Round-up of Excellent YA Reads for Spring 2021

Bruised by Tanya Boteju (Simon And Schuster) 

Published: March 23, 2021 

Recommended Reading Age: 17+ years 

Bruised is a coming-of-age story that follows Daya Wijesinghe, a 18-year old of Sri Lankan descent who loses her parents in a car accident. Daya is a skateboarder, and the bruises she gets from skateboarding keep her pain skin deep. The novel depicts her attempt to navigate high school, cope with her grief through her unhealthy strategy of getting bruises to keep her emotional pain at bay, and desire to join a roller derby team.

Bruised is an engaging and insightful young-adult read, and Daya has a compelling character arc. The novel has many great elements, like its racial and LGBTQ+ representation, and tackling of difficult subjects like first love, identity, and grief. While Daya gets bruises from the sport of roller derby, the novel does a good job of describing its healing potential as well.

Sadly, the novel feels overstuffed. Due to all of its different themes, it feels as though none of them can become fully fleshed-out. An element or two of Bruised could have been cut out to allow readers to become fully engaged in each element of the story. As it is, there is too much happening.

Another critique of Bruised is that more care could have been taken in the discussion of Daya’s unhealthy coping strategy of self-bruising. For instance, there could have been a content warning or advisory at the beginning of the book. In addition, more of Daya’s narration could have indicated that she knows the harm she is doing herself and that she should be seeking healthier coping strategies or treatment.

Despite these wrinkles, Bruised is a fast-paced and enjoyable read, a page-turner that most teenagers 17 years and older would enjoy and learn from.

Zara Hossain Is Here by Sabina Khan (Scholastic)  

Published: April 6, 2021

Recommended Reading Age: 15+ years 

Seventeen-year old Zara Hossain is the sole Muslim student at her Corpus Christi, Texas high school and faces religious and racial prejudice on a daily basis. Tyler Benson, a popular student and star athlete, instigates most of the Islamophobic microaggressions towards her. However, Zara must refrain from reacting because she and her parents are immigrants from Pakistan who are in the final stage of their 8-year green-card application. An outburst from Zara could backfire on them and jeopardize their permanent residence status. 

One day at school, Zara sees Tyler and two of his male friends with a new student who looks scared. Zara responds instinctively and intercedes to help the girl to get away. In retaliation, Tyler vandalizes her locker with a racist slur. Zara’s best friends Nick and Priya urge her to speak out about this racism, prompting Zara to report the incident to the principal, who then suspends Tyler. Its aftermath sparks devastating consequences for her family’s safety and stability. 

Zara’s affectionate relationship with her parents contrasts that of her girlfriend Chloe’s, a white Catholic girl whose parents use their church’s rhetoric to fuel their homophobia. This contrast offers a non-stereotypical acceptance of Zara’s bisexuality that permits an exploration of how religion and white privilege intersect. Khan also presents the contemporary reality of diverse young people navigating the dominant culture while taking pride in their heritage. Zara shares her love of Pakistani culture, fashion, food and music with her friends, each comfortable in one another’s homes and among their families. Such an unconscious, effortless harmony of cultures acts as a strong counterpoint to the myopic racial stereotypes that Tyler’s family espouses and the power they wield.  The tenuousness of the Hossains’ immigration status is a gripping storyline. It presents the precarious balance between prejudice and tolerance, and sheds light on the direct impact of US immigration policies on families and communities. Woven within the narrative are endearing portraits of close friendships, the strength of communities, the solidarity of neighbours, and familial ties that bind. 

The Life and Deaths of Frankie D by Colleen Nelson (Dundurn Press)

Published: April 13, 2021 

Recommended Reading Age: 17+ years 

Frankie Doe is an orphaned 17-year-old whose mysterious past connects her to a child performer in a circus side show from the 1920s. Found in an alley at the age of 10 years, she enters the foster care system but doesn’t remember anything about how she got there. Vivid in her memory are the abuses she has suffered before her current foster guardian, the caring trauma counsellor Kris, takes her in, helps her to address her emotions and nurtures her artistic talent. While her homelife is now stable, her social life is empty. Frankie suffers from a rare genetic condition called lamellar ichthyosis, which leaves her skin cracked and peeling. To conceal her “scaly” skin, she wears heavy goth makeup and dyes her hair purple, a look that keeps her school peers at a far remove. Frankie finds refuge in the art room where she utilizes her drawing talents to create a graphic  novel, encouraged by the art teacher, who accepts, understands and encourages her. 

