On The Radar: January 2017

January 9, 2017 |

I used to do a monthly spotlight here at STACKED highlighting a handful of the YA titles hitting shelves that should be purchased for a library, classroom, or personal collection on a budget. It was my attempt to winnow down the huge list of books publishing each month into a format that was easy to digest and hit both the big, huge releases, as well as some of the quieter ones that deserved attention. I let the series fall away last year, but because of a surge in interest and requests from readers, it’s coming back!

“On The Radar” is a monthly series meant to highlight between 9 and 12 books per month to fit a budget of roughly $300 or less. These lists are curated from a larger spreadsheet I keep with a running list of titles hitting shelves and are meant to reflect not only the big books coming out from authors readers know and love, but it’s also meant to showcase some of the titles that have hit my radar through review copies, publicity blasts, or because they’re titles that might otherwise not be readily seen or picked up through those traditional avenues. It’s part science and part art.

Book descriptions come from Goodreads and reasons for putting on your radar are mine and mine alone!

Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson

Mary B. Addison killed a baby.

Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: A white baby had died while under the care of a church-going black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it? She wouldn’t say.

Mary survived six years in baby jail before being dumped in a group home. The house isn’t really “home”—no place where you fear for your life can be considered a home. Home is Ted, who she meets on assignment at a nursing home.

There wasn’t a point to setting the record straight before, but now she’s got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary must find the voice to fight her past. And her fate lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But who really knows the real Mary?

Why it should be on your radar: This debut novel by a woman of color is a well-paced, twisty-turny psychological thriller. The main character is a black girl caught up in the juvenile detention system and it wrestles with race, with gender, and so much more.

Caraval by Stephanie Garber (first in series)

Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But she nevertheless becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic with the other players in the game. And whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, a dangerous domino effect of consequences is set off, and her sister disappears forever.

Why it should be on your radar: This book has been getting tremendous buzz and was a YA Buzz title at BEA last year. I’ve read some comps to The Night Circus and suspect that fantasy lovers will eat this one up. First in a series by a debut author.

Carve The Mark by Veronica Roth (first in a duology)

On a planet where violence and vengeance rule, in a galaxy where some are favored by fate, everyone develops a currentgift, a unique power meant to shape the future. While most benefit from their currentgifts, Akos and Cyra do not—their gifts make them vulnerable to others’ control. Can they reclaim their gifts, their fates, and their lives, and reset the balance of power in this world?

Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s currentgift gives her pain and power—something her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies. But Cyra is much more than just a blade in her brother’s hand: she is resilient, quick on her feet, and smarter than he knows.

Akos is from the peace-loving nation of Thuvhe, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Though protected by his unusual currentgift, once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get his brother out alive—no matter what the cost. When Akos is thrust into Cyra’s world, the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. They must decide to help each other to survive—or to destroy one another.

Why it should be on your radar: Veronica Roth burst onto the YA scene with her “Divergent” trilogy, and this is the first in her new series. It has a huge marketing budget, but it should do well by author reputation alone. Worth noting that some readers have expressed concerns about the trope of the dark-skinned aggressor in this book, so don’t be surprised if readers or reviews bring that up.

Frostblood by Elly Blake (first in a series)

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a fireblood who must hide her powers of heat and flame from the cruel frostblood ruling class that wants to destroy all that are left of her kind. So when her mother is killed for protecting her and rebel frostbloods demand her help to kill their rampaging king, she agrees. But Ruby’s powers are unpredictable, and she’s not sure she’s willing to let the rebels and an infuriating (yet irresistible) young man called Arcus use her as their weapon.

All she wants is revenge, but before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to take part in the king’s tournaments that pit fireblood prisoners against frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her and from the icy young man she has come to love.

Why it should be on your radar: I received a number of review copies of this one and a very early finished copy, as well. Something says to me it’ll be popular and hit many radars — it’s the first in a new fantasy trilogy by a debut author.

Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World edited by Kelly Jensen

Let’s get the feminist party started!

