Bandette volume 1: Presto!

Written by: Tobin and Coover

First line: Presto!

Why you should read this book: It's a fun graphic novel about a teenage vigilante master thief who steals for both aesthetic and social justice purposes and has a gang of street urchins who worship her and will lay their lives on the line every time she gets into a jam. Although it's an English story, the authors go to great lengths to make it feel French, from characterization and landscape but especially in the way they use language. Bandette must decide whether to trust and team up with her greatest rival, an elderly master thief called Monsieur, to defeat a much more evil guy called Absinthe. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's marketed for ages 15 and up, but it feels quite a bit younger in many ways.

Deadendia: The Broken Halo

Written by: Hamish Steele

First line: Dude, it's home time.

Why you should read this book: Once again I have managed to acquire the second book in a series when I thought I was getting the first book, but in this case, at least, I had seen the Netflix adaptation and was familiar with the characters and able to basically follow the plot, even though I don't think the first season of the Netflix show gets through the entire first novel, and I probably have a lot of spoilers for season two now. What's going on here is young adults who care about each other not talking because it's easier than confronting their past choices, and also there are hella demons spoiling for a fight and manipulative angels and also one character cannot seem to keep her soul inside her body, which is occasionally useful but mostly kind of annoying. Fun and unique fantasy fiction that's much more serious and meaningful than the cartoony style of the artwork conveys.

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's not the first one in the series; that book is called Deadendia: The Watcher's Test.

Beast Boy Loves Raven

Written by: Kami Garcia and Gabrial Picolo

First line: Note to self, Four months ago I lost my foster mom and my memory on the same horrible night. 

Why you should read this book: Nothing much is riding on this lightweight meet cute story about two teens with superpowers whose paths cross while they are both looking for help from the same mysterious benefactor, but if you want to see Beast Boy and Raven fall in love, I guess this is it. Playing tourists in Tennessee, Beast Boy manages to romantically pursue the reticent Raven without being obnoxious or disrespectful or creepy or making any one of the million missteps that teenage boys in heat tend to make about emotionally distant goth girls, until they are both kidnapped by evil scientists, which can only facilitate their trauma bonding. With the help of their superpowers, Raven's sister, and Beast Boy's friend, they are able to escape from a facility that is not in way equipped to contain people like them.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Basically zero suspense in regard to where this romantic attraction is heading.

In the Beautiful Country

Written by: Jane Kuo

First line: I am leaving the only home I've ever known.

Why you should read this book: Anna's parents want to leave Taiwan and immigrate to America so she can have a better life, but once she arrives, Anna questions how the "Beautiful Country" can ever provide her with a better life than she had at home when her parents must work constantly at their failing restaurant, she doesn't speak the language or understand the customs, and some racists seem determined to hurt the family until they give up and return to Taiwan. But Anna has no choice but to keep moving forward, until eventually she makes some friends and her parents figure out the magic formula for success in a new home. Written in the form of a long prose poem, this is a fast, emotional, and personal story that brings the modern immigrant experience to life.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You think being polite to bullies will make them stop.

Becoming

Written by: Michelle Obama

First line: When I was a kid, my aspirations were simple.

Why you should read this book: These are the memoirs of First Lady, Michelle Obama, wife of the forty-fourth president of the United States of America, who considers herself an ordinary person on an extraordinary journey, despite the fact that vast majority of human beings simply wouldn't be capable of undertaking most of the things she has accomplished so far in life. From her beginnings as a driven child on the South Side of Chicago to the day she and her husband left the White House, she describes, with candor and humor and seriousness, her life experience and her full range of emotions, how she fell in love with her husband, how she evolved as a mother, how she dealt with the hatred and ugliness she encountered in the public sphere, and how she kept herself and her family together throughout. Echoing her husband's message of hope, augmented with her own sense of realism, this is an enjoyable and mostly uplifting autobiography of a very interesting life.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You are interested in the life of Michelle Obama.