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“The Raven Boys"

For AUDIENCE: Teens

If Blue Sargent kisses her true love, they will die. That’s the prediction of her future that she has heard her whole life, growing up in a family of psychics in West Virginia. What they didn’t predict was her newfound friendship with a group of boys who attend the nearby boarding school. Their charismatic leader is on a quest, and Blue tags along because she wants to experience magic for herself, the type of magic everyone but her in her family has.

“The Raven Boys” might have a mythical quest at the center of its plot, but the book is more of a hangout book than an epic fantasy. Blue and the boys all come from different backgrounds, and more than one has a chip on their shoulder. Stiefvater wrote “The Raven Boys” because she wanted to see a story set in America that was just as magical as those set in Europe and fantasy worlds. She writes West Virginia with just as much care and empathy as her cast of characters.

If you like a complex cast of misfits on a quest in a dark fantasy, you’ll want to check out “The Raven Boys.” The best part, this series has been completed and there’s a graphic novel coming out soon.

“Good Dirt”

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson (author of Black Cake) is a timely novel full of hope and healing. Wilkerson deftly takes the threads of disparate storylines and weaves them together. Her story displays the need for community and connection to the past and shared history.

Ebby Freeman has everything a young woman could ever want. She comes from a prominent black family rooted in the history of Connecticut. She has grace, style, and education. She lacks nothing, well nothing except her brother, who was murdered when she was 10 years old. The grief and trauma of the event that she witnessed stayed with her, placing a dark shadow on a seemingly idyllic life. Henry, Ebby’s fiancé, has tried to understand how the tragic event continues to impact Ebby, but he worries about their future together. On the day of their wedding, when Henry doesn’t show, Ebby must finally come to terms with her brother’s murder and decide who she is going to be.

Ebby’s story is threaded through with the history of the jar “Old Mo” which was crafted by an enslaved man in 1847. As the reader learns more about Ebby and her family, they also learn about the history of the jar and its impact on generations who cared for it.

“Good Dirt” while dealing with difficult topics is overall a very hopeful book, encouraging all of us to heal from the wounds of a problematic and burdensome shared history of slavery. To overcome the past and invest in the future and embrace our connectedness.