Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali

 Last week I read Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali and loved it so much, so I ordered her first one- Saints and Misfits and I enjoyed it as much!  

Saints and Misfits is the story of Janna, a Muslim teenager who is struggling to fit in and struggling to figure out who she wants to be and who she can trust.  There are times when she feels like a misfit- mostly when she is trying to figure out how she wants to represent herself as a Muslim.  She knows that wearing a hijab is important to her mother, but her father doesn't like it.  Or when she has a crush on a boy who doesn't follow her faith, one of her friends disapproves, but her other friend thinks it is great.   Janna sees others as Saints, like the girl her brother wants to get to know better.  On the surface she seems perfect and Janna has a hard time seeing past that.  Then, there is the Monster, the boy who seems perfect to the outside world, but Janna knows his secret and it scares her.  This story is really about how Janna tries to figure out how all the Saints, Misfits and Monster fit together in her world. 

This was another great story for me to read.  I loved Janna's story and her take on the world.  I can see lots of kids enjoying this book.  The book does deal with a mature topic (the monster is really a monster) but it is addressed in a very sensitive way.  I wouldn't hesitate to give this book to anyone in grade 7 or 8.  

The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan

 This book was recommended to me this week by another teacher and I ordered it right away and read it in one sitting.  This book was somewhat like Love from A to Z that I read yesterday in that it deals with teenagers of Muslim faith who are navigating relationships.  

This story is about Rukhsana, a 17 year old who lives with her younger brother, mother and father.  Her parents are conservative Muslims living in Seattle.  They are very concerned with appearances and how Rukhsana is living her life.  Her younger brother gets away with more because he is the male of the family.  Rukhsana is just trying to hold out until the end of high school when she can escape and pursue her dream of going to school at Caltech.  Rukhsana needs to hide much of her life from her parents, from going to parties, to wearing makeup to the fact that she has a girlfriend.  Keeping the relationship with Ariana secret from her parents is hard, but she knows that her parents will never accept her lifestyle.  When her mother catches Ariana and her together, Rukhsana is taken quickly away to Bangladesh, where her extended family lives.  Once there, Rukhsana is thrown into a much more traditional way of life, and in a place where loving Ariana is seen as a sin.  Rukhsana needs to figure out how to be the person she wants to be, and how to help her parents understand what she needs out of life.  

This story was amazing!  Rukhsana's story was heartbreaking to read.  She is a very smart young girl with a bright future ahead of her.  Her love for her family makes it very challenging to go a different way from what her parents want and reading as she struggles with that was hard at times.  

Even though the main character is 17, this book is very appropriate for grade 7 and up. I love the fact that Sabina Khan is Canadian, I love reading Canadian Authors!

Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali

 I have no idea where I picked up this book.  I've had it sitting on my shelf for about a year, and one of my goals for Spring Break was to clear some of the books off my book shelf, so that I can buy more books of course!  

Love from A to Z is the story of Adam and Zayneb, two teenagers who have a chance meeting that changes the course of their life.  Zayneb is flying to meet her aunt in Doha, Qatar after being suspended from school because she spoke out against her teacher who was reminding her class that Muslims are 'bad'.  Adam is also flying to his family in Doha, Qatar after receiving the news that he has multiple sclerosis, the same disease the his mother had.  On the plane, Adam happens to notice that Zayneb keeps a journal like his- recording marvels and oddities and feels compelled to get to know her.  

But Zayneb is struggling how to deal with the anger she feels towards all the incidents of islamophobia that she faces.  Adam is struggling with coming to terms with his diagnosis and the impact this will have on his little sister and his father who are still dealing with the death of his mother.  

As Zayneb and Adam find themselves together more and more often, they are drawn to each other.  However the challenges they are facing make it difficult to get closer to one another.  Using their journals, they are able to share their inner feelings and wishes, and the reader is taken on the journey with them.  

