100 books like Look Both Ways

When it comes to unforgettable protagonists fifteen-year-old Starr Carter definitely tops the list. Her father, Maverick, is also someone that I was left wanting to know more about and, luckily, Concrete Rose (Thomas’s follow-up to THUG), gives us the backstory to his life.

The Hate U Give details Starr’s journey as she struggles with deciding whether or not to testify in front of a grand jury after her best friend, Khalil, is killed by a police officer. The settings of the novel are critical to Starr’s inner conflict as she grapples with having to navigate between her home in Garden Heights, a tight-knit but underserved community where the lack of good schools and employment opportunities allows gangs and gun violence to flourish, and the wealthy neighbourhood where she attends private school.

This beautifully-written queer love story is set in Minneapolis, and centers on Mabel and Audre – two girls from very different backgrounds who find themselves falling in love. Audre has just moved from Trinidad, sent by her conservative mother to live with a father she barely knows, in an effort to "correct" her sexuality. Mabel is just beginning to understand the deep feelings she has for girls when she is struck with a mysterious illness. Published in 2019, The Stars and the Blackness Between Them won a Coretta Scott King Honor award, and once you sample its gorgeous language and utterly engrossing characters, you will see why.

The description of this book lays it all out for the readers. It says, “This is NOT a history book.

This is a book about the here and now. A book to help us better understand why we are where we are. A book about race. What a journey it takes the readers on, exploring the construct of race in this country.

My love affair with Octavia Butler began early when I encountered her short story collection, Bloodchild, in college. I was so taken with the questions she was asking about the nature of being human, our seemingly innate need to form a hierarchy and dominate others, and possibilities for freedom and transformation. The best part was that she did it all through a sci-fi lens...one that she infused with a distinctly Black feminist perspective. I had never read anything like it. And now, we finally have a biography for young people (and really for everyone) about her life, her mind, and preoccupations as a young woman. Ibi Zoboi has deftly penned what she is calling a "biographical constellation" of a young Butler, written primarily in short poems, but also including micro-essays on the social context of her youth, and copies of some of her first writings. Anyone with an imagination… show more.

"Greee-TINGS BEST FRIEND IN THE MILK- eee waaay," says Geeger the Robot. Greetings, Geeger! When Geeger's efforts to cheer his friend Tillie fail, he computes information offered by their teacher to find the best way to help. With Geeger by her side, it's hard for Tillie—or any reader—to be down in the dumps for long. Jarrett Lerner's book is filled with heart and humor and, happily, this book is part of a series. 

This story plays more on our own insecurities and how that can take on a form of its own that torments us. Young people don’t always have the experience to put to words the things they’re feeling but not knowing if we’re good enough and the anxiety that stems from that is very relatable and universal. Lorena Alvarez does an incredible job of telling a story that weaves that in while presenting stunning, jaw-dropping art to her audience.

1961: My life’s thrill was Danny’s birth—happy, loving, and by age 2, articulate speech that turned heads. But in Montessori school, despite numerous materials for writing and reading, he was called “hand retarded.” He struggled, only acquiring reading in high school. Today he is a clinical psychologist with honors galore! 1961: We knew little. 1971: First brain scan. 1977: Cognitive science was born as scientists from numerous fields began brain studies. In Danny’s youth, there were guesses and alleged treatments but little science.

Cognitive-Behavioral Neurologist/Kennedy Krieger Institute, Developmental Neuropsychologist and Professor Emeritus/Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Martha Bridge Denckla’s book, Understanding Learning and Related Disabilities: Inconvenient Brains, gives a scientific understanding of ADD, ADHD, ASD, and six other brain dysfunctions to parents, teachers, and others suspecting learning problems.

Wow! Dr. Denkla is so deeply knowledgeable. Her scholarship and explanations of conditions provide information to relieve readers' anxieties.

Riley Mays is a little weirdo. I say that with love! I was also a little weirdo when I was her age. And, just like a lot of little weirdos around the world, her peers don’t always “get her,” which can be tough since she’s desperate to fit in. Been there too, girl.

What I admire about Riley is that, after some consternation, she slowly sheds her insecurities and dives head-first into being her truest self. It’s terrifying, exhilarating, and not without complications! But Riley’s sense of humor keeps her afloat, which, as any fan of comedy will tell you, is the key to survival.

It’s the sweetest feeling in the world to find your people. Author Rachel Elliot shows us how to do it.

Whichever way you look at it behaviour of our pupils, is linked to our behaviour - and everyone's behaviour is linked to the wellbeing of an individual and a community...and whilst as educators we know this in theory, the how-to often stumps us. This guide - with 26 expert contributors, covers the wellbeing topic from every angle. Whilst I have experience of what wellbeing looks like in education from some perspectives, what I enjoyed about this book is that it invites me (in small easy, accessible chunks) to get to know about other areas where my blindspots come in.

Kind of to the other extreme now, and a focus on where the hormones and desires of three teen boys will lead them. Funny, painful, and unashamed, this story of sexual desire and clumsily finding a path where things often seem out of control is excellent. I thought of it when I was watching the hilarious Netflix series Sex Education recently.

Yet underneath the whole nightmare of where your private parts might lead you (especially if you are a boy) the questions are still there. How to be ‘true.’ How to ignore the judgment of others. How to hear clearly what we really desire.

Without getting those things right, relationships are always going to be trouble!

I was lucky enough to meet Melvyn on a book tour years ago. His teen fiction is always beautifully ‘in your face.’