Here We Are is a scrapbook-style teen guide to understanding what it really means to be a feminist. It’s packed with essays, lists, poems, comics, and illustrations from a diverse range of voices, including TV, film, and pop-culture celebrities and public figures such as ballet dancer Michaela DePrince and her sister Mia, politician Wendy Davis, as well as popular YA authors like Nova Ren Suma, Malinda Lo, Brandy Colbert, Courtney Summers, and many more. Altogether, the book features more than forty-four pieces, with an eight-page insert of full-color illustrations.

Here We Are is a response to lively discussions about the true meaning of feminism on social media and across popular culture and is an invitation to one of the most important, life-changing, and exciting parties around.

Why it should be on your radar: Even if I were not the editor, I’d want this book on my radar because it’s topically relevant and the voices represented in this book mirror and window the voices that teen readers need. Also, it’s already earned four starred reviews so far from trade journals (Kirkus, SLJ, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly).

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course.

To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart.

If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.

Why it should be on your radar: Silvera’s first novel, More Happy Than Not, earned great readership and acclaim, and already, his sophomore effort has earned a pile of starred reviews and praise. This queer romance tackles not just sexuality but also mental illness. Silvera is a male author of color.

Loving Vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of The Landmark Civil Rights Case by Patricia Hruby Powell and Shandra Strickland

From acclaimed author Patricia Hruby Powell comes the story of a landmark civil rights case, told in spare and gorgeous verse.

In 1955, in Caroline County, Virginia, amidst segregation and prejudice, injustice and cruelty, two teenagers fell in love. Their life together broke the law, but their determination would change it. Richard and Mildred Loving were at the heart of a Supreme Court case that legalized marriage between races, and a story of the devoted couple who faced discrimination, fought it, and won.

Why this should be on your radar: Though this is a novel, it’s based entirely in the true story of Loving vs. Virginia and how the case helped change miscegenation laws in the United States. Though Hruby Powell is not a woman of color, she worked with primary sources (aka, people) to write this book, and it’s evident in how the story is rendered and researched. This isn’t ancient history and teen readers will be blown away to know how this era of racism was around during their parents’ era. The illustrations throughout add even more heart and power to the story, as does the unique documentary/verse format.

Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley

Fifteen-year-old Aki Hunter knows she’s bisexual, but up until now she’s only dated guys—and her best friend, Lori, is the only person she’s out to.

When she and Lori set off on a four-week youth-group mission trip in a small Mexican town, it never crosses Aki’s mind that there might be anyone in the group she’d be interested in dating. But that all goes out the window when Aki meets Christa.

Why it should be on your radar: It’s a bisexual main character who is a person of color (the cover being pink-hued the way it is doesn’t make that as obvious as it could) and Talley’s growth as a voice in YA continues to show. There aren’t enough contemporary queer romances, and this one would be a solid choice. I’ve not read this one yet, but I’ve been told there’s sex on the page and that will be a big bonus for not just the YA world, but for readers who are eager to see that sort of honest and unashamed representation.

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin

America’s favorite sport and Native American history collide in this thrilling true story about one of the nation’s greatest football teams.

When superstar athlete Jim Thorpe and football legend Pop Warner met in 1904 at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, they forged one of the winningest teams in American football history. Called “the team that invented football,” they took on the best opponents of their day, defeating much more privileged schools such as Harvard and the Army in a series of breathtakingly close calls, genius plays, and bone-crushing hard work.

But this is not just an underdog story. It’s an unflinching look at the persecution of Native Americans and its intersection with the beginning of one of the most beloved—and exploitative—pastimes in America.

Why it should be on your radar: Steve Sheinkin is a master of young adult nonfiction, and this title takes on so many intersections of social and cultural history that teen readers will be eager to pick it up for recreational reading. It’s a football story as much as a story about Native Americans.

Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken (second in a series)

All Etta Spencer wanted was to make her violin debut when she was thrust into a treacherous world where the struggle for power could alter history. After losing the one thing that would have allowed her to protect the Timeline, and the one person worth fighting for, Etta awakens alone in an unknown place and time, exposed to the threat of the two groups who would rather see her dead than succeed. When help arrives, it comes from the last person Etta ever expected—Julian Ironwood, the Grand Master’s heir who has long been presumed dead, and whose dangerous alliance with a man from Etta’s past could put them both at risk.

