Everything Sad Is Untrue

It is difficult to describe this book in a straightforward way because it isn't a straightforward narrative.  It is easy to say this is a fictionalized version of author Daniel Nayeri's childhood as his family flees Iran to become refugees first in Italy before ending up in Oklahoma.  But that is not the whole of what this book is.  

This is truth wrapped in myth.  It is memory wrapped in legend.  It is an immigrant's journey to understanding this strange new American world where everything is new, and no one understands the weight of history that affected every moment of his former life in Iran.  

There are bullies of every age and size, like the immigration agents who have lost their compassion, the stepfather who abuses Daniel's mother, and the kids at school who ostracise and abuse him.  But there are also heroes like Daniel's mother who is unstoppable because she never stops and Mrs. Miller, the English teacher he addresses throughout the book.  

Daniel's memories of people in Iran are so few they have gained epic proportions, but he knows the entire history of more distant relatives and weaves the pieces into myth.  He is Sheherazade weaving a story so fabulous and so interconnected that we, as his readers, cannot let him go.  Highly recommended.

From the Desk of Zoe Washington

When Zoe finds a letter from her father on her twelfth birthday, it changes everything.  She's never met her father, and her mother refuses to talk about him because Marcus is in prison for murder.  Zoe has always been curious, though, and this letter seems like a sign.  She decides to write back to Marcus in secret because she knows her mother would never allow it! 

While she waits for a reply, Zoe is busy with her summer internship at a real bakery.  She wants to be on the Kids Bake Challenge, and this internship is the test to see if her parents think she's mature enough to handle it.  

She's also busy trying to ignore her former best friend and current next-door neighbor, Trevor.  They usually spend the whole summer together, but Zoe can't forgive him for betraying her trust during the school year.

After a few letters, Marcus writes that he is innocent, but Zoe isn't sure if she should believe him.  That's when she decides to do a little detective work of her own.  It would be great to know her biological father isn't a murderer, but if he's really innocent, he's been in prison for twelve years while the real killer ran free.  

With so many things at stake, Zoe's twelfth summer will be the most important one of her life.

I really enjoyed this debut by Janae Marks.  It has short chapters and a fast pace which make it great for reluctant readers, and the premise is an attention grabber, too.  It only took a couple of sentences to sell it to a student in the library earlier today.  This is a middle grade book, so it does gloss over some of the negative effects of being wrongly convicted, but it's also a great conversation starter about the legal system and how easy it is for people to sometimes be wrongly convicted.  Highly recommended.

Super Fake Love Song

Sunny Dae is a total nerd.  He and his two best friends have a YouTube channel where they show people how to make DIY weapons for LARPing, but they never show their faces.  Life is bad enough at school where they seem to be the butt of every joke, and Sunny is football star, Gunnar's favorite punching bag.  Sunny's older brother Gray even dumped him when they moved to Rancho Ruby.  Gray was in a metal band in high school and way too cool for his dorky little brother.  Now he's off in Hollywood trying to make it as a musician leaving Sunny alone with their loving but inattentive parents. 

Everything changes when Cirrus moves to town.  She's lived all over the world with her real estate developer parents.  She's beautiful and cool, and Sunny meets her before she has a chance to see who he really is at school.  That's when he gets the idea to become someone else.  Borrowing clothes and attitude from Gray's abandoned bedroom, Sunny tells Cirrus he's in a band.  

Miraculously, it works!  Cirrus is charmed by his confidence and metal persona.  Now he just has to convince his two best friends to be in The Immortals with him and somehow hide the truth about his true personality at school.  The plan is to play an epic number at the school talent show, and then somehow find a way to come clean.  Cirrus is falling for lead guitar player Sunny.  What if she doesn't like him when she knows the truth?

I have to be honest.  I really struggled with this book.  The pace was so slow, and Cirrus is just another mysterious cool girl with a weird name.  She literally has no personality beyond "lived all over the world."  I kept waiting for more, but it just isn't there.  She's the elusive perfect girl rather than a real one.  Plus, I really don't like the "lie about who you are to make someone fall in love with you" trope.  It's a horrible betrayal, and it's almost never handled well.  Sunny even gets upset with Cirrus for being upset with him when she finds out the truth and tells her she wouldn't have given him a second look as his true self.  Well, I guess we'll never know because he lied!  Also, it is not any girl's responsibility to like a guy just because he likes her.  Ugh.

The parts about Sunny's relationship with his older brother were better, but that's a small part of the book.  Even his two friends, Milo and Jamal, are like cardboard cutouts.  They are in most of the scenes, but they don't really have personalities.  I did enjoy the second half of the book more when Sunny begins to become introspective and come to terms with his own lack of self-esteem and his decision to be himself, all in, but it really took a long time to get there.

Glitch

Regan and Elliot have been enemies since they started training to become Glitchers, so basically their entire lives.  Anyone with the time travel gene is automatically sent to train for a future in the past.  Once the world figured out time travel, everyone quickly realized the practice needed to be tightly regulated.  Now, most time travel missions are about stopping agents of Mayhem, a terrorist group who travels into the past to change history and destroy the natural timeline.  

Regan can't stand Elliot's condescending attitude.  So what if he's the best at everything, does he have to shove it in everyone's face all the time?  He can't pass up any opportunity to point out Regan's failures, and there are a lot of them.  Studying and understanding the past is vital for time travelers, but Regan's brain feels like Swiss cheese.  She struggles to focus on her reading, and the information never seems to stick.  

