Me on Lumberjanes: The Moon is Up

Title: Lumberjanes: The Moon is Up
Author: Mariko Tamaki
Illustrator: Brooklyn Allen
Release Date: May 8, 2018
Publisher: Amulet Books (Abrams imprint)

Welcome to Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady Types. The five scouts of Roanoke cabin—Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley—love their summers at camp. They get to hang out with their best friends, earn Lumberjane scout badges, annoy their no-nonsense counsellor Jen... and go on supernatural adventures. That last one? A pretty normal occurrence at Miss Qiunzella's, where the woods contain endless mysteries. As the camp gears up for the big Galaxy Wars competition, Jo and the gang get some help from an unexpected visitor—a Moon Pirate!

Lumberjanes: The Moon is Up is more fun and adventure with the ever-popular and ever-unique Lumberjane scouts of Roanoke cabin.

While the books are about everyone, all 5 girls get their moments, there's a little more focus on Jo this time around, like there was with April in the previous book. Jo's the quiet thinker, the practical scientific one in their group with a love of math and science. She's smart and resourceful. She knows who she is, even when some thought she was someone else when she was younger (Jo is transgender). Her days are spent having adventure after adventure with her friends, but then a letter arrives. A serious one. A letter that could mean great opportunities for her. But it would mean leaving camp. Leaving adventure and fun behind. Plus, there's the whole missing cheese and a sudden appearance by a Moon Pirate to deal with.

As with the previous book, I love the idea of this, of more stories about the girls of Roanoke cabin and the bizarre situations they often fall into, of little prose adventures that work alongside the comics. It's certainly not a series you can go into without at least reading a couple of the collected trade volumes of the comics, but the tone is the same. The adventure and the friendships, the awesomeness of young girls supporting other young girls. The worry if you're doing the right thing. The puns when it comes to badge names and the references to famous women. A must-read for the middle grade crowd of Lumberjanes fans.

(I received an e-galley of this title to review from Amulet Books through NetGalley.)

Me on All Summer Long

Title: All Summer Long
Author/artist: Hope Larson
Release Date: May 1, 2018
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Macmillan imprint)

Thirteen-year-old Bina has a long summer ahead of her. She and her best friend, Austin, usually do everything together, but he's off to soccer camp for a month, and he's been acting kind of weird lately anyway. So it's up to Bina to see how much fun she can have on her own. At first it's a lot of guitar playing, boredom, and bad TV, but things look up when she finds an unlikely companion in Austin's older sister, who enjoys music just as much as Bina. But then Austin comes home from camp, and he's acting even weirder than when he left. How Bina and Austin rise above their growing pains and reestablish their friendship and respect for their differences makes for a touching and funny coming-of-age story.

All Summer Long is a moment in time, a summer of loneliness and discovery. For Bina, it's rather lonely, having a summer apart from her best friend, but there has to be something to do beyond eating chips and watching TV all the time.

Bina's fun and energetic. She loves music and playing the guitar, hanging out with her best friend Austin, and she's all ready to spend another summer with him finding out how much fun they can have. Keeping track of it all in their Combined Summer Fun Index. But on the last day of school before the summer, Austin puts the brakes on their plans because he's off to soccer camp. And he thinks they need to grow up a little. They are thirteen, after all. Once Austin's gone, Bina's a little lost. What she supposed to do? Summer reading? Watch loads and loads of British teen dramas online? Leave the house? What follows for Bina is a summer of exploration, of meeting new people, of getting to know people better, of learning some hard lessons, and of continuing to love something that already brought her enjoyment.

The art style fits with the story. There's something casual and summery about it. I rather enjoyed the expressions Hope Larson gave the characters, the frowns and the grumbles on Bina's face, the sneer's on Charlie's. The way the lyrics of the songs Bina listens to float across the page. There's something about Larson's art the brings Bina's story to life.

This is a sweet coming of age story about a girl who loves music and is still figuring out the world, figuring out the people around her and what she wants from life. What she's interested in, what she thinks she'll continue to be interested in. Things will change, as they always do, but the people close by, the ones who've always been there, will continue to be there. And as Bina gets older, as she learns and practices, whole new worlds will open up to her. I would recommend this to those middle-grade graphic novel readers looking for more stories about growing up and getting older while also being light-hearted.

