BIPOC characters

Not an Easy Win

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by Chrystal D. Giles
First sentence: “Expelled.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is some fighting. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore. I read this book for the Cybils, and this is a reflection of my opinion and not that of the whole panel.

Nothing has gone right for Lawrence since his dad left and his mom moved the family from Charlotte to her small hometown in rural North Carolina. He got into Andrew Jackson middle school, where most of the white kids go, but didn’t seem to fit in. That’s an understatement: he gets expelled for getting into fights (which he didn’t start). His grandma says “A man that don’t work, don’t eat”, so Lawrence needs to figure out what to do with his days. Enter neighbor Mr. Dennis, who helps run a rec center in town where the Black kids go after school. He lets Lawrence come along and work (for free), hang out, and eventually, teaches him chess.

I liked this book a lot. I am always in for a good metaphor, and I liked the way Giles used chess not only to teach non-violence, but also how to be patient, think, and connect with people. I liked Lawrence, and his growth arc, from being an angry 11-year-old kid, to learning and being one of the better chess players. I also really like that Giles didn’t give the book a Hollywood ending: while the kids make it to a chess tournament in Charlotte, it doesn’t magically solve Lawrence’s problems, and they don’t come away winning the whole thing (sorry: spoiler there). But it gives the book depth and makes it more realistic. A really solid story.

You are Here: Connecting Flights

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edited by Ellen Oh
First sentence: “With a line this long, you’d think we were waiting to get into Disney World, or Six Flags, or something cool.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There are instances of racism, and some instances of bullying. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.
This book is read for the Cybils and reflects my opinion and not the opinion of the panel as a whole.

In this collection of connected short stories, the authors follow a series of Asian American kids in an airport as everyone is delayed due to a rainstorm. There are a myriad of experiences – from being held up in the security line to experiencing racism from security guards to just figuring out family dynamics – and they all take place within the airport.

I usually am not a fan of short stories, but I liked this collection. I liked the different experiences of each of the kids and their families. I liked how the stories interconnected, so it felt like a more cohesive whole than many short story collections. And I liked that they were all immediate, everything taking place in one location over a short period.

A good book.

Audiobook: Stars in Your Eyes

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by Kacen Callender
Read by a full cast
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Release date: October 10, 2023
Content: There is a lot of swearing, drinking, and some off-screen drug use. There is also a couple of on-page sex scenes. The book also deals frankly with sexual abuse and trauma. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Mattie Cole is Hollywood’s Golden Boy, an up-and-coming actor who can’t do any wrong. Logan Gray is a pariah in Hollywood, a child actor with a reputation for being difficult, and a playboy. It’s one thing that they’re cast as romantic leads in a new rom-com, but it becomes more complicated when the are told to pretend to be in a relationship for publicity’s sake.

It sounds like a delightful romance, yes? Except this is Kacen Callender we’re talking about. They don’t write fluff. No, Callender has taken the grumpy/sunshine fake-dating tropes and layered on individuals dealing with their own trauma, which makes things so much more complicated. There are issues of sexual abuse, neglect, shame, accepting one’s true self, consent… and the list goes on.

What you will get in this book is a gut-punch of emotions, and characters you genuinely care about. I also ended up thinking a lot about the way society treats celebrities, and the things that are expected from them to “satisfy” their “fans”. it’s a complex, profound book, that is only masquerading as a romance.

And I loved it so much.

Thieves’ Gambit

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by Kayvion Lewis
First sentence: “A Quest can’t trust anyone in this world – except for a Quest.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy pilfered from the ARC piles at work.
Content: There is thievery, kidnapping, talk of killing, and some
mild swearing. It’s in the YA section (grades 6-8) of the bookstore.

Ross Quest is not only a member of one of the most notorious crime families, she’s a master thief. The problem is that after 17 years of doing this (she’s only 17 after all), she wants out. She’s got an escape plan, but then her mom gets kidnapped in a job gone wrong and the ransom is a lot more than Ross is able to pay. Enter the Thieves’ Gambit – a game for the best of the upcoming best, run by an international syndicate of thieves. Win, and you get a wish – anything you need. Lose – and you might be dead.

