Tag: ya

Better Than the Best Plan

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Review:

Mitzy’s mom has always been a little untraditional… which is why they’ve moved from place to place as she tries out yoga or enlightenment or commune-living. But this time, things are different, and Mitzy is on her own. She comes home from school one day to find a note informing her that her mom is in Mexico for her latest venture, and Mitzy doesn’t know when she’ll be coming back. Seventeen-year-old Mitzy is a few months away from legally being an adult, so she figures she’ll be fine on her own. But when someone reports her to Child Protective Services, a social worker turns up to bring her to a foster home. And in a weird twist of fate, Mitzy finds out not only that she was in foster care as an infant, but that she is being brought back to the woman who was her foster mom for eighteen months.

Better Than the Best Plan follows the summer before Mitzy’s senior year of high school. Mitzy is trying to get settled into the gorgeous, fancy new house she’s staying in – but trying not to get to comfortable, since she is pretty sure her mom will come back to get her soon. Her new life is a far cry from her old life, and she is not sure what to think of the country club nearby, people who have private pools and tennis courts, or the cute boy who lives next door. Pick up Better than the Best Plan for a quick summer read that pulls you in from the first chapter.

Favorite Passage:

“I tell you all that because here’s the thing. I wanted to keep you. I so desperately wanted to keep you. I tried, in fact, probably harder than I should have. But your mother, she wasn’t going to walk away from you. She did everything the court required. She attended every DCF meeting. She jumped through every hoop, followed every rule. And it wasn’t easy. They really don’t make it easy, especially with kids as young as you. She really had to prove herself to them. But every challenge they laid, she met it, and so just after your second birthday, you went back to her. ‘Family reunification’, they call it. I wasn’t there to see it. I don’t think I had the strength to endure it. But you have to know that for nearly two years your mother fought for you. She never stopped being your mom, and she fought to make sure the court knew it. She didn’t leave you, Maritza. She went away, but she never left. Trust me on that.”
— Chapter Fifteen

What I Loved Most:

I feel like most of the books I’ve read featuring protagonists who are in the foster care system are heavy. Which is totally fair – these kids are going through super hard stuff. However, Better Than the Best Plan manages to be a light and fun read, while not shying away from hard questions like parental abandonment and messy family situations. This was a genuinely fun book to read. I also loved how the book stresses that even though Maritza’s biological mom left, it doesn’t mean that she stopped loving Ritzy. This book is very positive toward both the bio-parent and the foster parents. And it ends in a messy but happy way, which I think is a wonderful portrayal of how the foster care system can sometimes work to create a bigger family rather than splitting up families.

Read this book if you like:

Summer reading, identity searching, non-traditional families

Book Details:

Internment

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Review:

In this YA dystopia set in America, we have decided to round up all of the Muslim Americans and put them in internment camps. The collective American attitude is that Muslims are a threat to our national security, and that we need to take this dramatic action in order to keep our country safe. Layla Amin in seventeen years old when she and her parents are put into a camp. She becomes the unlikely leader of a revolution within the camp, fighting for her freedom and what she knows to be right.

Internment is a call to action. It forces us to acknowledge the prejudices in our current society, and looks at what might happen if we continue down the path that we’re on. It’s urgent and it will motivate you to create change. I devoured this book, and highly recommend adding it to the top of your TBR list.

Favorite Passage:

“What’s that thing people always say about history? Unless we know our history, we’re doomed to repeat it? Never forget? Isn’t that the lesson? But we always forget. Forgetting is in the American grain.”

What I Loved Most:

Before I read Internment, I read Uprooted by Albert Marrin, which is a nonfiction book about the Japanese Internment Camps in WWII (check out my review of it here). It’s not that long ago that we forced all of the Japanese Americans into camps… and it doesn’t seem that far fetched that we would do it again. I love dystopias in general, but I have never read one that seems as plausible as Internment does.

Read this book if you like:

Dystopias, teenagers who create change

Book Details:

The First True Thing

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Review:

Marcelle’s best friend, Hannah, asked Marcelle to cover for her. The next day, Hannah is missing, and Marcelle doesn’t know what to do.

Marcelle has been sober for just a couple of weeks, after drunkenly crashing her bike, ending up in the hospital, and being mandated to attend treatment at the Center. As part of her recovery process, she promised her parents she wouldn’t lie to them anymore – so now she feels like she can’t come clean about Hannah’s text that night. But the longer she goes without hearing from Hannah, the harder it’s getting to maintain the delicately balanced statements she made.

The First True Thing is told partially as a narrative of current events, and partially in flashbacks of Marcelle’s drinking days. This is a really heavy book, dealing with serious issues like drug and alcohol addiction, sexual exploitation, and death. It’s definitely not for younger teens, but it tells an important story. People who are in recovery might find some of the scenes triggering, so read with caution. I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book from the publisher, HarperTeen. It will officially be released one week from today – look for it on April 23!

Favorite Passage:

More than anything, I wish Hannah and I both could go back in time. But I know it’s useless to think this way. I am the girl who crashed on the Death Wish path. I can’t be any other girl.
— Chapter Fifteen

What I Loved Most:

Needell’s portrayal of addiction and recovery is raw and real. She doesn’t shy away from addressing how addiction can comprise someone’s identity, and how stopping addictive behavior often means removing the major thing that you identify yourself with. I am of the opinion that getting sober is one of the bravest things you can do. We’re starting to see more books being published for teens that address mental health issues like addiction, which I feel is crucial for helping teens identify these issues in their own lives or the lives of those around them.

Read this book if you like:

Suspense, identity searching, gut-wrenching honesty

Book Details: