Perfectly Parvin

Parvin Mohammadi is having a great summer.  She meets a cute guy at the beach, and they've been hanging out and playing pranks for weeks.  They even KISS at the end of the summer and Wesley asks her to be his girlfriend!  Freshman year is going to be amazing!

But when Parvin finally finds Wesley at freshman orientation, he dumps her...in front of everyone!  He tells her she's too loud and too much.  Luckily, her two best friends are there to help pick up the pieces, and Parvin hatches a plan to get revenge on Wesley.  

She is going to get a date for homecoming, not just any date, but the popular, older, and adorable Matty Fumero.  How will a lowly, publicly dumped freshman accomplish this?  She's going to become quiet Parvin.  If Wesley thinks she's too loud, she will be quiet and wear boring clothes and makeup.  

Her two best friends think this is a terrible idea, and Parvin's single-mindedness may be blinding her to the ways she should be supporting them in their own problems.

While she's obsessed with being quiet Parvin and her homecoming plan, she still has to attend Farsi school.  She's half-Iranian and never put much effort into learning her father's native language.  Her new Farsi tutor may be the quintessential Iranian dude, but he's kind of cute in his own way, and he's never met quiet Parvin, so their friendship feels natural.  

Maybe it's time to stop trying to please the people who will never like her and focus on being herself and supporting her friends and family.

I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed this book.  There were several times I literally laughed out loud, but author Oliva Abtahi also realistically and gently portrays Parvin's feeling of being different, looking nothing like her blonde American mother, and living in a country with a Muslim ban.  Secondary characters are also realistic, including Parvin's best friends.  Fabian is a queer Mexican American content creator whose parents are more concerned with the crisis at the border than their son, and Ruth is a Korean American obsessed with crafting and terrified to come out to her mother.  Parvin's parents are supportive of their daughter and each other.  Highly recommended!

A Forgery of Roses

Myra Whitlock is an artist in a place where the religious majority believes her work is blasphemy.  Even worse, she is a prodigy.  This means she has a magical ability to use her art to change reality.  She knows she must keep this power hidden.  To be outed as a prodigy is to be killed or imprisoned by the government.  

Artists all over town have gone missing over the past few months, including Myra's parents.  Her mother was training Myra, but now it is up to her to make enough money to care for herself and her chronically ill younger sister.  Lucy is curious and intelligent, but she is clearly getting worse, and they don't have money for a doctor.

That's why Myra accepts a dangerous offer that could change their lives forever.  Mrs. Harris, the governor's wife, offers Myra more money than she could make in a lifetime to heal her son through her art.  There are only two problems.  Governor Harris and his wife actively hate prodigies which means Mrs. Harris could turn on her at any moment.  The other problem?  Will Harris isn't just injured or sick; he's dead.

Myra joins the household undercover and quickly tries to do the impossible.  As far as she knows, no one has ever used magic to bring someone back from the dead.  But to use her magic to heal, she needs to understand the injuries and the emotions behind them.  It quickly becomes clear that Will's death was not an accidental fall.  Someone murdered him, and Myra has no hope of reviving him until she knows the truth.

With the help of the Harris's older and gentler son August, she begins an investigation that will reveal dark secrets and bring her face to face with a murderer, but will she recognize the face of a killer before it's too late?

I have a split opinion on this one.  I thoroughly enjoyed Jessica S. Olsen's story which is well-plotted with an interesting take on magical ability and the toll it takes to exercise it.  This would easily be one of my favorites of the year if not for the repeated passages of awkward metaphors and overwrought phrasing.  I will still recommend this one; I just don't know why the prose didn't get more editing.

I Must Betray You

It's Romania in 1989, and Cristian is living in a world oppressed by a communist dictator.  Despite the danger, Cristian and many others look for every scrap of information they can find about the outside world.  They listen to Radio Free Europe and watch bootleg copies of American movies in secret.  But even so, Cristian finds it difficult to believe that world is real.