So, Ross decides to play the Gambit, out to win. What she didn’t expect was for her whole world to be turned upside down.

I have a soft spot for heist books and ones featuring teenage super-thieves, and this one scratched that itch. Add in that the main character is a Black girl and that the cast is super diverse, and you’ve got an excellent, fun book here. It made me anxious to read – which is really what you need from a heist book – and the twists and turns kept me on my toes. I really didn’t see the ending coming (though, admittedly, I’m not the closest reader, so maybe it was more obvious than I thought). At any rate, i liked Ross, I liked the way all the participants – there were eight that we followed, and while some got more screen time than others, I don’t feel like it was unbalanced – interacted and worked to go through the challenges. And even though the ending was left a bit open, I was satisfied with where it stopped.

So yeah: super fun, super intense, and a great read.

Moning Sun in Wuhan

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by Ying Chang Compestine
First sentence: “It feels as though hours have passed since the waitress took my order.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is talk of the COVID pandemic and the death of a parent. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) of the bookstore.

Twelve-year-old Mei and her father are just surviving since her mother died a year ago. They go to work and school, and even though Mei likes to cook, she doesn’t really find any joy in it. Then, in January of 2020, a strange new disease crops up in their town in Wuhan. Suddenly Mei is cut off from her dad and friends. So, she figures out how to put her talent for cooking and organizing to help her neighborhood out in the early days of the lockdown.

So, I wanted to like this one. I appreciate that stories are starting to be told about the pandemic and I appreciate it being told from the perspective of the place where COVID started. But this one was just kind of… blah. It lacked any real conflict, and even the anxiety surrounding those first days of the pandemic. I get that it’s for younger kids, but it just wasn’t great.

That said, it’s good that it’s out there.

The Many Fortunes of Maya

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by Nicole C. Collier
First sentence: “Even though I’ve never seen one in person, wood thrushes are my favorite bird of all time.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There’s talk of separation and possibly divorce. It’s in the Middle-Grade section (grades 3-5) of the bookstore.

Maya’s planning on having a fantastic summer. She’s going to hang out with her best friend, Ginger, play soccer, get the MVP of their team, and make it onto the Chargers, the same team her Daddy played on when he was a kid. Except things don’t go as planned: the MVP goes to Ginger, who is also spending more time with Angelica, soccer camp isn’t everything Maya wanted it to be, and – even worse – her dad moves out, as he and Maya’s mom go through a trial separation. This throws Maya for the biggest loop: she thought her family was perfect the way it was…and no one asked her! How is her summer going to be great with all these bad things happening?

This one was super sweet and charming. I liked how the problems were quite serious for an 11-year-old – what is more important than friendships and your parents staying together? I liked that Collier wrote a book with a realistic portrait of parents whose marriage is struggling, but who put their child first, and are kind and loving. Even in their problems, it’s depicting a positive relationship. I liked that Maya was able to see that her friends being friends with others isn’t bad and that she was able to branch her passions out beyond just playing soccer.

A solid middle-grade book.

Audiobook: Soil

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by Camille T. Dungy
Read by the author
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some mild swearing (I think? Maybe not?) and frank talk of racism and violence against Black people. It’s in the Creative Non-fiction section of the bookstore.

The premise of this is simple: Camille Dungy owns a house in Ft. Collins, Colorado, and she wants to make her overly-chemicalized turf lawn into something more environmentally friendly and sustainable. She writes about the process the “prairie project” as she and her husband dub it, but the book is more than that. It’s a reflection on environmental writing and the people who usually write (read: white, rich, often men) about the environment. It’s about the intersection of social and environmental justice. It’s how, as a Black woman, Dungy feels not only called to work the land but also compelled to protect it and welcome all living things.

This was such an enjoyable audiobook experience. Dungy is an excellent narrator, and I felt myself not only learning from her but having my own need to garden and see growing things affirmed. I should be better about growing things that are native here, as opposed to just planting any old thing (and seeing what grows), which is kind of what I do now. But, I loved and respected what Dungy had to say about the earth, the environment, and about social justice.

Excellent.

