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hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Is practicing-Muslim YA so wholesome because the characters don't drink? Or because the characters love of Allah makes them loving? idk, but this is a sweet story of a pair of teens falling mindfully in love. Protagonist Zayneb is a hothead, which gets her a week suspension from school (or her Islamophobic social studies teacher's shenanigans do), and her parents agree to send her to Doha a week ahead of them to visit her aunt, Nandy. When she meets kids from the school where her aunt teaches, Zayneb decides to keep her emotions in check, even when tried by cultural appropriation and poor behavior to service workers. At the same time, she's falling more and more for Adam, a cute guy she sort of met on the plane and who happens to be a former student of her aunt's.
Even in Doha, Qatar, Zayneb faces religious persecution. Here's a zine from the gym swimming pool, where Zayneb dons modest swimwear. Luckily Aunt Nandy, as a resident and member of the pool can clap back.
Even in Doha, Qatar, Zayneb faces religious persecution. Here's a zine from the gym swimming pool, where Zayneb dons modest swimwear. Luckily Aunt Nandy, as a resident and member of the pool can clap back.
"I'll get complaints," Marc said, stepping out from behind the front desk. "We have some members who are more vocal than others."
"You mean you have some members who are more prejudiced than others."
Here, Zayneb reckons with her anger (while Muslim) after learning that her grandmother was killed in Pakistan by a drone:
"I'm not a violent person. I'm not advocating violence. But I am an angry person. I'm advocating for more people to get angry. Get moved."
Further support on clapping back from Aunt Nandy:
"They just want to protect you from the consequences you'll get for fighting for justice. Because there will be consequences when you shake the world." She pulled out the chair closest to me and sat in it. "But here's a secret: If you plot and plan wisely, the consequences are unexpected."
In These Troubled Times, I'm glad to see people acknowledging that you can't fight for justice without making trouble. This is a conversation between Zayneb's mother and Nandy.
"Honey, I'm not saying you can't be yourself. I'm just saying that the way you go about it can get you in trouble. And I don't want to see that."
"Leesh, I've got to interrupt her, but trouble is part of changing things."
Re: the above, someone I know what critical of an action I participated in, where several hundred people sat down on the Manhattan Bridge to call for an extension of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. The acquaintance commented that tying up traffic isn't a way to enlist people to our side. So...what is? Allowing business as usual???
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I appreciate a story centering someone who is--or believes herself to be--hard to love. Eloise had severe anxiety and depression earlier in her high school career. Now that she's got her meds right, she's able to function, but the bad times cost her her only two friends. She doesn't care, though; she's got a video game world and her hopes on going to USC to focus on, along with trying to overtake the current leader in the race for valedictorian.
Then she learns that her high GPA won't get her into the college of her choice. She needs to Do Something, which leads her to volunteering for LifeCare, an org that pairs teens with older folks. But first, grumpy Eloise is paired with eternally cheerful (perfect YA boyfriend of color) Austin Yang. Austin doesn't seem to mind that Eloise is his polar opposite and offers to let him help with his elder: former rock star Marianne Landis. Marianne is only 73, but apparently enfeebled enough to require help three times a week. She's a drunk, but seems capable? LifeCare sounds dreamy. I can imagine a company like that requiring sobriety of its clients. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyway, things happen as you'd expect them to. Eloise getting over her curmudgeonliness is sweet.
Then she learns that her high GPA won't get her into the college of her choice. She needs to Do Something, which leads her to volunteering for LifeCare, an org that pairs teens with older folks. But first, grumpy Eloise is paired with eternally cheerful (perfect YA boyfriend of color) Austin Yang. Austin doesn't seem to mind that Eloise is his polar opposite and offers to let him help with his elder: former rock star Marianne Landis. Marianne is only 73, but apparently enfeebled enough to require help three times a week. She's a drunk, but seems capable? LifeCare sounds dreamy. I can imagine a company like that requiring sobriety of its clients. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyway, things happen as you'd expect them to. Eloise getting over her curmudgeonliness is sweet.
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Page's story of being closeted, even from himself, is illuminating and sad. It shows how far we have not come as a society. I feel like I live in a queer-friendly bubble. It's an important reminder that zinester/urban women's college life is not the norm in this country or the world.
It often seems like more people step forward to defend being unkind than they do to support trans people as we deal with an onslaught of cruelty and violence.
emotional
funny
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This sweet middle-grades not-love story centers on Annabelle (one of two in her sixth grade class of twelve students) and her new best friend, Bailey. Bailey has just moved to the suburbs from Seattle and is the first kid in their small, private school to use they/them pronouns. Most of the kids are cool with it, and Annabelle is entranced, but there's always (at least) one douchebag. Dixon Brewster is That Guy--the one who asks "what about white history" and "what about heterosexuality pride."