I am so glad that I picked up this one yesterday.  I devoured it in one sitting, I couldn't stop reading it.  Zayneb is an amazing character, she is independent and determined to make a change in the world.  Adam is kind, caring and creative.  Together they are a fun couple.  I loved learning more about what it means to be Muslim and how relationships develop for devote Muslim's.  I also loved the fact that the story was set in Qatar, a country I know nothing about.  I thought this book had so many interesting discussion points.  I can't wait to give it to kids to read.  I also love the fact that the author S.K. Ali is Canadian, and that she has more books for me to order and read-after I clear my shelf a bit more, I've already placed some of them on my wish list!  While the main characters in this story are 17, the book is very appropriate for Intermediate and up. 

Ciel by Sophie Labelle

 Ciel was given to me by one of the teachers at school who had been given this book and thought it might be a bit too mature for his class.  I picked it up yesterday to read and couldn't put it down.  

Ciel is the story of Ciel, a student ready to start high school.  But as a gender, non-conforming transgender kid, things are a bit confusing.  Ciel is pretty shy, has one best friend, Stephie, a trans girl who has decided this year that she doesn't want anyone to know she is trans. Ciel worries about accidentally outing Stephie by being themselves.  So Ceil tries to dress in colours that are boring and will help them blend in and not stand out.  As both Stephie and Ceil navigate high school, they are faced with meeting new friends, trying to determine who they want to be and confronted with bias and unkind people.  

I really enjoyed reading this story.  It helped me have a better understanding of what it is like for students who are questioning their gender and what pronouns they want to use. Both Ciel and Stephie are really interesting and believable characters.  I can see several students at school enjoying this book. 

Rick by Alex Gino

 This is the second book I've read by Alex Gino after asking on Twitter for books that would support the LGBTQ+ community.  I really enjoy Gino's stories, they are filled with interesting characters and deal with the uncertainty that can plague many students before high school.  One of the things I like about these books is the fact that they are written at an appropriate level for students in grade 6 and up, the situation the kids find themselves in seem very believable and relevant to the lives of students today.  

Like George in the first book, Rick is questioning who he is and who he might be when he gets older. His best friend and father often talk about girls and question Rick about which girls he likes.  The only problem is, Rick doesn't look at girls that way.  He also doesn't look at boys that way.  At this point, Rick does not feel romantically interested in either sex.  

When starting at a new middle school (grade 6-8), there is a Rainbow Spectrum club that  interests him, but he is worried.  Rick is not only worried about what he will find inside the club,  but he is also worried about what his best friend Jeff will say.   Rick has started to realize that although Jeff is a great kid to hang around with when it is just the two of them, when Jeff is with other kids, he can be quite mean.  This book is really an exploration of how Rick deals with growing up and being uncertain about things.  

I am really enjoying these stories, one of the things I loved about this book was that the Rainbow Spectrum Club decides to raise money to purchase books that feature LGBTQ+ characters and issues.  This is something that I am also trying to do. I wish at the end there was a list of more books like this one! 

 

The Unquiet Past by Kelley Armstrong

 I'm a huge Kelley Armstrong fan as an adult reader, and so when I saw this YA book sitting in one of my teachers classrooms, I had to grab it.  Then, when I realized it was part of Eric Walter's Secret series, (see my blog post on his book Innocent)  I was even more excited to read it. 

In this story, Tess has been living at the Orphanage for as long as she can remember.  She has also been plagued with visions and nightmares her whole life. She has only ever told one person, her best friend about this because she is worried about how people will react.  When the orphanage burns down, Tess is set free since she is close to her 18th birthday.  Before she leaves, she is given a clue to her past.  This clue leads her to a mystery that she needs to solve to learn not only where she comes from, but where she might go next in her life.  Along the way, she meets both kind and frightening people, some of whom try to help, some of whom want to hurt her and stop her from discovering their secrets and her own.  

This was a quick read, but an enjoyable one.  Tess is a great character- strong, determined, and smart.  Even though this story is set in the 1960's, she is independent and willing to take risks to meet her goals.  I really enjoyed her character as well as the others we meet along through her adventure.  I can see many girls enjoying this story.  

