The Prince and the Dressmaker

The Prince and the Dressmaker

Jen Wang

This beautiful comic follows Frances, an overworked dressmaker with a creative eye, and Prince Sebastian, a young prince with a secret.  When Frances’ bold fashion creation scandalizes the aristocracy, she receives a cryptic job offer from a mysterious benefactor. Desperate for a better job, she accepts only to discover that her mysterious benefactor is actually the young prince! Wearing beautiful dresses makes Sebastian feel confident and the Prince wants this daring dressmaker to be outfitted as Lady Crystallia.   

The relationship between Frances and Sebastian grows from friendship to something more, but their secret might get between them as it inhibits Frances’ career. Their reputation grows until Lady Crystallia becomes the hottest fashion icon in the kingdom, but Frances gets none of the credit for her amazing creations. On top of that, can Sebastian keep this secret or will this secret identity be discovered. And, if that identity is discovered, what will people think? 

This comic has everything: gorgeous illustrations, loveable characters, creative plot, and strong heartwarming moments. It has a fairy tale vibe full of romance, fashion, and charm.  I love the message that society may set limitations on what you can and cannot do, but breaking out of that mold can make you all the more interesting and successful.  Just because you are a poor seamstress, does not mean you cannot have a voice, and just because you’re supposed to be a certain way does not mean you cannot thrive if you break out of that mold. 

The Prince and the Dressmaker is a great story with a clear, positive message. An all-around smile inducing story!

The Sun is Also a Star

The Sun is also a Star covers one pivotal day in the lives of two American teenagers. 

Natasha, an illegal Jamaican immigrant has 12 hours before her and her family are deported. The thing is, this whole deportation thing is not Natasha’s fault! She’s lived in New York longer than she has lived in Jamaica – her dad made a mistake and now she has to pay for it. Determined to set things right, Natasha goes to the immigration office one last time to plead her case and stay in her home. 

Daniel, a Korean-American poet, is delaying his inevitable interview that will help him get a place in his parent’s dream school.  With the disappointment of his older, ‘golden boy’ brother’s fall from grace, the pressure on Daniel to make his family proud is overwhelming.

When these two bump into each other, Daniel falls for Natasha immediately. Natasha is not so easily convinced. Natasha is a scientific girl; she believes in facts, numbers, and data. Daniel believes in fate and he is going to convince Natasha, through science, that they are meant to be together.  Time and again throughout the day, Natasha and Daniel find themselves thrown together, be it by fate or coincidence.  

These 12 hours of Daniel and Natasha’s life swing from each character’s perspective, giving the reader a chance to get to know each character and their family.  Issues of immigration, family expectation, and racism are all covered in this romantic tale, giving it so much more depth than you’d expect from the average romance novel.  

This book gives you authentic perspectives from fully realized characters. Daniel and Natasha are flawed, relatable people that are easy to connect with. Not only do Daniel and Natasha have a voice in this story, random people that encounter them along the way also get little chapters of perspective. These interesting and touching glimpses into periphery character’s lives gives the book yet another layer that brings the story together.

If you are a bit of a romantic at heart, and believe in fate, this book is for you. The Sun is also a Star is more than a romance novel, it’s a touching story on the human condition.

Similar readers are: Holding up the Universe by Jennifer Niven and Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland.

After The Shot Drops

   

by Randy Ribay

After the Shot Drops is a powerful novel about friendship, basketball, and one teen's mission to create a better life for his family. 

This is an amazing story that is told in alternating chapters in the voices of Bunny and Nasir, who have been best friends forever, but are at odds with each other since Bunny transferred to a private school on a basketball scholarship, and Nasir feels betrayed.  

Bunny, so called because he has ‘hops’ and is an excellent basketball player tries to fit in with his new, privileged peers and finds it hard to connect to his new surroundings outside of basketball. 

Meanwhile, with the absence of Bunny, Nasir spends more time with his cousin, Wallace, who is not necessarily the best influence for Nasir. Wallace lives with his grandma and facing eviction, he makes some choices that put him in danger and put Nasir in jeopardy too. 

As Nasir and Bunny begin to rekindle their friendship, Wallace sees it as an opportunity to improve his situation and plays on Nasir's loyalty to help him discredit Bunny.

As the final game nears, Wallace asks Nasir the impossible asking him to risk everything to help Wallace out of a jam. Can Nasir come through, what will it cost him, Bunny, Wallace and their future? 

Throughout this book, I found myself yelling at the characters as they continually put themselves into difficult situations and made decisions that were not necessarily going to help. Just like at the basketball games, we are spectators in the lives of these characters and can only hope things turn out well in the end.

Eleanor and Park

Eleanor and Park

By Rainbow Rowell

Everyone sits on the bus, one person to a seat and nobody changes seats, nobody moves to let someone else sit down. That's the unspoken rules of the bus. 

Eleanor gets on the bus that first day at her new school and knows the rules, but she also knows she has to sit somewhere, the bus driver keeps telling her to. 

Park sits on the bus, he knows the rules, he is a pro at keeping his head down so Steve doesn't target him in his put downs. Just ignore her, Park thinks. But he can't ignore Eleanor. 

Thus begins their friendship that spans one school year.  Park sees something in Eleanor that she doesn't see in herself. Living in an abusive situation, Eleanor doesn't believe she is worthy of much, and just tries to make it through the day. Park begins sharing his comics with Eleanor and then mix tapes of music they both like. They begin to hang out more and more and their friendship blossoms into first love. 

Park protects Eleanor, but in his quiet unassuming manner, well, except for that time he martial arts kicked Steve at the bus! As Eleanor's home life becomes dangerous to the point that Eleanor needs to escape, Park devises a plan to get her to safety. 

