Book Review: Dreamland Burning

In 1921, a rash argument over a pretty girl propels 17-year-old Will Tillman into a hotbed of racial tension in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As he begins to understand what Jim Crow really means, he faces difficult decisions between what is expected and what is right. Nearly 100 years later, 17-year-old Rowan Chase discovers a skeleton under the floorboards of her family’s backhouse. As she investigates the murder, she learns firsthand that history isn’t entirely in the past.

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Book Review: Beast

Hairy all over and rapidly approaching seven feet tall, 15-year-old Dylan resents how perfectly he fits his nickname: Beast. After a particularly bad first day of sophomore year, Dylan climbs out onto his roof to get some peace and quiet, and wakes up in the hospital. His leg is broken, and he’s been enrolled in group therapy for self-harmers. Though he’s determined to stay detached in group, to say nothing and hear nothing, he can’t help but notice beautiful, confident Jamie—and she notices him, too. The two connect in a way Dylan’s never connected with another person before—let alone a girl—but Jamie has a secret. It shouldn’t change anything, but it changes everything.

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Book Review: Holding Up the Universe

Libby Strout is no longer “America’s fattest teen,” but her biggest fear in returning to school for the first time since fifth grade is that her classmates won’t look past her weight. Nonetheless, she’s ready to leave the house where she’s been grieving her mother’s death, and embrace everything high school has to offer. Meanwhile, Jack Masselin’s devil-may-care attitude may seem effortless, but nobody knows how hard he has to work, because nobody knows about his face blindness—how, even among his closest friends, he feels as though he’s surrounded by strangers. That is, until a vicious prank lands Jack and Libby in the same counseling group, and they’re forced to see beyond each other’s masks.

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