This one was so good. Muir is such a strong voice, and I just felt for her so much. She's relied on herself her whole life, born addicted to meth and bounced from foster home to foster home. None of the homes are particularly horrible, in the way you sometimes. It's mundane levels of bad and good, with different marks left from each. Will she make it one year in one last place? I just loved it.

This was a case of "not the reader for this book." I had a really hard time putting myself in Adam's shoes and spent the whole time being like "this kid" and "isn't that convenient."

However, if you have a 4th-7th grade student who loves cryptids or survival stories in the Everglades, I bet they will love it. I have a first grader at my library I would love to give this to in a few years (if he's still obsessed with Bigfoot then.)

I loved "Sorry For Your Loss" and I loved this one too. Mia is a troubled teen who gets sent to a reform school. As her story unfolds, you realize how much of her story is related to traumatic events that happened to her that she didn't get enough help and support with. It makes you think about all the other "troubled" teens in the world and how they might be better off with more support and less punishment. Not that they shouldn't have consequences, but like support and therapy are real helpful.

I know nothing about K-Pop and I loved this book. It's so good. Skye Shin wants to be a K-Pop star. She's got the talent, but her body size is not the typical one of a star. Her mom discourages her, but she fights on anyway. Can she fight through the standards the K-Pop world has too?

Very fat-positive, Skye is an admirable hero for all of us. And if it introduces some of us to K-Pop on the way, isn't that an added bonus?

I believe this series should be required reading in every high school. Lewis's story is so important, especially as we seem determined to forget the past 50-75 years and repeat history. It is heartbreaking for me to see the hope and joy Rep. Lewis feels at Obama's inauguration and to speculate what he feels now. They say that freedom is a constant struggle. Let's keep fighting.

So I listened to this one, and I think this is one of those instances where reading it might have been a better option for me.

There are things I thought were really well done with this book: it feels timely, and like it could happen tomorrow. The details of how are realistic, and the use of quotes that certain elected individuals have used certainly adds to the realism. Add what is happening at our border, and you've got a potent mix. I can also see how National Guard would be drafted into being "exclusion guards" and how they would react to that news. Even the way the majority of the teens acted was fabulous.

My problems were with being inside Layla's head

Spoiler

and this is where I found it to be perhaps an audiobook problem for me. Why was Jake so drawn to Layla? Was it really just that happenstance meeting on the train? I was also frustrated by how much time Layla spent worrying about David, but I also wasn't a high schooler who dated people for more than 3-4 months at a time. The whole David/Jake/Layla dynamic was frustrating for me. Why would Jake sneak her boyfriend into the camp? Why did he care so much? So I'm wondering how much of this is my own internal issues versus the book itself.

I do remember being a teen and being frustrated by adult inaction. I just wasn't sure I enjoyed being in Layla's headspace and wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it on the page.

I'll be honest: I have loved every single thing Jason Reynolds has ever written. I even think he has the best author bio on his books. I adore him, and his mission, and then he has amazing writing skills on top of that. It's incredible.

This is a novel in verse, and it's the story of Will, whose brother Shawn was just murdered. He knows the rules: 1. Don't cry. 2. Don't snitch 3. Revenge. So he takes his brother's gun and goes into the elevator, convinced he knows who shot Shawn. Over the course of the minute-long elevator ride, ghosts visit him, talking about how they died. Can they have any influence over how he thinks, or will the Rules override all?

Just so good.

I really like this one. I love the style: some prose, some conversations, some letters. I love reading books about the struggles of trying to fit in within two distinct cultures; in this case, the lower-class mostly African American neighborhood you came from and your rich boarding school. It helps me understand that perspective, and also reminds me of my own biases. I will order this for my library.

I really liked this story of high school feminist activists. Jasmine and Chelsea are best friends, and both their viewpoints are represented. Jasmine is a teen trying to get people to see her beyond her blackness and body size, while dealing with her father's dying from cancer and emerging feelings for her friend Isaac. Chelsea is white and all activism all the time, learning from pushing too hard and other mistakes. The friendship feels lived in to me. I also liked the way it looked at how a social justice school can still fail in so many ways.