Elliot can't stand Princess Regan, daughter of the academy's first female commander.  Everyone gives her special treatment.  He plans to be the youngest student in the history of the academy to level up, and then he won't have to deal with her bratty face anymore.  

Everything changes when Regan receives a letter from her future self that seems to point to future danger.  This is bad enough on its own.  Regan has sworn she would never be like Mayhem, changing history for her own good, but Elliot finds the letter and keeps it from her because he's Elliot, and he likes to make her life miserable.

After he reads the letter, Elliot wishes he could go back in time and know nothing about it.  Now he's tied up with Regan in some kind of plot from her future self.  This could ruin his career and land him in jail for the rest of his life.  

When things start to heat up, Regan and Elliot will have to work together or risk losing more than just their careers as time travelers.  Their friends, family, and even the United States time travel program are about to go up in flames.

I really hope this is a start to a new series because this book is so fun and exciting.  Elliot may be a little too horrible in the beginning, and I wish Regan's dyslexia could just be treated as a difference rather than a detriment (I mean, they have time travel.  Why can't they figure out a way to help people with dyslexia?), but I think kids will love this fast-paced adventure through time! Highly recommended.

Black Canary: Breaking Silence

Dinah Lance lives in a Gotham City where all the heroes are gone, and the villains now rule with a misogynistic iron fist.  When Batman finally died decades ago, Oswald Cobblepot rose to power with the aid of the Court of Owls.  He enacted the great Silencing where he exposed all women to a chemical that stole their ability to sing to remind them of their place in society.  Women are required to adhere to strict dress codes and are only allowed to pursue a small list of approved careers.  Anyone who dares to resist is terrorized by the Owls.

Dinah has always tried to fly under the radar, but after an encounter with the Owls, things start to change.  She loves music and has a secret stash of images from the time before, but she's never heard a woman sing, except for the ghost of a memory from her childhood.  When the Owls begin to terrorize her personally, she can no longer stay silent.  

In addition to her budding rebellion, there's also a new guy at her school, Oliver Queen.  She shouldn't want anything to do with him since the Court of Owls is trying to recruit him with his money and influence, but there's just something about him.

When Dinah meets Barbara Gordon, an old friend of her mother's she learns the truth about her mother and her death.  Dinah is no longer content to meekly live in oppression.  It's time for her voice to be heard.

Alexandra Monir's entry in the DC Universe Icons series is...interesting.  If I suspend my disbelief completely, I mean pack it in a box and hide it under the bed, I can passively enjoy this story.  If I'm being honest, though, there were just so many things that didn't make sense.  Gotham City is a city, not a country.  How are the Owls empowered to enact all these crazy oppressive laws and prevent people from leaving the city limits?  Also, singing voices?  Really?  That's cruel, but it would make more sense if the women were silenced completely.  Losing the ability to sing is really only a punishment for a small percentage of the population.  I get the symbolism and the whole Black Canary thing, but it just seems a little silly to me.  

I love the cover; I wish I liked the book more.

Before the Ever After

When ZJ was little, his dad was a football star, a hero.  He loved the game, and the game loved him...until it didn't.  ZJ's family is thrown off-kilter when his football hero dad starts having memory issues and headaches, and none of the doctors can figure out what's going on.  

ZJ remembers when his dad was strong, loving, and playful, but as time progresses he's often confused and sometimes aggressive.  ZJ still loves his dad, but he's a little afraid of him and of what the future might hold, too.  

A lot of the attention his dad got in his glory days is gone now, but ZJ still has his crew, the Fantastic 4.  His friends have always been there for him, and that hasn't changed even as life gets more difficult.  

Contemporary readers may recognize the signs of CTE, a traumatic brain injury caused by multiple concussions, but this book is set in the late 90's-early 2000's before the effects of multiple head injuries were widely known.  Jacqueline Woodson's new novel in verse is spare and beautiful.  It describes the painful and lifelong effects that sometimes happen after a career in professional football, but it also highlights the power and family and friendship.

The Body Under the Stairs

 Aggie Morton is just as shocked as everyone else when she discovers the body of the universally disliked Irma Eversham under her dance instructor's piano.  The police quickly zero in on Miss Marianne Eversham, dance instructor and sister in law of the deceased as the prime suspect, but Aggie knows in her heart Miss Marianne would never kill anyone.

With the help of her new friend, a recent refugee from Belgium, Hector Perot, Aggie begins her own investigation.  No one liked the odious Mrs. Eversham, so it might be difficult to narrow down the list of suspects.  Could it be her daughter, the beautiful Rose who longs to be free of her controlling mother?  Or maybe it is one of Rose's suitors.  What about the new reporter for the Torquay Voice?  He certainly seems to turn up everywhere he doesn't belong.

Employing Grannie Jane's advice about listening and their own natural curiosity, Aggie and Hector are determined to solve the case and catch a killer.  They just might not have considered how dangerous that task might be.

This is the first book in a new series by Marthe Jocelyn inspired by prolific crime writer, Agatha Christie.  While the story is entirely fictional, details from Christie's childhood are woven into the tale, and fans of the author will recognize homages to her own characters.  This may not be the book for everyone, but it's perfect for readers who like the details of historical fiction and the thrills of suspense.  Jocelyn approaches her heroine with affection and humor, and readers will keep coming back for more of Aggie's adventures.  Recommended!