River Readers

Jeremy Heere was your typical nerd. Bullied and unable to get the girls of his dreams, he is convinced taking a pill would help. This was no ordinary pill, however, it was a squib, designed to implant a tiny computer in your brain to give you instruction on how to be “cool”.

Olive and her best friend, Willow, are headed to camp. Two weeks of crafts, sports and the great outdoors, what could be better? But when Olive is quick to make friends with the other campers Willow gets jealous.

This book is an excellent one for friendship advice and manuevering multiple friendships and not making one friend feel left out. It is great middle grade graphic with wonderful art and a good message.

Sebastian is getting ready for his last year at soccer camp when he finds out his ex-best friend, Emir, is also attending. He doesn't know exactly what went wrong with Emir. When they were small, they were inseparable. That changed after Emir had to go back to England so his family could care for his ailing grandmother. When he returned, things were differently and they never really talked again. Emir seemed angry and unapproachable. Now with him attending soccer camp, Sebastian worried what it would be like. Would Emir fit in with his other friends or would he remain aloof and angry?

Dany loved sixth grade but when she goes into seventh grade her friends are in other classes. She finds herself lonely, bullied and unable to break through the cliques and find new friends. She inherits her great-aunt's old notebook and discovers that the things she draws in it come to life. She begins to use its magical powers to alter her situation and as usually happens when magic is involved, things go awry.

I thought the artwork was very good but the story was disjunct and not cohesive. I didn't enjoy this graphic as much as I thought I would.

Melinda Sordino's first day of high school was nothing like she thought it would be. No one would talk to her or even look her way, including her ex-best friend, Rachel. Just before school started something happened that caused Melinda to become a social pariah but no one knew the truth. She just couldn't speak of the matter. Slowly, it swallowed her voice.

Olive has lots of friends and fits in almost anywhere with any group of kids. She felt confident about her friends and her place in school. That all changed when the school put on a talent show, and Olive was left without anyone to perform with.

This cute graphic novel tells the story of finding your place in your world and the importance of being yourself.

The Bird King takes place during the end of the reign of the last sultan of Granada. The story centers on a concubine named Fatima and her beloved friend, Hassan. Hassan has a magical skill that enables him to draw maps of places he's never seen and alter the reality of those places. His gift is coveted because of its importance in times of war and retreat. On the edge of losing his kingdom, the sultan hands Hassan over to the Inquisitors who have come to negotiate the transition of power to Spain.

Puddin' is a companion book to the popular book, Dumplin'. It focuses on the characters of Millie Michalchuk and Callie Reyes. Milly is a happy-go-lucky girl who is trying to adapt the self-love philosophy despite her mother's constant harping about her weight. Callie is the "popular" girl who seemingly has it all, looks, dance team and the perfect athlete boyfriend. Callie and Millie are about as opposite as opposite can be and needless to say, don't run in the same circles at school.

Jenson dreams of being an astronaut and saving the world. He is a dreamer. Middle school is hard though and Jenson is no exception to that rule. Sometimes the kids say things to him or make jokes at his expense but they're his friends and they're just kidding....right? RIGHT?

This second book in the Awkward series focuses on the bullying climate in the school and what it might take to change it.

The third book in the Awkward series focuses on Jorge. Jorge is a big guy with a lot of strength so he is the unofficial protector in the school. He tries to always do what's right and hold others to that as well. Middle school is tough for kids but it becomes much tougher for Jorge when her realizes he has a crush.

This is cute, realistic graphic novel about the realities of middle school and how to navigate them, or at least try to.

Yale Tishman is a young professional gay man in 1980's Chicago just as the AIDS epidemic starts its ravaging path. The book opens at a memorial party for Yale's good friend, Nico, the first of his group to die. Nico's story is a familiar tale of parental betrayal because of his sexuality but the central figure of his story is his sister, Fiona. She was his caregiver, his protector and his stanchest ally through his life.

This graphic novel is a collection of African tales each illustrated by a different artist. The art in most of the stories was very interesting and well done. I did find some issues with the stories themselves and I felt the first half of the book was much stronger than the second half. There was no real rhyme or reason to the collection. Some of the tales felt too short and there was a science fiction based one that I felt didn't fit at all. Not to say there wasn't some of them I really enjoyed.

The Butler entered Carter Jones's life on a really bad day. It was the first day of school and his mom was having a melt down. The jeep wouldn't start, the milk was bad and his little sisters were being "pains in the gluts". Suddenly the doorbell rang and as if by magic, the Butler appeared.

Iris and Lark Maguire are identical twins. On the outside, they look the same but on the inside they are very different. They are the perfect compliment to each other, one quiet and creative, the other practical and down to earth. Then disaster happened, for the first time ever, they would be in separated classes. how would they survive? Who would protect Lark from the school's number one bully? Iris ranted and reasoned. Lark pleaded. No one would listen. they pretended to listen. They pretended to understand but the fact was, they didn't. No one did.

Twenty years ago Laurie Halse Anderson’s felt driven by a voice in her head to write a book about a young girl who was raped just before she entered high school. This book was Speak. It sparked much controversy and many conversations about the trauma of rape and rape culture. Through the conversations with survivors after writing Speak and the #metoo movement, Halse Anderson again felt compelled to write Shout. It is a book of free verse poetry that tells the story of her life including the trauma of her rape at thirteen. Classified as a poetic memoir, it is broken into three sections.