Not Your Average Jo, by Grace K. Shim

Riley Jo is tired of being one of the very few Asian students in Bentonville, Arkansas. She's fed up with well-meaning people coming up to her and saying horribly insensitive things.  She dreams of going to a more diverse urban environment where she won't stand out.  And most of all, she wants to pursue her muse as a pop music guitarist. But her parents don't have a lot of money and her mother, who teaches at a local university can get Riley free tuition if she stays here.

Riley is convinced that she'll bloom elsewhere and finding a school where she can study music will be the ticket to making it as a pop singer and never having to settle down in small-town Arkansas. But as she is searching for a college that she could afford she discovers a private boarding high school for the arts that offers a contemporary music program.  And when she applies, she is accepted.  It's only for her senior year and, after she graduates, she'll have to come back home for college, but Riley hopes that within that year she'll be able to break through.

Things at school don't go as she would hope.  She discovers that prejudice and microaggressions are just as common in the big city and that the music industry is riven with racism.  She may have an opportunity to become famous, but it will cost her her self-respect.  Is it worth it?

The story is outlandish and implausible, but told in an entertaining fashion.  Riley is interesting, but she gets pretty prickly towards the end and the love interest is surprisingly played down.  Where the novel really focuses is upon prejudice (external and internal, outwardly-directed and inwardly-directed).  There's not a lot of revelations and occasionally things grow a bit preachy, but it's well-formulated.  I preferred to simply enjoy the fantasy of the storyline in which kids can just become pop stars by writing a few songs.

The (Un)popular Vote, by Jasper Sanchez

When a boy at school gets in a fight with bullies because of his sexual orientation and then is expelled, Mark bristles at the injustice.  And he decides to do something about it:  Run for class president.  Most people would point out that student government is not a place of power but Mark is the child of a US Congressman and he's been raised on politics and he understands that a position is what you make of it.  Soon, in a witty nod to the real national political landscape of social media, media buzz, focus groups, and demographic research, Mark is killing the political circuit.

But there's another story.  When Mark came out as a trans male, his father basically disowned him.  To make peace and in hopes of a reconciliation, Mark made a deal with his Dad.  He would change schools and hide his past so as not to embarrass his father.  Part of that deal was maintaining a low profile.  But when Mark hits off his very public campaign, he invites the curious school media to dig into his past, which sabotages the arrangement Mark has made with his family.

I absolutely loved the way Sanchez finds ways to evoke political America in this story of school politics.  The book is actually over five years old, but the things that Sanchez calls out are even more present now than they were when this was written.  The story of Mark's coming out is also moving, albeit a bit underplayed as it becomes a non-event in the end.  Where the story faltered however was the relationship between Mark and his father.  Dad is a very two-dimensional bigot, really incapable of any sort of development and a hugely wasted opportunity.  In other words, the congressman adds nothing to the story and really could have been removed altogether.

Finding Lost, by Holly Goldberg Sloan

When Cordy's father died, her family had to rely on the charity of their friends and neighbors.  A friend found her mother a job as a housekeeper that came with a dilapidated boathouse in which Cordy, her little brother, and Mom could live.  Two jobs gave them barely enough money to squeak by, but nothing for "UE" (unnecessary expenses).  So, when a stray dog follows Corey home from school, she knows already that it is unlikely she'll be able to keep it.  But surprisingly, Mom lets the dog stay and she names him "Lost."

A series of surprises await.  Lost leads Corey to the unusual sight of a pod of dolphins (including an apparent albino) swimming in the river. Her little brother learns of a free clinic for doing check-ups for animals.  And when they take Lost in for a check up, the veterinarian strikes up a friendship with Corey's mother that sparks into something more serious.  Corey's none too pleased that her mother appears smitten with the vet.  She worries that Mom will forget about Dad and want to leave their home.  But in the end, things work out -- just not how Corey imagined they might.

There's a bit too much happy ending in the final chapter, but up to that point the story is bittersweet with a combination of good news and bad that felt right.  Corey's intelligence and inquisitive nature shines throughout.  And even when she is making poor choices, she recognizes her flaws.  Corey's acknowledgement of her grief and the subsequent re-opening of her heart becomes compelling. A poignant and gentle story about a family in transition.

The Best Worst Summer of Esme Sun, by Wendy Wan-Long Shang

Esme is tired of being ignored in her family.  Her three sisters are constantly getting praised by mother for the things they do.  Mom is always bragging about their accomplishments and Esme feels left out.  But it's actually Esme's fault since she's not good at anything!  It's not that she covets her sister's trophies.  Esme is ambivalent about awards and prizes, but maybe it would be good to excel at something so her Mom would notice.  Her sisters warn her that it isn't all that great of a thing, but Esme wants to try nonetheless.

