The Care of Strangers

Written by: Ellen Michaelson

First line:  Sima pushed a large woman in a wheelchair to the A71 Nurses' Station to catch a bit of breeze.

Why you should read this book: The immigrant daughter of a Holocaust survivor, Sima works as an orderly in a public New York hospital in the 1980s, while pointedly not finishing her pre-med degree or dealing with her complex feelings about her mother, who is also her roommate. When she notices a young doctor who seems at risk of ending her own career before it even begins, Sima feels drawn to the other woman, intent on making friends and helping her succeed, despite Dr. Kahn's disinterest in her assistance. In her quest to show compassion to her patients and teach compassion to her colleagues, Sima needs to find some compassion for herself.

Why you shouldn't read this book: It can be a little sad in places. 

Magic by the Lake

Written by: Edward Eager

First line: It was Martha who saw the lake first.

Why you should read this book: It's a sequel to the delightful Half Magic, in which the children inadvertently order an entire lake full of magic, really too much magic for them to handle. Although this time around they have the privilege of setting their own magical rules, they immediately and willfully set about to breaking the rules, digging themselves into deeper and deeper difficulties with their own selfish behaviors. Eventually, though, they start to pay attention to reality and turn their magical intentions to helping someone else. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It simply isn't as entertaining as the first, lacking the cohesive logic of the original plot, which turned on the children figuring out the rules of magic and cleaning up their own mistakes. Also, this book, as an unfortunate product of its day, relies heavily in places on racist stereotypes; I originally intended to donate it to the children's library where I volunteer, but these dated and xenophobic ideals don't really belong in a modern library. 

Eddie Whatever

Written by: Lois Ruby

First line: How does Mom find it crumpled in the bottom of my backpack, where it's been sitting for the past three week?

Why you should read this book: Eddie Lewin is not jazzed about being voluntold to perform twenty-five hours of community service at the local retirement home as part of his bar mitzvah project when he's already got school and baseball and robotics and his actual bar mitzvah to worry about, but there's no way around it. He's got to show up at Silver Brook Pavilion and make nice with the residents, who are definitely weird, but also kind of interesting, and also possibly haunted by a ghost and definitely targeted by a thief. Eddie's determined to get to the bottom of these mysteries, but even with the help of his friends, old and new, he's still a kid, and somebody is not happy to have him poking around. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: There is a surprisingly sad bit toward the end. 

The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers

Written by: John Gardner

First line: This is a book designed to teach the serious beginning writer the art of fiction.

Why you should read this book: Very straightforward, exactly what it says on the tin: notes (an entire book's worth) directed to an audience of people who wish to tell stories but have not yet achieved mastery of the art. Even for accomplished writers, the information here may still be ideas that they have never articulated, even if they have assimilated them into their work. Also contains a chapter of writing exercises, some for small groups and some for individuals.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You aren't interested in learning to write fiction. 

Gender Queer: A Memoir

Written by Maia Kobabe

First line: Do you have everything?

Why you should read this book: I devoured this story in less than an hour, and that counts all the times I had to stop to cry, both in places where Kobabe's experience mirrored my own and in places where the suffering was worse. Kobabe, who used Spivak pronouns, determined early on that e was different than the other kids around em, but spent many years questioning emself before learning how: Kobabe is nonbinary and asexual. From candid discussion of eir clothes and hair to sex and masturbation, this open and honest memoir illustrated the reality of life for those of us who do not fall neatly into binaries and still manage to live authentic lives in a world that does not always create space or acceptance for us.

Why you should read this book: If you're not an enby, you will have to come at it with a will to learn, and if you are an enby, it might hurt to read. 

The Arrival

Written by: Shaun Tan

This is a silent comic, which contains no text in English, or any other known language.

Why you should read this book: From the uncanny imagination of an artist known for banal surrealism comes a story that is at once touchingly familiar and confusingly alien: a depiction of the immigrant experience in a bizarre foreign land where everything is new and strange. A man leaves his wife and child in a world that seems similar to ours, except for the presence of enormous dragon shadows, and journeys to a more modern city where the food, the customs, the animals, and everything else, appear just as weird to him as they do to the reader. In time, he learns to navigate this world, meeting new people, discovering the good in his surroundings, until he is in a position to send for his family and help them comfortably settle into their new home. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: For a story with no words, it really makes you work; skimming is not an option. Every image must be scrutinized and parsed to make sense of the narrative. 

The Gryphon Stone

Written by: Thomas Watson

First line: I was eleven years old when the last hope the authorities had for plausible deniability died.

Why you should read this book: David's already led a full life of adventure working for the United Nations Multiverse Survey with his non-human friend Trey, and has settled down into a comfortable early retirement to nurse his own regrets, but now Trey is back with bad news: their greatest enemy has taken over the world where David created his greatest regrets. Trey and David must return to Adrathea to hunt down Trey's evil cousin, Edren, who, disguised as a human, has deposed the rightful ruler, taken the throne, and destroyed the relationship between the people of Adrathea and their greatest allies, the Gryphons. With their technologically advanced swords, a beautiful but deadly traveling companion, and the goodwill left over from their previous good deeds, David and Trey need to uncover a hidden artifact, locate a missing prince, and gather an army of allies powerful enough to defeat invaders from another world before Edren destroys Adrathea forever. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: The plot is perhaps a bit driven by lucky coincidences. 

The Fourteenth Goldfish

Written by: Jennifer L. Holm

First line: When I was in preschool, I had a teacher named Starlily. 

Why you should read this book: Ellie never spent a lot of time with her scientist grandfather, because he was a cranky old man who didn't get along with her mom, but now that he's discovered the formula to reverse the aging process, he's posing as her thirteen-year-old cousin, and Grandpa Melvin is everywhere. After a misunderstanding at his lab, Melvin is desperate to break in and retrieve the research that will make him famous and save humanity from its own mortality. Ellie is increasingly interested in science and research, and increasingly uneasy about her grandfather's discovery and what it means for life on earth.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You are largely unconcerned with the fate of humanity.  

The Mysteries

Written by: Bill Watterson and John Kascht

First line: Long ago, the forest was dark and deep.

Why you should read this book: With its haunting illustrations and surreal text, it's an allegory about the fear of the unknown, and the respect this fear properly inspires, and the consequences of familiarity replacing that respect with contempt. I think. The main reason to read it is probably the fact that it was written by one of the most popular comic strip artists of the late eighties/early nineties.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Despite appearances, this isn't a kids' book; I'm not really sure what its intended audience is, except for "people who were sad that Bill Watterson stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes.

The Whole Story of Half a Girl

Written by: Veera Hianandani

First line: I'm in school, sitting with my hair hanging long down the back of my chair, my arm around my best friend, Sam.

Why you should read this book: Sonia's father is Indian and her mother is Jewish, but until her dad lost his job and she had to transfer from her fun, hippie school to a public school, she never even thought about her ethnic identity, let alone questions of class and who to sit with at lunch. Now she's torn between the popular cheerleaders who don't understand her, and the kids who might understand her but aren't cool, while mourning the loss of her old relationships. And all this becomes meaningless when her father's mental health becomes the focus of her entire life. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: For a middle grade novel, it tackles numerous difficult issues.