The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly

Oakes, Stephanie. The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly. Dial Books, 2015.

Minnow Bly is in prison because she brutally beat a man under a bridge, beat him so badly he was hospitalized, even though she has no hands. That's right: Minnow recently escaped a cult where her hands were cut off as a punishment for disobedience. As Minnow adjusts to life away from the cult and in the juvenile detention center, she meets with an FBI agent who is trying to get the whole story of the Kevinian cult, especially the events leading up to the fires that claimed the life of their leader. Minnow knows who killed him, but will she tell?

Wow. This book was a difficult one to read, but I found myself compelled to turn the pages even as I was horrified by what happened to Minnow and the others in the cult. The juxtaposition of Minnow's life of relative freedom within the juvenile detention center and her very controlled existence in the cult is astounding. For the longest time I was sure I had figured out the ending, but I was actually surprised because the person I thought had killed the prophet actually didn't do it. This is a difficult book, but a great one. Recommended.

Recommended for: teens, fans of books with strict religious groups
Red Flags: language, lots of violence (the main character gets her hands amputated with a hatchet, for one thing)
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Read-Alike Suggestions: A Good Courage, The Poisonwood Bible, Eden West, Watch the Sky

Allegiant

Roth, Veronica. Allegiant. 2013.

Tris's life has changed dramatically since her society broke apart. She and her friends escape their town and find the people responsible for creating their society, learn more about the divergent and the factions, and then try to overthrow everything and save the world.

I guessed at the ending of this book long before it happened, so I wasn't surprised, and I do think it was an appropriate ending to this story. This book was good, although I enjoyed Divergent much better. To be fair, I enjoyed The Hunger Games better than Mockingjay, too. I have a copy of this book in my library, and while it is popular with the students who have already read the rest of the series, it doesn't have as long a wait list as the latest Rick Riordan or Jeff Kinney book.

Recommended for: teens, fans of dystopian lit

Red Flags: lots of violence

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Little White Duck: A Childhood in China

Liu, Na. Little White Duck: a Childhood in China. Graphic Universe, 2012.

This GN details the lives of two girls growing up in 1970s China, so it is a great peek into both another time period and another culture. The illustrations make the story much more engaging and inviting, and the fact that this is a graphic novel is probably the reason many of my students check it out in the first place.

Recommended for: tweens, teens, fans of historical fiction and/or memoirs
Red Flags: none
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Kissing Kate

Myracle, Lauren. Kissing Kate. New York: Penguin Group, 2003.

Kate and Lissa shared a kiss at a party over the summer.  Kate was drunk at the time, and now she is humiliated and won't speak with Lissa.  Lissa doesn't understand why Kate won't speak with her anymore or why she is so insistent that the kiss was a complete accident. As Lissa struggles to come to terms with herself and her sexuality, she also is struggling with her friendships, both with Kate and with her new friend Ariel.

This book was a very quick read, and like many of the books published by Penguin's imprint Speak, dealt with a major teen issue: sexuality.  I didn't find this book to be as definitive or essential as the other works of fiction I have read.  It was worth the read, but probably would be better checked out of a library than purchased at a bookstore.