Publisher summary: Freshmen Dayton and Farshid couldn’t be more different—or so it seems.

When Dayton takes a dare and shouts the f-slur at a visiting author during a school event, it sets off a chain reaction that forces both boys to face parts of themselves they’d rather ignore.

Dayton, grappling with the fallout of his actions, faces rejection from his friends, disappointment from his parents, and a growing awareness of the harm he’s caused. Meanwhile, Farshid is left to untangle his own feelings—about himself and about the quiet struggle of coming to terms with his queerness in a world steeped in heteronormativity.

As their lives unexpectedly intersect, Dayton and Farshid must reckon with what kind of men they want to become and whether they have the courage to defy toxic masculinity and societal expectations.

My Thoughts: One Word, Six Letters accomplishes a lot in a short amount of time. The title itself is extremely effective. It alludes to the word that Dayton shouts out, but also has a brevity to it. In addition, having four words with a comma in the middle gives a feeling of two sides which could hint at the dual perspective. There is a surface simplicity with additional depth.

The novel bounces back and forth between Dayton and Farshid, but is told in second person which may feel a little strange for readers. Seeing the word you over and over again is unusual, but in this way, the reader is really pushed to experience the events from each of the points of view. Readers are standing in place of the characters. Initially, I wasn’t sure if that structure would work for an entire novel, but it was an excellent choice for helping readers see the characters more thoroughly and perhaps have more understanding.

This story provides a look into the emotional upheaval that one act can cause not only for the intended target, but also for the immediate community and of course, the perpetrator. The initial act has consequences, but there are ripples that almost seem without end.

My Recommendation: Get it soon. This is a great book for anyone who enjoys contemporary realistic fiction. It would also be a wonderful book for a book club or in a classroom where discussion is encouraged. There’s a lot to think about involving the characters and how they make their choices, but also in how society and culture can lead to situations like this.

Publisher: Macmillan
Pages: 224
Review copy: Library copy
Availability: On shelves now

Extras:
Video interview with author on The Hub
Global Read Aloud (which starts in October) and Educator links
Q&A at The Nerd Daily

The Gods Will Sing Our Song by Autumn Krause
Delacorte Press

A divine favor can change everything.

1942. War rumbles across the world, gods stir in the wind, and two lives are set on a collision course that will change them forever.

Seventeen-year-old Ren Hamada has always been defined by his troubled past, while Violet Aratani has only ever worried about keeping her straight-A grades and helping her parents run their beloved print shop. The two have little in common beyond the old magic that thrums in their worn family relics—and the fact that they’re Japanese American in a country determined to cast them as the enemy.

Forced out of their homes and into ramshackle wooden barracks in the California desert by the US government, Ren and Violet collide. In a barbed wire world where everything they thought they knew is upside-down, the magnetic pull between them is the only thing that makes sense.

But there’s more than just desert dust swirling in the air. A god walks among them, his mortal form tethered to the camp, and only Violet and Ren hold the key to freeing him—an act that would earn them an immeasurable reward. Yet with tensions rising and their lives on the line, is even a divine favor powerful enough to save them?

Golden Flight (The Keeper’s Records of Revolution Book 2 of 2) by S.K. Ali
Kokila

How difficult is it to crash the party of the decade? Literally crash it?

The Golden Flight happens once every ten years — a gala to honor elites fallen in service of maintaining Upper Earth’s powerful hold on earth’s remaining populace and dwindling resources.

It’s a party where cunning new technology gets unveiled to masked revelers perpetually thirsty for fresh entertainment.

It’s also a party Raisa and Nayf plan to infiltrate to bring down Upper Earth for good.

Even with a known traitor, and a mysterious, ruthless avenger in their midst, pulling off a dangerous mission in enemy territory feels possible with record-keeper Khalda at the helm. To crack into Upper Earth, simply find strategic details hidden in the records.

However, they soon discover the toll of running a crew with competing, secretive goals: the lines between friend and foe begin to blur to violent ends.

But on an oil rig at the edge of the world, the sun rises and shines on a team member no one knows about.

Will she bring the seed of hope or be the source of ultimate chaos?

Just who is she — and why does she know exactly how to end the world?

Hawk & Sparrow by Ayana Gray
Balzer & Bray

Vesper Evans has always resented Basalton’s high society, and the sorcery that provides them with a luxurious life unimaginable to most. Orphaned as a child and rescued by the editor of The Basalton Globe, Vesper is now an ambitious reporter determined to keep her newspaper afloat.

