Good Reads & Views

A List of Cages by Robin Roe
YA Fiction 

What it’s about: Robin Roe did a fantastic job of writing a heart-wrenching yet charming novel centered around the friendship between two teen boys. Adam is a senior in high school who is well known by many of the students and teachers. Julian is a freshman at the same school who deals with constant bullying. The story is beautifully written bringing out such depth of compassion and bravery. That a life changing friendship could come from betrayal and tragedy is a miracle. 

Why you might like it: If you enjoy realistic fiction books with well-developed characters, written from a dual narrative perspective, you’ll love this book. 

You might also like: Everybody Sees the Ants by A. S. King

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You’d Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow
YA Fiction

What it’s about: This is a heart wrenching story of teenage drug addiction and its effects on one family. The story of Emory and Joey explains how much you can love an addict and how desperate you are to help but it isn’t enough. The struggle Emory feels in trying to be happy with her life while helping an addict.

Is it for you? This is a story of addiction, but also a story of healing. The book and its rawness display a family’s love for an addict and the battle it can take to get them help. I highly recommend it to anyone struggling with addiction or who has a loved one with addiction.

You might also like: Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow

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The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson
Fiction

What it’s about: The Lucky Ones is the tragic story of a girl who was the only survivor of a school shooting while her brother was killed, and a boy whose life was altered forever once his mother, a defense attorney, took the shooter's case.

Why you might like it: It's a story of mental health and people trying to do the right thing amidst devastating circumstances. It is both a heart wrenching and uplifting read.

You might also like: Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow

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The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow & Liz Lawson
YA Fiction

What it’s about: The Agathas is a captivating mystery set in small-town coastal California. The story is told from two different points of view. The first person’s point of view is Iris (written by Glasgow), a hard-working, financially struggling teen eager to elude a complicated and perilous home life; the second person is rich girl Alice (written by Lawson), who is struggling to deal with the relationship between her former best friend, Brooke, and ex-boyfriend, Steve, as well as the consequences of her own social fallout.

Is it for you? If you like reading brilliantly developed and authentic characters who deal with their pains and problems in realistic ways, then you should read this book.

You might also like: You’re so Dead by Ash Parsons

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The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein
YA Fiction

This sensitive coming of age story, set in 1938 Scotland, is richly detailed and suspenseful. Julie, 15, returns from boarding school to spend a final summer on her late grandfather’s rural estate before it is converted to a boy’s school. Before anyone realizes she is home, she is attacked and left unconscious, wakening in the hospital with no memory of what happened. She quickly befriends her rescuers, Ellen and Euan, a brother and sister whose family are Travellers, reviled in the community, but with a long connection to Julie’s family. When Julie learns that the historian who was cataloging the estate’s antiquities has disappeared, and that some artifacts might be missing, memories of the attack begin to trickle back. As suspicions in the community turn toward Julie’s new friends, Julie, her brother Jamie, and Ellen and Euan begin to uncover clues that indicate there is more to the disappearance than anyone believed. As the investigation continues, Julie begins to question many of her own assumptions about her place in the world. This is a prequel to Wein’s Code Name Verity, but reads well as a stand-alone.

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Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
YA Fiction

Rose Justice is an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot, ferrying airplanes for the war effort, when she flies off course and her plane is forced down by German pilots. Stripped of clothing, head shaved, she is misidentified as a French national and sent to Ravensbrück, the women’s concentration camp. Rose becomes part of a camp “family” in order to survive physically and emotionally. Rose tells stories and writes poetry for her camp family, commits quiet acts of defiance, and keeps hope in her heart. One of her family members is a “Rabbit,” one of 74 Polish girls who were victims of cruel Nazi medical experiments. Soon, Rose’s goal is not only to survive, but also to spread the word to the world of the Rabbits’ suffering. A heartbreaking yet uplifting story of personal resilience, friendship and hope.