Even possessing a scrap of an American magazine can be dangerous with neighbors informing against each other to the secret police.  Owning even a small amount of foreign currency is a crime, and Cristian is alarmed when he finds an American dollar tucked into the envelope with the stamp given to him by a friend.  

That dollar is the beginning of a dangerous game when the secret police use its existence to blackmail him into becoming a spy for the government.  Becoming an informer is the antithesis of what Cristian wants to be, but he really has no choice.  And they promise medicine for his sick grandfather.  Now that he is caught up in this world, he becomes suspicious of everyone.  Who told the secret police about the money in the first place?  Are there ever really any secrets when the government can see into your most private hiding place?

Maybe, he thinks, he can become a double agent.  He can spy for the government while also trying to find a way to get the truth about life in Romania to the outside world.  When the opportunity to act comes, will he have the courage of his convictions?  Or will he continue to live in oppression?

Ruta Sepetys's niche is bringing to light the stories of the oppressed and awakening compassion in the hearts of her readers.  This is a powerful story of struggle and hope in a dark time.  Like her other works, this is a story everyone should read and reflect on the dangers of oppressive governments and the impact they have on regular citizens.  Highly recommended for grades 7 and up.

Across the Desert

It's summer, and twelve-year-old Jolene spends as much time as she can at the public library.  It's too hot to be outside, and she doesn't want to be in the apartment with her mom.  The highlight of her day is watching the live stream of Addie Earheart's daily flight over the Arizona desert.  She doesn't know Addie in real life, but the two started chatting online once Jolene found the daily flight videos.  

Jolene wants to be a cartographer, and she uses Addie's videos and existing maps to draw out her own version of the desert.  It's almost like having an adventure herself.

Addie is Jolene's only friend.  That wasn't always true, but after the car accident that injured her mother, life was never the same.  Her mom started taking the pain meds prescribed by her doctor, but then she couldn't stop.  Now, it seems like she doesn't care about anything else.  There's rarely food in the house, and most of Jolene's clothes are two sizes too small.  

That's why the daily live stream and the chats are so important, but one day Addie's plane crashes as Jolene is watching.  Then the feed goes blank.  Jolene is the only viewer, and Addie was flying over a vast uninhabited desert.  No one else knows what happened...or even where to look.

As a panicked Jolene tries to reach out to adults for help, it quickly becomes clear no one believes her.  She knows Addie would respond to her chats to let her know if she were safe, but she doesn't.  Jolene can't just leave her friend to die because no one will listen.  That's when she decides to go on the biggest and most terrifying adventure of her life.

I'm a Dusti Bowling fan, and this one does not disappoint.  It's full of the same life-and-death adventure her fans will expect, and she also deals with trauma in a realistic way that is appropriate for middle-grade readers without patronizing them.  Jolene is struggling with the aftermath of surviving a horrible car accident and a stint in foster care, and she's living with a parent who is addicted to opioids.  There are definitely parts of this story that stretch credulity, but Jolene and her internal struggles are very real.  Highly recommended.

Hotel Magnifique

After their mother dies, Jani takes her younger sister and moves to the port city of Durc hoping for opportunities to live a better life.  What she finds is the drudgery of working in a tannery to support herself and Zosa.  They can barely afford the rent in their boarding house, and Jani dreams of returning to their idyllic village in the countryside.

Everything changes when she learns the Hotel Magnifique will be appearing in Durc.  The magical hotel appears out of thin air to take on new guests and staff.  No one knows exactly what happens in the hotel because guests emerge after their trip with no memories other than a feeling of indescribable joy.  

The hotel is also the only place where suminaires can safely perform their magic.

When Zosa is hired to work as a performer, Jani isn't surprised.  She just needs to find a way to extend her own temporary appointment as a maid, she the sisters won't be separated.  Everything in the hotel is more enchanting than Jani could have imagined, but she quickly starts to see that some things seem not quite right.  

