Gather, by Kenneth M Cadow

Ian (short for Dorian) is trying to keep things together.  Mom struggles with addiction, Dad left them a long time ago.  Ian's closest (and maybe only) friend is a stray dog he calls "Gather." But while Ian is alone, he is far from helpless.  He's resourceful, knowing how to triage a problem and prioritize what needs to be done.  And he has a talent for fixing broken things.  Combining those skills, he's been able to keep the house intact, the heat on, and food coming in.

But there are limits to what Ian can do as a fifteen year-old.  He can't earn enough money to pay the bills.  He has to juggle taking care of the house and her mother with going to school to avoid raising suspicions.  And when a true crisis strikes that he cannot fix, Ian is overwhelmed and chooses to run.  He's then surprised to find a large number of people willing to help him.

Recounted in Ian's rustic inflection and in his meandering style that drifts freely from one topic to another, Ian's voice is distinctive and his storytelling rich.  At times charmingly naive, his endearing modesty and kindness make him a sympathetic protagonist.  As for the novel itself, this is something of a throwback to the classic boy-becomes-man story and it has a timeless feel reminiscent of classic like Huckleberry Finn or My Side of the Mountain.

Ollie in Between, by Jess Callans

When Ollie is assigned a paper in her sex-ed class on the topic of what it means to be a woman, she figures that she'll just ask a few adults and get the answers.  What she finds is that every woman she talks to has different answers or no answer at all.  In fact, the only common denominator seems to be that everyone thinks it must have been easier for everyone else!

Ollie herself certainly is having trouble.  Her friends say she needs to start wearing a bra and being more girly.  The boys on her hockey team won't let her play anymore.  And there are the unavoidable physical changes.  Her older sister is telling her she needs to start shaving.  When her period comes, she doesn't want to deal with it.  

Everywhere she looks, she is being told what she must do to be a girl and what she must not do because she is not a boy.  None of it feels right for her.  There's a trans girl at her school, but Ollie doesn't think she is trans herself.  She might be non-binary, but she hasn't really decided.  All she knows for certain is that she's not sure what she wants to be.  If only someone could answer the question of what a woman is so she could figure out whether it is what she wants.

Beautifully and sensitively capturing the transition from childhood to adult, Ollie is an updated Margaret (as in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret) for the gender diverse world.  A supportive family and largely permissive school gives Ollie the chance to really lay out her feelings about puberty and the growing social expectations she is facing.  And thoughts she has!  Ollie has her small panic attacks and immature moments, but she's wonderfully level headed and well-spoken.  And it was fascinating to simply listen to her thoughts and concerns, many of which will resonate with grownups as well as children.  As for the story itself, I really appreciated the fact (spoiler alert!) that she doesn't manage in the space of this novel to figure everything out!

Try Your Worst, by Chatham Greenfield

Sadie and Cleo have been locked in competition with each other literally from birth, when their mothers tried to produce the first birth of the year (Cleo won that competition, but Sadie was the last baby born in the previous year).  Growing up, both girls competed for awards and grades.  Now, they vie for salutatorian and valedictorian.  At times, the competition grew intense and the girls lost perspective.

However, their senior year seems to be out of control.  Lockers are getting vandalized, tires slashed, and precious belongings stolen.  Their principal calls them in to warn both girls that they need to tone it down or he will expel them, putting an end to the competition for good.  However, neither Cleo nor Sadie are actually doing these things.  In fact, it seems that someone is actually trying to get them in trouble.  That's not hard to do as their homophobic school principal does seem to have an axe to grind with them.  

The question is who is doing this and can the girls expose that person before they succeed in getting them thrown out of school?  Complicating the investigation is the nagging suspicion that each of them have that the culprit is really the other person.  Sadie suffers from clinical depression and her unpredictable behavior makes her especially suspect and vulnerable.  Predictably, the shared adversity of having a secret enemy brings the girls together into an unexpected romance. That makes things yet messier as their trust in each other is serious tested throughout.  A bittersweet ending eschews easy solutions and felt right, even if it was also terribly unfair to the protagonists.

The competing storylines (mysterious malefactor, coping with depression, and romance) leads to a confusing story that I eventually lost track of.  The depression story, in particular, didn't work for me and seemed largely unnecessary.  That said, I enjoyed the characters and their struggle and rooted for them.

The Secret Language of Birds, by Lynne Kelly

Nina loves watching and learning about bird, although her passion goes largely unnoticed within her family.  When she gets invited by her aunt to come spend time together while her aunt sets up her summer camp, Nina grudgingly agrees to come. It's a good place to observe nature and Nina focuses on the birds and more or less ignores the other girls at the camp.

But one night, some of her fellow campers convince her to sneak out at night for a prank.  While they are out, Nina catches a glimpse of a large white bird in the woods that looks remarkably like a Whooping Crane.  That would be rare enough, as Whoopers haven't been seen around the camp in a century or more, but this sighting might actually be one of the first in Texas in a while!

Following her instincts. her existing knowledge of birds, and some help from the other girls. Nina is able to prove that it is a Whooping Crane.  Things get even more exciting when another bird appears and they seem to be a breeding air with a nest and eggs!  At this point, some adult supervision is called in and the rest of the story becomes a learning experience in wildlife conservation.

A mystery that helps Nina learn to get along with her peer and find her place. it is combined with academic material about cranes, their current conservation status, and interesting details about breeding, and calls.  The mixture provides a wonderful excuse to bring some focus on these majestic birds.  While the girls get to pursue their passion for animals, responsible adults provide valuable guidance about dealing with wild animals and how to be a good conservator.  A winning combination of heartwarming story and useful knowledge.

