Letting Go of Gravity

Leder, Meg. Letting Go of Gravity. Simon Pulse, 2018.

Charlie and Parker are twins, but that's where their similarities end. Charlie has had leukemia twice and is now in remission, although he has one more year of high school to finish. Parker has just graduated first in her class, has an elite internship at the local hospital, and is headed to Harvard where she will be studying to be a pediatric oncologist. As Charlie and Parker clash throughout one summer, each must confront what others expect of them and what they actually want.

Even though Parker is really the main character of this story, she is not the only well-rounded character. Many of the characters are fully three-dimensional, flawed, and real. This isn't a book that is action-packed or compelling reading, but it is a thoughtful character study of what happens to the siblings of people who have serious illnesses. Parker and Charlie's entire family had to make sacrifices for Charlie, but it takes a summer of lying to her parents for Parker to realize the truth about herself and what she really wants. Recommended.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: language, underage drinking and drug use, domestic violence
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone, All the Bright Places, My Sister's Keeper
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley for the purpose of review.

The Storm Runner

Cervantes, J.C. The Storm Runner. Rick Riordan Presents, 2018.

Zane loves his home in New Mexico, even though he isn't a fan of going to a real school again. He is afraid the other kids will tease him because one of his legs is shorter than the other and he uses a cane. At school Zane meets Brooks, a student no one at his school has heard of, and she convinces him that he is a demigod and is destined to release evil upon the world and that it is her job to stop him. All of this is going to take place in the supposedly dormant volcano in Zane's backyard.

This is a great adventure story along the lines of Riordan's many series, but the focus is on Mayan mythology. There is plenty of page-turning action and adventure as well as heavy doses of humor. I can easily recommend this book to tweens who have read all of the mythology adventures on the shelf and need something more.

Recommended for: tweens
Red Flags: mild fantasy peril
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Aru Shah and the End of Time, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley for the purpose of review.

The Summer of Jordi Perez

Spalding, Amy. The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles). Sky Pony Press, 2018.

Abby runs her own plus-sized fashion blog, so she is beyond excited when she is given an internship at a local boutique. Much to her surprise, though, there are going to be TWO interns this summer. Abby doesn't know Jordi very well, but as her fellow intern they spend a lot of time together over the summer. Abby realizes she likes Jordi as more than simply a coworker, and the two begin navigating the tangled world of dating in high school. Can Abby handle being the star of her show instead of simply someone's sidekick?

What I Liked: Lots of diversity, including intersectional diversity. Abby is a well-rounded main character with plenty of flaws, but her friends eventually call her out on those. Abby's friendship with Jax is wonderful and I love it in spite of my initial misgivings over Jax being a dudebro.

What I Didn't Like: This book could have used another major edit to remove some unnecessary side plots (I'm looking at you, Abby's older sister). Abby's relationship with her mother took a backseat to her mother's healthy eating blog, which isn't necessarily a problem except that Abby and her friends mock the healthy eating movement altogether to the point where Abby doesn't want to admit to having ordered a salad at a restaurant. Other readers have complained of bi-erasure, which is certainly apparent once a reader starts paying attention to it. There wasn't much discussion of fashion or the boutique owner's method of designing outfits or seasonal lines, etc., which didn't bother me much because I'm not into fashion, but since Abby likes it so much I was surprised it wasn't featured more. Abby complains that her friends are rich, but she gets to do an unpaid for fun internship in the summer and her mother's "job" is running a food blog while her father is her mother's assistant, so her family isn't exactly destitute. I absolutely agree with Abby that the $375 skirt she was pining for was too expensive, but I doubt I would have bought it even when she found it on "deep, deep discount" because there's no way it came down enough to be in my price range.

If you read this book as a fun, surface level beach read, it's perfect, but once you look beneath the surface, there are flaws that a solid edit would have remedied. The concept is fantastic, but the execution is definitely lacking.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: fat-shaming
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Dumplin', Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy

The Benefits of Being an Octopus

Braden, Ann. The Benefits of Being an Octopus. Sky Pony Press, 2018.

Zoey doesn't usually finish her homework, and the kids on her bus don't sit next to her because they say she smells bad. But Zoey has to care for her three siblings after school until it's time for bed, and when her family has enough money for a trip to the laundromat, she makes sure her brother's and sister's clothes go in first. Zoey's social studies teacher is encouraging her to be involved in the school's debate club, but how can Zoey do that and take care of her family, too?

This book delves into an often-neglected area in children's literature: children who are poor and struggle every day to find food or time for their homework. There is a scene where Zoey is holding her baby brother and his diaper bag, but is across the street from the bus that drops off her other two siblings. One of them tries to run across the street to her and is nearly hit by a car, and all the adult drivers are yelling at her about taking better care of the kids and putting more clothes on the baby, etc. Meanwhile, poor Zoey (who is only 12 or 13, since she's in 7th grade) is trying to carry a diaper bag, a preschooler, a baby, and coax another preschooler to walk home with her.

This is the reality for a lot of kids, and they are not often featured in literature. Quite often we see the opposite - families who send their children to private schools or who can afford fancy vacations, etc. There are very, very few books about kids who are food insecure or who don't get to wear clean clothes to school every day.

I was glad for Zoey's teacher encouraging her to participate in the debate club and for doing it in a way that also let Zoey have her independence. I was glad for the somewhat-happy ending. I was a Zoey, and I had a few teachers like her social studies teacher who went above and beyond to help me, too, when I had to stay home from school because my younger sister was sick, etc.

Bottom line: this is not a happy book, but it is a hopeful book, and it is a necessary book. Highly recommended.

Recommended for: tweens
Red Flags: the school goes on lockdown because of gunshots in the parking lot; one character mentions that her mother's boyfriend brandished his gun in front of her; the main character's mother is verbally abused by her boyfriend
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Crenshaw, Maddy's Fridge

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Edelweiss for the purpose of review.

White Rabbit

Roehrig, Caleb. White Rabbit. Feiwel Friends, 2018.

Rufus's half-sister, April, calls him late at night asking for help. When he and his ex-boyfriend, Sebastian, arrive at the party where April had been, they find a grisly murder scene. April swears she didn't murder Fox, although the knife in her hand and blood on her clothes tells a different story. April offers Rufus two thousand dollars to solve the mystery and clear her name. Thus the trio begin traveling through the night, searching for clues and talking to suspects, and Rufus finds that things aren't as simple as they seem.

This is a standard murder mystery/thriller story, with the addition of Rufus and Sebastian being LGBTQ+. The flashback scenes provide appropriate spacing and breathing room between intense scenes where the trio question suspects and try to suss out who is telling the truth. Most teens will probably not guess the ending before reading it. Unfortunately, most of the suspects use homophobic slurs in reference to Rufus and Sebastian, which could easily have been avoided even from the mouths of distasteful villains.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: murder, underage drinking and illegal drug use, language, homophobic slurs
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Read-Alikes: The Night She Disappeared, The Killing Woods, The Girl Who was Supposed to Die

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley for the purpose of review.