Saints of the Household

 

My Thoughts:

This debut YA novel by Indigenous Costa Rican author Ari Tison is complex in that it starts with the repercussions of violence not done to, but done by these two Bribri American brothers. The two brothers come upon a couple in the Minnesota woods and recognize the girl, Nicole, their Anishnabe "cousin," being grabbed forcefully by her boyfriend, white/Mexican soccer star Luca. The two brothers, Max and Jay without much conversation or questioning beat him up. The rest of the book is done in alternating chapters as Jay and Max come through some sort of healing and reflection on both the violence done to them by their father, as well as the violence they inflicted. Jay's chapters are written in prose vignettes. Max's chapters are written in spare free verse. 

The difficulty and therefore the brilliance in this book is that the words on paper reflect how the two boys shatter. The incident acts as a chasm between them that never really gets bridged. Each of them find their own individual semi- peace, but I don't think they see each other in the same way. Jay has Nicole and his grandfather to help him heal. Max has his art and a budding romance that he does not want to tell Jay about. Perhaps that is the most tragic aspect of this book is that they cannot rely on each other to heal. In fact, as the readers alternate between the two boys, how they "read" each other is so heartbreakingly wrong that it feels like their base is untenable. 

This book deserves whatever awards it is going to get. The heartbreak stayed with me long after I finished reading. I'm not going to talk about themes and activities in this post because I think this is my next Language arts methods class read for the summer. 

From the Publisher:

Max and Jay have always depended on one another for their survival. Growing up with a physically abusive father, the two Bribri American brothers have learned that the only way to protect themselves and their mother is to stick to a schedule and keep their heads down.

But when they hear a classmate in trouble in the woods, instinct takes over and they intervene, breaking up a fight and beating their high school's star soccer player to a pulp. This act of violence threatens the brothers' dreams for the future and their beliefs about who they are. As the true details of that fateful afternoon unfold over the course of the novel, Max and Jay grapple with the weight of their actions, their shifting relationship as brothers, and the realization that they may be more like their father than they thought. They'll have to reach back to their Bribri roots to find their way forward.

Told in alternating points of view using vignettes and poems, debut author Ari Tison crafts an emotional, slow-burning drama about brotherhood, abuse, recovery, and doing the right thing.

Publication Information:

Author: Ari Tison

Publisher: Farrar, Straus, Giroux (March 28, 2023)

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374389499

Grade level: 10-12

Chaos Theory

 

My Thoughts:

It is the end of the school year and the beginning of summer when things are starting to get hot and muggy. This is graduation season here in Hawai'i, so a perfect time to read a YA romance about a "certified genius living with a diagnosed mental disorder and a politician's son who is running from his own addiction and grief."

This starts with Shelbi receiving a drunk text from some stranger. He is obviously in need of some support and a kind ear, so Shelbi agrees to be his anonymous support stranger. Except that he does not stay a stranger to her for very long. As soon as he promises his new drunk dial message buddy that he will not drive in his condition, he drives and gets into an accident. Shelbi happens to drive past the crash site and sees Andy Criddle, the school salutatorian outside of the car with a police officer. Shelbi's fascination with the physics of crashes takes her back to the scene where she finds Andy's wallet. She soon realizes that Andy is the drunk message buddy and she does eventually fess up that she has been on the other end of his texts, so anonymous no longer.

This book is about mental health and family trauma. It is about addiction and self harm. If any of those things are triggering for readers, they need to know that going in. But at the end of the day, it is also about two teens who are really trying to find friendship and love despite all of the chaos both within them and outside of them. It is about friendship, and despite the weird contract, I do believe that these two would be friends for life, however, trust is difficult for Shelbi. 

This is not a book to teach or do activities with. Instead, it is a book to enjoy. Their love story, despite all the barriers and setback, is enjoyable. As a reader, I am rooting for these very broken people. So buy it. Read it. Borrow it. Listen to it. Either way, someone will pass through your classroom doors and need to also enjoy this book for no other reason than because they will also want to root for these two young adults. 

From the Publisher:

Scars exist to remind us of what we’ve survived.
 
DETACHED
Since Shelbi enrolled at Windward Academy as a senior and won’t be there very long, she hasn’t bothered making friends. What her classmates don’t know about her can’t be used to hurt her—you know, like it did at her last school.
 
WASTED
Andy Criddle is not okay. At all.
He’s had far too much to drink.
Again. Which is bad.
And things are about to get worse.
 
When Shelbi sees Andy at his lowest, she can relate. So she doesn’t resist reaching out. And there’s no doubt their connection has them both seeing stars . . . but the closer they get, the more the past threatens to pull their universes apart.
 