Meanwhile, Nicholas and Sophia are racing through time in order to locate Etta and the missing astrolabe with Ironwood travelers hot on their trail. They cross paths with a mercenary-for-hire, a cheeky girl named Li Min who quickly develops a flirtation with Sophia. But as the three of them attempt to evade their pursuers, Nicholas soon realizes that one of his companions may have ulterior motives.

As Etta and Nicholas fight to make their way back to one another, from Imperial Russia to the Vatican catacombs, time is rapidly shifting and changing into something unrecognizable… and might just run out on both of them.

Why it should be on your radar: This is the second book, following upon the success of Bracken’s Passenger. Bracken’s got a massive fan base and has been a New York Times Bestseller, so this is a sure bet. If you missed picking up the first book in this series, it’s available in paperback now.

Windwitch by Susan Dennard (second book in series)

After an explosion destroys his ship, the world believes Prince Merik, Windwitch, is dead. Scarred yet alive, Merik is determined to prove his sister’s treachery. Upon reaching the royal capital, crowded with refugees, he haunts the streets, fighting for the weak—which leads to whispers of a disfigured demigod, the Fury, who brings justice to the oppressed.

When the Bloodwitch Aeduan discovers a bounty on Iseult, he makes sure to be the first to find her—yet in a surprise twist, Iseult offers him a deal. She will return money stolen from him, if he locates Safi. Now they must work together to cross the Witchlands, while constantly wondering, who will betray whom first?

After a surprise attack and shipwreck, Safi and the Empress of Marstok barely escape with their lives. Alone in a land of pirates, every moment balances on a knife’s edge—especially when the pirates’ next move could unleash war upon the Witchlands.

Why it should be on your radar: This is the second book in a wildly popular series. Dennard’s reputation and popularity continue to grow, and the first book in this series, Truthwitch, did well. Though blurbs don’t generally mean a lot for the purposes of this post, it’s worth noting that this book’s blurb is from Bracken (listed above), so it’s likely there will be crossover interest among fans of either author.

The You I’ve Never Known by Ellen Hopkins

Arielle’s life is a blur of new apartments, new schools, and new faces. Since her mother abandoned the family, Arielle has lived nomadically with her father as he moves from job to job. All she’s ever wanted is to stay in one place for an entire school year, and it looks like she might finally get her wish. With a real friend, Monica, who might be even more than a friend soon, things are starting to look up.

But Arielle’s life is upended—and not by her father, but by her mom, who reveals that she never left Arielle. Instead, Arielle’s father kidnapped her, and her mom has been left searching ever since. She wants to take Arielle away, but Arielle has no connection with her mother, and despite everything, still loves her father. How can she choose between the mother she’s been taught to mistrust and the father who sewed that suspicion?

Why it should be on your radar: Ellen Hopkins is perennially popular and while it seems like an obvious title to include, I think that the book’s packaging might make it easy to miss or overlook — this isn’t “on brand” with her other titles, nor did it publish in the fall like previous books of hers have. The title, too, strays from her traditional one-word titles. Hopkins is well-known for her gritty realistic YA and though the look of this book differs, the content is what readers have come to know and love of Hopkins.

Extra money in the budget? Want more good titles to consider for your collections or reading this month? A few more suggestions — none of which are better nor worse than the above titles, of course — to know about include After The Fall by Kate Hart, The Truth of Right Now by Kara Lee Corthron, Life in a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos, and Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall.

I’ve Sold Another Book

January 8, 2017 |

From Publishers Weekly, 1/5/17:

I went to New York City in late October, and one of the things I did was have lunch with my agent. She’d submitted my proposal for this anthology in August (maybe September?) and we’d had a really positive phone call with my editors at Algonquin about it. An hour after lunch, I had my phone in my hand and was walking, taking photos. I got an email notification and it was my agent — the anthology had officially sold and we had our terms and agreements met.

That was before the election.

When the election results rolled in, I’d been packing to go to New York City again, this time for Book Riot Live. The event was cathartic, even with the unbelievable questions of “what’s going to happen?” and “how?” lingering in the air. It was hard to focus, and I don’t think I mentioned to anyone that I’d sold another book.

