I HAVE THE RIGHT TO and BECAUSE I WAS A GIRL are nonfiction YA books about empowering women. One is a memoir and the other is a collection of short personal stories with the same theme.

I HAVE THE RIGHT TO: A High School Survivor’s Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope by Chessy Prout with Jenn Abelson. New York: Simon & Schuster (2018) 416p. ISBN 9781534414433 hc. $18.99 Gr. 9-12 (362.883 PR YA)

15 year-old Chessy Prout tells about her experience as a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a senior student at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire in 2014. She describes the assault , as well as the aftermath of shame, self-doubt, and being shunned by fellow students after reporting the incident. With the support of her family, she testified against her attacker in court in order to encourage other victims to speak out and to reveal the attitudes in our institutions that intimidate victims into silence. Readers will be inspired by Prout’s memoir of courage against a system that bullies rape victims.

BECAUSE I WAS A GIRL: True Stories for Girls of All Ages edited by Melissa de La Cruz. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2017. 245p. ISBN 978125015446-0 hc. $18.99   Gr. 7-11  (305.4 BE YA)

Divided into decade-long time periods from 1920 to present day, notable women write about their journeys from childhood to productive adults.  These inspiring women made a difference in the world despite opportunities that favored men and attitudes of low expectation for females.  They kept their dreams in front of them and became respected for their talents.  Readers may recognize some of the names such as, Melissa de la Cruz, bestselling author; Delores Huerta, civil rights and labor leader; Zoey Luna, activist for transgender youth; and Gloria Molina, Hispanic politician.  The diversity and scope of the stories is impressive.
Lynette Suckow, Superiorland Preview Center, Marquette, MI

POSTED by John David Anderson.  New York:  Walden Pond Press, 2017.  384p. ISBN 9780062338204 hc. $16.99.    Gr. 6-8      JUV FIC

Unpleasant remarks on a student's social media account causes cell phones at Branton Middle School to be banned.  The need to communicate is strong in this population, so they begin using the post-it notes they were required to buy at the beginning of each school year.  Frost, nicknamed after the poet Robert Frost after winning a fifth-grade writing contest, and his three middle school buddies make the perfect group.  Bench, DeeDee and Wolf all have nicknames derived from their talents and they depend on each other to get through school each day.  Most importantly, they eat lunch together at their own table - made for four people.  Life is good - until a brash new student, Rose, shows up at their lunch table.  As Rose quickly inserts herself into the group's after school activities,  she is accepted by some of the group, but not all.  At the same time, the post-it notes are beginning to voice negative and bullying messages.  Will this group of friends survive the peer pressure?  Readers will root for these approachable characters and their stories.
Lynette Suckow, Superorland Preview Center, Marquette, MI

THERE'S A TIGER IN THE GARDEN by Lizzy Stewart.  New York:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018. 32p.  ISBN 978-132879183-2 hc. $17.99   PreS - Gr.2   E PIC

What happens when Nora tells her Grandmother that she and her stuffed giraffe, Jeff, are bored with indoor activities?  You guessed right - it's time to play outside in the garden where her grandmother swears she saw a tiger that morning.  Highly doubtful about the existence of a tiger, Nora follows a dragonfly down a path where she meets man-eating plants, a polar bear, and the elusive tiger.  Now that Nora's imagination has taken hold, Grandmother's house holds many more opportunities for adventure.  This book was written in England, where the backyard is traditionally more of a garden than a lawn, but a sense of adventure is universal.  The text alone tells a good tale, but the illustrations add another layer of story which will delight readers young and old.
Lynette Suckow, Superiorland Preview Center, Marquette, MI

PHOTOGRAPHIC: The Life of Graciela Iturbide by Isabel Quintero.  Illus.by  Zeke Pena.  Los Angeles, CA:  Getty Publications, 2018.  96p.  ISBN 978-194744000-5 hc. $19.95  Gr. 7-12  YA NF

