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.

A Thousand Boy Kisses, by Tillie Cole

As Mamaw lay dying, she gave her granddaughter Poppy a mason jar filled with a thousand pink paper hearts.  Some kisses in life, she explained, were particularly special and she wanted Poppy to memorialize the ones that were by recording them down on a heart.  By the end of her life, with the jar full of completed hearts, Poppy could look back and remember her life of a thousand memorable boy kisses.

For Poppy, there really is only one boy:  Rune, the Norwegian kid who lives next door.  She is his "Poppymin" and he is hers to infinity.  They remained inseparable for years until, at age fifteen Rune and his family returned to Oslo.  Heartbroken, they kept in close touch until suddenly Poppy stopped writing altogether.  Bereft and desperate, Rune's grief tears him apart and makes him angry and violent.  When he and his family returned, he searches her out and demands to know why she broke contact.  The reason breaks his heart.

I gather that some people like psychopathic obsessive relationships and consider them romantic.  But for me, a relationship that is based on possession and self-destruction is not only unhealthy but scary.  The appeal is completely lost.  Add that the story is very slow moving and repetitive (how many times can the heart break and tears rend you in pieces?) and the thing becomes boring.  These kids needed serious psychological help from a trained counselor to sort out their insecurity and clinginess.  Rune's penchant for violence (towards himself and others) was a big turn off and a serious red flag.  Touting this as romance is actually pretty sick.

I'd give this a no-star rating because I hate the message it sends to young readers by glorifying a totally unhealthy relationship, but the author writes beautifully and I really enjoyed the story before it got all creepy.

Gwen and Art Are Not In Love, by Lex Croucher

In medieval England, there still reigns a division between the Catholics and the "cultists" (followers of the Arthurian legends).  Gwen's father, the king, tries to keep the peace and hold the kingdom together.  Part of pulling that off is betrothing Gwen to the odious son of a former rival. Art.  Gwen and Art have met over the years at various events, but never gotten along.

Now nearing her eighteenth birthday, the day of the nuptial is about to arrive.  But as much as Gwen is dreading the moment and prepared for the worst, she isn't quite prepared for the discovery that Arthur actually prefers boys or for the revelation that her brother, the crown prince, likes Art!  This may all work out though because Gwen is hot for a lady knight.

The result is a complicated entanglement where the four of them work out ways to make their desires match the requirements of kingdom building in the middle ages.  Meanwhile, the drums of war beat softly in the background for most of the story until they suddenly burst forth in a glorious blood bath.

Narratively, this is a big mess of random ideas that shows little interest in history or plausible motivations and opts instead for an attention-deficit adolescent view of romantic drama topped off with some sword swinging and bloodletting at the end.  There are some cute ideas about Arthur Pendragon and Sir Lancelot being suppressed gay lovers thrown in as well.  It's a lively text, but lacking in interesting characters.  I liked the female knight Bridget and Art's sideman Sid is good comic material, but the story didn't seem to know whether it wanted to be history, fantasy, comedy, or contemporary romance.

Old Wounds, by Logan-Ashley Kisner

Erin and Max, two trans kids, run away from home.  Driving across the country from Ohio to California, their trip quickly goes astray and they find themselves lost and in deep trouble in Kentucky.  The locals have taken an unnatural interest in them and for good reason: in the local woods lives a monster who grants its inhabitants longevity in return for a human sacrifice.  The tribute has to be a girl and the men have their eyes set on Erin, mistakenly believing she is cis-female.  Once Erin and Max's identity is revealed, the bigger question is whether the monster cares about binary sex.

I'm not a fan of horror novels, but this one packs an interesting conundrum that I was curious enough about to want to read the book.  It doesn't hurt that the novel is well-written and, while including all the typical horror tropes, does a neat job of giving them a particularly trans flavor.  Beyond the key question of whether Erin or Max sate the monster's tastes, there are lots of interesting analogies between dealing with violent transphobes and escaping human-eating creatures from another dimension.  Far more, in fact, than might initially be apparent!

Overall, this is a clever, witty, and suspenseful bit of dark paranoia for a genre that is best known for its misogyny.

