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Fabulously Diverse YA Book Covers We Should See More Often

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There’s no big introduction necessary for this post. It’s not a post that requires a whole lot more than the title.

It’s a round-up of the awesome, diverse YA book covers that will be hitting shelves in 2015 that have been released so far. I’m including descriptions from Goodreads for each of the books, along with a link so you can add them to your to-be-read lists.

In short: I want to see more and more covers like these that embrace diversity right on the front cover. No shadows, no fading-to-black, no hiding, no sunglasses-covering-the eyes, no backs turned. More like this, please! If I’m missing any other recent cover reveals from 2015 that are this straightforward, let me know in the comments. I want to see them and I want to share them.

Endangered by Lamar Giles (April 21): Her name is Lauren, but everyone calls her Panda. What they don’t know is that behind their backs, she also goes by Gray. As in Gray Scales, the photo blog that her classmates are addicted to because of the secrets Gray exposes: a jock buying drugs, a teacher in a compromising position, the richest girl in school shoplifting. But no one knows Panda’s the vigilante photographer behind it all. At least, she thinks no one knows—until she gets a note from the Admirer, who’s not only caught her red-handed acting as Gray, but also threatens to reveal everything unless Panda joins her Admirer in a little game of Dare or … Dare. Panda plays along. Anything to keep the secrets she’s protected for years. But when the game turns deadly, Panda doesn’t know what to do. And she might need to step out of the shadows to save herself … and everyone else on the Admirer’s hit list, including some of the classmates she’s loathed and exposed for years.

Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz (March 3): Etta is tired of dealing with all of the labels and categories that seem so important to everyone else in her small Nebraska hometown.

Everywhere she turns, someone feels she’s too fringe for the fringe. Not gay enough for the Dykes, her ex-clique, thanks to a recent relationship with a boy; not tiny and white enough for ballet, her first passion; and not sick enough to look anorexic (partially thanks to recovery). Etta doesn’t fit anywhere— until she meets Bianca, the straight, white, Christian, and seriously sick girl in Etta’s therapy group. Both girls are auditioning for Brentwood, a prestigious New York theater academy that is so not Nebraska. Bianca seems like Etta’s salvation, but how can Etta be saved by a girl who needs saving herself? 

 
Under The Lights by Dahlia Adler (June 30): Josh Chester loves being a Hollywood bad boy, coasting on his good looks, his parties, his parents’ wealth, and the occasional modeling gig. But his laid-back lifestyle is about to change. To help out his best friend, Liam, he joins his hit teen TV show, Daylight Falls…opposite Vanessa Park, the one actor immune to his charms. (Not that he’s trying to charm her, of course.) Meanwhile, his drama-queen mother blackmails him into a new family reality TV show, with Josh in the starring role. Now that he’s in the spotlight—on everyone’s terms but his own—Josh has to decide whether a life as a superstar is the one he really wants.


Vanessa Park has always been certain about her path as an actor, despite her parents’ disapproval. But with all her relationships currently in upheaval, she’s painfully uncertain about everything else. When she meets her new career handler, Brianna, Van is relieved to have found someone she can rely on, now that her BFF, Ally, is at college across the country. But as feelings unexpectedly evolve beyond friendship, Van’s life reaches a whole new level of confusing. And she’ll have to choose between the one thing she’s always loved…and the person she never imagined she could.

About A Girl by Sarah McCarry (July 14): Eighteen-year-old Tally is absolutely sure of everything: her genius, the love of her adoptive family, the loyalty of her best friend, Shane, and her future career as a Nobel prize-winning astronomer. There’s no room in her tidy world for heartbreak or uncertainty—or the charismatic, troubled mother who abandoned her soon after she was born. But when a sudden discovery upends her fiercely ordered world, Tally sets out on an unexpected quest to seek out the reclusive musician who may hold the key to her past—and instead finds Maddy, an enigmatic and beautiful girl who will unlock the door to her future. The deeper she falls in love with Maddy, the more Tally begins to realize that the universe is bigger—and more complicated—than she ever imagined. Can Tally face the truth about her family—and find her way home in time to save herself from its consequences?

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler (August 4): The youngest of six talented sisters, Elyse d’Abreau was destined for stardom—until a boating accident took everything from her. Now, the most beautiful singer in Tobago can’t sing. She can’t even speak.