While covering a lavish society gala, Vesper happens upon a shocking scene: the murdered body of a man she had spoken with just minutes before. Several of the powerful magical elite may want the man dead, but the prime suspect is wealthy industrialist Maximilian Kite.

Max soon makes Vesper a tempting offer: Find the culprit and restore his reputation in exchange for a substantial fee. Despite her distaste for Max’s world, Vesper agrees—the money would save the Globe, and the story would be the scoop of a lifetime. There’s only one catch: In order for her to infiltrate society, the two must pose as a courting couple.

Their investigation takes them from the highest echelons of privilege to the seediest backstreets of Basalton. As they unearth the city’s secrets and scandals, Vesper finds herself in grave danger—while falling for one of the most infuriating, arrogant, handsome men she has ever met . . .

The Heart Trials by J. Elle
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Welcome to The Heart Trials.
The prize is love.
The cost is everything.

In Ethyria the highborn may love; the lowborn may only feel what the Benevolent allows.

Saltblood lowborn Axira Merreri survives the decaying districts by keeping her heart locked tight, couriering goods by day—and smuggling the ruler’s euphoric Heartfillers to the highborn by night. Until a drop goes wrong and her execution looms.

When she strikes a dangerous bargain to steal something from the Tournament of Hearts, a ruthless dating competition to gain highborn citizenship, she enters. Not for love. For freedom. But as the twisted allure of the competition turns deadly, an unexpected connection cracks her defenses, forcing her to confront a truth she fears: In a regime built on engineered happiness, the most dangerous weapon she has is her heart.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author J. Elle delivers a breathless series opener that is bold, bone-chilling, and wholly original. For fans of the cutthroat competition of The Hunger Games, Love Island, and Powerless, this dystopian romantasy explores what happens when the heart becomes the empire’s sharpest blade.

Rebel: The Graphic Novel by Marie Lu, adapted by Kyla Vanderklugt; illustrated by Kaari
Roaring Brook Press

Eden Wing is a brilliant student. He’s about to graduate a year early from Ross University of the Sciences. But most people don’t introduce Eden this way. Instead, they say, “This is Eden, Daniel Wing’s younger brother.”

Ten years ago, Daniel was known as Day, the boy who led a revolution that saved the Republic of America. Day has since spent the past decade piecing together his memory of his time in the Republic, quietly hiding from the world—even if it’s meant giving up June, the love of his life.

When June suddenly steps back into Day’s life, rekindling the flames of their romance, the pair team up to rescue Eden who’s been drawn into Ross City’s dark side. But like the rest of the world, they may have underestimated Eden—what he’s capable of, where his loyalties lie, and how hard he’s willing to fight for what he believes.

Return to the world of Legend in this epic graphic novel adaptation of the pulse-pounding finale to the series, which brings to life the bestselling Rebel with full-color illustrations.

Waiting on a Miracle by Anika Fajardo
Random House/Disney

Mirabel’s worst fear is confirmed—she is responsible for the faltering powers of the Familia Madrigal. Guilt-ridden and feuding with her sisters, Mirabel decides to save the magic herself. Sure, she may be the only gift-less member of her family, but she knows she can put their crumbling pieces back together again.

Unfortunately, Mirabel’s youngest cousin, Antonio, beats her to it. He overhears Tío Bruno’s vision and does the unthinkable—leaves the Encanto to find a solution. Terrified of what could happen outside the safety of their home, Mirabel has no other choice but recruit Strong Luisa and Perfect Isabela to help find their baby cousin.

But what starts as a rescue mission turns into a magical quest with a band of brothers whose family has a deep secret connection to theirs.

And soon, Mirabel learns that missing cousins and disappearing gifts may be just the beginning of their problems….

While there is legitimate concern about the state of literacy in our country, I also want to highlight all the work that is being done to get kids excited about reading. As a member of NCTE and ALAN, I am surrounded by amazing teachers and librarians who are pushing whole novels in the classroom, creating book clubs, holding reading parties, and engaging their entire school community in the adventure of reading. And it is working. The past LA Times Festival of Books was the biggest ever. I only went one day to the festival so I can only speak to the crowds of one day, but I can say that it was extremely crowded. As in more than usual. I’m usually good with crowds and have never reached my limit at LAFOB before but this year I did. There was just so many people, but there were more booths, more indie bookstores, just more celebration of books. It was a great day. The following week was the Y’all West festival and I always take a bus load of students with me. And again, there was more people than ever before. All of my students had never been to a book festival before and they all shared how much fun the festival was and how excited they were to get back into reading. These two experiences alone showed me that slowly people are getting back into reading again, especially more kids and teens.

