Fat Angie: Rebel Girl Revolution by E.E. Charlton-Trujillo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In this sequel to Fat Angie, things have gone from bad to worse for Angie. Her sister, the war hero, has died in Iraq, and Angie is experiencing all of the stages of grief simultaneously. It doesn’t help that her mother has made it clear that she wished Angie had died instead of her sister. Angie is still being bullied at school, her girlfriend has moved away, and her best friend Jake is dating Stacy Ann, one of her worst tormentors. When Angie has had enough and breaks bully Gary Klein’s nose in self defence, Angie’s mom threatens to send her to Whispering Oaks, a juvenile rehabilitation facility with behavior modification treatments for challenging teens, including conversion therapy for those experiencing “sexual identiy crisis.” Angie decides to take a road trip with an estranged friend who has recently moved back to town: Jamboree Memphis Jordon. Jamboree’s RV, her friend Zeke, and tag-along Darius prove to be the perfect companions and cheerleaders as Angie decides to do everything on her sister’s road trip wish list. Even though everything on the list terrifies her, Angie realizes that there are some things that she just needs to do in order to figure out how to live.

It had been 3 years since I had read Fat Angie, and even though the sequel mostly stands on its own, it helps to have read the first book. It took me a couple of tries to get into the sequel, however, mostly because I didn’t really care for Angie as a character in either book. Her use of “gay-girl-gay” to describe herself was annoying to me; I never really understood why “gay” wouldn’t suffice. The use of 80s and 90s songs for chapter headings also annoyed me. I know that many adults are now reading YA literature for fun, but the primary audience is still teens, and I don’t know many teens who are familiar with music from my generation. Angie has many, many issues, and I wanted to like her because she has been through a lot, but I just didn’t find her to be a likeable character. Readers should be aware that there are many instances of violence, fat-shaming, homophobia, and hate speech, with references to suicidal thoughts and self-harm. Parts of the book, specifically the road trip, were fun, and I was rooting for Angie to accomplish everything on her sister’s list. Other parts, however, were unrealistic and played on stereotypes. Overall, I would only recommend this book to students in gr. 9-12 who read and enjoyed Fat Angie. Otherwise, it’s an optional purchase.

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Queer, There and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World by Sarah Prager
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you generally steer clear of nonfiction books because they are dry and uninteresting, you will be pleasantly surprised at how readable this book is. The author, Sarah Prager, writes as though she is having a conversation with the reader, and teens will definitely enjoy the author’s subtle commentary and humorous opinions. Since I am not a teen reader, I admit to having to look up what tl;dr means (“too long, didn’t read” in case you don’t know what it means, either), but I loved the tl;dr summary at the beginning of each chapter. It provided a succinct overview of what was to come in a fun and clever way.

There are 23 mini biographical sketches featured in Queer, There, & Everywhere, and I learned something new about each of the people who were featured--from obscure historical figures to modern and well-known groundbreakers. I was surprised at the inclusion of Eleanor Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, but after reading their chapters, I can understand why Prager included them. Jeanne D’Arc seems like a stretch, though. It can be argued that she initially wore men’s clothes in order to better accomplish her missions, and then discovered that they were more comfortable than women’s clothes. Who can blame her for not wanting to go back to wearing uncomfortable petticoats? Otherwise, this is a well-researched book, and an important addition to public and school libraries.

Recommended for gr. 7-12.

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The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sal is entering his senior year of high school, but instead of excitement and anticipation, Sal feels a lot of just-beneath-the-surface rage. His life, to everyone else, seems pretty amazing. His adoptive dad, Vincente, is wonderfully understanding and always seems to know exactly what to say to Sal to make him want to be a better person. Sal's best friend, Sam, truly gets him, and the two are closer than most siblings. Sal's huge Mexican-American family provides him with a sense of rootedness, and he is as close as a person can be to his warm and loving Mima. When tragedy strikes multiple times, however, Sal has to come to terms with his feelings of rage and helplessness and decide what type of person he is ultimately going to be.

All of the characters are beautifully written, which is a good thing, because there isn't a lot of action to keep the story moving. The relationships between all of the lovable characters, and the lessons that are learned about life, death, friendship, redemption, and love, are what keeps the story moving.

Highly recommended for gr. 9-12.

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Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lily Jo McGrother was born with boy parts and named Timothy, but from a very young age, Lily knew that she was a girl. She has done the research and knows that she wants to begin hormone therapy before puberty begins, but her father is reluctant for Lily to reveal her true self to the world. Dunkin, whose name is actually Norbert Dorfman but nicknamed Dunkin by Lily because of his love for donuts, is dealing with bi-polar disorder and carrying around a family secret that even he doesn't want to acknowledge. Both kids have to decide whether to be themselves in this crazy, unaccepting world and suffer the consequences of ignorant and hateful people, or keep their true selves hidden and suffer the consequences to their mental health and physical well-being.

Lily and Dunkin is a beautifully written story of friendship, self-discovery, and acceptance. The characters are all nuanced and multi-dimensional. Lily and Dunkin are dealing with typical middle school issues (How do I deal with bullies? Will I make the basketball team? How can I save this tree that has meant so much to me and my grandfather?) in addition to their struggles to figure out who they are, which is good for readers to see. Neither character fits a stereotype and nobody is going to try to put them into a box and tie it up with a nice, neat bow.

Highly recommended for students in gr. 7-12.

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Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a very strange book. I mean, very strange. I like quirky books with quirky characters, but this was beyond quirky. Weird. Definitely weird. And strange. I can't even.

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My Seventh-Grade Life in Tights by Brooks Benjamin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dillon’s dad wants him to play football, but all Dillon wants to do is dance. His dance crew, the Dizzee Freekz, enjoy his ninja-like self-taught dance moves, but Dillon wishes that he had more of a technical background like Kassie and Carson have. When an opportunity arises to win a summer scholarship to Dance-Splosion, Kassie’s former dance studio, Dillon decides to go for it. The problem is that Kassie hates Dance-Splosion and believes that dance studios squash creativity. Will Dillon follow Kassie’s plan to win and then verbally annihilate the studio with a prepared speech, or will he win in order to receive proper dance training and possibly ruin any chance at a romantic relationship with Kassie?

This is a cute, fun, lighthearted book about being true to yourself and breaking down stereotypes. Dillon’s dad eventually comes to see how much dance means to Dillon, and even Sarah, the “mean” girl who was the reason for Kassie’s bitterness towards dance studios, turns out to be trying to escape stereotypes and expectations of her own. I found the angst surrounding the studio dancer vs. untrained dancer drama to be a little contrived, and I’m not sure if any of the middle school boys in my school will be interested in reading about a character who is into dancing, but overall it’s a quick read filled with sweet characters, and a little LGBTQ plot thrown in for good measure.

Grades: 5-8
Genre: Humor, Realistic
Characterization: Good
Literary Merit: Good
Recommendation: Recommended

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