Seeking quiet solitude, Elyse accepts a friend’s invitation to Atargatis Cove. Named for the mythical first mermaid, the Oregon seaside town is everything Elyse’s home in the Caribbean isn’t: An ocean too cold for swimming, parties too tame for singing, and people too polite to pry—except for one.

Christian Kane is a notorious playboy—insolent, arrogant, and completely charming. He’s also the only person in Atargatis Cove who doesn’t treat Elyse like a glass statue. He challenges her to express herself, and he admires the way she treats his younger brother Sebastian, who believes Elyse is the legendary mermaid come to life. 

When Christian needs a first mate for the Cove’s high-stakes Pirate Regatta, Elyse reluctantly stows her fear of the sea and climbs aboard. The ocean isn’t the only thing making waves, though—swept up in Christian’s seductive tide and entranced by the Cove’s charms, Elyse begins to wonder if a life of solitude isn’t what she needs. But changing course again means facing her past. It means finding her inner voice. And scariest of all, it means opening her heart to a boy who’s best known for breaking them.

This Side of Home by Renee Watson (February 3): Identical twins Nikki and Maya have been on the same page for everything—friends, school, boys and starting off their adult lives at a historically African-American college. But as their neighborhood goes from rough-and-tumble to up-and-coming, suddenly filled with pretty coffee shops and boutiques, Nikki is thrilled while Maya feels like their home is slipping away. Suddenly, the sisters who had always shared everything must confront their dissenting feelings on the importance of their ethnic and cultural identities and, in the process, learn to separate themselves from the long shadow of their identity as twins.
 
Scarlett Undercover by Jennifer Latham (May 19): Meet Scarlett, a smart, sarcastic, kick-butt, Muslim American heroine, ready to take on crime in her hometown of Las Almas. When a new case finds the private eye caught up in a centuries-old battle of evil genies and ancient curses, Scarlett discovers that her own family secrets may have more to do with the situation than she thinks — and that cracking the case could lead to solving her father’s murder.
The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds (January 6): Just when seventeen-year-old Matt thinks he can’t handle one more piece of terrible news, he meets a girl who’s dealt with a lot more—and who just might be able to clue him in on how to rise up when life keeps knocking him down—in this wry, gritty novel from the author of When I Was the Greatest.


Matt wears a black suit every day. No, not because his mom died—although she did, and it sucks. But he wears the suit for his gig at the local funeral home, which pays way better than the Cluck Bucket, and he needs the income since his dad can’t handle the bills (or anything, really) on his own. So while Dad’s snagging bottles of whiskey, Matt’s snagging fifteen bucks an hour. Not bad. But everything else? Not good. Then Matt meets Lovey. She’s got a crazy name, and she’s been through more crazy than he can imagine. Yet Lovey never cries. She’s tough. Really tough. Tough in the way Matt wishes he could be. Which is maybe why he’s drawn to her, and definitely why he can’t seem to shake her. Because there’s nothing more hopeful than finding a person who understands your loneliness—and who can maybe even help take it away.

 

Bright Lights, Dark Nights by Stephen Emond (August 11): Walter Wilcox has never been in love. That is, until he meets Naomi, and sparks, and clever jokes, fly. But when his cop dad is caught in a racial profiling scandal, Walter and Naomi, who is African American, are called out at school, home, and online. Can their bond (and mutual love of the Foo Fighters) keep them together?

With black-and-white illustrations throughout and a heartfelt, humorous voice, Bright Lights, Dark Nights authentically captures just how tough first love can be…and why it’s worth fighting for.

Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed (March 24): This heart-wrenching novel explores what it is like to be thrust into an unwanted marriage. Has Naila’s fate been written in the stars? Or can she still make her own destiny?

Naila’s conservative immigrant parents have always said the same thing: She may choose what to study, how to wear her hair, and what to be when she grows up—but they will choose her husband. Following their cultural tradition, they will plan an arranged marriage for her. And until then, dating—even friendship with a boy—is forbidden. When Naila breaks their rule by falling in love with Saif, her parents are livid. Convinced she has forgotten who she truly is, they travel to Pakistan to visit relatives and explore their roots. But Naila’s vacation turns into a nightmare when she learns that plans have changed—her parents have found her a husband and they want her to marry him, now! Despite her greatest efforts, Naila is aghast to find herself cut off from everything and everyone she once knew. Her only hope of escape is Saif . . . if he can find her before it’s too late.

