Resurrecting the blog. Hopefully. :)

It has been a LONG TIME since I posted on here. One of my goals for this school year is to utilize this space more effectively. 

via GIPHY

This week, the library blog is going to recap a few of my favorite reads from the summer. If you're looking for a new book to read, check some of these out. 

Many thanks to EdelweissPlus and the publisher for providing me with a DRC of this title for review. All opinions are my own.

This was a top-notch read. I was intrigued by the premise (a high school senior history class is given the assignment to research and debate Hitler and the Nazi's use of the Final Solution for Jews during WWII) and wondered how the topic would be handled. The content was well written, the ideas posed were thoughtful, and the idea of inclusivity and understanding went beyond the issues faced in the 1940s and covered issues from contemporary society. The language and the issues posed were also appropriate for readers in middle school, which I was worried about only because the characters in the story are seniors. This did not impact the story and there was nothing graphic that I would be concerned about my 7th and 8th grade students reading.

First purchase material, especially for collections where readers are interested in Holocaust literature and/or realistic fiction. 

(the above review was originally posted on my Goodreads page)

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Many thanks to EdelweissPlus and the publisher for providing me with a DRC of this title for review. All opinions are my own.

So, Jackson continues to be at the top of her game. This book did NOT disappoint, and I had some pretty high expectations going into it. Jackson's earlier works Allegedly and Monday's Not Coming have been some of my favorite reads, and I love how you are always on the edge of your seat reading her books. As I was reading this one, I texted my coworker and told her she needed to pick it up and start reading (actually, I dared her to read the first chapter and then try to walk away from it). She asked me the next day if my jaw dropped at the end. I said it did, especially the last line. Loved it. Highly recommend.

Enchanted has always loved to sing, and now she wants to try to make something of that talent. She goes to a talent audition, and while she doesn't make the cut, she is introduced to Korey Fields, the megastar. He recognizes her talent and they begin texting. The only problem: she's 17 and he's 29. So he says things need to be a secret. And she thinks she loves him. He convinces her parents to let them go on tour, and his controlling behavior begins to spiral out of control. Chanty can't call her parents. She hasn't heard from her best friend Gab since the fight they had before she left (although, no one else seems to remember Gab the way she does). And even when the cops come to do welfare checks, she Chanty knows better than to say anything. Because Korey has connections everywhere and to everything.

Told in a split narration style of Now and Then chapters, this is an engrossing, raw look at what happens when we don't believe Black girls. Highly recommend. 

(this review was originally published on my Goodreads page)

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