Young Heroines Searching for Identity

 Introducing quirky young heroines with overprotective parents is a popular way for authors to set up conflict as the girls try to break free and find their own identity. In Well, That Was Unexpected by Jesse Q. Sutanta a southern California teen's mother disapproves of her social life and whisks her away to Indonesia to find her a suitable boyfriend. The Epic Story of Every Living Thing by Deb Caletti  explores the world of kids with sperm donor dads, as a teen connects with half-siblings through social media. Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor finds a home-schooled genius sent off to Shakespeare Camp to prove her readiness for independence. 

In Well, That Was Unexpected Sharlot Citra's Chinese Indonesian mother catches her in a compromising position with her boyfriend and immediately takes her to Jakarta for the summer to get her away from him. To ensure Sharlot finds a suitable romantic partner, Mom starts an online conversation with George Clooney Tanuwijaya's father. George's dad is equally worried about his son's romantic endeavors.  Online each parent is pretending to be their teenage offspring.  Sharlot and George reluctantly meet for coffee and immediately butt heads. Neither resemble the online version of themselves that their parents created. However, George is the public face of an etiquette app for teen boys that is being launched by his family's wealthy business empire and he agrees to a fake dating situation. As they spend time together, Sharlot begins to warm to  Jakarta and George himself. This charming romcom is filled with humor and romance and an intriguing insight into the Chinese Indonesian culture. 

The Epic Story of Every Living Thing introduces Harper Proulx, who is pressured by her single mother to be an academic achiever who is always thinking about the future. She is addicted to Instagram and is constantly creating posts that are tweaked to perfection. Her boyfriend Ezra is so tired of being an extra in her Instagram life, that he breaks up with her.  Harper has always wondered about her sperm donor dad and when a chance comment online connects her with four half-siblings, she steps out of her comfort zone and embarks with them on a journey to find their biological dad. Beau Zane is a deep-sea diver who lives in Hawaii and is obsessed with solving the mystery of a sunken shipwreck.  At the beginning of each present-day chapter there are excerpts from 19th century letters, journals and newspapers about a seafaring expedition related to the shipwreck. Beau teaches the kids to dive and enlists their help with his project. As Harper puts down her phone and begins to connect with the real world, she is amazed at the beauty of everything living thing.   

In Long Story Short 16-year-old home-schooled math genius Beatrice Quinn has just been accepted at her dream college Oxford University.  Her parents, however, don't think their anxious socially awkward daughter is ready to live abroad alone.  Bea strikes a deal with them.  If she can spend the summer at a Connecticut Shakespearean Camp and come out of her shell, they'll let her attend Oxford.  They assign her tasks including making a friend, engaging in small talk, pulling a prank, among others.  When she meets her Black bi-sexual extroverted roommate Mia, she is one step closer to success.  Mia and Nolan, her gay best friend, help Bea achieve her goals and more.  She gets a part in a play, attends parties, and even enters into a Shakespeare-off with her crush/nemesis Nikhil Shah.  Bea's evolution from awkward math nerd to self-confident actor is handled realistically, and the enemies-to-lovers romance is predictable, yet charming, as the two wittily spar, using the Bard's works as fodder. 

YA Novels about Passion for Words: One Great Lie, Words Composed of Sea and Sky and Love in English

 Although I love novels-in-verse, it was refreshing to read three new novels where the poetic language is incorporated in a more traditional structure.  In all three books the female protagonist has a passion for writing, but that talent is integrated into a story with a further reaching conflict.  One Great Lie by Printz Honoree Deb Caletti (A Heart in a Body in a World) is set in Venice and explores the misogyny experienced by female writers over the ages.  Words Composed of Sea and Sky by Erica George finds an aspiring Cape Cod teen poet investigating the life of a nineteenth century female author whose poetry is attributed to the town's fabled sea captain. Love in English by Maria Andreu incorporates the struggles of a teen poet who has just emigrated from Argentina to New Jersey. All of these young women experience road blocks to their dreams of becoming writers. 

In One Great Lie budding writer Charlotte Hodges wins a scholarship to a summer writing program in Venice, run by her favorite author Luca Bruni.  She aspires to "write something that says something" and is sure she can succeed with his help.  She also wants to investigate her Venetian ancestor, Isabella di Angelo, a Renaissance writer whose book of poetry includes a poem which had been published by her lover, a world famous writer, as his own. When Charlotte arrives at Bruni's villa on La Calamita, a private island that once housed plague victims, she is at once charmed by Luca's brilliance, but disturbed by his over-familiarity with his female students. Even though Charlotte meets and falls in love with Dante, a young art conservation student, who helps her research Isabella, she can't shake her desire to impress Luca Bruni, but it comes with a price.  Reflecting on the sexual harassment Isabella and other young women experienced as they were put in convents, yet were abused by well-to-do men in power, Charlotte begins to think that things haven't changed that much for women.  Isabella and Charlotte's intertwined stories are filled with suspense as Charlotte struggles to vindicate her relative and stand up to the sexual harassment she herself experiences.  Each chapter begins with information about a female poet from the Italian Renaissance who despite her accomplishments, has been forgotten or is only remembered for her connection to a man.