The Mystwick School of Musicraft, by Jessica Khoury

Amelia has always dreamed of attending the Mystwick School, her mother's alma mater.  Mom was once a great maestro who casted beautiful spells with her music.  But musicraft (the mixture of music and magic) was also what killed her mother.  Amelia's grandmother doesn't want Amelia to have anything to do with it. But Amelia nonetheless persists on apply and auditioning for a place at the school.

It does not go well.  A series of mishaps and bad luck derails her audition and it is pretty obvious that she won't be accepted and her hopes of becoming a musicrafter are ended.  But to her surprise, she is accepted!  It is not until she arrives that the mystery is solved:  a bureaucratic mishap has delivered her a place that was supposed to go to another girl.  However, fixing the mistake is complicated and the faculty make a deal:  if she can prove herself in the next two months, she can stay.

That is a tall order.  She plays well enough, but no way to the professional level of the other students.  And to make things even more challenging, she has lots of enemies: classmates who want to see her fail, teachers who distrust her, and -- something far more dangerous -- a vengeful ghost.  But with some sleuthing, a new friend, and perseverance, she will not only succeed but become a heroine of her class.

A Harry Potter-like fantasy about a seventh grade flautist who has to find herself to save her school.  The story lacks originality and has a pretty transparent target audience, but I enjoyed the combination of music and magic.  It danced a fine line between fantasy and metaphor -- making music into something that not only touches the heart but can manifest physical and material changes in the world.  Seventh graders who play flute (or any musical instrument) will appreciate the musical references and the story of a brave and hard-working girl who saves the day has broad appeal for anyone who wishes they could change the world with a song

Another First Chance, by Robbie Couch

The billboard mocks River.  Everyday, he has to drive by the picture of his late best friend Dylan, adorning a PSA urging teens not to text and drive.  River hates that his dead friend has been reduced to a safety lesson and will only be remembered for his fatal error.  River was so much more than that to Dylan.  So, one day he vandalizes the billboard.

Meanwhile, a company called Affinity has come to town promoting a new study they are doing into how relationships are formed.  They are soliciting River and his classmates to be participants.  And for some reasons, his friends and even the guidance counselor is pressuring him to sign up.  Initially, he has no interest but one of his classmates with knowledge of River's recent vandalism blackmails River into joining the study.

The study involves locking away twenty student in isolation for a week and conducting group therapy and meditation practices, which all seems pretty harmless.  But strange things start happening. People  experience particularly vivid dreams, River is accused of doing things he can't recall, and River himself meets a stranger who reminds him so very much of his dead friend Dylan.

A story dealing with loss and moving on, placed in a rather thin thriller about mind experiments.  Cue the gaslights.  At first, this seemed like a useful vehicle for getting River and his friends together to address their relationship with the late Dylan.  But as the story unfolds and the experiment itself grows more and more outlandish, I found it distracting to the far more interesting emotional growth that River was going through.  I think the story would have benefitted by being more rooted in reality.  As it was, the silly parts detracted from the story.

The Misunderstandings of Charity Brown, by Elizabeth Laird

Having spent several months in the hospital recovering from polio, Charity is having trouble adjusting to life back home.  Her schoolmates are still leery of her for being sick, but Charity has always struggled to make friends.  She cannot quite understand why they dislike her attempts to save their souls for Christ.  Shouldn't everyone want to be saved?  She could not imagine life without the comfort of her religion!

Through a burst of good fortune, the family inherits an old house and all of the possessions within it. As strict Christians, they are reluctant to accept so rich a gift but Charity's father decides that the family will dedicate the large house towards providing rest and rehabilitation of needy souls.  This leads to a variety of colorful guests coming to stay with them in their exciting new home.  Along with a number of other major family events, all of these changes open Charity's eyes to the wide diversity of life.  The certainties that she learned from her faith are challenged as she discovers that the real world is a complicated place.

A lovely period piece.  The plot is scattershot, jumping from one crisis to another up to the amusing climax, but the overall story of Charity's opening up to the world is touching.  Watching her go from childish blind faith to the realization that goodness (and evil) comes in many forms is inspiring and beautiful.

The Loss of the Burying Ground, by J Anderson Coats

Dura and Ariminthia have been at war for ages, each side convinced that they are right and neither prepared for peace.  But despite strong factions who want the war to continue and a hefty propaganda effort to promote the war, a fragile peace treaty has been drafted.  To sign it, the two sides agree to sail out into neutral waters on a ship called the Burial Ground with the entire leadership of both states on board. When the ship is destroyed in a freak storm and nearly everyone is lost, the chance of peace is put in jeopardy.

Two survivors -- Cora from Dura and a Ariminthian servant named Vivienne -- are washed ashore on a desert island.  After a lifetime of indoctrination, there is little trust between them.  But when pirates come ashore and threaten them, the two girls learn to cooperate for survival.  That buys them some time, but bigger challenges await these uneasy allies as they discover that the true nature of the conflict is far more complicated than they have been raised to understand.

A fascinating novel that explores the role of violence in politics and the impact of propaganda.  There's a lot to chew on here.  Perhaps a bit too much.  Things get rushed at the end and while we're being set up for a sequel or two, the care that was taken through the story to explain the competing interests gets muddied and rushed as events unfurl.

There's a human story as well about the two girls learning to see beyond their prejudices. Sadly, those human elements get lost in the end as Coats tries to tie up far too many loose ends.