(I received an e-galley of this title to review from First Second Books through NetGalley.)

Me on The Wicked Deep

Title: The Wicked Deep
Author: Shea Ernshaw
Release Date: March 6, 2018
Publisher: Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster imprint)

Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow... where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town. Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under. Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters' return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into. Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters. But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.

The Wicked Deep is haunting, a story of sorrow and revenge, of secrets and sisters and deadly summers. Of local legends and lonely girls and soft hearts.

Penny isn't so sure where she fits in in the small town of Sparrow. She's there, living just off the coast on a little island with her mother, but she's not sure about her future. Will she leave when high school's over? Will she stay, alone, like her mother? Now that summer's come, Penny thinks about other things. Like the return of the Swan sisters, young women long ago accused of witchcraft and left to die in the harbour waters by the town that feared them. Each summer they return as ghosts, luring young men to their deaths. This summer seems to be no different. Until someone new comes to town, looking to stay, unaware of what's about to come out of the water.

This was rather interesting. A gentle but spooky small town mystery involving a local girl and a new-to-town boy with secrets of his own. I was intrigued to see where it would go, if I was able to spot any twists before everything was revealed, and I liked the little flashbacks to the days of the Swan sisters in Sparrow. They provided context and layers to the sisters and their unfortunate fate. I would recommend this if you like ghostly small town mysteries, a little like Sea Change but with more death and vengeful ghosts.

(I received an e-galley of this title to review from Simon & Schuster Canada through NetGalley.)

Me on Not Now, Not Ever

Title: Not Now, Not Ever
Author: Lily Anderson
Release Date: November 21, 2017
Publisher: Wednesday Books (Macmillan imprint)

Elliot Gabaroche is very clear on what she isn't going to do this summer. She isn't going to stay home in Sacramento, where she'd have to sit through her stepmother's sixth community theater production of The Importance of Being Earnest. She isn't going to mock trial camp at UCLA. And she certainly isn't going to the Air Force summer program on her mother's base in Colorado Springs. As cool as it would be to live-action-role-play Ender's Game, Ellie's seen three generations of her family go through USAF boot camp up close, and she knows that it's much less Luke/Yoda/"feel the force," and much more one hundred push-ups on three days of no sleep. And that just isn't appealing, no matter how many Xenomorphs from Alien she'd be able to defeat afterwards. What she is going to do is pack up her attitude, her favorite Octavia Butler novels, and her Jordans, and go to summer camp. Specifically, a cutthroat academic-decathlon-like competition for a full scholarship to Rayevich College, the only college with a Science Fiction Literature program. And she's going to start over as Ever Lawrence, on her own terms, without the shadow of all her family's expectations. Because why do what's expected of you when you can fight other genius nerds to the death for a shot at the dream you're sure your family will consider a complete waste of time? This summer's going to be great.

Not Now, Not Ever is clever and fun, the story of a teenager trying to escape to and find her place in before time runs out. But events never happen as they're planned out.

Elliot's looking for a place to escape to. A place where she doesn't have to worry about what other people want from her, what they expect her to do in the future. What about what she wants to do? Sure, the Air Force is in her family, but she's not exactly sure if she wants to enlist. So she takes a chance when she gets it, heading off to a somewhat stress-filled academic competition in order to win a scholarship to a college she'd love to attend. Not just because it's not the air force or pre-law, but because it could mean studying science fiction. But the camp is far more tense and competitive than she thought it would be, and her campmates are far weirder than she'd expected.

This book is fun, it had moments of genius teen snark and attitude, nerdy pop culture references, and teenage romance. I'd never read Wilde, so while I did look up the plot of the play beforehand, I imagine there were a few The Importance of Being Earnest references that I missed. It was nice to read another Lily Anderson book, to read about characters having abstract or geeky interests and acting like real people with flaws, dreams, and heaps of confusion. While I didn't necessarily like this one as much as the first book, this was still enjoyable.

(I downloaded an e-galley of this title from Wednesday Books through NetGalley.)

