River Readers

Mia, a young Chinese immigrant, ran the front desk of the hotel her parents managed. Having immigrated from China, Mia's family was having a hard time adjusting to life in America. They were struggling to survive and were easy prey for those who would take advantage of the desperation of the immigrants who came to America with little money or knowledge of how to avoid such predators.

Darius Kellner is a nerd, bullied at school and constantly waiting for his dad's approval. He also suffers from depression. He struggles with his identity being half Persian and being raised in the United States. He is not as in touch with his Persian roots or speak Farsi as well as his little sister Lelah. This all comes to a head when his grandfather in Iran becomes ill and the family travels to Iran to spend some time with time. Darius had never been to Iran, had never met his grandparents and knew little of the customs of the country.

This slim graphic novel is, quite literally, exactly what the title implies it would be. Author Archie (a non-binary/genderqueer comic artist) and their friend, Tristan (a cisgender male) cheerfully explain the ins and outs of using non-binary pronouns while explaining the damage done when requests to use correct pronouns go unheeded. After explaining how they/them pronouns work, the pair provide ways to make workplaces more inclusive and Archie has a few words of advice for fellow non-binary people. It's quick, it's easy, and absolutely non-threatening or condescending.

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels offers details about her brief 2006 affair with Donald Trump, but that's not the focus of this conversational, wide-ranging, and forthright account of her life. A bright kid from Louisiana who wanted to be a writer and loved horses, Daniels grew up in a dysfunctional rat- and cockroach-infested house, was sexually abused at age nine by a friend's neighbor, excelled in school, had relationships with various boys (the details of which she candidly describes), and enjoyed horseback riding.

The hilarious and heartbreaking confessions of a figure skater turned collegiate hockey player who's terrified of checking . . . and is desperately in love with the captain of his hockey team.

If have a normal everyday family, this book probably isn't for you! However, if you like me and realize family is messy, then dive in and enjoy. My favorite quote from this book is very near the end when Miranda's mom is talking about her feelings for her brother Billy. She says, "They were family. You don't have to like your family, you only have to love them." To me this sums up the adventure Miranda has been on and most situations in any family. We can't choose our blood family and they aren't always easy to like, but deep down love of family is always there.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green is the perfect balance of science fiction and a treatise on how fame and social media can change a person and leave them questioning who they are. Are they the persona created for the public view or are they something more?

During the war, most villages and cities were devoid of men. Chilbury was no exception. While the women were more than capable of taking over most of the duties, the vicar of the village church decided he would disband the choir. When the new music tutor declared they should have an all-ladies' choir, not all were so sure it would work. What developed was so much more than a choir.

*Starred Review* Like a chameleon, noir adapts to its landscape and climate, finding in either sun or rain the climatological ingredients necessary to generate a mood of oppression, foreboding, and inevitability. So it is in Mangan's hypnotic debut, set in 1950s Tangier, where a deadly, Hitchcockian pas de deux plays out under an unrelenting, Camus-like African sun. Alice, a fragile Englishwoman, has landed in Tangier after a sudden marriage to one of those British gentlemen whose pedigree masks his idler essence.

They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.

Now we rise.

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

After being liberated from Bergen-Belsen in 1945, Gerta Rausch finds herself with no one left and nowhere to go. Taken from her home by the Nazi's in when she was just past 14 years old, Greta survives time in Theresienstadt, Auschwitz and eventually Bergen-Belsen. She survives by playing her father's viola in the camp orchestras. But after the liberation, she finds herself alone. Bergen-Belsen becomes a type of refugee camp for the survivors and it is there that they try to heal from the atrocities they withstood.

Laura Brooks returns to her hometown of Hannibal, Missouri ten years after the 1993 flood that devastated towns all up and down the Mississippi River including Hannibal. Integrating the small river town's history and devotion to Mark Twain with Laura's own life, Melissa Scholes Young writes a captivating story of what home means to most of us and full of energetic characters.

*Starred Review* What fresh hell can this be? author Dorothy Parker once acidly asked. Fourteen-year-old Colin has the answer: his life. Blaming himself for his father's death, the boy is obsessed with self-hatred and the desire to be punished. Reading his late father's cryptic, enigmatic journals, he fittingly comes across a tantalizing entry called Things I've Learned in Hell.

In his literary debut, Tommy Orange intertwines the stories of 12 Native people in modern day making their roads converge at a huge powwow in Oakland. The book depicts the plight of Native Americans through the years and their continued struggles today.

Marinka lives with her Baba in a house with chicken legs. Baba is a Yaga who helps guide the dead through the gate into the afterlife. Marinka is expected to become the next Yaga but she wants a normal life. She wants to stay in one place and make friends, maybe go to school. Right now her only friend is her pet jackdaw and she never knows when the house will decide to walk to the next destination.