You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

Pages: 340

Intended Audience: Adult

Genre: Suspense

Notes for Parents: The main character is an adult, and the story has coarse language, some sexuality, and mature themes.

The Back Cover

How far will you go to achieve a dream? That’s the question a celebrated coach poses to Katie and Eric Knox after he sees their daughter, Devon, a gymnastics prodigy and Olympic hopeful, compete. For the Knoxes, there are no limits—until a violent death rocks their close-knit gymnastics community and everything they have worked so hard for is suddenly at risk.

As rumors swirl among the other parents, Katie tries frantically to hold her family together while also finding herself irresistibly drawn to the crime itself. What she uncovers—about her daughter’s fears, her own marriage, and herself—forces Katie to consider whether there’s any price she isn’t willing to pay to achieve Devon’s dream.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

The author is best known as a crime writer, but is also a blogger and journalist.

What’s good?

This is a disturbing story about parents who discover how deeply they’ve become invested in their daughter’s future as an elite gymnast. The plot reveals gymnastics as a subculture that begins at a young age and is full of stress, physical pain, sacrifice, determination, rivalry, and privilege. This is mixed with the world of teenage girls—self-esteem issues, sexuality, gossip, jealousy, back-stabbing, and drama. The characters are vivid and well-drawn. Devon, the gymnast, is cold and focused, while her mom Katie is hopeful and a bit clueless. Dad Eric is motivated by anxiety. And Devon’s little brother Drew is the forgotten, invisible child. Fellow gymnast mom, Gwen is an instigator that pushes the tension higher. The writing is good, the plot is solid, and the ending is provocative.

Best Part: Drew.

What isn’t good?

The action is predictable. Oddly, that didn’t ruin the story. The fascinating part is watching mom Katie as she realizes the truths about everything and everyone around her—her daughter’s desire, her husband’s desperation, her son’s observations…it’s like watching a train wreck. The pace was a bit slow to start, but it picks up. With the exception of Drew, I didn’t find any of the characters particularly likeable.

Worst part: I don’t understand why it mattered where Katie was standing when Devon’s accident happened.

Recommendation ☺☺☺☻☻ (3/5)

It started slow, but by the end I was riveted. This is ultimately a story about relationships and the things we do for the people we care about.  It raised some interesting questions about what parents and spouses are willing to do to maintain a textbook façade. It wasn’t the mystery I expected, but it was a compelling story. 

Abbott, Megan. You Will Know Me. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2010.

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge

Pages: 377

Intended Audience: Teens

Genre: Historical / Supernatural / Mystery

Notes for Parents: Includes some mature content.

The Back Cover

Faith Sunderly leads a double life. To most people, she is reliable, dull, trustworthy - a proper young lady who knows her place as inferior to men. But inside, Faith is full of questions and curiosity, and she cannot resist mysteries: an unattended envelope, an unlocked door. She knows secrets no one suspects her of knowing. She knows that her family moved to the close-knit island of Vane because her famous scientist father was fleeing a reputation-destroying scandal. And she knows, when her father is discovered dead shortly thereafter, that he was murdered.
In pursuit of justice and revenge, Faith hunts through her father's possessions and discovers a strange tree. The tree bears fruit only when she whispers a lie to it. The fruit of the tree, when eaten, delivers a hidden truth. The tree might hold the key to her father's murder - or it may lure the murderer directly to Faith herself.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

A few of the awards this book has won include: Costa Book of the Year (2015); LA Times Book Prize for YA Literature (2016); a Carnegie Medal Nominee (2016); YA Book Prize Nominee (2016); and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction (2016).

What’s good?

It’s a gothic mystery set on a bleak island off the coast of England. The main character, Faith, is a passionate, spirited, and curious teen who dreams of being a naturalist like her father. After her father dies and she learns about a mysterious tree he’s been hiding, the adventure begins. The characters are strong, the mystery is dark, and the plot is winding, but easy to understand. The writing is sophisticated with beautiful imagery and period vocabulary. The tension thickens with danger and deceit as Faith closes in on the truth. The ending is full of questions, but still satisfying.

Best Part: “His words were lifeless pebbles on an endless beach.”  (pg. 141)

What isn’t good?