 

The Last Leaves Falling by Sarah Benwell (May 5): Japanese teenager, Sora, is diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Lonely and isolated, Sora turns to the ancient wisdom of the samurai for guidance and comfort. But he also finds hope in the present; through the internet he finds friends that see him, not just his illness. This is a story of friendship and acceptance, and testing strength in an uncertain future.

Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older (June 30): Sierra Santiago was looking forward to a fun summer of making art, hanging out with her friends, and skating around Brooklyn. But then a weird zombie guy crashes the first party of the season. Sierra’s near-comatose abuelo begins to say “No importa” over and over. And when the graffiti murals in Bed-Stuy start to weep…. Well, something stranger than the usual New York mayhem is going on.

Sierra soon discovers a supernatural order called the Shadowshapers, who connect with spirits via paintings, music, and stories. Her grandfather once shared the order’s secrets with an anthropologist, Dr. Jonathan Wick, who turned the Caribbean magic to his own foul ends. Now Wick wants to become the ultimate Shadowshaper by killing all the others, one by one. With the help of her friends and the hot graffiti artist Robbie, Sierra must dodge Wick’s supernatural creations, harness her own Shadowshaping abilities, and save her family’s past, present, and future.

* While this isn’t a final cover concept, I love it and hope whatever the final choice is, it’s in this direction. 

Riddle Me This

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I love a good riddle in a book, even if I can’t ever figure it out before the characters do. (Of course when I do, I feel extra smart.) Reading is always a participatory act, but when there are riddles involved, it’s even more so. Below are a few YA and middle grade books – recent and not so recent – that feature riddles (or similar puzzles) prominently. Descriptions are from Worldcat, plus links to reviews here at Stacked when applicable. Which of your favorites have I missed?

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
When strange and seemingly unrelated events start to happen and a
precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder
combine their talents to solve an international art scandal. First book
in the series featuring art sleuth friends Calder and Petra.

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
Sixteen-year-old Malencia (Cia) Vale is chosen to participate in The
Testing to attend the University; however, Cia is fearful when she
figures out her friends who do not pass The Testing are disappearing. Kimberly’s review | The sequels, Independent Study and Graduation Day, have some great riddles/puzzles too.

Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano
A math-whiz from a trailer park discovers she’s the only student capable
of unravelling complex clues left by a serial killer who’s
systematically getting rid of her classmates. Kimberly’s review

The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip
In seeking the answer to the riddle of the three stars on his forehead
and the three stars on the enchanted harp and sword, Morgon, Prince of
Hed, goes ultimately to the High One himself.

Free to Fall by Lauren Miller
Fast-forward to a time when Apple and Google have been replaced by
Gnosis, a monolith corporation that has developed the most life-changing
technology to ever hit the market: Lux, an app that flawlessly
optimizes decision-making for the best personal results. Just like
everyone else, sixteen-year-old Rory Vaughn knows the key to a happy,
healthy life is following what Lux recommends. When she’s accepted to
the elite
boarding school Theden Academy, her future happiness seems all the more
assured. But once on campus, something feels wrong beneath the polished
surface of her prestigious dream school. Kimberly’s review

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an
unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his
death before they can claim their inheritance.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
Fourteen-year-old Harry Potter joins the Weasleys at the Quidditch World
Cup, then enters his fourth year at Hogwarts Academy where he is
mysteriously entered in an unusual contest that challenges his wizarding
skills, friendships and character, amid signs that an old enemy is
growing stronger.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Four mysterious letters change Miranda’s world forever. By sixth grade,
Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York
City neighborhood. But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for
what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda’s mom keeps hidden for an emergency is
stolen. And then Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny
slip of paper: I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own. I
must ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter. The notes keep
coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows
all about her, including things that have not even happened yet. Each
message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a
tragic death. Kimberly’s review

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected
for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the
Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that
there are no rules.

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
The adventures of the well-to-do hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who lived
happily in his comfortable home until a wandering wizard granted his
wish. (Really, no description needed here.)

Impossible by Nancy Werlin
When seventeen-year-old Lucy discovers her family is under an ancient
curse by an evil Elfin Knight, she realizes to break the curse she must
perform three impossible tasks before her daughter is born in order to
save them both.