Dixon didn't come by his shitty opinions entirely on his own. His mother surveils the class, reports to the principal, and generally stops everything good the rest of the class has planned. And speaking of parents, when Annabelle brings Bailey home to play, her parents are surprisingly rude to Bailey. Annabelle's dad, who is much shorter than Annabelle's mom, says that Bailey needs to figure out which gender he/she is and be that. A classmate, Patrick, calls Dixon out brilliantly,
Dixon didn't come by his shitty opinions entirely on his own. His mother surveils the class, reports to the principal, and generally stops everything good the rest of the class has planned. And speaking of parents, when Annabelle brings Bailey home to play, her parents are surprisingly rude to Bailey. Annabelle's dad, who is much shorter than Annabelle's mom, says that Bailey needs to figure out which gender he/she is and be that. A classmate, Patrick, calls Dixon out brilliantly,
I want to get solar panels on the roof, are you worried that fossil fuels are going to complain about being left out?
In addition to being a good book with a message, Fruit is a good book, and Annabelle's introspective narration will probably be familiar and poignant to adults who were certain kinds of kids.
And now I'm like, "Wow, middle school students are so big and old," but I bet that once I get to middle school I'll have the soul of that same kindergartner. Does that ever go away? Will I get to college and still eat my broccoli pretending that I'm a dinosaur eating trees? Or is there some magic point where you become an adult and stop felling like a kid inside?
Author Kyle Lukoff was a school librarian before he went pro as a writer, and you can read that into Annabelle observations like
It's a reminder that a lot of the categories people have come up with are fake.
Bailey really nails how schools handle difference
But I get you a million dollars they they did id in the worst way possible. that kid probably didn't want to make a big deal of it, but they were bullied so bad that the school was forced to make a decision, and instead of making their school a better place, they decided to get rid of the "problem."
It's still middle grades though, so Annabelle finishes the above paragraph,
I didn't know fake air quotes culd be violent until Bailey clawed at the word "problem."
"Clawed" with fake air quotes! I love that so much.
The ending is genuinely heartwarming as secrets are revealed and healed. I want more of Annabelle and Bailey's story!
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I made it 60% through The Coldest before giving up. The worldbuilding is great, and I kind of want to know what happens, but the plot was just too slow.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I made it more than halfway through before putting Parvin down. The ignoring your friends because your own issues make you self-centered trope is intolerable to me.
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I like a ballet book, and I liked the author's non-fiction book about the ballet world and how it is or should be changing. PdD is fine, I guess. There are parts of it that are compelling, like when the protag and her friends are doing good/getting vengeance on a ballet bro, but mostly it's a lot of Heather Hays being a perfect dancer and a lustful lover. The will-they-won't-they goes on for too long. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
informative
slow-paced
I'm a Captain Sandy and Below Deck stan and actually tweeted last year "I would like to read a management book by @CaptSandyYawn" https://twitter.com/zinelib/status/1572050953481883648 She tweeted back "Coming Soon!" and so it was.
It's a "tell 'em" book, where she (or her ghost writer) tells you what she's going to tell you, tells you, and tells you what she told you. Yawn shares her leadership aphorisms and illustrates them with stories from her career, and occasionally from her substance abuse afflicted family. Yawn is an admirable person and leader, but the book is self-helpy for my tastes. Still, you should read (listen to) it, if you're a Captain Sandy fan.
It's a "tell 'em" book, where she (or her ghost writer) tells you what she's going to tell you, tells you, and tells you what she told you. Yawn shares her leadership aphorisms and illustrates them with stories from her career, and occasionally from her substance abuse afflicted family. Yawn is an admirable person and leader, but the book is self-helpy for my tastes. Still, you should read (listen to) it, if you're a Captain Sandy fan.
adventurous
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
The end of The Final Gambit is as riveting as the beginning of The Inheritance Games for a reverse parabola of page-turniness. And I finally got my "what does a person need billions of dollars for" moment.
at a certain point, it's not about the money, because you couldn't spend billions if you tried. It's about the power." I looked down. "And I just don't think anyone should have power like that, certainly not me."
It's wild to me, though, that in the whole trilogy, through being in love-ish with two of the brothers, best friends-ish, with another, and potentially an in-law with the fourth, she never considers giving them "back" any of their grandfather's estate. I'd love to read a Marxist analysis of the books!
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
As is sometimes the case with a book in the middle of a trilogy, this installment felt like epilog slash exposition. I don't honestly remember what all happened other than that a love triangle was resolved.