Frankie begins to have vivid dreams about a girl named Frances, a performer in a Twenties carnival sideshow known as the Alligator Girl, who also has Frankie’s skin disorder. Through her dreams, Frankie learns that Frances’ past mirrors her own. She meets the ringmaster of the sideshow that materializes at the local ComicCon and who is strangely familiar. When he invites Frankie to join his show, her life becomes a nightmare that jeopardizes her life and Kris’. In her dreams, Frankie has flashbacks from Frances’ perspective which spur the recovery of her own suppressed memories. They also depict the exploitation and exclusion forced on people with disabilities and disorders by systemic prejudice, trapping them in a life on the fringes without opportunity to work as anything but “freak show” performers. 

The plot is suspenseful, and the story is a packed read that explores many themes, including the effect of the foster care system, the therapeutic potential of art, bullying, the paranormal, and Egyptian mythology. Although treated with sensitivity, the depictions of violence, assault and trauma make the book suitable for readers in their upper teens or older. There are several diverse characters, such as Frankie’s friend and her family, who are of Egyptian descent, and Frances’ father is Métis. The prickly yet sensitive Frankie is a sympathetic protagonist who tries to protect her emotions to avoid hurt and rejection while craving love and acceptance. Fans of fantasy and the paranormal will find The Life and Deaths of Frankie D difficult to put down and a resilient protagonist worthy of their admiration. 

Made In Korea by Sarah Suk (Simon And Schuster)

Published: May 18, 2021

Recommended Reading Age: 14+ years

An unexpected rivalry between two entrepreneurial high school seniors leads to a romance and brings them closer to their career ambitions.  Korean American teen Valerie Kwon runs V&C K-Beauty a beauty-product business out of her high-school locker with her cousin Charlie Song. Their 3-year old business is successful and popular – until new student Wes Jung’s K-pop–branded lip balm inadvertently sparks a rival K-beauty business that rivals Valerie’s. Wes realizes that there is a ready market for the Crown Tiger branded merchandise that his mother receives through her job as an advertising executive for the band. Valerie has a head for business which she hones through research and practice; however, Wes is shy and finds refuge in his love of jazz music and talent on the saxophone. Wes’ newfound business success jeopardizes the brand that Valerie has worked hard to cultivate, not to mention its earnings. This threat prompts the determined Valerie to initiate a winner-takes-all bet with Wes: whichever business makes the most profit during the school year gets the earnings of both. 

Both Valerie and Wes are flawed but sympathetic. They feel misunderstood by their families and unacknowledged for their abilities and interests. Valerie’s parents dismiss her business as a “cute” hobby rather than recognizing it as a proof of an acumen that could lead to a fulfilling career. She feels that they compare her unfairly to her studious and obedient older sister, Samantha. For Valerie, V&C K-Beauty is not just a way to make money or a path to a business degree. She wants to take her beloved grandmother Halmeoni, the only person whom she feels seen by, on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Paris. By contrast, introverted, only child Wes dreams of becoming a professional musician like his uncle, which goes against the wishes of his parents, who want him to pursue the more stable career path of a doctor. Over the course of their wager, Valerie and Wes fall for one another and make eventual inroads with their relationships with their families. Their connection to one another leads them to reflect on their identities and  the weight of parental expectations of what is “best” for them to gain the agency to pursue their own aspirations. 

Suk has succeeded masterfully in depicting the dual protagonists Valerie and Wes with nuance and sensitivity. The first-person narration alternates deftly between the two, each with a distinct authenticity of voice. It is no small feat to create a story where all of the characters are likeable and realistic, yet Suk has accomplished it. Even the person whom Valerie and Wes each recruit to spy on the other proves himself to be a decent  fellow. And Halmeoni is irresistible! Suk weaves details about contemporary Korean American life and culture seamlessly, without ever resorting to explaining them. These details and Suk’s treatment of them normalize the lives and interactions of the characters, and show the ways that cultural and societal identities intersect. Made in Korea is an engrossing read with hidden depth. Despite its feel-good tone, it never feels fluffy or trite, and readers will find Valerie and Wes’ experiences absorbing and relatable.

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