A Few Cybils Reads – Part V

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Welcome to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Horror filmmaker Justin Blake has invited people from all over the country to enter a contest to get an inside look at his latest project – all they have to do is write about their worst nightmare. Seven lucky teenagers, each with their own POV chapters, were selected based on their entries, and they’ve been flown to a creepy hotel staffed by people who are dead ringers for killers from Blake’s many movies. Immediately upon their arrival, strange things start to happen: one of the girls flees the hotel; the others find writing on her closet wall in what appears to be blood warning them to get away. But it’s all part of the fun, right? These horror-lovers (with the notable exception of Ivy, who entered the contest in hopes it would help her face down her real life horror) want to be scared. Then they’re all taken to a carnival and told that in order to meet Blake, they must survive the rides that are their nightmares come to life – and things take a turn for the deadly.

This is a great pick for fans of campy horror films. The book itself is pretty much a version of one of those films anyway, right down to a perspective told mostly in screenplay format. It doesn’t try to do anything new, but rather embraces the tropes that make those films fun for viewers: a creepy carnival, a remote location, no cell phone signals, mostly one-note participants being picked off one by one. Readers will be able to see how it will end, but the ride is fun nonetheless.

Scintillate by Tracy Clark
After an illness where Cora was hospitalized for a high fever, she’s able to see auras around people. They vary from person to person, depending on their personality and their mood, but Cora’s own is always pure silver. She tries to talk to her dad about it (her mother is long out of the picture), but he won’t answer any of her questions. The proprietor of a local bookshop tells her that auras are real, that Cora has a special ability to see them, and that pure silver auras are very rare – right before she’s threatened into silence and refuses to see Cora again. When Cora begins to notice a man following her around, a man with a pure white aura who can somehow suck out the auras of others around him, killing them, she knows she must find out what’s going on. She learns it’s tied somehow to her mother’s disappearance in Ireland, so she travels there hoping to puzzle it out, encountering danger, romance, and long-lost secrets.

I started this one thinking I may not finish it, but it surprised me with how compelling it was. The way Clark wrote about auras was interesting; it’s a topic that I haven’t read much about in fiction. But what really makes this stand out from the sea of other paranormal light fantasies is the way Clark handles the romance. I wasn’t at all surprised to encounter what’s often called “insta-love” between Cora and her school’s exchange student hottie. But there’s a plot and a character reason for it, which is fully revealed near the end of the story and makes such head-over-heels instant attraction an inevitability. Clark knows what she’s doing with her story – she recognizes the cliches inherent in her genre and works with them in a clever way. The writing is solid, with a great voice in Cora and an exciting climax, and the mythology is interesting, too, making this a good pick for paranormal romance fans.

Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano
There’s a serial killer on the loose at Nearly Boswell’s high school, and it seems that he (or she) is doing everything he can to make it look like Nearly is the culprit. It started with an innocent-seeming personal ad in the Classifieds section of the newspaper, a section Nearly combs through every day hoping to read a message from her father who abandoned her and her mother when she was a little girl. The first victim is merely humiliated; when the second victim dies, Nearly knows the second personal ad referring cryptically to the location where the body was found wasn’t merely strange; it was targeting her specifically. She goes to the police, but they either don’t believe her or think she’s in on it. She feels like she has no choice but to stop the killing on her own – with the help of the school’s bad boy, a former juvenile delinquent who’s now agreed to keep tabs on Nearly for the police in case she’s the killer. 

This is a fantastic, smart mystery/thriller that’s plotted to perfection. The riddles in the Classifieds are really fun to puzzle out, and Cosimano sprinkles a lot of red herrings and potential motives throughout the book. There are subplots galore; any one of them could point to the serial killer. The name “Nearly” is a little too cute for my liking (oh, the puns Cosimano uses!), and Nearly’s ability to sense others’ emotions by touching them seems completely extraneous. Unlike a book like Kim Harrington’s Clarity, where the protagonist’s ability is integral to solving the crime, Nearly’s ability doesn’t do much for her (or against her). There’s one scene where she’s at a rave and is overwhelmed by the emotions present within the drug- and adrenaline-fueled participants, but that’s as much as her ability ever bears on the plot. Aside from these things, though, this is one of the best teen mysteries I’ve read. I especially liked that the riddles focused on math and science, areas where Nearly excels. It’s a fun workout for the reader’s brain and nice to see a girl protagonist who loves those subjects.

All books borrowed from my local library.