Publication Information:

Author: Nic Stone

Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers (February 28, 2023)

ISBN-13: 978-0593307700

Grade level: 9-12

Hardcover: 288 pages

The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

 

My Thoughts:

This book about Lou, a Métis young woman living in Canada, is lots of bitter. Readers need to be warned that this may be triggering. There is radical racial violence, sexual violence, and emotional violence.  The author has a trigger warning at the beginning that warns us about the trauma coming, including traumas faced by Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people. The author does this because according to Ferguson, "Your health, happiness, safety, and well-being matter more than reading this book." She even says that if readers are not ready, it is ok to stop reading or even never read this book. As a teacher, I appreciate that last part. Young adults, even middle level readers need to understand that books can be too much of a mirror, a window, even a sliding glass door (Rudine Sims Bishop). Reading, at its best, should be a visceral experience. So if a book just does not grab you, or if a book grabs you too much and starts to push you into dark spaces that you do not want to go into, then abandon the book. According to the author, that is fine, even encouraged. For teachers, it should be ok for our own students to abandon books too. When we force people to read, that is when we lose them. I am just writing this because I know the research. I know the best practices for raising lifelong readers. I appreciate that Ferguson starts the book off in that way.

The problem is, once I started reading, I forgot her advice completely. The voice of Lou, her observations and descriptions, her family, the situation of getting the Ice Cream Shack ready on this, her final summer before college, even Homer, her old dog that surfs on top of the picnic table in the back of her F-150 pulled me in. The niggling warning beep Lou's complex attitude toward her boyfriend does not give me enough warning for the four-alarm fires that are coming in this book. It is graphic and complex. It is a visceral explosion. The bitterness is deep and rotten, but I was already too far in and I forgot to breathe.

Yes, there is sweet. Eventually. And there is an understanding of one's self, eventually. Lou comes to some realizations much later than the reader, but it did make me look up the Ace Umbrella spectrum again. I read all kinds of stories because love is love, however, this one gave me pause. I am rethinking that mantra. I did not understand the difficulty Lou has, however, it was good to read about it. Someone that passes into your own classrooms will need this book.

From the Publisher:

Lou has enough confusion in front of her this summer. She’ll be working in her family’s ice-cream shack with her newly ex-boyfriend—whose kisses never made her feel desire, only discomfort—and her former best friend, King, who is back in their Canadian prairie town after disappearing three years ago without a word.

But when she gets a letter from her biological father—a man she hoped would stay behind bars for the rest of his life—Lou immediately knows that she cannot meet him, no matter how much he insists.

While King’s friendship makes Lou feel safer and warmer than she would have thought possible, when her family’s business comes under threat, she soon realizes that she can’t ignore her father forever.

The Heartdrum imprint centers a wide range of intertribal voices, visions, and stories while welcoming all young readers, with an emphasis on the present and future of Indian Country and on the strength of young Native heroes. In partnership with We Need Diverse Books.

Publication Information:

Author: Jen Ferguson (Métis and White)

Publisher: Heartdrum (May 10, 2022)

Hardcover: 384 pages

The Valley and the Flood

 

Publication date: February 23, 2021 #TheValleyandtheFlood #NetGalley

My Thoughts:

This YA book by debut author Rebecca Mahoney is a fast-paced read by an author who is an avid reader and fan of this type of psychological horror/thriller. It shows in the way she plays with mood, tone, even time in this book. What Mahoney is able to do is hold on to the suspense and questions for so long that when the answers start revealing itself, it is inconsequential because what it reveals is that I really did not have the right question. I really donʻt know how else to explain this, but for example, when I really got to the point where as a reader I understood what Nick did/did not do and why his presence makes the main character leave for the desert, I realized that Nick was not the question. He actually was inconsequential to the real problem. Then, when I found out what the real problem was, like the PTSD, I also found out that knowing that was not going to solve the ultimate problem or keep the Flood at bay. 

I realize that this sounds like babbling because it is. This book just has to be read to understand that it will both suck you in and defy any predictions you have as you are reading. In the end, the answers to my questions were given freely at the beginning and still I could not predict the end. 

This is about grief, memory, trauma, monsters in the shadows, and a mysterious town in the middle of the desert where prophets and misfits wait for their prophecy to come to town.

From the Publisher:

Rose Colter is almost home, but she can't go back there yet. When her car breaks down in the Nevada desert, the silence of the night is broken by a radio broadcast of a voicemail message from her best friend, Gaby. A message Rose has listened to countless times over the past year. The last one Gaby left before she died.

So Rose follows the lights from the closest radio tower to Lotus Valley, a small town where prophets are a dime a dozen, secrets lurk in every shadow, and the diner pie is legendary. And according to Cassie Cyrene, the town's third most accurate prophet, they've been waiting for her. Because Rose's arrival is part of a looming prophecy, one that says a flood will destroy Lotus Valley in just three days' time.

Rose believes if the prophecy comes true then it will confirm her worst fear--the PTSD she was diagnosed with after Gaby's death has changed her in ways she can't face. So with help from new friends, Rose sets out to stop the flood, but her connection to it, and to this strange little town, runs deeper than she could've imagined.

Debut author Rebecca Mahoney delivers an immersive and captivating novel about magical places, found family, the power of grief and memory, and the journey toward reconciling who you think you've become with the person you've been all along.