It was slow, especially the first third of the book. We know from the back cover description that Faith’s father dies and she discovers the lie tree. Her father doesn’t die until more than 100 pages in, and she doesn’t discover the tree for another 50 pages after that. Only then does the pace pick up as Faith uses the powers of the tree to solves the mystery of her father’s death.

Worst part: the pace

Recommendation ☺☺☺☻☻ (3/5)

I almost gave up around page 80 because it felt like the story was taking forever to get going, but I toughed it out long enough to get to the good stuff. Once Faith found the tree and was convinced her father was murdered, the story got much more interesting. By the end, I was glad that I’d continued. 

Hardinge, Frances. The Lie Tree. New York: Scholastic, 2016.

Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs

Pages: 190

Intended Audience: Tweens & Teens

Genre: Supernatural

Notes for Parents: Some unusual content that may be disturbing to sensitive readers

The Back Cover

Wealthy cannibals who dine on the discarded limbs of peculiars. A fork-tongued princess. The origins of the first ymbryne. These are but a few of the truly brilliant and haunting stories in Tales of the Peculiar—known to hide information about the peculiar world—first introduced by Ransom Riggs in his #1 bestselling Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series.

Riggs now invites you to share his secrets of peculiar history, with a collection of original stories in this deluxe volume of Tales of the Peculiar, as collected and annotated by Millard Nullings, ward of Miss Peregrine and scholar of all things peculiar.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

Many of the stories include annotations and illustrations.

What’s good?

The best description I’ve heard for these stories is “quirky in a deadpan way.” These ten short stories are unique and easy-to-read folktales of the unusual people found in the world of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. The stories range from funny to macabre, and almost all come with a life lesson. Tales include a giant who helps animals, the historic fight between pigeons and humans, a classic (sort of) princess story, a ghost story (with a twist, of course), and a community of cannibals. All include strong characterization, diversity, beautiful illustrations, and several annotations.

Best Part: The copyright page stays in character. “Printed in a nomad’s tent in the desert of Lop, known to some as the Great Lop Depression, extending eastward along the foot of the Kuruk-Tagh to the formerly terminal Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, an almost perfectly horizontal expanse.”

What isn’t good?

I can’t really think of anything that wasn’t good. I liked some of the stories better than others, but I didn’t dislike any of them. I guess my only complaint would be that I wanted more.

Worst part: None.

Recommendation ☺☺☺☺☺ (5/5)

You don’t need to know the novels to enjoy these unusual short stories from the Peculiar world, but if you’ve read the novels, some of the tales give a deeper insight into characters and situations from the books. The stories are short, entertaining and wonderfully whimsical. The author has a great talent for storytelling. Definitely recommended.

Riggs, Ransom. Tales of the Peculiar. New York: Syndrigast Publications, 2017.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Pages: 433

Intended Audience: Teens

Genre: contemporary; romance; coming-of-age

Notes for Parents: Contains some language and mature scenes

The Inside Cover

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan…

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fanfiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend; a fiction-writing professor who thinks fanfiction is the end of the civilized world; a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words…and she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

This story has a companion novel called Carry On.

What’s good?

Complex relationships between well-developed characters highlight this story about a girl out on her own for the first time. Cath spends most of her time writing fan-fiction (her stories are very popular online), but she’s forced to open her eyes to the world in front of her when her twin sister decides they should live in separate dorms in university. This is a character-driven story that sees Cath forced to make friends, explore romance, and reconsider the dynamics of the relationships she has with her mentally ill father and absent mother. The dialogue is superb, full of wit and humor. The romance is a bit flimsy, but still sweet. And the pace is good.

Best Part: The dialogue.

What isn’t good?

The dialogue is awesome, but the descriptions are not. In fact, some lines were down right cheesy. The plot is weak and predictable. Nothing unexpected happens. While the romance was cute, she was all basket case and he was all perfection (despite having been caught kissing another girl!).  

Worst part: Nothing was terrible.

Recommendation ☺☺☺☻☻ (3/5)

In the end, this is a strong coming-of-age story. Cath becomes more determined to live outside of her fanfiction world, and sees the benefit of strengthening her relationships and her writing. The fandom is an interesting thread that weaves through the story, sometimes acting as a third wheel, but often being the catalyst for change. I enjoyed the story.

Rowell, Rainbow. Fangirl. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2013.