This creative biography is formatted as a graphic novel and will appeal to teens.  The book begins by introducing Graciela's philosophy about photography, which captures the stark reality of life in black and white.  Her interest in photography was encouraged by her father, an amateur photographer who bought her a Brownie camera.  After rejecting the traditional life of Mexican wife and mother in favor of her passion for photography, she became an apprentice to established photographer, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, and explored the Mexican countryside.  She became obsessed with photos of birds and with death, then moved on to document immigrant communities in the United States and pictorial studies of various villages in her native Mexico.  Her work resides in art galleries across the U.S.  Illustrator Zeke Pena incorporates 24 black and white photos from Graciela's collection with his black and white graphics, sometimes placing a line drawing next to the original photo for visual impact.
Lynette Suckow, Superiorland Preview Center, Marquette, MI

THE LANGUAGE OF STARS by Louise Howes.  New York:  Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2016.  356p.  ISBN: 978-481462419 hc. $17.99   Gr. 9-12   YA FIC

Sarah finds herself at a "beginning of summer" party, thrown by her boyfriend, Fry, the most popular boy in school.  The party is at the most famous location in town, the cottage of Rufus Baylor, a famous poet.  When the cottage is destroyed, the teens are charged with manually repairing the cottage and attending a class on poetry appreciation - taught by Rufus himself.  Sarah learns a lot about herself, her family, and what is important in her life, during the weeks that she attends class and completes her community service.  Sarah is a very relatable character, revealing a mixture of teen priorities and self-growth.
Melissa Coyne, Reader, Munising Public Library

More reviews from previously published books...2015 to be exact.

THE START OF ME AND YOU by Emery Lord.  New York:  Bloomsbury, 2015. 373p.  ISBN: 978-1-61963-359-9 hc. $17.99     Gr. 9-12    YA FIC

Paige is trying to recover from the loss of her boyfriend, Ryan, and regain a sense of normalcy that she hasn't had for the past year. She decides to make a PLAN for a normal life, just like she plans everything else in her life, from outfits to studying. However, Ryan's cousin, Max, moves back to town and his presence in her life throws all of her plans out the window. Can she get back to a normal life with all of the changes that come along with her friendship with Max?  Can you restart your life after an unforeseen tragedy changes everything?
Melissa Coyne, Reader, Munising Public Library

THERE WILL BE LIES by Nick Lake.  New York:  Bloomsbury, 2015.  454p.  ISBN: 978-1-61963-440-4 hc. $17.99    Gr. 9-12    YA FIC

Shelby Cooper is a 17 year-old with a rather normal, if somewhat quirky, life. Her mother has some unusual rules for her. When she is hit by a car outside the library, her whole life changes. Her mother packs them up and takes them on a "vacation", which raises many questions in Shelby's mind. Will Shelby ever get the truth from her mother?  Plot twists and and turns keep readers guessing about what will happen next.
Melissa Coyne, Reader, Munising Public Library

LONG WAY DOWN by Jason Reynolds.  New York: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2017. 320p.  ISBN 978-1481438254 hc. $17.99    Gr. 9-12  YA FIC

This impactful story is written in verse to make it truly accessible to avid readers and occasional readers, alike.  The message is that important.  Readers are introduced to fifteen-year-old Will whose older brother has just been shot in the street.  Will doesn’t run with a gang, has never held a gun, but knows the rules….“No crying.  No snitching.  Revenge.”  Almost instinctively, he searches his dead brother’s room for the gun he knows is there and heads for the elevator to do what he feels he must do next.  In his haste to descend from his seventh floor apartment, Will’s elevator slowly stops at each floor to let on a new passenger.  Each new passenger on the elevator is a person from Will’s past.  Each one is a victim of gun violence.  They all have stories that clarify and tie into Will’s life story, letting him see the larger picture of choices, actions and consequences.  The simple technology of the elevator provides the perfect vehicle for this open-ended story of redemption or revenge.  Will must make that choice.
Lynette Suckow, Superiorland Preview Center, Marquette, MI