(In a side anecdote, I’d had lunch with one of my editors on that trip and an hour later, when I was in The Strand, I got a call from her, wherein I got the new of my first starred trade review from Kirkus. New York City has been growing on me.)

Over the last couple of months since selling this anthology, I’ve been putting it together bit by bit. I’ve sketched out who I’d like to take part. I’ve researched and reached out to people I knew, as well as people I’d never met or talked to before, to start a conversation. It wasn’t easy. I wasn’t feeling particularly good about the process.

It wasn’t the people. It wasn’t the topics.

It was feeling the overwhelming weight of the question “what does this matter?”

I turned my computer mostly off for the last weeks of 2016. I read. I wrote. I took photos. I disconnected from being “on” in order to focus on turning inward. And somewhere in there, I realized that this anthology was exactly what I needed to be working on because it’s exactly the conversation that needs to be happening now, maybe more than ever.

And when the new year rolled around, my agent decided that yes, we needed to share this good news. I finished up my contributors list days before the announcement came out.

I’m honored and thrilled to be working with Algonquin Young Readers again, with two editors and a whole team who are unbelievably enthusiastic about this work. I’m also honored to share a complete contributor list for this collection as it stands now. There will be more pieces, reprints and perhaps another original or two, from celebrities and other “big names.” I’ve gotten permissions to two very exciting ones, and I am working hard to make more connections happen.

Adam Silvera

Esmé Weijun Wang

JJ Jones

Amy Reed

Libba Bray

Victoria Schwab

Christine Heppermann

Clint VanWinkle

Hannah Gomez

Emery Lord

Meredith Russo

Stephanie Kuehn

Susan Juby

Mike Jung

Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

Dior Vargas

Emily Mayberry

Shaun David Hutchinson

Heidi Heilig

Mary McFetridge

s.e. smith

Ashley Holstrom

Art from…

Gemma Correll

Monique Bedard

Yumi Sakugawa

Sharifah Williams

This process, with the knowledge I gained through building Feminism, felt like it wasn’t quite coming together because I wasn’t necessarily believing how well it was coming together.

But now? Now I cannot contain my excitement. This is going to be an incredible collection with brilliant insight into the landscape of mental health. The topics I’ve seen already are topics I can’t wait to read more about.

(Don’t) Call Me Crazy is, we think, a tentative Fall 2018 title. You can add it to your Goodreads shelf here.

Cybils Shortlists Are Here!

January 1, 2017 |

It’s the first of the year, meaning that it’s not only time for a fresh start, but it’s also the day that Cybils shortlists are announced. I took part in a totally new-to-me category this year: middle grade and young adult nonfiction. For the last three months, I read a lot of nonfiction. I managed to get my hands on nearly every nominated title; just a few didn’t get read! It was a lot of fun and a lot of work and I learned a ridiculous amount about great nonfiction for young readers.

Here’s our roundup of middle grade short listed titles:

The titles include A Storm Too Soon, Fashion Rebels, This Land Is Our Land, Bubonic Panic, Sachiko, Ten Days A Madwoman, and We Will Not Be Silent. You can read the blurbs about why these were the selected titles right here (and you should!). Each of these titles I found to be great, engaging reads and the range of topics, writing styles, and layouts is really fascinating to see.

Here’s the Young Adult nonfiction list:

The titles include The Borden Murders, The Plot to Kill Hitler, Radioactive: How Irene Curie and Lise Meitner Revolutionized Science and Changed The World, Blood Brother, Every Falling Star, Blood Bullets Bones, and In The Shadow of Liberty. Again, you can read the reasons why each title was selected here.

I have to say that I’m a fan of every title selected and don’t feel there’s anything that I read that I wish had made it instead of any of these. A couple of other titles I read and thought were good and would make good reads, especially for readers who seek out nonfiction, include Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky (the only collective biography we read that I felt had merit from beginning to end — I found a lot of them to be written poorly and/or overlooked facts that should have been mentioned and/or had errors and/or were just not high on the appeal factor), The Totally Gross History of Ancient Rome by Jeremy Klar (I love social histories of ancient Rome, so this was a case of appealing to me!), All Better Now by Emily Wing Smith (which is a medical/mental health memoir with one of the most unfortunate and unappealing covers out there — you would have a hard time getting someone to pick that one up and know anything about it!), and Forward by Abby Wambach (it’s about her life pre- and post-soccer life and even though I knew nothing about her at all, her writing style and honesty in telling her ups and downs through life was engaging).