This summer on the swim team seems like it just might be the thing! She's swimming much faster than she ever has before (coach says it's because of her growth spurt).  She wins her first heat, sets personal bests, and even starts to close in on a pool record.  And most of all, she's really beginning to enjoy it and the comradery with the other team members.

But being a good team member presents challenges as Esme has to negotiate through misunderstandings and friends who choose different paths.  And as Esme starts to win, she begins to question how far she is willing to go to be a champion.  She likes to win, but is it worth it if her friends have to lose?  And when her mother takes notice and starts paying attention to her, Esme discovers that there is a cost for that maternal notice and Esme isn't sure she's comfortable with paying it.

A delightful middle reader about friendship, sportsmanship, prejudice, and making life choices.  Packed full of adventure and excitement, the story plants its lessons within comfortably familiar tween settings.  The result is an enjoyable story that will resonate with its readers.

Hangry Hearts, by Jennifer Chen

Once close friends, Julie and Randall now would never think of even speaking to each other.  Their families have been at war with each other ever since the failure of a joint restaurant venture -- a battle fought from their competing food trucks at the weekly farmer's market.  But when they are assigned to work together on a community service project, they rediscover what made them besties in the past.  A secret romance blooms between them, but before they can come clean to their families, they need to find a way to resolve their families' war.  Food plays a large role in bringing them all back together.

A narrative mess with very little romantic heat, the novel suffers.  Too many plots (the community service thread lasts only for about a third of the book and is replaced by others) complicate things and make the  story meander and stray.  I grew impatient for the story to resolve.

The co-stars range from the mildly amusing would-be suitor of Julie to her entirely obnoxious and toxic brother Tyler, but none really perform valuable service.  Instead, the story rests on the suitably interesting protagonists.  Unfortunately, there isn't much to their romance as most of it is off-the-page and lacking in drama.

A Guide to Falling Off the Map, by Zanni L Arnot

Vinnie has plans to be in charge of her school's drama club next year and also turn her success into an audition in New York at the Juilliard.  In contrast, her best friend Roo is a disaster.  He's dropped out of school and trying to make money so he and his mother don't get evicted from the last place in town where they can afford to live.  

But their fates change quickly and when Vinnie fails to get her position and finds out her plans for New York have been undermined, it would seem that they are both in trouble with little left to lose.  So, they go on a week-long road trip to try to run away from their problems.  In their meandering trip, they run into the usual colorful cast of characters and end up finding each other.

A quirky Australian YA book with a familiar motif but a lot of original ideas behind it.  There are cultural differences that will be lost on North American readers, but the universal search for self-acceptance and enduring friendships will appeal to all.  Roo and Vinnie are both vivid and original characters, interesting enough to follow through their trip.  The story may be a bit flat and dull at points, but it picks up at the end for a satisfying conclusion that is neither clean nor pretty, but ultimately feels right.

Under the Fading Sky, by Cynthia Kadohata

Elijah and his friends have a pretty good life.  Growing up in nice houses and going to good schools, they have excelled and worked hard.  They have nice clothes and live in fancy houses.  They are getting into good colleges.  But for all those good things, their lives are just so damned boring.  That is, until they discover vaping.  And the vaping opens up an entirely new world that makes everything just a little better.

They are not stupid.  They know drugs are bad, but everyone's parents smoked dope and they ended up alright.  So, doing a little vaping isn't going to harm anything.  And maybe taking some pills too, because why not?  And life without the vaping and the pills is just so unbearable.  Soon enough they find they are hooked and can't figure out how it all got so bad.  And then it's too late.

Told through stream-of-conscious narration from Elijah's deceptively intuitive and insightful voice, this is a very slow and subtle descent into drug addiction.  It takes nearly a third of the book before the drugs even start to show up and everything just coasts in a muddled haze until that seems deceptively easy to take control over.  But by the end we're witnessing truly horrendous events.

The novel is something of a literary triumph for how it recreates the way that addictions ensnare their victims with a false sense of security and self-control.  It is very hard to nail down exactly when Elijah and his friends lose their ability to control events but it is clear by the end that they have no agency left.  To really nail home the message, the ambivalent conclusion pulls no punches and refuses to deliver anything remotely feel-good.  

It's really one of the most realistic stories about addiction I've read in YA.  That surprised me as Kadohata has not previously impressed me all that much as an author.  But she's found a subject that works well for her and produced a stunning character portrait.  Because of its languid pacing, this is a difficult book to get into, but it grows on you the deeper the characters fall into the abyss.