The Tryout

Written by: Christina Soontornvat and Joanna Cacao

First line: Breathe... Just breathe...

Why you should read this book: This is a memoir that recounts the trauma of the author's experience. As one of two students of color in her suburban school, Christina has more than the usual reservations about starting middle school, but when she and her best friend Megan decide to try out for the cheerleading squad, she begins to develop a little optimism and self-esteem. Cheerleading is a lot of work, and as she trains, Christina starts to feel Megan slipping away from her, even as she develops a greater understanding of her own cultural heritage and her parents' struggles as a mixed-race couple. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You think more things ought to be popularity contests. 

The Waters

Written by: Bonnie Jo Campbell

First line: Once upon a time M'sauga Island was a place where desperate mothers abandoned baby girls and where young women went seeking to prevent babies altogether.

Why you should read this book: For Bonnie Jo Campbell's forthcoming (WW Norton, January 2024) novel, I have to abandon my typical 4-sentence format. If you're not familiar with my creative relationship with Bonnie Jo Campbell, you can learn a great deal about it here on my visual art website. If you do know about the 4 volumes of comics based on her work I've published, you probably won't be surprised to learn that I drew the map that will appear as the frontispiece of this new novel, and that I read an early draft (the version she sent to the publisher) last year and that I just finished reading the ARC. I'm deeply inspired and I've just been telling people for well over a year to keep an eye out for this book, because I think it's going to knock people's socks off. 

Obviously, this is a biased account and not a true book review. Because I freaking love this book. 

Like most of Campbell's work, it's set in rural southwestern Michigan, is deeply tied to the land, and features a quirky and colorful cast moving through circumstances that perfectly balance comedy and tragedy. It covers new ground by opening the world up to a fairy tale sensibility and the possibly of true magic.

Hermine "Herself" Zook, age unknown, has always lived on M'sauga Island, and has long been the resident witch of the town of Whiteheart, guided by the spirit of her mother, Baba Rose, who haunts her right arm and also the eternal flame of her stove. In addition to providing natural remedies to those who need healing, she also adopts unwanted babies, and, if approached properly, provides herbal abortions. And thus the tale unfolds. Now raising her granddaughter Dorothy "Donkey" Zook in her footsteps, Hermine finds herself increasingly at odds with a hypocritical world that want to use and control her strength even as the poison of modernity seeps into the swamp from every direction. 

I have a million things to say about this book, which I'm saving for the comic I want to write about it. However, if you like rural noir, fairy tales, strong female characters, strange children, the state of Michigan, nuanced debates about ethics and religion, or detailed descriptions of the natural world, you will probably like this book. 

Pre-order it from your local bookstore or public library and be the first to know. 

Wise Child

Written by: Monica Furlong

First line: Juniper was different from us.

Why you should read this book: Wise Child's mother abandoned her long ago, her father is always away at sea, and her grandmother dies when she is nine, so by the customs of her medieval Scottish village, the community gathers to determine who will care for her, and the best candidate for the job is Juniper, the unmarried woman who lives outside of town, never attends mass, is quite obviously a witch. With some apprehension, Wise Child begins a new life, learning Latin and the healing arts and cleaning up after herself and a whole host of skills she could not imagine in her old life, until she finds that she loves her new foster mother and might even want to follow in her footsteps. But there are dangers in her new life—her biological mother, who is a very different kind of witch, wants her back, and the village priest doesn't want any kind of witches alive anywhere—and Wise Child must learn to solve problems and make fast, grown-up decisions while she is still a little girl.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You are one of those completely humorless Christians who believe that anyone who doesn't attend your particular church must be in league with the devil,

Camp Spirit

Written by: Axelle Lenoir

First line: The legend of Bear Lake tells the story of the Spirit of the Forest.

Why you should read this book: It's 1994 and disaffected young adult Elodie is still reeling from the death of Kurt Cobain, and to make matters worse, her mother is forcing her to work as a counselor at an overnight camp the summer before she starts college, and she already hates all the other counselors, especially "Little Miss Perfect: Catherine," but off she goes to have the worst summer ever. Her campers are all crazy redheads, she can't poop in a public toilet, and there's definitely something very strange going on at Bear Lake, including all the camp songs being mildly satanic, the very strange camp chief being very strange, and also there might be an actual monster in the woods. But it turns out that Little Miss Perfect Catherine isn't any of the things Elodie thinks she is, and the camp chief is not dangerous to humans, and whatever is lurking in the woods can be handled, one way or another. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: This is like Lumberjanes for big kids, but it's probably too sexy for little ones.