 

Game Changer by Neal Shusterman

 This book popped up on my twitter feed last week and it was quite intriguing.  So I ordered it and started it yesterday.   I've read a few books by Neal Shusterman and have always found them very interesting and unusual.  They are often quite complex and leave me thinking about the book long after I've finished it, Unwind was like that for me, I still think about one scene in that story.  I think Game Changer will be a book that will live with me too.  

It's a bit hard to describe the plot of Game Changer - the story is about Ash, who is a tackle on his high school football team.  He has some good friends and seems to have a moral compass that helps him accept others.  One Friday night, Ash is hit during the football game and something feels 'off'.  He can't quite figure out what it is, but slowly he realizes that he is an alternative universe, where things are similar, but not quite the same as the one he left.  As Ash tries to revert his life back to what it was, he experiences different situations that cause him to question what he has always believed.  Everything from LGBTQ rights, to racism, to sexism.  Ash is forced to figure out what he really believes and who he wants to be, if he can get the world to right itself again.  

I found that I could not put this book down when I was reading it.  It was fascinating, although there were times when the idea of alternative universes was hard to follow.  The story however was really interesting.  Living with Ash as he tried to navigate new realities and watching him being forced to experience the way others are treated made him question his own life and his own privilege.  I think this book would be great to use in a literature circle since it would be a good to have a conversation with students as they read it.  There are some mature bits to this story, but nothing I wouldn't share with Intermediate students.  

Sara and the Search for Normal by Wesley King

 This book was given to me to read by one of the teachers at my school.  It is the prequel to the book OCDaniel that I borrowed from him a few years ago.  Sara and the Search for Normal is another book dealing with mental health issues that are faced by so many students.  

In this story, all 12 year old Sara wants is to be 'normal', in fact she wants it so much that she has a list of over 100 rules that will help her be normal. Some of the items on her list are things like:  stop having panic attacks,  get back into a regular classroom and stop taking pills.  In her weekly therapy sessions with her doctor, he constantly reminds her that there is no normal, and that she needs to learn to like herself, but Sara has a hard time believing that.  When her doctor recommends group therapy, Sara meets Erin, another girl who has her own issues and who handles her anxiety by pulling out her hair.  Erin becomes Sara's first friend and together they learn that nobody is normal, but lots of people are good at pretending they are.  

I thought this book was amazing!  I could not put it down.  As I was reading it I was thinking about so many kids who need the messages found in this book - learning to accept yourself, flaws and all is so hard for students, and for students who struggle with mental health, it is even harder.  I can see so many students learning from this.  Once again, Wesley King has dealt with a serious issue that impacts so many kids in a way that opens the door for conversation, but most importantly for acceptance.   I will be buying my own copy of this book!

 

Unravel by Sharon Jennings

 I'm not actually sure where I saw this book- but it arrived yesterday and since it is Good Friday and I am planning on reading all weekend long, it was a good first choice.  I'm not sure I've read one of Sharon Jennings books before, but I really enjoyed this book.  

The story starts out with the chapter title "The Day that was the Beginning of the End" and the mystery goes from there.  Rebecca is an eleven year old girl who lives an odd life.  She doesn't go to school, but is homeschooled by her dad.  Her and her dad move often, her dad Joe makes them move whenever strangers get too close and ask too many questions.  At the start of the story, Rebecca is comfortable living in their most recent apartment, she has lots of adults looking after her, teaching her things like cooking, math and other life skills.  Rebecca is well liked and feels loved by the adults in her life.  However she is starting to question things in her life like what happened to her mom, why don't they have any other family, why won't her father allow her to choose her own clothes and reading materials.  As Rebecca starts to question more and more, her father becomes more and more angry with her.  

Then Rebecca meets Phoebe, a mysterious women from their new apartment building.  As Rebecca continues to question her life, Phoebe is there to help her learn the truth about her life.  

This story was a quick read, but mostly because I couldn't put it down.  Rebecca is such a smart, resourceful, strong young women.  I loved all of the references to the books she reads, and I also loved how this story was set in Toronto.  I can see lots of students enjoying this story!