Being on the frontlines of the fight and seeing my own students improve in their reading leaves me with hope. You only have to see the response to influencers who are sharing their own reading journeys to see that change is slowly happening. The rise of BookTok is also an indication that there is change happening. I do not deny the statistics of low readership, but I do feel like those of us who have been putting in the work should not feel dismayed. What we are doing is working and we need to continue the fight.

Lastly, society lost one of its champions of reading when Dolly Parton left us a few days ago, but her joy for literature remained. Her family asked for donations to her Imagination Library instead of flowers and so many people donated that the site crashed. That tells you something right there. Folks do care about reading and want to get books in the hands of children. After all, that is where a love of reading starts.

If you wish to donate to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, click on the link.

The Healers of Harlem: The Black Women Who Changed Medicine Forever by Nina Chhita
Dutton Books for Young Readers

The story of the Harlem Hospital is entwined with the history of desegregation and the Civil Rights Movement in America. In this unique interdisciplinary history, Chhita chronicles the Harlem Hospital from its beginnings as a small hospital in the late-19th century to the day it saved Dr. MArtin Luther King Jr.’s life to its present form as a world class medical facility. She focuses on four Black women who were instrumental in the long struggle to demolish racist barriers in the hospital and overcome anti-Black bias against its work after integration.

Chhita spent years doing interviews and painstaking archival research, and the book features many previously unpublished primary sources which she skillfully weaves into a story of personal and collective struggle and triumph.

Palestine: A Primer by Rashid Khalidi
Godwin Books

Come for a walk with me, if you would, along the streets of Jerusalem.

My family has walked has walked these streets for more than a thousand years. . .

Rashid Khalidi invites readers to learn more about Palestine in what is both a deeply personal and yet expansive account of the last hundred years of the country’s history. By blending detailed research with firsthand experiences, this book is equal parts compelling and informative—the perfect educational resource for all ages. From the Balfour Declaration to Israel’s siege of the Gaza strip, Khalidi delivers a thorough portrait of the intricacies of the geopolitical conflict occurring in the middle east while keeping the text broadly accessible.

This edition features beautifully designed patterned edges along with a plethora of maps, photographs, and illustrations. There has never been a more engaging way to learn about the history of this region.

Guardians of Dawn: Suhwa (Vol. 4) by S. Jae-Jones
Wednesday Books

The stunning conclusion to the richly imagined Guardians of Dawn fantasy series from S. Jae-Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of Wintersong.

Shadows fade. Illusions break. The dawn returns.

Min Suhwa has always longed to see the greater world outside the small, cloistered convent in which she was raised. Hidden there for her safety when she was a small child, Suhwa has learned to keep her unusual illusion magic to herself, but when the Bangtan Brothers come to town to perform, she can’t resist the chance to go see them for herself. But the world outside her convent is dangerous—the Morning Realms have fallen to civil war, and Huntsmen prowl the land in search of magicians and the fabled Guardians of Dawn, legendary elemental warriors with incredible powers. When Suhwa’s illusion magic brings her afoul of one of the Huntsmen, she must flee for her life.

Meanwhile, the Guardians of Dawn and their allies are fighting a war on two fronts—against the northern insurrection seeking to claim the Sunburst Throne and destroy all magicians, and against the rising threat of the Mother of Ten Thousand Demons. Zhara, Ami, and Yuli must travel to the Azure Isles to seek the Guardian of Water and save the Morning Realms from annihilation, restoring balance to order and chaos once and for all.

Bound by Fury by Noelle Monét
Margaret K. McElderry Books

Harper grew up loving her grandma Gigi’s stories about pretty brown girls with magic from the stars, but they were just that—stories…until Gigi’s sudden death awakens a dangerous power building beneath Harper’s skin. Desperate for answers, Harper finds herself drawn to an elite boarding school in the Appalachian Mountains.

A school that Gigi herself attended, and one rumored to be haunted by the ghosts of witches past.

