Say A Little Prayer, by Jenna Voris

Riley and her sister Hannah were raised in the Pleasant Hills Baptist Church, where she's always found comfort in Pastor Young.  But after she comes out as bisexual, the hostile reaction of the congregation and Pastor Young drives her away.  And when Hannah is expelled from the church for having an abortion, the entire family decides that they have had enough of Pastor Young.  Still, it's a small town and almost everyone she knows is affiliated with the church.  Even Riley's best friend Julia is the pastor's daughter, although they have an agreement  to never mention Julia's father.

Riley gets into a fight defending her sister at school and the principal lays out an ultimatum:  if she wants to avoid getting suspended she'll have to prove her intent to reform by attending Pleasant Hills's upcoming bible camp, led by none other than Pastor Young.  Getting suspended is not an option, so Riley buckles down and goes to camp, spending a week with her old friends and enemies.  She decides from the onset to cope with the week by subtly undermining the program, but as the week progresses she finds that harder to do.

My initial inclination was to cast this book off as the usual dig against Evangelical Christianity.  And the depiction of Pastor Young breaks no new ground.  He's your typical two-dimensional hypocrite/bad guy that YA novels like to truck out.  But the novel surprised me for its more nuanced views of the teenagers' faith and beliefs. That background, combined with a well-paced story that added humor and a small touch of platonic romance, provided a very readable story about young people hewing their own path through religion.

The City of Lost Cats, by Tanya Lloyd Kyi

Left with a neglectful aunt who would rather rush off every evening to work at Municipal Hall, twelve year-old Fiona wants to do something more exciting this summer than the dance class she's been signed up for.  And when she stumbles across an abandoned old mansion full of feral cats, she thinks she's found it.  The mansion, referred to as 'The City" by its feline inhabitants has provided a community for strays and abandoned cats.  Fiona, abandoned by the adults around her is sympathetic to their plight and helps care for them.  

When she discovers that a dastardly developer (who also happens to be her aunt's boyfriend) has tricked Municipal Hall into giving him the permits to tear down the mansion and put up luxury apartments, Fiona and the cats leap into action to save the city of last cats. And while it would seem a child and a bunch of abandoned cats would not have the resources, they manage to save the day with the help of their local library and some sympathetic city workers.

An amusing light-hearted adventure of brave girls, adventuresome kitties, helpful librarians, a pair of workmen who love to demolish things, and two lost parakeets that speak in verse.  All of them come together in a ridiculously overlapping series of coincidences that lead to everything turning out perfectly in the end. While lacking much seriousness, the story does celebrate community activism in an easy going way that will appeal to cat-loving middle school readers.

All the Stars Align, by Gretchen Schreiber

Within Piper's family, the women have always known their true love at first sight.  This quasi-magical trait, referred to as the Blessing, is a tradition that has ensured many happily-ever-afters for Piper's aunts and grandmother. So, it's something of a scandal that Piper's parents have divorced.  Is the Blessing's power fading?  The aunts and Piper are determined to keep the tradition alive.  This comes in two ways:  trying to get her parents to reconcile and also to make sure that she only falls for the right boy.

To most people, that would be Leo, Piper's best friend.  They've been together since they were little.  But Piper has never really felt any strong feeling for Leo.  Certainly not in the way that the Blessing should make her feel.  And instead, Piper discovers that another boy -- Forrest -- is the one.  She can literally feel it viscerally, the telltale symptoms of the Blessing.  But somehow, it doesn't quite feel right.  So, instead of happily ever after, Piper finds that fate is overrated and that even when true love is right in front of you, it may not be what you really need.

While an interesting premise, the novel was disappointing.  For a romance, the story and the characters are surprisingly lackluster.  Neither Leo nor Forrest really had much of a spark.  We get very little background on Leo, which is surprising as they allegedly have all of this history together.  And Forrest is something of a wimp.  You know it's a bad sign when the almost-kisses are more compelling than the kisses.  This is romance without passion and it all seemed bothersome.  Furthermore, Leo's attempts to sabotage Piper and Forrest came off as creepy and possessive, really turning me off to him.