Some other interesting things of note from this year’s nonfiction reading: the feminist-angled nonfiction is not only very white, but when it attempts to be more intersectional, it has half-facts and overlooks other big issues (The F-Word title we read, for example, notes how some women of color fought for equal rights and suffrage, but then doesn’t note that the voting Amendment for women was limited to white women). The collective biographies, including the two fashion books, mined a lot of similar material and it was so interesting to see the biases and writing styles shine through each of them. And as noted before, many were not particularly great. I also found myself liking some of the titles in a bigger trim size and not being put off by it, though there was a lot of time spent these last three months thinking about the design of nonfiction and how information can be conveyed well or poorly depending on choices made in the design process.

Fun tidbit from this year’s cybils work on my committee was that we finished our discussion very quickly. Like, land speed record quickly. The setup for discussion throughout the reading period made the conversation happen efficiently, but also, there were a lot of clear-cut great reads and clear-cut not-great reads. More, one of the things Jennie, our organizer, mentioned to me was that often, literary merit and reader appeal can work against one another in nonfiction, and that seemed to be really evident in these titles.

I’m glad I took the leap and did this this year. You can catch up on all of the shortlisted titles for “best in kid lit” over on the Cybils blog. Now that my work is done, Kimberly gets to be on the super-secret judging side of round two for graphic novels.

Nonfiction Roundup

November 30, 2016 |

While Kelly has been busily plugging away at her Cybils nonfiction reading, I’ve also been delving a bit into the YA nonfiction world via my workplace’s Mock Printz committee. We had three nonfiction titles we were considering, all I highly recommend.

In Florence Nightingale: The Courageous Life of the Legendary Nurse, Catherine Reef takes her readers on a journey through the life of perhaps the most famous nurse in the Western world. Florence Nightingale is best known for her work in the Crimean War where she selflessly and tirelessly cared for the wounded English soldiers, but in truth, that’s only a small part of her long and extensive career. That career involved numerous reforms in how medicine was practiced and applied and the transformation of nursing into a vocation – a socially acceptable one for women of her time. She started the first secular nursing school and published many papers on her findings, which included graphs of statistical data, something not much done at the time.

Reef also gives her readers peeks into Nightingale’s personality. She had a prickly temperament and was a bit of a domineering manager. She considered marrying a man whom she cared deeply for, but ultimately decided her dedication to nursing, something she felt called to by God, was more important. Personal insights like these interspersed among her professional accomplishments give readers a well-rounded and fascinating overview of an important woman. This is a smoothly-written biography appropriate for older middle grade and YA collections.

Patricia McCormick delivers a biography of a very different but equally fascinating person, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in The Plot to Kill Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero. I had heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer before, and knew he died due to his involvement in assassination attempts against Hitler, but beyond that, I knew very little. I’m not alone in this: of the many adults I asked about Bonhoeffer, I don’t think any even knew who he was. This book should change that. It’s written for a younger audience than Reef’s, solidly middle grade (maybe on the young side of middle grade, even), with short chapters and an intrusive (though not annoying) authorial voice on the part of McCormick.

McCormick traces Bonhoeffer’s life from a young, sensitive German boy who loved music to his decision to become a pastor to his vow to resist peacefully (Gandhi was his example) and ultimately to his decision to bring down Hitler by any means necessary – even violently. Bonhoeffer and his cohorts’ attempts all failed, and he and most of the others involved – including his brothers – were executed as a result. But McCormick asks her young readers to consider the question: “Does the fact that he didn’t succeed in his aims make him any less of a hero?” While the book itself is short and can feel slight to adult readers, this is weighty stuff for kids, and it’s incredibly moving for readers of any age.

