Wake the Wild Creatures

Written by: Nova Ren Suma

First line: At first it was beautiful.

Why you should read this book: As long as she can remember, Thalia has lived at Neves, the crumbling, derelict remains of an old Catskills hotel, which shelters a motley assortment of vulnerable and abused women and children within a shroud of magical mist. On the first full moon after her thirteenth birthday, when she is prepared to become a full member of the community, tragedy strikes, her mother is arrested, and Thalia is sent to live with an aunt she's never known, in a stifling and unnatural suburban environment, in a room with a cousin who seems to despise her. But Thalia is convinced that her mother and her community will call her home, and she's been waiting patiently in her new, alien environment, for the day when the mist will open up and welcome her home again. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: One of the author's hallmark stylistic devices is to never explain any supernatural occurrence in any way whatsoever.

Telling Tales: A History of Literary Hoaxes

Written by: Melissa Katsoulis

First line: From disgruntled Mormons and fake Native Americans to bored students and lustful aristocrats, the bizarre history of literary hoaxers is every bit as revealing as the orthodox rollcall of Western writers, as is their acute appreciation of what inspires, frightens and resonates with their generation.

Why you should read this book: This is not an exhaustive catalog, but rather a touristy journey highlighting some of the most remarkable and entertaining cases of literary hoaxes, perpetrated for various reasons. Some hoaxers are out for money, others for fame; some are trying to impress their parents, and other are attempting to discredit entire organization. It's interesting to learn their methods and their motivations, and of course, their inevitable unmasking. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're considering perpetrating your own literary hoax and looking for advice on how to get away with it. 

Sold

Written by: Patricia McCormick

First line: One more rainy season and our roof will be gone, says Ama.

Why you should read this book: Despite her stepfather's gambling addiction, Lakshmi and her mother are getting along pretty well, and Lakshmi is excelling in school and looking forward to one day being married, but following a drought and a flood and heavy gambling losses, she is determined to take a job as a maid in the city, so she can send money home and give her mother a real roof. Unfortunately, the auntie who promises to find her paying work sells Lakshmi into sexual slavery in another country, and she becomes a prisoner in brothel, forced to perform sex work to survive. As she comes to understand more about her circumstances, she must tease apart the lies that control her from the truth that might set her free. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's a novel about a 13-year-old girl being sex trafficked. It's not happy. 

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Written by: Frederick Douglas

First line: I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot County Maryland.

Why you should read this book: In language that is eloquent and evocative, yet straightforward and blunt, Douglas details the horrors of slavery through the eyes of his own childhood. Never stinting in his description of the brutality, cruelty, and hypocrisy, Douglass explains, clearly, that there can be no moral foundation to the unconscionable idea that human beings can possess other humans beings, and that the practice degrades everyone involved. I first read this book when I was little girl, when it seemed pretty obvious to most people that slavery was wrong and horrible and indefensible, but these days some people apparently need to have this concept spelled out for them, in which case, this book is a good resource.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Bad things happen.

From the Desk of Zoe Washington

Written by: Janae Marks

First line: The day I turned twelve, I was certain it'd be my favorite birthday yet, but then I got the letter.

Why you should read this book: The only thing Zoe knows about her biological father is that he was a bad man who did a bad thing and went to prison for it, until the day she intercepts a letter from the state penitentiary and begins a secret correspondence with the man she had previously thought of only as "Marcus." Now Marcus starts to become a real person to her, someone who claims to love her, who sends her cool song recommendations and, at last, claims to be innocent of any crime except having a terrible public defender. Will Zoe risk her shot at achieving her previous dream of becoming a kid celebrity pastry chef to pursue her new dream of exonerating the dad she never knew of a murder he swears he didn't commit?

Why you shouldn't read this book: You are a terrible public defender and proud of it.

Kidnapped

Written by: Willo Davis Roberts

First line: It's a mistake to earn the reputation of being a liar. 

Why you should read this book: Joey Bishop is known for telling tall tales, so when he tells people that he witnessed his classmate/enemy Willie Groves getting kidnapped after school, he gets mocked and lectured and patronized and chastised and reminded about the boy who cried wolf, but not believed. Joey is no fan of Willie, but his vivid imagination suggests such horrible outcomes that he continues to talk about the kidnapping until some adult, any adult, will listen. Unfortunately for Joey, it turns out that the wrong adult was listening all along. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Some of the plot points are, perhaps, a little bit convenient.

Caught!

