You’d Be Home Now
by Kathleen Glasgow
Publisher: Random House Children’s Books
Imprint: Delacorte Press
Release date: September 28, 2021
ISBN: 9780525708049
Emory is lucky. She survived the car crash that killed the super popular Candy MontClair and provided the impetus for Emory’s older brother, Joey, to be shipped off to a rehab program in Colorado. Now left with physical and emotional scars from the trauma, Emory is trying to recover even as her mother places more responsibility on her to regulate the newly returned Joey’s behavior. Feeling unseen leaves Emory vulnerable to manipulation by her crush while weighing her down by the fear that her failures could be the cause of Joey’s relapse.
Pills on the cover, a compelling lead-in chapter, and Kathleen Glasgow’s reputation for producing hard-hitting, gritty novels make this an easy sell for reluctant readers.This is one of the few novels written from the perspective of the family member of an addict, and the emotional dynamics are authentically portrayed. The complication of a love interest who is willing to engage in increasingly intimate, but clandestine, encounters which escalate to requests for provocative pictures that are then leaked at school make this timely and relatable.
Teens who like gritty realistic fiction will appreciate this title. Hand this to students who have been moved by Wendelin Van Draanen’s Wild Bird, Jessie Ann Foley’s You Know I’m No Good, or older titles by Ellen Hopkins
– Jodi Kruse
Other Nominated Titles
- Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds (January 11, 2022)
- Sunny G’s Series of Rash Decisions by Navdeep Singh Dhillon (February 8, 2022)
- Vinyl Moon by Mahogany L. Browne (January 11, 2022)
The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.
Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.
