ibi zoboi – The Hub

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2022) Featured Review of On the Hook by Francisco X. Stork

On the Hook by Francisco X. Stork
Scholastic Press
Publication Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-1338692150

The last few years haven’t been easy for Hector and his family. His father’s untimely death resulted in the loss of their home and subsequent move to the projects, and sent his brother Fili into a battle with depression and alcohol abuse. But things seem to be looking up–Hector’s become a star player on the school’s chess team and just recently won a prestigious essay contest. Even Fili seems to be doing better. Then, Joey, the younger brother of a local gang member, targets Hector, intimidating him and threatening to kill him. Terrified, but too afraid to tell anyone, Hector’s life begins spiraling downhill again, culminating in a tragic encounter that lands Hector in a reformatory school along with his nemesis, Joey.

Black History – Black Futures

As we continue in our celebration of Black History Month, we equally celebrate the voices creating rich and brilliant Black Futures. Like this short film from The Movement for Black Lives, countless YA authors are sending visions of a future world into the present and into the hearts of young adult readers everywhere. Here are a few recent or forthcoming examples:

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

This title, selected for the 2021 Best Fiction for Young Adults Top Ten, draws upon West African folklore and Western fairy tales to create an immersive and complex world that is sure to engage and delight.

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

Described as perfect for fans of the Dora Milaje from Black Panther, this newly-released high fantasy is poised to join a powerful cohort of strong female characters.

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2021) Nominees Round Up, October 2 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.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
Flatiron Books / Macmillan
Publication Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1250196149

When Soraya was just a baby, her mother made a bargain with a demon known as a div that resulted in turning Soraya’s skin poisonous. Now she must stay locked away from her family and kingdom, lest she accidentally kill someone just by touching them. Just before the wedding of her twin brother to her only friend, a div tricks Soraya into betraying her family and kingdom by manipulating her feelings of isolation and jealousy, unleashing an army of div in the capital city. Now she must live up to the potential she never understood she had and rescue her family from the clutches of an evil demon.

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2020) Nominees Round Up, November 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.

Michigan vs. The Boys by Carrie S. Allen
Kids Can Press / Hachette
Publication Date: October 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1525301483

Michigan loves hockey and is looking forward to playing this upcoming year as co-captain for her high school’s women’s hockey team. She is a strong and dedicated teammate and is devastated once she learns her school’s hockey team is being eliminated due to funding issues within her school district. With the girls’ team being disbanded and her friends and old teammates scattering, she elects to try out for the boys’ team instead.

Continue reading Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2020) Nominees Round Up, November 22 Edition

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2020) Nominees Round Up, June 4 Edition

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

Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America Edited by Ibi Zoboi, with stories by Jason Reynolds, Nic Stone, Liara Tamani, Renée Watson, Rita Williams-Garcia and more.
Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: January 8th 2019
ISBN: 9780062698728

Black Enough is a collection of 17 short stories written by some of the biggest name Black authors of YA. The young Black people in these stories confront all the typical teenage life experiences as well as some atypical ones. Some have tragedy and some romance, and all of the stories are shaped with rich plots and emotions.

Continue reading Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2020) Nominees Round Up, June 4 Edition

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2020) Nominees Round Up, April 3 Edition

Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America edited by Ibi Zoboi, narrated by Bahni Turpin, Ron Butler
HarperAudio
Published Date: January 8, 2019
ISBN13: 9780062698742

From a girl at a camp in the Oregon woods trying to make peace with the life she sees her half-sister having, to a nerdy Foot Locker employee in a Chewbacca shirt trying to hit on the cute girl from Nordstroms, this anthology of seventeen A-list authors looks at the diverse experiences of Black teens across the country. From the funny story of Coe Booth’s New York teen spending summers at Hackathons to having your heartstrings pulled in Jay Coles story of two boys on the wrong side of a family feud falling in love, but having to compete against each other in horse racing, and to Brandy Colbert’s of a girl often seen as an “oreo,” who secretly applied to a HBCU without telling her parents, each story stands out as it explores identity where being Black is Black Enough.

Continue reading Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2020) Nominees Round Up, April 3 Edition

#BFYA2019 Nominees Round Up, December 10 Edition

The House of One Thousand Eyes by Michelle Barker
Annick Press
Publication Date: September 11, 2018
ISBN: 978-1773210711

When Lena’s subversive uncle disappears without a trace in Communist East Berlin, she risks everything to find out what happened to him.

Following her confinement in a mental institution due to her breakdown over the tragic death of her parents in a factory accident, Lena is released to live with her stern auntie in East Berlin. Because everyone thinks Lena is simple, she is allowed to work night shifts as a cleaning girl at the State Security Service’s headquarters; she lives a regimented, routine life and looks forward to Sunday afternoons spent with her beloved uncle Erich, a writer with subversive ideas and a loose regard for authority. One night following one of their Sunday outings, Erich disappears. Lena mounts a frantic search for him, one which leads her to dead ends everywhere she looks: his books vanished from the shelves of libraries and bookstores and all records of him purged from official files; it is as if he never existed. Desperate to discover what happened to him, Lena begins a quiet but dangerous investigation, snooping around Stasi offices in the dead of night, despite the watchful eyes of her coworker Jutta, her strict aunt at home, and who knows whom else. What she uncovers shakes up everything she thought she knew, casting new light on her parents’ deaths and making her question everything she had been told about the “Better Germany.”

Continue reading #BFYA2019 Nominees Round Up, December 10 Edition