FINISHED: 
DiCamillo, Kate. (2018). Louisiana's Way Home. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

STARTED:
Albert, Melissa. (2018). The Hazel Wood. New York: Flatiron/Macmillan.

[.]

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FINISHED: 
Ness, Patrick. (2017). Release. New York: HarperCollins.

[.] 

STARTED:
Williams-Garcia, Rita. (2017). Clayton Byrd Goes Underground. New York: Amistad/HarperCollins.

[Getting some Newbery buzz...]

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FINISHED:
Pérez, Celia C. (2017). The First Rule of Punk. New York: Viking/Penguin Random House.

[Twelve year old, Mexican American, zine-creating María Luisa – who goes by Malú – must move from Florida to Chicago for two years when her mom gets a temporary job there, sad that she must leave behind her father (her parents are divorced) and his music store.  Always having felt more of a connection to her father’s punk music influence than her mother’s Mexican heritage, Malú feels a bit out of touch with the primarily Latinx neighborhood and school in which she now finds herself, but when the makeshift band that Malú forms with some schoolmates doesn’t get chosen to be in the school talent show because the school wants it to reflect tradition, Malú and the Cocos (the band’s name) decide to have their own Alterna-Fiesta Talent Show and play a punked-up version of the Mexican classic “Cielito Lindo”.  The singularly-focused and uncluttered narrative is briskly paced and thoroughly engaging, featuring Malú’s likeable voice which often sounds like you are reading excerpts directly from her journal.  By the end, Malú has learned the value of her heritage by interacting with her new neighbors and classmates, and is able to integrate both sides/identities of her parents when she begins to connect with her Mexican heritage through its music. Reproductions of Malu’s multi-page zines provide interludes between select chapters, and serve to provide further explanation on topics such as the slur “coconut”, Calaveras, and dyeing your hair.]

STARTED:
Alexander, Kwame. (2017). Solo. New York: Blink/HarperCollins.

[.]

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FINISHED:
Ruby, Laura. (2017). The Shadow Cipher [York: Book 1]. New York: Walden Pond/HarperCollins.

[Seventh grade, white twins Tess and Theo live in the eccentric Morningstarr Tower with its zig-zagging elevators in a modern - though “alternate” - New York City, the building having been constructed over 150 years ago by the Morningstarr family who helped to develop the city with steampunk-y technologies.  When a real estate magnate buys their building with the intention of knocking it down to redevelop, the twins, along with their Latino neighbor Jaime, spurred on by a mysterious letter, hatch a plan to solve the 160-year-old Old York Cipher created by the Morningstarr family, hoping that in doing so their building will be deemed too important to destroy.  The alternate-New York setting, with its vaguely steampunk feel, keeps the reader on their toes, going along in a familiar world until mention of someone with a gene-spliced raccoon or big cat for a pet, some mechanical spiders in a woman’s purse, solar-powered cars, and a robot servant who brings breakfast.  Chapters alternate being told from the perspective of each of the three main kids, with a break-neck pace that has them running around New York following obscure clues found in cleverly obscure places such as etched on the underside of a heating stove, behind paint in a gallery painting, and one puzzle that is solved by noting the locations of tokens scattered around the apartments in their building.  Though this puzzle-driven book doesn’t allow the reader to try to solve along with the protagonists, this first book in a new series – with a doozy of a cliffhanger – is briskly paced with thoroughly vivid settings to draw one right into the action.]

STARTED:
Springstubb, Tricia. (2017). Cody and the Rules of Life. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Madonna, Paul. (2017). On to the Next Dream. San Francisco: City Lights.

[.]

STARTED:
Thomas, Angie. (2017). The Hate U Give. New York: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins.

[I've only read the first 2 chapters, and it's already devastating...]

*

FINISHED:
Standish, Ali. (2017). The Ethan I Was Before. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Kelly, Erin Entrada. (2017).  Hello, Universe.  New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED: 
Avi. (2016). School of the Dead. New York: HarperCollins.

[Tony and his family move to San Francisco so that he can attend the alma mater, The Penda School, of his afterlife-believing, recently deceased Uncle Charlie.  Upon starting seventh grade at his new school, Tony not only begins to see the ghost of his dead Uncle, but also that of a long dead student, while finding out that over the life of the school, students have been mysteriously disappearing every seven years.  Avi’s latest has its moments where the reader will be fooled by some red herrings, as Tony eventually finds himself caught between a ghost who needs his help, a group of students called the Weird History Club who investigate the odd goings on at the school, and teachers who advise Tony to stay away from the Weird History Club… thus putting him in a position where he’s not sure who to believe has his best interest at heart, and wondering if there is anyone that he can trust.  This aside, the story being set in San Francisco seems inconsequential, and rather than building real tension, this is a standard ghost story with few real scares that feels padded and overlong (not helped by the lack of chapter designations), giving the impression that it could’ve made a much more effective short story.]

STARTED:
Springstubb, Tricia. (2016). Every Single Second. New York: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins.

[Rereading before writing a formal review for ACL.  As previously mentioned (and seen by the author!), MOONPENNY ISLAND, from last year, was one of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITES, so I'm trying this one again to solidify my feelings.]

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