Get Camp Spirit here

Giant Days Extra Credit Volume One

Written by: John Allison 

First line: At the very edge of the boundless sweep of space is where you will find me, Day-zee. 

Why you should read this book: I saw a couple panels of Giant Days on somebody's social media and thought it would be a nice series to read straight through, so I looked online and reserved this book at the public library, thinking it was the first in the series. In fact, it is a bonus book intended to be read after you've read the entire series, beginning with a "what if" story depicting a world in which the first book never happened, and is probably much more meaningful and enjoyable if you were already vested in that world, rather than beginning in the alternate one. I still enjoyed these little one-off comics about an unlikely group of girls attending their freshman year of college in the UK. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It is definitely not the first one in the series. 

Julie of the Wolves

Written by: Jean Craighead George 

 First line: Miyax pushed back the hood of her sealskin parka and looked at the Arctic sun. 

Why you should read this book: This intense classic survival story about a girl who lives alone in the artic tundra with only a family of wolves for companionship and protection is the latest of my COVID reads: books that I probably should have read in the '80s or '90s but, for whatever reason, never got to. Julie is a determined heroine, mourning what she's lost but intent on hanging on to her life, so she uses the knowledge passed down to her by her father to observe and befriend a pack of wolves who eventually accept her and help her to live another day. Beautifully written and full of accurate descriptions of the natural world. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's a classic and you should read it, although George seems to favor the word "Eskimo," and uses it interchangably with Inuit, which may be insensitive to Inuits, and some people (the librarian who I discussed it with when I decided to read it) may take offense at the implication of rape in a children's novel (to which I say—kids are aware of horrible crimes, and those who have been the victims of them or are at risk of becoming victims probably need to see their lives reflected in literature, while other kids needs to know that these crimes exist and hurt people.) 

Catherine, Called Birdy

Written by: Karen Cushman 

First line: I am commanded to write an account of my days: I am bit by fleas and plagued by family.

Why you should read this book: Catherine, called Birdy due to her love of birds, feels put upon by her life as the only daughter of a landed knight, her station too high to allow her to run wild and free, but too low to avoid onerous tasks and live a life of leisure. And now that she's coming of age, her father is doing his utmost to make a profit by marrying her to a wealthy man, and he doesn't seem to care which wealthy man it is, or that Birdy doesn't want to get married at all. Birdy has to work overtime to run off the line of unsuitable suitors, but a girl of her position cannot avoid the inevitable indefinitely, can she?

Why you shouldn't read this book: You've been recently forced into a very unhappy arranged marriage.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Written by: Jacqueline Kelly 

First line: By 1899, we had learned to tame the darkness but not the Texas heat. 

Why you should read this book: Callie Vee, intelligent, thoughtful, and curious, realizes that she wants to be a naturalist when she grows up, just around the time that Callie's mother announces that she wants Callie to be a debutante. Guided by her eccentric grandfather, Callie becomes comfortable with the scientific process, the pursuit of knowledge, and the reading of difficult and forbidden books, chief among them Darwin's Origin of the Species, while desperately trying to escape a future that includes being tied down to a house, a husband, or children. Just an all-around delightful novel. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You'd rather be a debutante than discover a new species.

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight

Written by: Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal 

First line: "Waiting for Black in on your agenda, not mine," LaShunda barks as we leave the building. 

Why you should read this book: Lena, a stylish, popular Black girl with a best friend and an older boyfriend and big plans for her evening, and Campbell, the new kid in school, a white girl who's given up hope after being abandoned by her family and cut from the track team, find themselves unlikely allies when a high school football game erupts into violence. Running from the police at the football field, they head downtown, right into a bigger and much more violent riot, knowing they better stick together if they're going to survive the night. Told from two points of view, written by two different authors, this sadly realistic live-through-the-night narrative highlights issues of racial and socioeconomic inequality, family ties, young love, and the understanding that we each have to work at understanding other people's perspectives. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: A lot of violence, possibly senseless, but not gratuitous.

P.S. Be Eleven

Written by: Rita Williams-Garcia

First line: You'd think that after flying six-odd hours from New York to Oakland, then flying six-odd hours back, Vonetta, Fern, and I would be world-class travelers, and those bumps and dips would be nothing.