In alternating chapters Words Composed of Sea and Sky tells the story of a modern day teen poet and her nineteenth century inspiration.  Michaela Dunn hopes to attend Winslow College where her deceased father had been an English professor.  She is determined to attend a poetry workshop weekend at the college, but her stepfather balks at the price.  When a poetry competition, which awards the winner full tuition to the workshop, is announced, she is sure it is the answer to her prayers. The poem must focus on the town's fabled whaler poet, Captain Benjamin Churchill, and will be engraved on a statue which is being unveiled in the town square. In researching the captain's life, Michaela discovers the journal of Leta Townsend, his would-be lover, which inspires her to write her poem from Leta's point of view.  The story moves to Leta and Michaela's alternating voices with each segment being narrated from present-tense first-person points of view.  Each woman is balancing her creative aspirations with a love triangle.  Leta has been publishing under the name Ben Churchill, a whaler who was presumed dead at sea.  When he reappears, complications ensue, especially with Elijah Pearce, her best friend who has proposed.  Michaela's situation mirrors Leta's in that she is struggling with her feelings for Caleb, a callous poet who is competing against her in the competition, and Finn Pearce, her school's star baseball pitcher. This two-for-one romance is peppered with poems both women have written, as well as lyrical descriptions of the Cape Cod setting.  The dual narratives blend beautifully as the reader roots for the women to succeed with their writing, as well as their love lives.

Love in English introduces Ana, a poet and lover of words who emigrates with her mother from Argentina to New Jersey to join her father. She struggles with his edict that they speak only English at home, as well as missing her friends and homeland.  As she begins to settle in and make friends, including Gracie, a Spanish speaking lesbian "influencer," Harrison, a cute All-American boy she helps with math, and Neo, a Greek Cypriot in her ESL class, she becomes more optimistic about the future. She writes quirky poems about learning the ins and out of the English language, especially the multiple pronunciations and meanings for words, as well as idioms like "the elephant in the room," which add humor throughout the novel. The story explores Ana's experiences as a documented immigrant and effectively puts the reader in her shoes as she navigates the complexities of American culture and, of course, the love triangle between herself, Harrison and Neo.  The author is basing Ana's experiences on her own as an immigrant teen, giving the narrative a feeling of authenticity and charm. 

New YA Mysteries - The Inheritance Games, The Cousins, and Girl Unframed

 Mysteries and suspense novels are arguably the most popular genre in fiction. Not all suspense novels are mysteries but all mysteries include suspense. Analyzing the author's use of classic mystery elements, including suspense, can help students understand why mysteries are such page turners.  Three of my favorite authors have recently published new mysteries.  Jennifer Lynn Barnes' (The Naturals) new mystery series The Inheritance Games introduces a main character who inexplicably has been named the heir to a billionaire's fortune when he has two daughters and four grandsons who expected to inherit his wealth. Karen McManus (One of Us is Lying) explores the inheritance theme as well with The Cousins.  A wealthy resort owner disinherits her four children and then invites their children to work at the resort for the summer.  In addition to getting to know each other, the cousins must get to the bottom of why they were invited.  Finally, Deb Caletti's (The Fortunes of Indigo Sky) Girl Unframed finds a Seattle teen spending the summer with her film star mother when a murder occurs in her own backyard. 

The Inheritance Games series opener introduces Avery Grambs, who is living in her car, after her half-sister and legal guardian Libby allows her abusive boyfriend to move into their apartment.  When she is summoned to the will reading of billionaire Tobias Hawthorne, she and Libby travel to Texas where they are shocked to find out Avery has inherited the bulk of his fortune, but to receive it, she must live at Hawthorne House for a year. His family, including two daughters and four grandsons, is furious.  Puzzle obsessed, Tobias leaves letters outlining a riddle that Avery and the grandsons must solve to find out why she is the recipient of the inheritance.  The Hawthorne House mansion is filled with hidden chambers that house the clues she and the grandsons must find to unravel the puzzle.  Fast paced chapters filled with red herrings, family secrets, attempted murder and a little bit of romance will keep readers enthralled. The satisfying ending sets up another mystery to be solved in the sequel.

The luxurious Gull Cove Island resort off the coast of Massachusetts, which is the setting for The Cousins, contains many Story family secrets.  In the 1990s the widow Mildred Story disinherited her four children without explanation, except for a letter send by her lawyer that read "You know what you did."  Twenty years later her grandchildren, Milly Aubrey and Jonah, receive letters from her, inviting them to work at the resort.  Their parents, hoping to get back into their mother's will, force them to go.  However, upon their arrival at Gull Cove Island, they find their grandmother displeased to see them. She obviously had not invited them.  They settle into their jobs and getting to know each other, and try to uncover who invited them and why.  There are many twists and turns, as family secrets are revealed, making this a fun read for McManus fans.

In Girl Unframed Seattle teen Sydney Reilly is spending the summer in San Francisco with her film star mother, Lila Shore, and Lila's boyfriend Jake in a Pacific Heights mansion.  Jake is an art dealer with shady connections and his volatile relationship with Lila is unsettling.  Syd not only feels uncomfortable around Jake, a construction worker next door is also giving her unwanted attention.  The only bright spot in her summer is her new relationship with Nicco Ricci, a local boy she met on the beach.  When a murder occurs on the beach in her own backyard, her summer is derailed.  Each chapter begins with a list of exhibits from the murder trial creating suspense as to who was murdered by whom.