In general, the storytelling is muddy, with the point of certain scenes (like the weekend at the camp) lost amidst the details.  Or the way that seemingly interesting details are introduced (e.g., Piper's disability, her father's culinary skills, Diana's costuming skills, etc.), but never fill any meaningful purpose in the story.  The details are lovely an flesh things out, but still need to come together to some meaningful effect.

Adventures of Mary Jane, by Hope Jahren

Based on a briefly mentioned character in Huckleberry Finn, Jahren has crafted the story of Mary Jane, who bravely travels down the Mississippi Rover in adventures worthy of Mark Twain's protagonist.  The story begins when Mary Jane, living with her Ma and her grandfather in fur-trapping country up north, gets summoned to help her aunt and uncle down river.  When she arrives, she finds her uncle incapacitated and the family starving.  And when the aunt and uncle die from fever, she ends up caring for her two cousins.  They are sent yet deeper south, where she encounters the sin of slavery first hand and has to use her wits to protect herself and her cousins.  All of this serves as background that fleshes out the mysterious girl that stole Huck's heart.

While stuffed to the gills with historical details that make the book feel a bit like a history lesson (and definitely like book report material), the adventures are rousing enough to make this 400-page novel an enticing read.  Some of the details at the end get confusing, but the story is enjoyable and Mary Jane is an adventuresome good-hearted heroine.

Birds on the Brain, by Uma Krishnaswami

In this charming sequel to Book Uncle and Me, Yasmin's best friend Reeni is setting out on a campaign of her own:  to get the people of her town to participate in Bird Count India.  It's not just about her town.  The bird count is world wide!  But people don't seem to care and worse, some of them don't even like birds!

While Reeni is trying to stir up interest in birds, she learns that in matters concerning the environment there can be competing priorities:  a neighborhood ironing woman who is losing her livelihood because her coal-powered iron has being outlawed, a bird's nesting site that is threatened by plans to put solar panels on the roofs.  And even between friends, Reeni and Yasmin find that their respective causes (birds and literacy) are in seeming conflict.  But as they did before, the children summon some inner courage and enlist their parents, neighbors, and teachers to take the cause to the government and make their city a better place.

Still very full of cultural and political details that show a snippet of everyday life and local politics from an Indian perspective, Krishnaswami's books show children how, wherever they live, that they can make a difference.  The sequel follows pretty close to the formula devised in the first book and so lacks the originality that made the story so remarkable, but it is no less delightful to read.

Everything I Promised You, by Katy Upperman

Lia and Beck lived a pre-ordained life.  Lia's mother, back when she was a teenager, had a fortune read to her that foretold how she would have a daughter (Lia) and her best friend a son (Beck) and the two kids would fall in love and live happily ever after.  It was a silly lark, but with the way it came true, everyone in both families grew to believe it.  

And then Beck died.

With Beck gone and the prophecy broken, Lia is cast adrift.  Despite her parents' assurances that there are no expectations, she feels compelled to hold on to her past promises, even enrolling at the college that she and Beck were going to attend together.  And when she finds herself attracted to a new boy, Lia can't acknowledge that her heart is moving on.

Good writing and an unusual family life (both Lia and Beck are army brats and spent their years growing up in various military bases) made the otherwise tired story interesting.  But it only takes things so far. For not only do we have the dead boyfriend, but the new love interest is your typical mysterious and moody boy from the wrong side of the tracks.  There's not enough new stuff here to really make for a memorable read.

13 Ways to Say Goodbye, by Kate Fussner

Much to her older sister's annoyance, Nina always wanted to tag along.  In Nina's eyes, her sister was so brave, always trying out new things and forcing herself to move forward.  Nina could only follow after.  But when her sister died, there was no longer anything to follow and Nina became even more reclusive and even less brave.

Right before her thirteenth birthday, Nina is sent to Paris to spend the summer with her aunt and study art. The most important thing she takes with her is the checklist her sister created years ago when she was in Paris.  Nina intends to follow one last time in her sister's steps and complete the checklist for herself (including the items that her sister never did).  In doing so that summer, Nina surprises herself by going much further and finally striking out on her own.

Written in verse, the story relates Nina's emergence as an individual, the flowering of her artistic creativity, and a sweet first romance (in Paris!).  Great material.  Unfortunately, the writing is merely functional and adds little to a well-trod milieu.  In the thin air of a verse novel, the characters feel undeveloped.