Why you should read this book: Picking up where One Crazy Summer leaves off, this book follows Delphine and her sisters as they return to New York, much changed from the girls who went to visit their mother at the beginning of the summer, thanks to their new revolutionary mindset. But New York has changed too: their father has a girlfriend, their uncle is a different person since his return from Viet Nam, and while their grandmother has stayed the same, they can't help but see Big Ma in a different light after hanging out with the Black Panthers. While still trying to manage her sisters, Delphine has to navigate a new grade, a very new teacher, new boys, her very serious feelings about a new boy band called The Jackson Five, and a series of letters from her unusual mother, which don't feel very helpful now, but might be later on.

Why you shouldn't read this book: I thought it was a little disingenuous of the mother to constantly tell Delphine to "be eleven" when Delphine became the parentalized child solely because her mom didn't want to be a parent.

Go with the Flow

Written by: Lily Williams and Karen Schneeman

First line: Wakey wakey eggs...and bakey!

Why you should read this book: On her first day at a new school, late-blooming sophomore Sasha gets her first period and everyone notices before she does, but, fortunately, she is swept up by a powerful friend squad who do their best to alleviate the stigma of menstruation for the new girl. But Sasha's dilemma reminds the girls of other time-of-the-month issues: Brit's undiagnosed condition (probably endometriosis) means that she's missing way too much school due to way too much pain, and Abby is incensed that the school sanitary pad dispensers are always empty, while Christine is just trying to navigate her own feelings and everyone else's. When Abby can't get satisfaction from the faculty, she takes her outrage to the internet, and she's about to find out what everybody else thinks about menstrual inequality.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're not ready for a frank discussion of menstruation.

Amber and the Hidden City

Written by: Milton Davis

First line: One more goal, that's all they needed.

Why you should read this book: Amber's upset that her parents are sending her to private school in the fall, when all her friends will stay in the public school system, but those worries evaporate when she's summoned by her beloved grandmother for what she believes will be two heavenly weeks at the beach. It turns out that Amber's grandmother actually wants to take her to a secret and magical African city, where Amber must use her newfound ability to read people's true intentions and select the next leader of her grandmother's people. Now Amber, her grandmother, and a handsome young warrior are being pursued across the planet by people who will do almost anything to keep Amber from her hereditary responsibility.

Why you shouldn't read this book: My edition needed a vast quantity of editing. I also felt like the romance aspect of the story was a bit forced.

A Room Away from the Wolves

Written by: Nova Ren Suma

First line: When the girl who lived in the room below mine disappeared into the darkness, she gave no warning, she showed no twitch of fear.

Why you should read this book: Bina isn't just running away from home, where her mother seems to care more for the feelings of Bina's wicked stepsisters than for her own daughter; she's running to somewhere: an all-girls boarding house in New York City where her mother once spent a summer that has grown to mystical proportions in Bina's imagination. But something strange is going in at Catherine House, something she can't quite put her finger on, something to do with ghosts and secrets and rules and girls who don't want to be there but can't seem to leave and an opal ring that vanishes and reappears with astonishing regularity. Bina doesn't want to leave, but she doesn't know if she can stay, and until she figures out the mystery of the house, and how it connects to her personally, she'll never figure out who she is or what she's supposed to do.

Why you shouldn't read this book: A house full of teenage girls is your nightmare, even without the ghosts.

Fifteen

Written by: Beverly Cleary

First line: Today I'm going to meet a boy, Jane Purdy told herself, as she walked up Blossom Street toward her baby-sitting job.

Why you should read this book: When you're a fifteen year old girl who's ready for heteronormative love but can't seem to summon any amount of glamor in your life, nothing could feel more spectacular than meeting a new boy in town who figures out how to call you up and ask you out after a single, awkward encounter even though you never told him your name or phone number. But merely interesting a new boy is only the beginning: now Jane has to navigate the strange world of dating, finding confidence around sharper, more experienced girls, acting like a grownup when her mother makes her dress like a child, and confronting unfamiliar foods and experiences with grace. Does Stan really like her, and do they have a beautiful future together, or is Jane destined to remain an unloved little girl for all time.

Why you shouldn't read this book: It was written in 1956, so a lot of the dating norms and teenage customs will probably seem alien to modern readers.

Just Ella

Written by: Margaret Peterson Haddix

First line: The fire had gone out, and I didn't know what to do.