Away, by Megan E. Freeman

Recounting the same forced evacuation of Colorado that provided the background of Alone, this companion novel depicts the multiple viewpoints of a group of children who are relocated into refugee camps.  Each speaks with a different voice -- one in poetry, one as a movie script, one as a journalist, and so on.  Combining these voices with official announcements and news conferences, the story recounts how the children uncover a great conspiracy to defraud their families of their property and then to find a way to subvert the plot.

The original novel, about a girl abandoned by her family during the evacuation, always seemed a bit of a stretch.  While this installment provides the background to explain the evacuations, it does little to provide any sense of plausibility.  And while suspending disbelief for the original novel allowed us to enjoy the compelling survival tale, here the background conspiracy is the story.  That's a lot of stuff to suspend disbelief over!  So, I found myself far too distracted to enjoy the story, which is otherwise an adventure with a bunch of middle schoolers resourcefully saving the day!

All That's Left To Say, by Emery Lord

After the death of her cousin from a drug overdose, Hannah hides her identity and enrolls at her late cousin's school to try to determine who gave her the pills.  Against her will, she is joined by a former nemesis:  the champion of the school's debate team, with whom she frequently sparred when she was at her old school.  Combining their wits, they investigate leads and ruling out suspect.  The investigation reveals disturbing things about her cousin's friends and the way that the school is run.  Hannah's obsession to find the culprit eventually puts her in danger.

A thrilling and immersive mystery with a decent plot twist at the end that helps the awkward story structure (halfway told through flashbacks) make sense.  I found Hannah to be maddeningly opaque and the story full of details (like Hannah's interest in clothing and costume design) that had no bearing on the plot.  However, the main mystery of who contributed to the death of her cousin and how culpable they were is compelling enough to make this an enjoyable read.

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.

The Cost of Bliss, by Kelsey Conkling

Jane has a pretty decent life.  Her family lives in a nice suburb and has enough money for her to enjoy nice clothes and the things she wants.  When she sees people like Preston, who gets on at her bus stop but lives in the poorer subdivision next door, she is thankful she's not like him.

But then her family suddenly loses their home and is forced to move in with her great grandmother.  She's been blissfully unaware that her family wealth was an illusion and that her parents were living beyond their means.  They are poor and in deep debt.  Now Jane has to face her old friends with the truth that she isn't who she thought she was.  And with her parents overwhelmed by their change of fortunes, Jane finds she can't even count on them.  But there is one person she finds she can count on -- Preston.

A briskly paced story that tackles class and poverty for middle schoolers.  Jane's quick turn of fortune grabs your attention and provides a relatable protagonist in an unfamiliar setting.  At the same time, I found the parents really selfish and horrible and over-the-top.  It is only because Preston and his mother save the day that it is bearable.

The story ends on a positive and hopeful note that encourages readers to think about, that no matter how bad things are, there's always someone out there who needs help more than you.  Sweet.

After the Wallpaper Music, by Jean Mills

Flora and her three friends are the Arden String Quartet, a talented group of middle schoolers.  They are always getting asked to perform at school functions (parents nights, etc.) -- the veritable "wallpaper music" group.  So, when the school announces a Battle of the Bands, the Quartet will of course play a piece.  But they struggle to decide what they should play.  Flora wants to play a traditional classical quartet while the other want to play music from a video game.  They settle that dispute amicably, but when Flora gets asked by a new boy to play in his band as well, jealousies appear and Flora is faced with conflicting loyalties that are harder to resolve.

Alongside that drama, Flora's aunt who lives with them has a health scare and Flora has to face the fact that people get older and people get sick.  From this she learns the healing power of music in giving people a means to come together and enjoy each other in the face of adversity.

A mixture of themes that ultimately tackles the topic of loss and grief rather more successfully than the interpersonal conflicts that Flora must contend with.  I liked the various different ways that music is brought up in the story, ranging from its role in cultural identity to the effects of fame for those who make it big.  In the face of all the different ideas brought up in the story, the lack of a nice neat ending felt right.