Harper arrives at Black Mountain Academy determined to learn about her burgeoning power, even if that means dealing with Kai, her grumpy ex-best friend now hellbent on getting her to leave campus, and his cousin, Lucas, who won’t let her forget the almost-kiss from last summer. But Black Mountain Academy was built on secrets, and the deeper Harper digs, the more sinister rot she finds lurking beneath.

When Harper unearths a chilling local legend about the gruesome deaths of twelve witches on campus, she feels an uncanny connection to the women. But someone doesn’t want her exposing the school’s dark past, and when it becomes clear they’ll kill to stop her, Harper has to decide whether to leave her history behind or risk everything for the truth of her own identity.

Publisher summary: Seventeen-year-old Elena Ok (pronounced “Oak”) has mastered the art of being both a Los Angeles party girl and financially savvy influencer, but her family doesn’t see the brilliance behind her carefully curated image. Instead, they endlessly praise her older brother, Gavin, whose most impressive achievement is consistently forgetting his homework. All of Elena’s hard work and social clout disintegrates when the Oks, founders of the wildly popular (and now bankrupt) fast-fashion brand It’s Ok! (pronounced “OKAY”), lose their fortune overnight.

With their empire crumbling and an investigation underway, the Oks flee to Blaire, CA—a farming town that’s as glamorous as Temu. Mr. Ok, a now-disgraced retail mogul, and Mrs. Ok, a now-also-disgraced fashion-forward matriarch, realize they’ve spent decades perfecting their public personas at the expense of actually knowing their kids. Meanwhile, Elena and Gavin are stuck in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to distract them from their family’s unraveling dynamics—or each other’s annoying habits.

But life in Blaire isn’t all bad. As the family reconnects with their Korean farming heritage, Elena discovers a hidden gem: the Blaire Fair, the local market brimming with untapped potential. Applying her business savvy, she helps the small-town vendors thrive and sees how they put their profits back into the community. For the first time, Elena begins to question her own definition of success.

The Oks Are Not OK offers humor and drama to tell a story about family, self-discovery, and the fine line between building a brand and building a life.

My Thoughts: To start, I love the jacket art by Michelle Kwon with the design by Kristin Boyle. The cover caught my attention and then the jacket flap convinced me I needed to read this one immediately. I was in the mood for something humorous and fun so the Oks seemed like the perfect fit for the week.

On Instagram, the author has indicated that Schitt’s Creek was an inspiration and that does show through. The premise of a wealthy family needing to relocate and figure out life in a new (to them) place with very little money is similar and there are also a lot of reasons to smile, laugh, and occasionally cringe. Since I have watched Schitt’s Creek and loved it, I had mixed feelings going into the story worrying that it would follow too closely or be a swing and a miss, but Shim did create something unique. While there are quite a few similarities, the story and situations are new and the characters certainly have their own little quirks.

Elena and her family seem to have everything and appear to have perfect lives, but this huge reversal of fortune shines a light on many things that were very far from ideal. There are important characters outside the family too, but most of the story is centered around the family and the relationships within the four. We get to see the siblings interact with each other and also see how they both seek and avoid the attention of their parents.

There are quite a few moments of humor related to the fish-out-of-water situation, but there are other times when the joke is miscommunication or misunderstandings within the family. The author doesn’t simply rely on the one method for bringing readers to laughter or smiles.

One thing that was very interesting was how little Elena and Gavin knew about their parent’s lives when they were younger. As the story unfolds, they learn more and more about the challenges their parents faced in Korea as the nation was moving forward after years of war.

Most of the story is told through the eyes of Elena and it’s conversational, but there is also some background information delivered through excerpts from the book their father wrote about life and business and from interview transcripts with their mother. It was helpful because through those bits and pieces, readers get to hear some of their perspective without being filtered through Elena. It’s also another way to see how the parents are trying to present themselves to the world.

Recommendation: Overall, this was a warm and funny family read that made my day a little brighter. Get it now if you are looking for a contemporary book that will entertain and give cozy vibes.

Publisher: Kokila
Pages:352
Review copy: Via the public library
Availability: On shelves now
Extra for K-drama fans: Anbandegi (I wanted to known more after I read about this village mentioned in the book and when I looked it up, it seemed familiar. Then I realized the views were from the K-drama Cinderella and the Four Knights.)