Albert Marrin tackles the same time period from a different perspective in Uprooted: The Japanese American Experience During World War II. Marrin covers the Japanese-American imprisonment in American concentration camps (with an excellent explanation for why these were concentration camps, not internment camps, both legally and practically speaking). He also delves into Japanese-American participation as soldiers in both the Pacific and the European warfronts. He begins with a brief historical overview of the conflicts between Japan and the West and Japan and China, both vital to understanding the Japanese-Americans’ situation during World War II.

Marrin accurately uses the words “white supremacy” and “racism” when describing how Japanese-Americans were treated during this time period. He quotes people like FDR and other lawmakers repeatedly, using their own words to demonstrate how their own racism fueled the country’s racism and led to egregious human rights violations. Importantly, he also discusses how people can change, most notably Earl Warren, who strongly supported the uprooting of Japanese-Americans during World War II as Attorney General of California, but later deeply regretted his actions and went on to help usher in some of the most vital civil rights decisions as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, including Brown v. Board of Education, Gideon v. Wainwright, Miranda v. Arizona, and Loving v. Virginia. Most importantly, Marrin highlights the lives of those Japanese-Americans who fought for or were imprisoned by their country, including Senator Daniel Inouye and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, author of Farewell to Manzanar.

Marrin’s book is not only an important tool for teaching us about our history; unfortunately now, it is also a call to action. In the last part his book, he draws clear parallels between how Japanese-Americans were treated after Pearl Harbor (until a few weeks ago, universally recognized as appalling) and how Muslim-Americans were and are treated in a post-9/11 America. Uprooted will only grow more important as the months go on. Marrin’s account is well-written, detailed, important, and should be required reading for all Americans.

Cybils Reviews: YA and Middle Grade Nonfiction About Science & Disease

November 21, 2016 |

Reading nonfiction for Cybils this year has been really enjoyable and it’s been really neat to not just see the range of topics covered, but it’s been neat to think about the connections between and among them. What do these connections say about the things we’re thinking about on a broader cultural level?

A number of the books have fallen into the broad category of science, and this is an area of nonfiction I love. But saying that books fall into a “broad category of science” doesn’t quite nail what these books have in common — rather, these books look at the side of science concerned with making our world a better, safer place for human and animal kind. They marry science and history in smart, accessible ways.

Here’s a look at a handful of those books, which tackle topics of disease, global warming, extinction, and and more.

Bubonic Panic! by Gail Jarrow

This middle grade title explores the third “wave” of bubonic plague, which made its way to America in the early 1900s in San Francisco. Picking it up, I didn’t expect to take away as much as I did about the disease — this was a topic I wrote a lot about in high school and felt like I’d learned enough about and yet, this was an entire aspect of public health and history I didn’t know happened. I suspect a reason for this lack of knowledge might come from what Jarrow touches on (and ultimately doesn’t dig into as much as I wish): racism. Those most susceptible to America’s bubonic plague were Asian immigrants, and the choices politicians made to slow down the spread of the disease targeted Chinatown specifically.

The book isn’t entirely about the disease in America though, and it was fascinating to see the history of bubonic plague traced back into three distinct waves. It’s my suspicion most people, self included, are familiar with the second wave which hit Europe and less aware of the first and third waves. Jarrow does an excellent job telling the history of this disease not just through science and discovery, but she makes it into a mystery. She explores what caused the disease, why it happened in waves, and the roles scientists played in trying to figure out the reason behind the disease, who it targeted, and how to put an end to it. I found much of the discussion of trying to find an immunization for the disease to be some of the most interesting material in the book.

In terms of design, this is a visually appealing book. It’s full color, with thoughtful use of images and sidebars that highlight, rather than detract from, the greater text. I do wish there was a different trim size, since it’s one of those books that is odd to hold and read, but I also understand that to get the visuals to look great, that was likely a necessary choice.

The back matter is excellent, and I found the FAQs that Jarrow chose to include at the end of the book really thought-provoking. It was clear she anticipated some questions from young readers and she addresses them succinctly and smartly.

Fun fact: I knew the plague was still a thing in the American southwest; in mid 2007, my husband and I were driving from Las Vegas to Austin and stopped one night in a New Mexico town, where the lead story was about a small local outbreak. I was surprised, but learning about the fact that it’s rodents and fleas associated with them that can cause the illness makes that make more sense. Likewise, this book will likely heighten fear from the hypochondriacs out there, since this is a disease that’s still possible and Jarrow doesn’t ignore that.

