New and Exciting Young Adult Reads Perfect for Summer

Like Home by Louise Onomé (HarperCollins) 

Published: February 23, 2021 

Recommended Reading Age: 13+ years

Reviewed by: Arpita Ghosal

Like Home by Louisa Onomé follows highschooler Chinelo (Nelo to her friends) as she lives life in her neighborhood Ginger East. She loves the community of Ginger East, even though she’s noticing that it isn’t the same as it once was. A deadly event at a local arcade has forced all of Nelo’s friends (except her best friend Kate Tran) to move away. Kate’s parents own the Ginger East store, a neighbourhood staple and a hub of the community. When it gets vandalized, Nelo determines to find the culprit. Her efforts to help the Trans open her eyes to the gentrification that is encroaching on the diverse neighbourhood.  Worst of all, Kate seems to be pushing Nelo away when they need each others’ friendship most.  The compounding effect of all of these makes Nelo feel like her life is becoming what she doesn’t want it to be. She needs to find a way to get it back to normal.

Onamé has created a distinctive and believable narrative voice for the feisty Nigerian-born Nelo. She has a sharp ear for dialogue and depicts Nelo’s experiences and reactions like a typical Insta-Tik-Toking teenager. Readers will like and relate to Nelo as well as the diverse cast of characters who are Vietnamese, Black, Trinidadian and Columbian.

Like Home is a fantastic debut by Onomé and an engrossing read that will leave readers eager for more.

Travesía: a migrant girl’s cross-border journey as told to Michelle Gerster; illustrated by Fiona Dunnett (Arsenal Pulp Press)

Published: April 6, 2021

Recommended Reading Age: 13+ years

Reviewed by: Scott Sneddon

This intimate and harrowing tale depicts the true story of 15-year-old Gricelda’s emigration by car and foot to the United States with her mother and younger brother, as it was told to Michelle Gerster. Travesía sits right on the border between illustrated novel and graphic novel. Every turn of the page reveals one to two paragraphs of text: the left page text is in English, while the right-page text is in Spanish. Unifying the two pages are one to three haunting and naturalistic yet cartoony illustrations by Fiona Dunnett. In their rich yet muted colour palette, these illustrations zoom in on key details or pan back to visualize a place or summon the scale of the backdrop for this arduous journey. “Travesía” means “crossing” – and everything in the design of this gorgeous volume brings to life the idea of crossing – between languages, between cultures, between past and future and even between text and pictures.

As the story opens, the family’s rich traditions are visualized in a final family dinner, before Gricelda and her mother embark for Tijuana, then the mountains and scorching desert. Vividly realized is Gricelda’s disorienting lack of control. She only partly understands the decisions her mother must make to trust – or not trust – smugglers. With no frame of reference, she encounters squalid conditions, unexpected dangers and terrors on each leg of the journey “The only thing we had was our faith”, she recounts as they embark on the final desperate, miles-long walk through the desert, during which she is separated from her mother. The simple, straightforward text doesn’t shy away from her fears – murder or rape – or from gritty realities such as suddenly getting her period during the trek across the border.

There’s a palpable sense of danger here, and a real sense of luck – or, rather, faith rewarded – especially by contrast to other individuals and families whose desperate stories are left unresolved and, one fears, may have ended badly. The ending stops the story right when Gricelda arrives and makes a home in Northern California. A full-page textual coda fills in more detail on the difficulty and heavy toll of Gricelda’s subsequent cultural “crossing” into American school system, learning the English language and adjusting to alien-seeming US culture.

This is an urgent and important, harrowing yet beautiful tale that viscerally realizes the desperation and privation of families who struggle to cross the US border in hopes of finding a better life. Strongly recommended for children 10 and up, this timely and affecting story will spark rich discussions about topics such as empathy, culture, poverty and immigration policy.

When You Get The Chance by Tom Ryan and Robin Stevenson (Running Press Kids) – May 4

Published: May 4, 2021 

Recommended Reading Age: 14+ years

Reviewed by: Sayak S-G

When You Get The Chance is a short and delightful novel following Mark and his cousin Talia as they take their first trip together in a long time to their family’s cottage. Due to a fight (the details of which Talia, Mark, and Mark’s sister Sophie aren’t aware of), their parents don’t talk anymore, making this the first time they’ve all been together in years. Because of their grandfather’s sudden death, these cousins have to travel up to the cottage and clean it, as their family decides whether they want to keep it or sell it.

