Tag: Contemporary Fiction

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: Sun Keep Rising by Kristen R. Lee

  • Sun Keep Rising
  • by Kristen R. Lee
  • Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
  • Imprint: Penguin Random House
  • Release date: January 24, 2023
  • ISBN: 9780593309193

Teen mom B’onca has always found a way to survive. Things are harder now with her baby, but she finds a way to stay in school, help pay the rent and raise her daughter. Unfortunately, her Memphis neighborhood is being gentrified and the rent is increasing. Soon B’onca and her mom get an eviction notice. B’onca can’t lose her home or her daughter. The father’s family is threatening to take the baby if she can’t prove she has a stable household. Pushed into a corner, B’onca decides to take a risk to get quick money, putting everything even more in jeopardy. 

The difficult, but real issues in this book are handled with grace and also don’t shy away from the pain and injustices. The realistic way it’s written will appeal to reluctant readers who like true stories with believable characters. In this short book the reader is drawn into B’onca’s life.

Readers who enjoy realistic stories that deal with complex life issues will enjoy this book. This tells a story that isn’t often told and gives a voice to young teen mothers who love their babies and strive to make themselves better for their kids. For more books about young women of color finding their voice while grappling with complicated lives read Vinyl Moon by Mahogany Browne and Me: Moth by Amber McBride.

Other Nominated

Release Date: September 6, 2023
Release Date: November 8, 2022
Release Date: February 28, 2023
Release Date: December 6, 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.

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2024) Featured Review: Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley

  • Warrior Girl Unearthed
  • by Angeline Boulley
  • Narrated by Isabella Star LeBlanc
  • Macmillian Audio | Macmillan Young Listeners
  • Publication Date: May 2, 2023
  • ISBN: 9781250877277

Perry Firekeeper-Birch just wants to enjoy her summer. But when a close call with a bear causes her to have a car accident she is forced to complete an internship at her tribe’s museum. There she learns about NAGPRA and repatriation (or lack thereof) of ancestors from a local university. She and her friends embark on a journey to bring their ancestors home by any means necessary. All the while, Native girls are going missing under mysterious circumstances, which is an issue that is all but ignored by the authorities. Warrior Girl Unearthed is a heartfelt story full of mystery and intrigue with realistic depictions of issues faced by indigenous people.

Isabella Star LeBlanc’s narration masterfully brings the story to life with her pronunciation of Ojibwe language and her captivating tone. The narration enhances the story by providing readers with an authentic voice depicting the native language spoken by the tribe as well as the reservation accent and code switching. 
This book is perfect for readers who enjoy authors such as Angie Thomas, Courtney Summers, Darcie Little Badger, or E. Lockhart. Those who enjoyed Boulley’s debut novel, Firekeeper’s Daughter, will enjoy this story as well.

– Haley Shaw

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: January 31, 2023
Release Date: November 1, 2022
Release Date: November 29, 2022
Release Date: February 7, 2023

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.

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2024) Featured Review: Promise Boys by Nick Brooks

  • Promise Boys
  • by Nick Brooks
  • Narrated by Renier Cortes, Christopher Hampton, Alfred Vines, and a full cast
  • Macmillan Audio| Macmillan Young Listeners
  • Publication Date: January 31, 2023
  • ISBN: 9781250877253

The Urban Promise Prep School is determined to create responsible, upstanding, college-bound young men out of all of its students. Principle Moore, the founder of the school, says that following the school’s unyielding discipline is what it takes to escape the violence of the students’ neighborhoods and to make it to college.  When Moore, a beloved pillar of the city of Washington D.C. turns up murdered in the school, three detention students are immediately suspects. J.B., Trey and Ramón. Each maintain that there is no way they could have committed the crime, no matter how much it may look like they did. The students and their friends are soon working together to discover who really murdered Principle Moore and why.

Nick Brooks has written a compelling mystery that will appeal to lots of different readers. The short chapters and constant change in point of view helps create urgency in the plot making this a fast read, even for reluctant readers. This is produced to great effect in the audiobook due to a full cast of narrators and sound effects. Readers who love crime or mystery and gravitate toward the television version of One of Us is Lying, the books of Karen McManus or Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s Ace of Spades will enjoy Promise Boys.

-Natalie LaRocque

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: November 11, 2022
Release Date: November 29, 2022
Release Date: March 7, 2023
Release Date: November 1, 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.

Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: Funeral Girl by Emma Ohland

  • Funeral Girl
  • by Emma Ohland
  • Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
  • Imprint: Lerner Publishing Group
  • Release date: September 6, 2022
  • ISBN: 9781728458007

Georgia’s parents run a funeral home so she is surrounded by the dead. It seems only natural that she can also communicate with ghosts by simply touching a corpse.

Initially this ability seems to give Georgia purpose as she can honor one last request from the dead before they cross over. But eventually, one of Georgia’s classmates dies unexpectedly and enters the funeral home. She is torn over if she should reach out to this body and risk learning the truth. What would readers do if confronted with the same situation?

Readers who are curious about life-after-death and interested in ghosts and ghost hunting will find this title appealing. Additional recommendations include Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson, Horror Hotel by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren, and Invisible Ghosts by Robyn Schneider.

– Jessica Lorentz Smith

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: November 8, 2022
Release Date: January 24, 2023

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.

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2024) Featured Review: Some Kind of Hate byy Sarah Darer Littman

  • Some Kind of Hate
  • by Sarah Darer Littman 
  • Narrated by Michael Crouch and Andrew Eiden 
  • Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc. | Blackstone Publishing
  • Publication Date: November 1, 2022
  • ISBN:  9798212170697

Declan knew his future was in baseball until he unexpectedly, and permanently, injured his arm. In the vacuum of this loss, Declan scrabbles to find his place and it is in a local white supremacist group where he finds others with the same level of rage. While everyone in Declan’s life struggles to understand how he got to this place, none are as confused or upset as his long-time best friend, Jake, who also happens to be Jewish. As Declan’s actions get scarier and scarier, Jake struggles with how to stop Declan before he does something irreversible.  

Dual narrators, Michael Crouch and Andrew Eiden, give clear voice to Jake and Declan (respectively) by showing how insidious hate groups can be and the struggle of combatting hate in unexpected places in life. Eiden ensures that Declan’s quick descent into extremism feels authentic and compelling. Crouch’s reflections on Jake’s frustrations push readers to these same spaces. Together, the narrators give passion to Darer Littman’s important and timely story. 

This audiobook pairs perfectly with Isaac Bloom’s The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen, Why We Fly by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal, and books by John Feinstein. 

 -Sarah Carpenter 

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: January 31, 2023
Release Date: November 11, 2022
Release Date: November 29, 2022
Release Date: March 7, 2023

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.

Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: No Accident by Laura Bates

  • No Accident
  • by Laura Bates
  • Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
  • Imprint: Sourcebooks
  • Release date: December 6, 2022
  • ISBN: 9781728206769

A group of basketball players and cheerleaders crash on a deserted island on their way home from an away game. The teammates work together to find a way to survive with little food and water, by searching the island, fishing, hunting and gathering what they can from the wreck. When strange events start happening to each of the surviving teens, that could appear as though they are just accidents, the group begins to turn on each other. Unsure if the accidents are just that, or one of the survivors trying to kill off the rest of them.

The plot moves at a quick pace keeping the reader continually guessing as to whether the accidents are just that, or something more sinister. The characters start as one dimensional but by the end there is some depth to a few of them which help to keep the reader engaged. The survivor story is always a win with readers who like to be on their toes.

Readers who enjoy survivor stories with unreliable characters and never a dull moment should pick this up. For more survival stories and possible backstabbing try A Map for Wrecked Girls by Jessica Taylor and Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis.

-Rachel Adams

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: April 11, 2023
Release Date: February 28, 2023

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.

Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: The Do-Over by Lynn Painter

  • The Do-Over
  • by Lynn Painter
  • Publisher: Simon and Schuster BFYR
  • Imprint: Simon Pulse
  • Release Date: November 15, 2022
  • ISBN: 9781534478862

Emilie is excited for Valentine’s Day because she plans to tell her boyfriend that she loves him for the first time. The chance never comes, though, because of bad news happening at every turn. Then, Emilie wakes up the next day only to find out that she must relive Valentine’s Day over and over, including learning her bad news again. Literally colliding with her lab partner Nick pushes the two closer and closer, although he has his own burdens to come to terms with. Together, they realize that messiness is inevitable, and nobody can defy fate.

This title is a good candidate for QPRR because it is fast paced, funny, and blends three different genres: contemporary realistic fiction, science fiction, and romance. Painter does an excellent job at portraying how stressful high school is while trying to balance academic obligations, familial obligations, and friend obligations, and feeling like you can never get it all right. Reading about characters who earn high grades, yet still battle their own demons, is helpful for someone who may feel as though school is not the right place for them.