It’s Getting Hot In Here: The Past, Present, and Future of Climate Change by Bridget Heos

This YA nonfiction title is for those who love their science with numbers, figures, and graphs. It’s a well-argued book about the impact of climate change and the need to get serious about protecting our planet. Heos hedges her arguments very well — she clearly delineates the scientific evidence from the political aspects of the global warming argument and then further provides a point for readers to ponder over as she notes that GMOs are also in one of those personal/political/science gaps where science says GMOs are totally fine but individuals find a lot more to chew on with them than they do with things like global warming…also backed by science.

There are times this goes on too long and the middle gets a little boring. Readers who are really into sustainability and global warming will likely love this length, though. This is full-color throughout and the format is a traditional novel trim, making it read really well and look really great. It’s appealing on every level and the use of images and side bars to break up text was well thought out and added, rather than detracted from, the text.

Heos goes further to offer ways for individuals to do better with their impact on the Earth. These tips aren’t hard and don’t cost money, and Heos addresses both of those issues before providing the tips, too.

It’s smart how she sets up her arguments and defends them, and it’s done in a way that would make this an excellent read for those teens looking to learn how to craft an argument and support it well. There are discussions of both sides of the issue but the counter argument is picked apart because of science, numbers, and data. For the general reader, though, it might be overwhelming to sift through.

This is another read with good backmatter, so it will work not only as a solid nonfiction read for leisure, but it also serves as a great resource for those doing research or who want to dig even further into global warming.

I read this one a few weeks back, and even though it did drag for me, I find myself returning to some of the points Heos made. In early November, I sat on the beach, here in southern Wisconsin, and realized it was absurd and terrifying to be doing such a thing. The beach was packed, people were putting their feet in the water, and everyone carried on like it was a perfect summer evening. That was why I was there, and yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about how global warming was to thank for such a gift. . . if it could be considered a gift at all.

Last of the Giants: The Rise and Fall of Earth’s Most Dominant Species by Jeff Campbell, illustrated by Adam Grano

An engaging, at at times difficult, YA title to read about a number of “giant” species that have gone extinct in the last 500 years. Campbell explores the whys and hows of the extinctions, with some interesting — at times slightly judgmental — ways that humans have impacted these natural beasts. “Giant,” as Campebell explains early on in the text, not only refers to size, but it also refers to species like the passenger pigeon in the US which were abundant one day and then completely gone the next. As a reader, I found reading that section particularly difficult, as it highlighted the brutal ways humans interacted with nature.

Some of the most fascinating pieces of this book were the descriptions of islands that, while populated today, were once ecological wonders. Campbell describes an unbelievable world in New Zealand, where giant birds were abundant and wild; he also digs into the amazing ecoculture of Madagascar and how humans arriving in both islands invariably changed the natural habitats and livelihoods of many creates. Some we know the stories of and others we’ll never quite know.

The backmatter is great, and I turned to one of the videos referenced back there about the Tasmanian tiger and definitely got a little teary-eyed. I do wonder, though, if more of the backmatter could be better integrated into the text or into footnotes in instances like this, as it was not easy to flip back and find the video being referenced in text because there’s so much backmatter.

My biggest criticism, besides perhaps the book being a bit lengthy, is that the layout is bizarre. The pull quotes make no sense and take up way too much room in spaces where it was unnecessary. I’d have liked more sidebars and more “did you know” kind of things sprinkled throughout that would make the text a little more digestible — perhaps those could have been places where “check out these videos” or other round-ups to juicy backmatter could be highlighted in text.

This isn’t a book that can be read easily in one sitting for that reason, especially for those who get heated up about animal rights, climate change, or other similar natural issues. There were times I had to stop because it made me a little weepy. Likewise, this is a book that’s just a bit long, and readers will want to take their time to digest what they’re reading. Picking this book up prior to the Heos book in my reading pile made me appreciate both a little bit more, as it was impossible not to see how the things Heos talked about mirrored some of what Campbell talked about, especially in regards to the disappearance of some of Earth’s richest and most diverse ecosystems.