May 2020 – The Hub

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2021) Nominees Round Up, May 29 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Best Fiction for Young Adults nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Girls Save the World in This One by Ash Parsons
Philomel Books
Publication Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0525515326

Fangirl June Blue and her besties Imani and Siggy will let NOTHING stand in the way of a good time at ZombieCon–not the end of high school looming in the very near future, not ex-BFF Blair with her VIP badge that gets her to the front of every line, not over-enthusiastic cosplayers, not strangers rushing through the crowds in hazmat suits, not even–wait a minute!–the real actual zombie apocalypse itself! As the zombie hoard grows in numbers and survivors are trapped in the convention center, June and her friends know one thing for sure: They’re going to kick ass and save the world.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, May 28 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson, Omar Mohamed, and Iman Geddy
Dial Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House
Published: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 9780525553908

Fleeing their war-torn home of Somalia, brothers Omar and Hassan live in Dadaab, a refugee camp in Kenya. Omar has almost no memories of life before the camp and his mother, who he still desperately searches for in the faces of new refugees. Taking care of Hassan is his full-time job, but Omar dreams of going to school and making a new life for himself and his brother.

When survival is your priority, is there room for dreams too?

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2021) Nominees Round Up, May 27 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Amazing Audiobooks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky (Montague Siblings, Book 1.5) by Mackenzi Lee; narrated by Christian Coulson
HarperAudio
Release date: 11-26-19
ISBN: 9780062968883

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2021) Nominees Round Up, May 26 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Quick Picks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang
First Second / Macmillan
Publication Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1626720794

Award winning graphic novelist, Gene Luen Yang, tells the story of the varsity boys basketball team’s quest for a state championship at the high school he taught at before becoming a full-time author. Yang also grapples with his own literary future, as well as offers background about the history of basketball and how it relates to this team’s chances for victory.

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2021) Nominees Round Up, May 22 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Best Fiction for Young Adults nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Three Things I Know Are True by Betty Culley
HarperTeen / HarperCollins
Publication Date: January 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0062908025

After Liv’s brother Jonah accidentally shoots himself with his best friend’s father’s gun, he requires 24/7 medical care to live. A hospital bed in the living room becomes their new normal, as the family navigates grief and forgiveness.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, May 21 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

A Map to the Sun by Sloane Leong
First Second / Macmillan
Publication Date: August 4, 2020
ISBN: 9781250146687

While shooting hoops beachside, Ren meets another teenage girl, Luna, and a friendship quickly blossoms. That friendship dissolves, however, once Luna moves back to Oahu. When Luna returns years later, Ren must decide whether their friendship is worth rebuilding. Along the way, she and Luna join a newly formed basketball team, and readers get a glimpse into the individual lives and struggles (including drug use, self-harm, and familial death) of each member. As their team solidifies, the girls ultimately find friendship and a sense of belonging with each other.

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2021) Nominees Round Up, May 20 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Amazing Audiobooks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Allies by Alan Gratz Narrated by Jamie Cline, Vaneh Assadourian, PJ Ochlan, Matthew Frow, Marc Anthony Samuel, Norah Hunter
Scholastic Audio
Publication Date: October 15, 2019
ISBN: 9781338567182

Allies follows the lives of six different young people on D-Day, June 6^th, 1944. Dee a German national who grew up in the states and lies about his age to join the Army, Samira an Algerian girl whose mother is a French resistance spy, James a Canadian paratrooper, Henry an African American medic from Chicago, Bill an English tank driver and Monique a French girl living in a village outside of Normandy Beach. The narrative zips between these six stories which often intersect, telling how each of our main characters got to June 6^th and leaving the reader wondering if they’ll make it to June 7^th alive. This audiobook is an account of young people’s activity in WWII minus the extreme gore or language found in many adult books.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2021) Nominees Round Up, May 19 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Quick Picks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

A Match Made in Mehendi by Nandini Bajpai
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers / Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: September 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0316522588

When New Jersey sophomore Simi Sangha accidentally introduces her cousin Preet to the man Preet falls in love with, her family is overjoyed to realize that Simi shares the family gift for matchmaking. Simi’s mother and aunt are third-generation vichole (Punjabi matchmakers) but Simi thinks matchmaking is outdated and would rather focus her talents on her mehendi (henna design) inspired school art project. When best friend Noah convinces her that they should break down their school’s cliques by creating an anonymous dating app, Simi is reluctantly intrigued by the idea of modernizing her family’s gift. Instantly popular, the app puts Simi and Noah on their school’s social radar but also generates unexpected matches that lead to controversy and angst.

Reluctant readers will be drawn in by the high-interest combination of traditional matchmaking and dating apps, and will stay for Simi’s likeability and rewarding character growth. Warm, positive family dynamics add to the novel’s appeal. While Simi is initially reluctant to be drawn into the family business, working alongside her mother and aunt leads to respect and a desire to honor their abilities through her app. Each chapter starts with a quote from her family’s The Shagun Matchmaking Guide and readers will be intrigued by the cultural and historical information about vichole conveyed through the novel. A linear plot and dialogue realistic to the age group also enhance reluctant reader appeal.

A charming, feel-good read perfect for fans of Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Sandhya Menon’s When Dimple Met Rishi, or David Yoon’s Frankly In Love.

–Elizabeth Giles

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2021) Nominees Round Up, May 15 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Best Fiction for Young Adults nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar
Page Street Kids / Page Street Publishing
Publication Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1624149689

Nishat is a closeted Muslim lesbian in a family with strong Bangladeshi standards She is expected to have an arranged marriage with a man. When she falls for Flavia, she is dismayed to discover that Flavia’s cousin is none other than her nemesis at school, Chyna.

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2021) Nominees Round Up, May 13 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Amazing Audiobooks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

All-American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney; Narrated by Priya Ayyar
Dreamscape Media, LLC
Publication Date: November 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1974959310

Allie carries more of her white mother’s genes than her Circassian Jordanian father’s, and because of this, has been witness to the racism and Islamophobia of some of her peers. She has also had a complicated relationship with her Muslim faith, as her mother was a convert upon marrying her father, and her father is no longer practicing, and she seeks what it means to be Muslim for her. At her new school in Providence, Georgia she starts dating Wells Henderson, son of one of the country’s biggest Islamophobic radio personalities.