What I’m Recommending Lately

I’ve been reading a lot these last few months, even if I haven’t been blogging much, I’ve been tweeting and sharing thoughts on my goodreads, and also sharing many recommendations in person. So, in the interest of sharing what some of my favorite titles have been so far this year, I wanted to document a bit of what I’ve been recommending most lately. Happy reading!

If you want to head back into the world of the Wolves of Mercy Falls and back into Cole St. Clair’s head (and, really, why wouldn’t you?), try SINNER by Maggie Stiefvater.

A standalone companion book to the internationally bestselling Shiver Trilogy. 
Sinner follows Cole St. Clair, a pivotal character from the #1 New York Times bestselling Shiver Trilogy. Everybody thinks they know Cole’s story. Stardom. Addiction. Downfall. Disappearance. But only a few people know Cole’s darkest secret — his ability to shift into a wolf. One of these people is Isabel. At one point, they may have even loved each other. But that feels like a lifetime ago. Now Cole is back. Back in the spotlight. Back in the danger zone. Back in Isabel’s life. Can this sinner be saved?

If you want something different that is a must-read with a guy main character (that might make you cry a bit), try WINGER by Andrew Smith.

        Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy.
        With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.
        Filled with hand-drawn info-graphics and illustrations and told in a pitch-perfect voice, this realistic depiction of a teen’s experience strikes an exceptional balance of hilarious and heartbreaking.

If you want to read a magical fantasy book whose entire trilogy is already out so you don’t have to wait to find out what happens, that will make you wonder why you didn’t read it two years ago, try SHADOW & BONE by Leigh Bardugo.

        The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka.
        Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom’s magical elite—the Grisha. Could she be the key to unravelling the dark fabric of the Shadow Fold and setting Ravka free?
        The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, leader of the Grisha. If Alina is to fulfill her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him.
        But what of Mal, Alina’s childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can’t she ever quite forget him?
        Glorious. Epic. Irresistible. Romance.

If you want a heart-warming book for the middle grade level, from a wonderful debut writer voice, that celebrates words and relationships and will leave you believing that there just might be some magic in this world after all, try A SNICKER OF MAGIC by Natalie Lloyd.

      Introducing an extraordinary new voice—a magical debut that will make your skin tingle, your eyes glisten . . .and your heart sing.
      Midnight Gulch used to be a magical place, a town where people could sing up thunderstorms and dance up sunflowers. But that was long ago, before a curse drove the magic away. Twelve-year-old Felicity knows all about things like that; her nomadic mother is cursed with a wandering heart.
      But when she arrives in Midnight Gulch, Felicity thinks her luck’s about to change. A “word collector,” Felicity sees words everywhere—shining above strangers, tucked into church eves, and tangled up her dog’s floppy ears—but Midnight Gulch is the first place she’s ever seen the word “home.” And then there’s Jonah, a mysterious, spiky-haired do-gooder who shimmers with words Felicity’s never seen before, words that make Felicity’s heart beat a little faster.
      Felicity wants to stay in Midnight Gulch more than anything, but first, she’ll need to figure out how to bring back the magic, breaking the spell that’s been cast over the town . . . and her mother’s broken heart.

My thoughts: This is a special book. Natalie Lloyd has written a magical, enchanting book that pulls at the reader to keep turning pages and believe in magic. A heartwarming book that is a must-read for middle grades.

If you want something gritty, with perspectives that will make you (or your students) question your own perceptions and what is truth, try HOW IT WENT DOWN by Kekla Magoon.

        In Kekla Magoon’s How It Went Down, when sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson dies from two gunshot wounds, his community is thrown into an uproar. Tariq was black. The shooter, Jack Franklin, is white.
        In the aftermath of Tariq’s death, everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events line up. By the day, new twists and turns further obscure the truth.
        Tariq’s friends, family, and community struggle to make sense of the tragedy, and of the hole left behind when a life is cut short. In their own words, they grapple for a way to say with certainty: This is how it went down.

If you want something wholly different and truly unique that is a historical-ish story intertwined and interwoven with stunningly gorgeous wordless graphic illustrations, whose whole is told via both individual stories in a twisty way, try IN THE SHADOWS by Kiersten White & Jim Di Bartolo.

From the remarkable imagination of acclaimed artist Jim Di Bartolo and the exquisite pen of bestselling author Kiersten White comes a spellbinding story of love, mystery, and dark conspiracy, told in an alternating narrative of words and pictures. 
Cora and Minnie are sisters living in a small, stifling town where strange and mysterious things occur. Their mother runs the local boarding house. Their father is gone. The woman up the hill may or may not be a witch. 
Thomas and Charles are brothers who’ve been exiled to the boarding house so Thomas can tame his ways and Charles can fight an illness that is killing him with increasing speed. Their family history is one of sorrow and guilt. They think they can escape from it . . . but they can’t.

If you want something to read in August that is stunningly beautiful free verse and a brilliant new take on the memoir, try BROWN GIRL DREAMING by Jacqueline Woodson.

Jacqueline Woodson, one of today’s finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse.  Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.

>>Fair Warning: The following are September releases, but they’re so good I’ve been recommending them since I first read advance copies of them. And you can pre-order now so you won’t forget about them in the back-to-school craziness.<<

If you want a September debut contemporary with some romance, but mostly about a kick-butt, strong female main character who enters a previously all boys military academy (that I know will be at the top of my students’ want-to-read lists), try RITES OF PASSAGE by Joy N. Hensley.

       Sam McKenna’s never turned down a dare. And she’s not going to start with the last one her brother gave her before he died.
       So Sam joins the first-ever class of girls at the prestigious Denmark Military Academy. She’s expecting push-ups and long runs, rope climbing and mud-crawling. As a military brat, she can handle an obstacle course just as well as the boys. She’s even expecting the hostility she gets from some of the cadets who don’t think girls belong there. What she’s not expecting is her fiery attraction to her drill sergeant. But dating is strictly forbidden and Sam won’t risk her future, or the dare, on something so petty…no matter how much she wants him.
       As Sam struggles to prove herself, she discovers that some of the boys don’t just want her gone—they will stop at nothing to drive her out. When their petty threats turn to brutal hazing, bleeding into every corner of her life, she realizes they are not acting alone. A decades-old secret society is alive and active… and determined to force her out.       At any cost.
       Now time’s running short. Sam must decide who she can trust…and choosing the wrong person could have deadly consequences.

If you want something to add to your fall TBR list that is a diverse, powerful story for older YA, from a fresh, new writer, try THE SECRET SKY: A Novel of Forbidden Love in Afghanistan by Atia Abawi.

A novel of love during a time of war by NBC’s Afghanistan correspondent                                            Set in present-day Afghanistan, this is the story of two teenagers, one Pashtun and one Hazara, who must fight against their culture, their tradition, their families, and the Taliban to stay together. Told in three rotating perspectives—the two teens and another boy in the village who turns them in to the local Taliban—this novel depicts both the violent realities of living in Afghanistan, as well as the beauty of the land and the cultures there. And it shows that love can bloom in even the darkest of places.
        This is an absolute must read not just for teens but for anyone who has lived during the time of America’s War in Afghanistan.