Hurricane Harvey in the news raises the relevance of this novel to a category five. The fact that we're bringing Julie Murphy--one of the best contemporary realistic fiction authors in the country--to town for a Meet the Author visit means you must put this book on your radar. I listened to the audio version. It's fantastic. The narrator is a perfect fit for Ramona's voice.
Aristotle is angry. And wondering. And confused. Dante is laid back. And smart. And confused. These two boys, opposites, with nothing in common, begin to spend more time together, becoming fast friends. The friendship that they discover is the kind that has the power to morph and change lives - and lasts a lifetime. And Aristotle becomes sad - then happy. And realizes things. And Dante gets angry - then hurt. And realizes things. This is a remarkable coming-of-age novel about two Mexican-American boys as they battle through the uncertain, calamitous front of life.
People deal with grief, fear, anger, and other difficult emotions in many ways. One of those ways is humor. That's Mara. Her telling of her story is hilarious. With a cynical, skeptical, acerbic, over-the-top wit of the best social-commentary-humorists, she shares how she spent her senior year of high school dealing with the very real possibility that she might just spontaneously combust.
Cadence is part of the incredibly wealthy and distinguished Sinclair family. She has been spending the summer on a private island with a group of her four friends. She has amnesia. She can’t remember their revolution. She can’t remember the accident. Everyone is keeping a secret from her, how can she remember the truth?
Nineteen years after the end of the Harry Potter series, Harry is still struggling to put the past behind him and be a good father to his 3 children as well as work at the ministry of magic. His youngest son, Albus, is struggling too, with the burden of a family legacy he never asked for. But as darkness lurks still in the wake of Lord Voldemort’s destruction, father and son must learn to accept their differences and disappointments to defeat it.
Amy and her best friend Dee were kidnapped six years ago, but one day she returns home alone, unwilling to share anything about her experience, and she is desperate to protect her secrets no matter what. Nothing she does feels right when she tries to adjust back at home, she is a stranger in her own family. She feels guilty that she was the one to return. She soon realizes that keeping her secrets may just hurt the people she loves most. She has to go back so she can move forward, but she is risking everything.
One day, Ben’s parents soon after the police have come looking for them and rush him and his sister into the car. They say they are going on vacation, but his family never goes on vacation. Soon after, they lose the police in a car chase and they find themselves in a remote cabin in the woods. He soon discovers his parents’ secret, they took the millions of dollars accidentally deposited into their bank account and ran. He is not sure whether to think his parents are criminals, and is he one for running off with them?
LaToya goes to a mostly white school. She has no friends and even the other black kids make fun of her. One night she prays to be anything but black, and she wakes up with white skin, blond hair, and blue eyes. Then the real fun begins in this journey of self-discovery that takes shocking and hilarious twists and turns.
Life on Hayling Island seems isolated from the outside world for 14 year old Alix. Problems like terrorism, wars, and refugees seem worlds away. But one day at the beach, Alix and her friend find a drowning illegal immigrant who was tortured by the rebels in Iraq for helping the allied forces. Mohammed is desperate to not be deported and now his life falls in her hands. She must face this moral dilemma on her own, one mistake and they will be discovered.