Me on Seven Tears at High Tide

Title: Seven Tears at High Tide
Author: C.B. Lee
Release Date: October 15, 2015
Publisher: Duet Books (Interlude Press imprint)

Kevin Luong walks to the ocean's edge with a broken heart. Remembering a legend his mother told him, he lets seven tears fall into the sea. "I just want one summer—one summer to be happy and in love." Instead, he finds himself saving a mysterious boy from the Pacific—a boy who later shows up on his doorstep professing his love. What he doesn't know is that Morgan is a selkie, drawn to answer Kevin's wish. As they grow close, Morgan is caught between the dangers of the human world and his legacy in the selkie community to which he must return at summer's end.

Seven Tears at High Tide is sweet and heartfelt, a story about young love and secrets, about wishes. About the possible and the impossible.

Kevin is a smart young man. A wounded young man. Recently cast aside by someone he thought was his friend, was his boyfriend. His family is supportive and loving, they'd do anything for him and vice versa, but that's not what he's looking for right now. He wants to be loved in a romantic way, in a way that doesn't make him a secret to be tucked away in the shadows. He wants someone he can be happy with, someone he can watch movies and go rock hunting with. With Morgan he finds this happiness, he's expressive and excited. He doesn't know what secrets Morgan is hiding.

Morgan is kind and thoughtful, maybe a little naïve (maybe a lot). But how could he not be? He's a selkie, a creature who lives in the sea, travels across the sea with his family group, and so rarely has the chance to change into his human form. Kevin's Request is something the family group takes seriously, as so few Requests are made, and Morgan is the one who will fulfill it. How could he not love Kevin and his pure heart? But he's still a selkie, and Kevin's Request was only meant for the summer. What will he do when the summer ends?

There's a sweetness and a sadness to this book. A sweetness that sings in Kevin and Morgan, in their joy and awkwardness as they laugh and learn during their summer together. As Morgan learns all about the wonder that is fried food. A sadness that nudges at the edges, reminding them that summers end, that their time will end. I rather enjoyed this story about love, time, and wanting.

(I borrowed an e-book copy of this title from the library.)

Me on Two Summers

Title: Two Summers
Author: Aimee Friedman
Release Date: April 26, 2016
Publisher: Point (Scholastic imprint)

When Summer Everett makes a split-second decision, her summer divides into two parallel worlds. In one, she travels to France, where she's dreamed of going: a land of chocolate croissants, handsome boys, and art museums. In the other, she remains home, in her ordinary suburb, where she expects her ordinary life to continue — but nothing is as it seems. In both summers, she will fall in love and discover new sides of herself. What may break her, though, is a terrible family secret, one she can't hide from anywhere. In the end, it may just be the truth she needs the most.

Two Summers is full of possibilities and what ifs, the chance to explore and to learn. But it doesn't matter where you are, at the end you still have to face reality.

Summer is a teenage girl caught up in possibility. Standing in front of the boarding gate, staring at her ringing phone, she wonders how things would be different depending on whether or not she answers her phone. Wonders what her summer would entail. The reader is given that chance, shown both possible summers, both possible settings and the things Summer learns along the way. She's smart but shy, creative but afraid to show it. Like most when they come to a crossroads, she would rather things not chance. She's happy with how her life is going, happy she has her friend Ruby and her mom at her side. But things can't always stay the same. People grow, learn, change, and Summer has to decide if she wants to as well.

The chance that Summer gets through the magic of fiction is one I imagine most people would like. The chance to know both sides of a decision, of a what if or either/or question. I like that Summer doesn't know that both summers are happening. It's more like they occur at the same time and the reader gets to see how each would've happened. They see the different things Summer learns, the different ways she hears about Ruby's new friends and the secrets both her mom and her dad are hiding.

This book reminds me so much of the movie Sliding Doors, when the main character lives out two different versions of her life based off of two different results of one action. The difference here is that Summer sort of learns the same things along the way. That friends change, that people change, and that's okay. That sometimes you have to actually talk to people instead of hiding behind a stoic mask. That you have to take risks, even though you might get hurt. That secrets kept by those close to you can hurt the most, even when they're keeping them with good intentions. And as for which summer Summer actually has? You'll have to read it to find out. I would recommend this to contemporary YA fans.

(I borrowed a copy of this title from the library.)