The teen reader who would most appreciate this title is someone who needs the reminder that just because our peers may seem to have their lives together, what is apparent on the surface is not always what it seems. Everyone has their own struggle, regardless of how they look on paper. Additionally, the story is an excellent example that teens should never force a relationship with someone just for the visual that they are in a relationship. Our own happiness is more important than trying to fit with anyone else’s personality. Similar titles to read include The Here and Now (2014) by Ann Brashares, Pretty in Punxsutawney (2019) by Laurie Boyle Compton and The Leaving Season by Cat Jordan (2016)

-Emma K. McNamara

Release Date: September 27, 2022
Release Date: February 28, 2023

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.

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2024) Featured Review: The Secrets We Keep by Cassie Gustafson

  • The Secrets We Keep
  • By Cassie Gustafson
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR
  • Release Date: November 8, 2022
  • ISBN: 9781665906944

Fifteen-year-old Emma’s life is turned upside down when her father is accused of molesting Hannah, her best- and only- friend. Life in a small coastal town is barely tolerable for the socially awkward San Francisco transplant, so Emma’s loyalties are strained as her father tries to get her to find evidence that would suggest that Hannah is a liar. Both parents make it clear that what Emma knows could destroy her family forever.

Author, Cassie Gustafson, invites readers into Emma’s world and memories through a deft use of second person point of view, then propels them through Emma’s current challenges using first person narration. The topic of sexually exploitation is difficult to navigate, but each of the main characters is thoughtfully developed and carefully portrayed in all of their messy humanity without descending into titillating, irrelevant details. The grooming process is accurately portrayed, but the book ends in hope as Emma is forced to confront her own abuse. Emma’s fears are fully realized when her family- as she knew it- is destroyed. However, the plot would lack authenticity if everything was tied up in a neat, “happily ever after” bow.

Teen readers who gravitate toward the gritty fiction of Kathleen Glasgow will find this book utterly engrossing. Give this to readers who liked The Art of Breaking Things by Laura Sibson, Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow, and Practice Girl by Estelle Laure.

-Jodi Kruse

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: January 10, 2023
HighlySupciousAndUnfairlyCutebyTaliaHibbert
Release Date: January 3, 2023
Release Date: January 31, 2022
Release Date: October 18, 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.
The Best Fiction for Young Adults Committee appreciates teen feedback as members evaluate the nominated titles. Teen librarians are encouraged to share the List of Potential Nominees under consideration with their patrons and solicit feedback using the link: https://bit.ly/BFYA24TeenFB

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2024) Featured Review: When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

  • When the Angels Left the Old Country
  • by Sacha Lamb
  • Publisher: Levine Querido
  • Release Date: October 18, 2022
  • ISBN: 9781646141760

A patient angel and a mischievous demon who have been studying Talmud together for centuries in their little Russian shtetl travel to America to perform a mitzvah. They locate a young woman who left for the “golden land” to find her fortune but hasn’t been heard from since. Along the way, they encounter more humans who need help and obstacles both human and supernatural. More troubling, they find they must change their eternal ways if they are to truly make a difference.

This delightful, charming story reads with the timelessness of a classic fable, yet is steeped in period-specific detail and cultural norms that convey a strong sense of place, whether in Russia or America or travelling between. Lamb deftly explores issues of identity, duty, good and evil, theology, and the bonds of friendship and love from the perspectives of her supernatural duo, who grow closer as they learn that changing who they are doesn’t have to mean growing apart. These realizations are echoed by the human characters, especially Rose, the young queer woman they meet on their travels and who accompanies them to the end of their mission. The story is wholesome without being moralizing. Whether Uriel, the angel, and Little Ash, the demon, confront corrupt officials, sweatshop owners, other demons, or vengeful dybbuks, there is a divine sense that everything is turning out as it should be.

This will appeal to teens who like quiet novels with a lot of heart and understated humor, teens who are looking for authentic Jewish stories, and those who like a blend of fantasy, historical fiction, and magical realism. This novel is a rare perfect read-alike for Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. For more Jewish mysticism, recommend From Dust, a Flame by Rebecca Podos, or for readers looking for a more contemporary connection, recommend The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen by Isaac Blum.

-Krista Hutley

Other Nominated Titles

RainRisingbyCourtneComrie
Release Date: September 30, 2022
Release Date: January 31, 2023

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.
The Best Fiction for Young Adults Committee appreciates teen feedback as members evaluate the nominated titles. Teen librarians are encouraged to share the List of Potential Nominees under consideration with their patrons and solicit feedback using the link: https://bit.ly/BFYA24TeenFB