Hidden Figures: Young Readers' Edition by Margot Lee Shetterly

Pages: 198

Intended Audience: Mature tweens and up

Genre: Non-fiction; historical

Notes for Parents: Contains some mature content

The Back Cover

From World War II through NASA’s golden age, four African-American women confidently and courageously stepped into the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (now known as NASA).

Their job? To provide the mathematical calculations that would help increase airplane production during wartime and eventually send the United States into space for the very first time. Hidden Figures follows the stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, who participated in some of the United States’ greatest aeronautic successes. These women lived through and persevered against the backdrop of some of the biggest movements ever to shape our nation’s history: the Civil Rights era, the Space Race, and the fight for gender equality.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

I read the Young Readers’ Edition. Hidden Figures inspired the movie of the same name.

What’s good?

America’s aeronautics program became an important field during the war and it needed a large number of mathematicians to do the calculations needed to improve airplane design. Women with math degrees usually became high school teachers, but when World War II broke out, many men went to war, leaving important job opportunities open to women for the first time. This is the story of four of these women, black women, who worked at NACA (which would eventually become NASA) as “computers” – mathematicians who calculated complex problems. These women, despite the importance of their jobs, struggled constantly against sexism and racism in the workplace. The Young Readers’ Edition is easy to read, has small chapters, and includes pictures.

Best Part: The personal stories.

What isn’t good?

It’s dry. There is a lack of storytelling that leaves the reader disengaged despite the fascinating subject matter. Facts, technical terms, and process descriptions make up most of the chapters, leaving only a little room for the personal struggles of the courageous women who broke race barriers (as well as sound barriers!) in their pursuit of the American dream.

Worst part: I hear the movie is better than the book.

Recommendation ☺☺☻☻☻(2/5)

This is a mesmerizing story that unfortunately became bogged down in too much technical jargon. We learn about the personal lives of the women at NACA, but not enough to offset the tremendous amount of facts that get dumped into every chapter. I would have liked to know more about the fear, the frustration, and the strong will it must have taken to go to work each day in a place that treated the women as lesser than for being women, and even lower for being black, despite the incredible contributions they were making to the field.

Shetterly, Margot Lee. Hidden Figures: Young Readers’ Edition. New York: Scholastic, 2016.

Red Wolf by Jennifer Dance

Pages: 240

Intended Audience: Mature tweens and up

Genre: Historical / Indigenous issues

Notes for Parents: Contains some mature content

The Back Cover

In the late 1800s, both Native people and wolves are being forced from the land. Starving and lonely, an orphaned timber wolf is befriended by a boy named Red Wolf. But under the Indian Act, Red Wolf is forced to attend a residential school far from the life he knows, and the wolf is alone once more. Courage, love, and fate reunite the pair, and they embark on a perilous journey home. But with winter closing in, will Red Wolf and Crooked Ear survive? And if they do, what will they find?

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

The back cover description is a little deceiving. The story is mostly about Red Wolf growing up in the residential school system and how that affects his relationship with his family. Crooked Ear is a thread that follows Red Wolf throughout his journey.

What’s good?

While this is a middle school-level book, the nature of the content means some younger readers may not fully understand the gravity of what’s happening. This is an excellent introduction to the residential school experience and an important part of our history that every Canadian needs to know. It’s easy to read and takes a simple approach to the heart-breaking truth about the Canada’s attempt to wipe out its indigenous culture. The story of the wolf, Crooked Ear, parallels the story of the boy in that wolves were also seen as dirty and savage and white settlers set out to slaughter them, not recognizing the importance of wolves to the land’s ecosystem.

Best Part: The grandfather’s stories.

What isn’t good?

The pace is slow and the writing is choppy. The constant brutality at the residential school is difficult to read, especially since Red Wolf’s feelings about it are never fully explored. This could be because he was so young at first, but a deeper understanding of how the abuse and neglect affected him personally would have strengthened the character and the plot.

Worst part: The pace.

Recommendation ☺☺☺☻☻ (3/5)

Wolves and natives were seen as dangerous and savage by European settlers. The goal became to “tame” the natives and kill the wolves in order for the settlers to feel safe. Red Wolf’s story is a glimpse into what would eventually amount to a culture genocide that stripped the native peoples of their land, their language, and their traditions. It’s an important story, and this novel is a good introduction to that history.

Dance, Jennifer. Red Wolf. Toronto: Dundurn 2014.