Why you should read this book: After escaping the abusive situation of her wicked stepmother's household and moving to the royal palace to prepare for her wedding to Prince Charming, Ella assumed that all her problems had come to an end, but it feels like she just traded one form of domestic bondage for another. As a princess in training, she's not allowed to do or say what she feels, and her life is an endless procession of instruction and restriction, punctuated only by brief, chaperones moments of the prince telling her how beautiful she is. When Ella finds herself intellectually stimulated by a kind tutor who cares more for displaced refugees than court conventions, she has to decide how much she's willing to risk—and lose—to pursue a life of authentic freedom.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Sometimes it's hard to suspend disbelief of a world with such ridiculous restriction and anachronism.

Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories

Written by: Kelly Barnhill

First line: The day she buried her husband—a good man by all accounts, though shy, not given to drink or foolishness; not one for speeding tickets or illegal parking or cheating on his taxes; not one for carousing at the county fair or tomcatting with the other men from the glass factory; which is to say he was utterly unknown in town; a cipher: a cold, blank space—Agatha Sorensen arrived at the front steps of Our Lady of the Snows.

Why you should read this book: There is much to admire and wonder over in this collection of short, speculative fiction, which bobs back and forth between fantasy and magical realism on waves of feminist sensibility with dark undertones. Magical girls influence patriarchal institutions; non-magical girls find their realities inextricably bound up with improbable magic, and there's a nice romance between a giant, intellectual bug and a sentient observation tower, not to mention this business with sasquatch. The world needs more books like this.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Might be detrimental to the health of greedy, selfish, thoughtless folks.

Dragons Beware!

Written by: Jorge Aguirre, Rafael Rosado, and John Novak

Why you should read this book: The was once a blacksmith named Augustine...he made the most powerful sword ever forged.

Why you should read this book: Here's me, reading a series out of order again, but the book offers enough explanation that the reader can gather the backstory regarding a fearless little girl who is hungry for adventure and desperate to be seen as a warrior, her young brother who thinks he has to be a warrior even though all he wants is to be a chef, and a princess who spends all her time locked in tower surrounded by child-suitors, except when she decides she'd rather escape the tower and haven an adventure. This book offers not only a nice message about the utter ridiculousness of gender roles, but also a sweet focus on non-violent conflict resolution. I was most impressed that no dragons were killed in the telling of this story.

Why you shouldn't read this book: While its cheerful, silly, kid-friendly shenanigans reminded me of the old classic Bone, I personally found the silliness a bit over-the-top; definitely for younger readers.

Zombelina Dances the Nutcracker

Written by: Kristyn Crow and Molly Idle

First line: It's me, Zombelina, a tryouts today...in the old opera house with my CORPSE de ballet.

Why you should read this book: Light-hearted and a little bit silly, this beautifully illustrated book is written in heroic couplets and tells the story of a little zombie girl who wants to play Clara in the Nutcracker, but also wants her best friend to be happy, and also has to keep the ghost of her grandfather from electrocuting the cast on opening night, because that is a hilarious prank. Little kids seemed to enjoy the story but also to not understand parts of it, having no grounding in ballet or electricity. The also wanted to know how there could be a story that was both Halloween and Christmas and I asked them if they hadn't seen The Nightmare before Christmas, assuming their parents were all heathens, but then they said they had seen it, so that part started to make sense to them anyway.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You don't think Halloween and Christmas go together.

Real Friends

Written by: Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham

First line: When I was little, I didn't worry about friends.

Why you should read this book: Whether you were a kid in the eighties or you're a kid right now, you can probably identify in some part with Shannon's journey from innocence to experience as she navigates the world of shifting grade-school friendships. Shannon only ever wants the friendship of her first, best friend Adrienne, but to stay close to Adrienne, she has to appease the whims of "the group," the popular girls who seem more confident, more mature, and more willing to play games with other's emotions than Shannon will ever be. When Adrienne leaves the district, Shannon feels stuck on the edges of the group, until she finds out who she really is and how to be real friends with others.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're still the mean girl.

Becoming Unbecoming

Written by: Una

First line: My name is Una.

Why you should read this book: Stark, powerful, and unique, this graphic novel recreates the evolution of the author's understanding of sexual violence, beginning at the age of ten, weaving together the story of a serial killer terrorizing her region and the story of the repeated sexual assaults perpetrated upon the author by older men. While sexism and incompetence bungle the police investigation and keep the killer on the streets years after he might have been caught, Una's experience causes her community to slut-shame and ostracize her, so that her further victimization creeps into every aspect of her life. As she grows into an artist, she comes to learn the truth about sexual violence, both as it affected her own adolescence as well as it impacts the planet at large.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Trigger warning for an entire book about sexism and sexual violence.