For one thing, employee contracts are unbreakable, and she can't find anyone who will talk to her about their lives before the hotel.  Her only ally in the quest for information is the mysterious Bel.  She knows he's a suminaire, but she isn't exactly sure what his job entails.  She only knows she finds him frustrating and increasingly attractive.  Bel warns Jani not to dig too deep; if the Maitre finds out what she's doing in his hotel, the consequences will be dire.  But Jani is determined to find a way to save herself and her sister their beautiful but deadly cage.

Emily J. Taylor's lushly dark fantasy is a world to sink into and enjoy.  There are as many delights as there are horrors in the Hotel Magnifique, and I loved them all.  Jani and Zosa have a strong sisterly bond that never falls into resentment, and the romance element is a light but important part of the plot and Jani's character development.  The conclusion felt a little rushed, but I loved it anyway!  Recommended for grades 7 and up.

Attack of the Black Rectangles

Mac's hometown has a lot of rules.  There's a strict curfew, no junk food, and girls aren't allowed to wear pants to school.  It doesn't matter who argues against these rules, the school and the town council always bow to the whims of Ms. Laura Samuel Sett.  She always has a matter-of-fact answer for everything, and Mac and his friends will be in her 6th-grade class this year.  

Everything seems fine until it's time for literature circles.  That's when it happens.  They discover their copies of The Devil's Arithmetic have black rectangles over certain words and phrases.  Mac's mom and granddad raised him to investigate when things seem wrong, so he and his friends begin a journey to understand what the blacked-out words are and why they are censored.  

They know they are right, but no one other than their parents seems to take them seriously.  Suddenly, they begin to reexamine the rules and search for the underlying truths many people want to ignore.

This is a timely and engaging story about censorship and seeing through the surface to find the truths beneath.  It reads a bit more like a fable, but Mac and his friends still seem like real kids until the very end.  The last chapter is the only time the voice seems less like a 6th grader and more like an adult.  I would still recommend this one as food for thought and great discussion.

Skandar and the Unicorn Thief

Skandar Smith has spent his entire thirteen years dreaming of becoming a unicorn rider.  He's studied and worried and wished for a life different from his own.  His mother died when he was a baby, and his dad has been an alcoholic who can barely hold a job since then.  His older sister Kenna has spent the last year in a depression after failing the exam to make it to the island where the unicorns live.  Though he feels some guilt at the idea of leaving them behind, he can't imagine living a life without a unicorn.

Unicorns had always been a secret of the island until the number of eggs outgrew the number of available 13-year-olds to try for a bond.  Even with a bond, unicorns are bloodthirsty and powerful.  Unicorns that hatch wild...well, they are terrifying and unstoppable.  The bond between unicorn and rider not only gives the rider magic ability but also makes the unicorn less ferocious and gives it a natural lifespan.  

When he's turned away at the exam door, Skandar can't understand.  How can they just deny him the chance to even try?  But when a stranger shows up at midnight to smuggle him into the next round of the trials, he has to take his chance.  Plus, the stranger is convinced Skandar is the only one who can save the island and the mainland from the Weaver, a rogue magic wielder whose thirst for power could endanger them all.

Now Skandar has his wish, but he has so many secrets to keep, it seems inevitable one will escape.  Will he be able to keep his place in the Eyrie and continue training, or will the Weaver's plot endanger his future?

The series opener from A.F. Steadman is a wild ride and a wonderful reimagining of unicorns.  Instead of ethereal beings of light, they are bloodthirsty carnivores who are difficult to control.  The Eyrie is the perfect magical school for unicorn riders with lots of fun and whimsical details.  (However, I want just one of these magic school books to at least mention the study of language and math.  or do you magically have a mastery of the regular subjects when you get magical powers?)  This is a well-plotted series opener with plenty of twists and false suspicions along the way.  Harry Potter fans will eat this up!  Highly recommended!