Ann Clare LeZotte's DEER RUN HOME is a novel in verse about a Deaf girl who learns to self-advocate and seek justice for the abuse she's faced. It's a short but moving read, and the absences in what's left unsaid are much more compelling than everything being spelled out for us. This is one thing I love about verse: it can focus on moments and sensory details, demanding that we build connections, put ourselves in the speaker's shoes, and get a glimpse of their experience through empathetic, active reading. Whether you're a verse fan or not, I recommend you pick this one up.
Effie is Deaf, and no one in her family speaks sign language, her language. This moving story of survival and found family, inspired by a true court case, is perfect for fans of Wonder and Out of My Mind.
* “Elegantly weaves a heartbreaking story with hope.” ―School Library Journal, starred review
“Through Effie, young readers both deaf and hearing will encounter a heartfelt homecoming story, and reassurance that they are not alone.”―The New York Times
Effie and her older sister, Deja, have recently moved into their father’s trailer after an incident at…
“You have it within you to take control of a situation instead of letting it take control of you. Instead of letting anger speak for you, you speak for yourself.”
“We could break the cycle. We could be more than our trauma….I was done being held hostage by smoke. Be the bat, not the ball.”
WOW—this book covers so much ground with such care. It’s really powerful how it shows these racist line-crossing, not-ok incidents kids like Wyatt experience but how messy they are to actually do something about sometimes. I felt his stress so viscerally. I love the use of magical realism, magical embodiment of trauma, and having to hide that. So relatable, so inventive. I love the model of family therapy, and the way the story through Wyatt, Dominic and even Asher ask what we inherit from family—and even more so, what we’re going to do with our inheritance. I felt he was a bit too harsh on Dallas and maybe didn’t have fair expectations on her to always agree with him, but appreciated how he acknowledged his own imperfections by the end of the book. I had never heard about MOVE or the bombing (which is wild, btw) and got messy feelings about their approach, but appreciate the complexity to which Capps captures this movement, and ultimately lifts up their humanness and the injustice in the extreme way they were treated by police.
An incredible, haunting book that will stick with me for a long time.
When the rules no longer apply, how do you keep your head in the game?
Wyatt has a three-part Plan for Life, and it starts now, at the beginning of seventh grade, with tryouts for his local travel baseball team. A biracial kid in a mostly white town, he’s always felt like a bit of an outsider. The baseball field is the only place where he feels like he truly belongs. If he can just make the team, everything else will fall into place: school, friends, even his relationship with his often-distant dad.
But after upsetting incidents at tryouts, something…
Oh, this book is so real for anyone that’s had chronic illness/disability….I’m so grateful for the chronic fatigue rep! Young me needed this book, and current me definitely needs this book right now, as I lay bed-bound.
There's a great slow-build of the horror, more of a horror of the everyday with a hint of the ghostly. Comments like “just diagnose her already!” indicate the need for books like this, to help kids and adults alike have empathy for folks who don’t know what’s wrong, but know something is wrong with their bodies, and can’t keep up with the pace of “normal”. When you're well, it's easy to overlook how little we understand about bodies, and how unempathetic and unhelpful the healthcare system can be when there's not an easy, obvious answer. Reading this book, I can’t help but be reminded of when I got sick in high school. My teachers thought I was faking it, but my mom knew something was wrong. Months later, a test at the doctor indicated I had had mono, but didn’t know. As an adult, I have had good days and bad days—sometimes I know what it’s a flare-up from, but other days I don’t know, and have to accept the body I’ve been given. Sometimes we don’t get a diagnosis. Sometimes we do, but much later. The real horror in this book is the not knowing, as opposed to the ghost. It’s terrifying, but it’s a reality for many of us, so mad props to Ursu for addressing this topic with bravery and care.
From the award-winning author of The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy comes an unforgettable and deeply personal story of the ghosts that surround us—and the ones we carry inside.
The house seemed to sit apart from the others on Katydid Street, silent and alone, like it didn’t fit among them. For Violet Hart—whose family is about to move into the house on Katydid Street—very little felt like it fit anymore. Like their old home, suddenly too small since her mother remarried and the new baby arrived. Or Violet’s group of friends, which, since they started middle school, isn’t enough for…
When a neurodivergent girl finds a ghost in the walls, she must decide if the ghost is an ally or an enemy -- and the wrong decision could destroy her and her family. From Schneider Family Book Award Honor author Meg Eden Kuyatt comes a chilling yet lyrical new novel-in-verse that's sure to resonate with readers for years to come.
After a hard school year, V has been sent to her Grandma Jojo's house for the summer in order to get away from it all. But unlike neurodivergent, artistic, sock-collecting V, Jojo is uptight, critical, and obsessed with her spotless house. She doesn't get V at all. V is sure she's doomed to have the worst summer ever.
Then V starts hearing noises from inside the walls of the house...
Knocks, the sounds of a girl crying, and voices echoing in the night.
When V finds a ghostly girl hiding in the walls, they seem to have an immediate connection. This might be V's chance to get back at her perfect grandmother by messing with her just a little bit.
But the buried secrets go much deeper -- and are much more dangerous -- than V even suspects. And they threaten to swallow her and her family whole if she can't find a way to uncover the truth of the girl before it's too late.
A contemporary novel-in-verse with a ghostly twist by the author of Good Different, this book is about the power -- and danger -- of secrets. The Girl in the Walls will grab you and not let go until the very last page.