“For the Girls” in Dedication

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I don’t pay a lot of attention to dedications in books. Most of the time, those are personal to the author, naming people in their lives who are important to them — family members, friends, someone who helped them significantly while writing the book. I find acknowledgement pages far more interesting to read.

But that’s changed a little as I’ve noticed a small trend in YA dedications. It’s a trend I love, and it’s one that I hope I keep stumbling upon. These are dedications to girls. Not just one girl, but to girls more broadly, offering them a piece of advice, a word of kindness, or a piece of hope. A lot of these dedications make perfect sense in context with the book too. If the book’s about strong girls or about a girl who learns what it means to be a girl, that sort of dedication feels like a sweet message from the author to the reader holding the book. 

Here’s a round-up of recent dedications I’ve seen “for the girls.” This is incomplete, as it’s something that I’ve only just started to notice. If you can think of others, let me know in the comments so I can track down those books and include a shot of the dedication. I’d love to have enough to do another big round-up of them, and I know they’re out there. 

I’m including a description of the book and, for some, the publication date, since these aren’t all released yet. Descriptions are from WorldCat.

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily receives special protections from the spiritual forces of Neverland, but then she meets her tribe’s most dangerous enemy–Peter Pan–and falls in love with him.

Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero
Sixteen-year-old Gabi Hernandez chronicles her senior year in high school as she copes with her friend Cindy’s pregnancy, friend Sebastian’s coming out, her father’s meth habit, her own cravings for food and cute boys, and especially, the poetry that helps forge her identity.
Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A. S. King
As her high school graduation draws near, Glory O’Brien begins having powerful and terrifying visions of the future as she struggles with her long-buried grief over her mother’s suicide.

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma (March 24, 2015)
Orianna and Violet are ballet dancers and best friends, but when the ballerinas who have been harassing Violet are murdered, Orianna is accused of the crime and sent to a juvenile detention center where she meets Amber and they experience supernatural events linking the girls together.

The Devil You Know by Trish Doller (June 2, 2015)
Exhausted and rebellious after three years of working for her father and mothering her brother, eighteen-year-old Arcadia “Cadie” Wells joins two cousins who are camping their way through Florida, soon learning that one is a murderer.

YA Review Round-up: 100 Sideways Miles, Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel, and Press Play

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I’ve come to realize that I can either write lengthy reviews and read fewer books or I can read more books and post fewer reviews. I don’t think I have to choose one over the other. I’ve found there’s a need to just strike some good balance between the two, meaning that when I’m in the mood to just read, then I need to do that and when I’m in the mood to really dig into the books I’m reading, then I need to just do that.

I’m putting together a couple of review round-up posts for recent reads to talk up some of the things I have been reading. There’s nothing thematically similar about these books, other than they’re all titles I’ve read recently and are worth talking at least a little bit about.

My experience with Andrew Smith’s books are a mixed bag. Sometimes, I love them and sometimes, they’re really not my thing at all. I found Grasshopper Jungle to fall into the “not my thing at all” category this year, especially as I felt that the way females were depicted in the story was problematic. I don’t expect a book that’s through the eyes of a teen boy to always be perfectly respectful to female characters — that’s unrealistic — but when every female in the story has some kind of problem or is depicted as merely there as a side item, it starts to grate on me.

Enter 100 Sideways Miles.

The story centers on Finn and his experience as an epileptic. Or, well, it’s less about his experience as an epileptic as his experience being a teen boy trying to figure out what’s next in his life. It so happens he has epilepsy, due to a bizarre accident involving a horse that subsequently killed his mother. Finn’s goal at the end of this school year is to travel outside California with his best friend Cade. They want to check out a potential college in Oklahoma together.

In the interim, a new girl moves to town and quite literally meets Finn as he’s in the midst of a seizure. It’s completely embarrassing to him to have the new girl — who he can’t help but have his eyes on out of curiosity, if not more — walk in on him like that. But Julia isn’t fazed by it. In fact, it’s that event that brings them together and forges a satisfying relationship between the two of them. Smith offers up a solid female character in Julia, but more than that, he shows a really great romantic relationship between the two that feels real and more, feels real to who Finn is.

