue to live making their own decisions. They high tail
it to Chicago to visit Julia. Readers may not suffer from epilepsy, therefore
never knowing what they go through. This book gives reader insight of the
thoughts of a teen dealing with epileptic attacks and shows them how he copes
with his illness. Other stories by Andrew Smith that are similar to this book
are Winger and Stand Off.
Brown, D. (2018). The
unwanted: stories of the Syrian refugees. New York, NY. Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt Publishing Company.
The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees showcases those group of people who fled Syria
in March of 2011. They were protesting and demanding their freedom under a “one-man
rule” under the Assad family. They were ruthless and corrupt and the people
knew it. The people would stop at nothing to try and stop their ruling. What should
have been a peaceful protest, turned violent ending with many massacres,
executions, and kidnapping. The people decided to finally flee to Jordan and
Lebanon to live with family or friends. Luckily for some Turkey allowed some
in, but were kept in a concentration camp. Camps were poorly maintained. Others
fled to Greece, but for a fee. Still other refugees found themselves running
for the Egyptian and Libyan coasts. Unfortunately for this group they exceeded
the boat’s capacity by a lot causing the boat to sink. As a result thousands of
refugees died. Yet, others were able to pull through and create a “village” as
they bought and sold goods such as clothing, food, and electronics in the
Zaatari desert. Some countries flat out refused them altogether. These refugees endured many life altering decisions
to attempt to gain a better chance at living life. Brothers, daughters,
mothers, fathers, grandparent, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends lost their lives
for a chance at a better life. Many refugees are still living are enduring
living in times of hardships, but some people find it in their hearts and assist
with these individuals. With this nonfiction in a graphic novel form provides
readers with great learning opportunities on refugees, the Middle East, and the
adversity they had to overcome. Students may not realize that 2011 was only 9
years ago, so they may have trouble understanding how true the hardships these
refugees endured. Similar graphic novels such as The Unwanted: stories of the Syrian refugees are Fever Year: The Killer Flu of 1918 by Don
Brown and Drowned City: Hurricane
Katrina and New Orleans.