School Trip

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by Jerry Craft
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: New Kid, Class Act
Content: There are some shenanigans and awkward moments. It’s in the Middle-Grade Graphic Novel section of the bookstore.

Jordan and his friends have a long-awaited school trip to Pairs. They’re all excited for different reasons; Jordan especially since he wants to see all the art with his art teacher. However, to the actions of several tech-savvy kids, the teachers assigned to the various trips get all mixed up, and the teachers going to the Paris trip know nothing. That’s a chance for Maury to shine: his mother went to school in Paris, and they visit often. He is able to show the other kids all the cool spots. As they go through the city of lights, the kids learn to navigate friendships and talk about their feelings and how they are treated. Sometimes everyone being in a new place can make it easier to talk about things you aren’t able to back home.

I really like this series. I like Craft’s art style and the way he has many different characters that all have some depth to them. I like that he’s not afraid to talk about racism or just the way kids can mistreat each other without realizing it. I do like that the kids are mostly complex characters. It’s a fun book, but also a thoughtful one. My only complaint is that Jordan’s parents decided what high school he would attend (he got into an art-specific high school) without letting him have his say. But that’s a minor thing in such a well-done graphic novel.

Highly recommended.

Audiobook: Darkhearts

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by James L. Sutter
Read by Ramon de Ocampo
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Release date: June 6, 2023
Content: There is a lot of swearing, including quite a few f-bombs, talk of sex, and some tasteful on-screen sex. It will be in the Teen section of the bookstore.

In middle school, David started a band – Darkhearts – with his friends Eli and Chance. They had some success playing gigs in the Seattle area, where they lived, but after a while, David got annoyed with Eli and Chance hogging the spotlight and so quit the band. However, after he left, Darkhearts got huge. Like super huge. And David’s held a grudge ever since because he feels he missed out. 

But, Chance is back in town – Eli died of an overdose, and Chance came for the funeral and to regroup – and wants to reconnect with David. At first, David goes along with it grudgingly, but after a while he realizes something: he really likes Chance. Like really likes Chance. Is he going to be able to get past everything else – Chance’s fame, his own resentment, his father’s concern – and be able to throw himself into this relationship? Does he even want to? 

This was so incredibly delightful. The characters, the depection of a teenage boy band, the cool things they went. David’s best freind, Rachel. The fluidity of his sexuality, and the total non-issue that it was. The romance – and while it kind of followed the beats of a romance novel, I appreciated David’s growth over the whole thing. De Ocampo was a fabulous narrator as well; pulling me into a story that I may have dismissed in print. 

Highly recommended.

Amari and the Great Game

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by B. B. Alston
First sentence: “I sprint down the sidewalk, flying past designer boutiques, luxury shops, and a fancy art gallery.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Amari and the Night Brothers
Content: There is some bullying by other kids (and some adults) and some intense moments. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) of the bookstore.

Spoilers for the first book, obviously.

It’s the start of her first full summer as Junior Agent and Amari Peters is excited. Sure, her brother is still in a magically-induced coma that no one can figure out. and, sure the under-Prime Minister (or something like that) is making a stink about having magicians in the Bureau. But Amari’s going to have a great summer. That is until a time-freeze happens and it doesn’t affect her. It’s so powerful, though, that it has to be a magician’s doing, and it’s left the entire Magical council frozen. Suddenly, what was going to be a great summer turns into one full of suspicion and increasingly hostile circumstances at camp. On top of which, Amari has been challenged to a Great Game with none other than Dylan, for the Crown of the League of Magicians.

Is Amari up to all the challenges?

I love a good series, and this is quite a good series. Alston keeps up the level of action and suspense while having Amari do something that’s familiar – investigate a problem that’s leading to discrimination against magicians – while also making it new and fresh. There are some of the same faces as well as new ones, a lot of the same challenges which Amari handles better – or just differently, and some new faces mixed in as well. It’s familiar without being stale, which is nice.

And Alston knows how to spin a good tale: he keeps up the pace while still allowing Amari and her friends to become fully fleshed-out people. I haven’t liked a series this much since Percy Jackson, and I’m looking forward to the next one!