But this isn’t really about the romance. This is a book about guy friendship and about figuring out the questions of “what’s next” in life. I’d call this a straight up adventure story, especially in the second half, and it’s the kind of adventure story that seems to be lacking in YA. It’s two guys, on the road, figuring out not just who they are, but how they can solve big problems outside themselves while they’re on the road. 100 Sideways Miles also features what readers have come to expect out of Smith’s writing: it’s not necessarily straightforward and there are plenty of straight-up weird and bizarre plot elements. But those are part of the story and make sense within it. This is a much more accessible and, I think, enjoyable read than Grasshopper Jungle was this year. It features a diverse cast and a really authentic look at male friendship.

Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel is Sara Farizan’s sophomore novel, and it repeats some of the same writing-related things that I found didn’t work for me in her first book, If You Could Be Mine. In Tell Me Again, main character Leila — who is Iranian — has never had a crush before. It’s something she is almost a little proud of, or at least it’s something she’d be more proud of if it weren’t for the fact this is because she’s a lesbian. Her parents, who are strict and religious, can’t know about this, as they have very high expectations of her to follow the straight-and-narrow in the same way her older sister is. Leila feels the pressure, even if she doesn’t necessarily pursue it.

When new girl Saskia comes to Leila’s school, though, suddenly, she finds herself falling. Saskia is gorgeous and she appears to be very open and honest about her feelings. Leila can’t believe that someone as attractive and cool as Saskia could be the kind of girl she’d be able to call a girlfriend. Between their getting together after school, their intimate moments in a dressing room, and their shared kisses, it feels all but certain Leila now has her first real girlfriend. How will she tell her friends? Can she tell them? And what about her parents?

It’s not what it seems though, and Saskia isn’t the cool girl or girlfriend Leila thought her to be. She’s taken huge advantage of Leila and her naivety, leaving her hurt and confused. But when a long-time friend reenters the picture, perhaps things aren’t as bad as Leila thinks they are. And maybe, just maybe, she’ll be able to come out to her parents.

The writing in this one drags a bit and there are times where info dumps not only slow the pacing but they also sometimes seem to contradict themselves. We don’t get a super clear picture of any of the characters — including Leila — though Farizan does an outstanding job rendering Saskia as a toxic, manipulative girl who uses others for her own gain. At times, little to nothing happens in the story, and I felt like this moments deserved some higher stakes, both for the plot and for the characters so they could be more rounded and clearly depicted. I also wish there’d been a little more economic diversity within the story; this was a book featuring a lot of privileged characters and after a while, reading that got to be a little too much.


Tell Me Again reads younger than a lot of YA out there, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While there’s talk of sex and there’s drinking, I think this would be an okay book to hand to more mature middle school readers, as well as younger high schoolers.

If you’re looking for a book that’s a hard look at “dude culture” — something perhaps not explored as much as it should be in YA — then Eric Devine’s Press Play should fit pretty well.

Greg Dunsmore has earned the nickname “Dun the Ton” because he’s a big guy. A very big guy. But he’s using this as an opportunity to develop a film to gain him admission into a top film school. His plan is to film himself through intense weight-loss workouts, as well as the sort of bullying and teasing he gets for his body.

When he’s doing his workout in the weight room after school, he accidentally overhears and oversees something going on with the lacrosse team. It looks and sounds like bullying and hazing on a level he can’t stomach. He doesn’t have quite the solid proof that he’d like to to turn this into something bigger, but Greg knows now he has to pursue what it is he thinks is going on in order to shed light into the brutal hazing culture at his school. It’s not easy, and he’s not above seeing further bullying for what he’s trying to do, but Greg understands this is beyond him . . . even if he is also aware this could be an opportunity for his own future, too.

Devine’s book is a fast-paced, adrenaline-fueled book along the lines of Joshua Cohen’s Leverage. While there’s not a lot new offered to the fat kid being bullied angle in the story, Greg is authentic and honest in a way that many of these kinds of stories don’t allow their main characters to be. He’s not a perfect character, and his flaws are what make him a character worth following. Because he’s sometimes unlikable, stubborn, and frustrating to readers and to those who care about him, he’s almost the exact right person to be attempting to out the hazing going on with the lacrosse team. He doesn’t start out with an agenda, and when he decides he does have to pursue this, his dedication to it becomes something that both impresses and annoys those around him.

At times, Press Play went a little long and it could have maintained its intensity with a little tighter editing, but this is the kind of realistic YA that should appeal to both teen boys and teen girls who are interested in unflinching, stomach-twisting looks at the underbelly of high school and high school athletic culture. It’s a story that’s exceptionally timely and, unfortunately, exceptionally timeless.