Beartown by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hockey, not something I know a lot about, teens, however, I do and this book is a powerful look at how a community puts all its hopes and dreams onto a group of a young teens and how a very bad decision can force people to forgo their morality for the sake of winning a championship. Backman writes a very powerful novel that is both timely and relevant with a cast of characters that are both complex and stereotypical. I especially enjoyed the power of Backman's ability to tell this story through the eyes of various characters as he created deeply flawed people that you come away feeling like you know them personally. While some may have difficulty following the story at times, it allows the reader to stay immersed in the story. My only criticism is that the foreshadowing was annoying at times and did produce an occasional eye-roll when it got redundant. I highly recommend this book and I hope that teens will read this and reflect on the deep lessons to be learned about friendship, bravery, family, and doing the right thing.

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Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I know little about the Indian culture and this was a wonderful quick read on the Indian god Shakti and her connections to women's empowerment. Priyanka, the main character, knows little of her Indian heritage and doesn't understand why her mother won't tell her about where she comes from and why she does not know her father. When she finds a Pashmina scarf in her mother's closet, she begins to discover the complexities of her culture and where she fits into the narrative. Chanani wrote the story and drew the novel. The simplicity of her work is wonderful and her storytelling allows middle-grade students the ability to learn a culture easily and quickly. I especially liked the glossary at the end of the story as it contains the words throughout the novel and how they represent Indian culture.

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Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gabi Hernendez is a young girl traversing through her senior year of HS. Written in journal form, she describes her experiences of family drug addiction, applying to college, body-image issues, teenage love and sex, friendships tested by pregnancy and sexual identify, as well as finding her love of writing and poetry. I LOVED this book. A very quick read that was funny, sad, enlightening (especially from the perspective of an Hispanic household) and a sweet story about learning to love yourself and your family no matter how screwed up they are. Isabel Quintero created a character in Gabi that we can all fall in love with and relate to.

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