Written by: Willo Davis Roberts

First line: I'd had a reputation for being crazy ever since I let Sean Wilson and Hank Kavorkian talk me into going wild river rafting with them down the Stilly. 

Why you should read this book: Vickie's not a bad girl; she just doesn't always think things through when they sound good in the moment, so when her mother leaves Vickie and her little sister Joanie with their strict grandmother for the week, running away to her dad's seems like a her only possible solution. But, when they finally get to their father's new little apartment, everything falls apart, because their dad is nowhere to be found, there's evidence that some kind of crime took place in his new home prior to his disappearance, they're out of money and almost out of food, and strange men are poking around much too close for comfort. With the help of a boy named Jake and the other neighbors in the building, Vickie and Joanie only have a few days to solve this mystery!

Why you shouldn't read this book: You think running away will solve all your problems.

The Sylvia Game

Written by: Vivien Alcock

First line: In October, Emily Dodd had the flu so badly that she nearly died of it. 

Why you should read this book: This unusual and somewhat convoluted story follows a little girl who is forced, against her will, to go on vacation with her father, even though he's an artist who is always broke and she's sure her family can't afford the trip and she'd rather just go back to school. Suspicious, she follows her father around the seaside town and begins to uncover mysteries: a Renoir that's been stolen, or destroyed, or forged, or maybe all three; the hinted connection between a teasing half-Roma working boy and the little lord of the manor who knows more than he's saying but doesn't always tell the truth; the question of whether her father is secretly a criminal, involved in something ghastly; what connection the purloined painting has to Emily; the possibility of some sort of malevolent ghost.... Nothing is exactly as it seems, and Emily will have to go to great and somewhat unpleasant lengths to uncover the truth. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're considering insurance fraud as a solution to your ancestral problems.

The Missing

Written by: Tim Gautreaux

First line: Sam Simoneaux leaned against the ship's rail, holding on in the snarling wind as his lieutenant struggled toward him through the spray, grabbing latches, guy wires, valve handles.

Why you should read this book: Sam, sometimes knows as "Lucky," missed the fighting in World War One by a day but still has perhaps a bit more experience of loss than others in his generation. Smart, sensitive, and perceptive, he's happy in his comfortable post-war career as a security guard in a high end department store, until the day that a little girl is kidnapped on his watch. Suddenly, Sam's entire world is upended and no matter how many times he tries to walk away, he still feels a relentless compulsion to find this lost child at any cost. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You get motion sickness just thinking about boats.

Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal

Written by: G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, Ian Herring, and VC's Joe Caramagna

First line: I just want to smell it.

Why you should read this book: Kamala is a Muslim girl who writes Avengers fan fiction and likes to smell non-halal food even though she'd never taste it, until one fateful night when she's fed up with being good and sneaks out to go to a party, where she is inexplicably accosted by three Urdu-speaking beings who are dressed like her superhero idols but who are very clearly not Captain America, Captain Marvel, and Ironman. Inexplicably, she is granted shape-shifting powers and immediately starts kicking butt as a fairly powerful but completely inexperienced superhero, which naturally has the ripple effect of eroding her relationship with family and friends, and, of course, earning her a supervillain enemy. I don't read a lot of capes and tights, and this book was possibly not as much as a revelation to me as it was to some of its audience, but it's a nice, fast-paced piece with interesting characters and plenty of potential.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You've never cared what your parents thought.

Hush

Written by: Jaqueline Woodson

First line: The mother's dark brown fingers move quickly through a rise of white dough.

Why you should read this book: Toswiah's dad did the right thing in testifying and now her entire life has been uprooted as she trades the home she loved for witness protection. They've even taken her name, and now her once-perfect family has transformed into something bleak and uncomfortable that she barely even recognizes: her mom has a new religion, her sister's ready to abandon them for college, and her dad isn't even a ghost of himself. Now a girl called Evie must learn to harness her own anger and channel it to positive change.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're in witness protection but you still keep accidentally answering to your old name. 

The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World

Written by: Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu

First line: "He had many wounds."

Why you should read this book: Through his religious background and his work on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Archbishop Desmond Tutu is one of the world's foremost experts on forgiving, even when the crimes are horrific and the resolutions unsatisfying. This book offers numerous case studies, sharing the experiences of those who have forgiven criminal perpetrators, or been forgiven for their crimes, along with information on why forgiving is healthy and how it can change a victim's life. Each chapter includes journaling prompts, meditations, and activities to facilitate opening your heart to forgiveness.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're not ready to forgive.