Mark and Talia are both realistic teenagers who make mistakes, are occasionally ignorant, and aren’t always sensitive toward others. For example, they put themselves before others, as seen by their desperation to go on a road trip to Toronto when their family needs them to stay at the cottage. Despite their shortcomings, these characters aren’t bad people — they’re just realistic.  Readers understand their motivations and reasonings when they act out of line, and readers see these characters grow throughout the course of the novel. Mark is forced to face his entitlement, defensiveness and ignorance, and Talia is forced to confront her dependence on her partner Erin and the pressure she puts on herself to live up to her dad’s expectations.

The dialogue often feels abrupt and occasionally unrealistic, lacking the nuances and transitions of regular human interactions, making it feel unnatural when you read it. However, this doesn’t detract so much as to affect readers’ overall enjoyment of the novel. When You Get The Chance is a charming and speedy read PERFECT for summer! It is sure to delight those who love novels about vacation, road trips, or Pride.

Misfit In Love by S.K. Ali (Salaam Reads / Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Published: May 25, 2021 

Recommended Reading Age: 15+ years

Reviewed by: Arpita Ghosal

Over the summer before university, Janna Yusuf helps her brother Muhammad’s nikah to Sarah while gathering the courage to confess her crush to Muhammad’s friend Nuah. Muhammad and his Syrian American fiancée Sarah’s katb el-kitab was originally supposed to be a modest ceremony that grows into a lavish, “big fat Muslim wedding” hosted by his and Janna’s businessman father. It takes place on their father’s large property in Mystic Lake, Illinois and brings together relatives and friends, including Nuah, whom Janna realized she loves. While trying to find a moment to admit her feelings to him, she discovers that her father disapproves because Nuah is Black. Her Indian father was not accepted by Janna’s mother’s Egyptian family and has since ended up with the same racist attitude as his in-laws. His racism shocks and angers Janna, while also opening her eyes to the prevalence of intolerance, prejudice and discrimination among Muslims within her own family and community.

This realization complicates Janna’s feelings about her relationships as she comes to understand how these attitudes affect other Muslims. She must navigate cognitive dissonance in her confrontation with the principles of justice and equity while also reflecting on why she has placed so much emphasis on boys. Her commitment to anti-racist action takes a tangible form of attending anti-bias training classes with her father.

The story of a Muslim American teen navigating family, romance, friendships also explores larger themes with sensitivity, nuance and complexity in a way that is engaging and relatable. The cast of the first book returns, as do Zayneb and Adam from Love From A to Z (2019). While readers might appreciate reading this novel as a sequel to Saints and Misfits (2017), they can access Misfit In Love as a story that stands on its own. Readers of all backgrounds will find Misfit In Love a page-turner that entertains and teaches without preaching or becoming didactic. 

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury (Margaret K. McElderry)

Published: June 15, 2021

Recommended Reading Age: 15+ years

Reviewed by: Sayak S-G

Blood Like Magic is a fantasy novel set in Toronto following 16-year-old Voya Thomas. Voya will become a witch depending on how she does during her Calling. To become a witch, she needs to pass a test that will be given to her by one of her ancestors. If Voya refuses to do the task, all future members of Voya’s bloodline will not be allowed to become witches. If she does accept the task, but fails it, every witch in her family will lose their magic.

Voya finds out that the Calling is even riskier than she anticipated because she has to murder her first love. Voya – never having been in love before – has to (in a month) fall in love with someone and then kill them.

Sambury is a strong writer whose descriptions are vivid and engaging. The plot is unique, featuring many twists and turns which are sure to delight readers.

At over 500 pages, Blood Like Magic can sometimes feel slow and bloated. Its beginning is particularly dense and full of exposition, feeling unduly long.

Despite this, Blood Like Magic‘s refreshing take on fantasy will leave lovers of the genre engaged and extremely satisfied.

© Arpita Ghosal, Scott Sneddon and Sayak S-G, SesayArts Magazine, 2021