Throughout this book, I was hoping things could change for Eleanor, that she could escape her home situation or someone would see her struggles and at least buy her a toothbrush. I am glad she had Park for a friend and loved the hopeful ending.

There are many themes in this book, friendship (sometimes found in unexpected places), domestic violence, bullying, and body image, all of which are written about so well. It reminds you of what it is like to be young and in love, a must read for the young adult and adult seeker of realistic fiction.

Ten Thousand Skies Above You

Ten Thousand Skies Above You

by Claudia Gray

In book 2 of the Firebird Series, Claudia Gray continues the cross-dimensional adventures of Marguerite Caine as she tries to save Paul from the person she now knows to be the real enemy. 

Marguerite and her family are coming to terms with all that has happened in A Thousand Pieces of You, and are learning to deal with the consequences, especially for Theo. In order to help Theo recover, Paul heads off to the multiverse to look for a cure. When he doesn't return as expected, Marguerite is forced to make a deal with Conley to try and save him, one piece at a time. His soul has been splintered and lies scattered across multiple universes leaving him with no memory of Marguerite's Paul, or of Marguerite.

As Margeurite and Theo travel into the multiple dimensions they encounter new, alternate worlds and within them, alternate versions of themselves. As they gather the pieces of Paul, while trying to keep Triad at bay, Marguerite begins to question her belief in destiny and fate as she sees how things aren't as she always believed they would be - no matter what.


This book is as fast paced and action packed as book 1, and leaves you hanging and desperate for book 3 (A Million Worlds With You). Fortunately, all three books are out now, so you don't have to wait!

The Hate U Give

The Hate U Give

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

 Starr Carter lives in a poor black neighbourhood, but attends a white prep school in the suburbs. She lives two lives, one in each place, but one night these worlds threaten to collide as she becomes the sole witness to the shooting of her best friend, Khalil. Khalil is unarmed and shot by a white police officer, while Starr sits by helplessly. 

The fallout from this shooting affects Starr, her family, and her neighbourhood. Starr's anonymity in the event is what keeps her safe, but when the shooting becomes a national headline and Khalil is portrayed as a thug, a drug dealer, and not Starr's childhood friend, the sweet boy who loves his mama, she struggles between keeping quiet and speaking out. As the only witness, Starr is the one person who knows exactly what happened that night. 

With hope that the system will not fail Khalil, Starr continues her normal day to day existence, but as time goes on, and street protests erupt, she finds it more and more difficult to reconcile her two worlds. She hears comments and sees behaviour with a heightened awareness that leave her deeply considering what she needs to do.

This book is a firsthand account of a life surrounded by racialization and marginalization.It explores and questions white privelege, black oppression, racism, police brutality, discrimination, and prejudice as Starr finds her voice and learns the power it has. 

Labor Day

Labor Day

By Joyce Maynard

Being the week of Labour Day I felt this title was appropriate. This is held in the Richmond Public Library adult collection but I believe this coming of age story is wonderful for young adult readers too.

Joyce Maynard has combined a young mans coming of age story with an interesting love story; not just between a man and a woman but also between a boy and a father figure. Labor Day tells the story of Henry and his single mother just getting through life until one Labor day weekend.

Henry's mother finds it difficult to leave the house, with a debilitating discomfort of other people and places. Henry is doing his best to take care of her until they meet an intriguing man the Thursday before Labor Day. While shopping at their local convenience shop Henry is approached by a man, looking a little worse for ware with some blood on his pants and a large cut on his head. Would you invite a stranger with blood on his clothes into your home? Thirteen year old Henry and his mother, Adele, did and what happens next might surprise you.
It turns out that the stranger, Frank, is an escaped convict on the run. Frank is strong and innovative, helpful and kind, even when he has Henry's mother tied up to a kitchen chair there is a safety that Adele seems to feel.

Henry learn's some of life's valuable lessons: how to make the perfect piecrust; don't put in too much water, how to throw a baseball; finger placement is the key. Henry will also learn about jealousy, betrayal, love and patience all from the mysterious Frank.

This is an adult title and has some strong language and contains a small amount of sexual content.

Also available in streaming audiobook format through your RPL Hoopla account.

Book of the Month- June - We Are Still Tornadoes

We Are Still Tornadoes

We Are Still Tornadoes by Michael Kun and Susan Mullen follows the friendship of Catherine and Scott as they move on from high school. 

We learn about the ups and downs of Cath and Scott's lives this first year out of high school through their letters to each other. Cath has gone off to college and Scott has stayed behind in their home town to work in his father's store and to try to get his band up and running.

This tale of growing up takes place in the 1980's so there is no texting or email, just good old fashioned letters on school (Cath) and store (Scott) letterhead.  The letters back and forth make for a fast read, and the occasional urgent page turner (did Scott get that letter?!?!) to make sure the friends are up to date on the latest news from home and college. 

Through their letters to each other we meet their families, old school friends, old boy and girl friends, new friends and roommates. We experience the trials and tribulations of their first year out of the safe high school community with humour, sadness and joy as they support and offer honest guidance to each other. 

Having been best friends forever, it is logical that they are able to share their innermost thoughts about their lives and can fight, and laugh, and cry together and have such an honest relationship. Even though you know how it is going to end, it is a great fast read that I highly recommend.

Exit, Pursued by a Bear

by E. K. Johnston

Exit, Pursued by a Bear is a worthy successor to Laurie Halse Anderson's seminal novel Speak.  In Speak, Melinda Sordino was so traumatised by her assault that she was unable to even say the words "I was raped," to herself, much less out loud for months afterwards.  Hermione Winters, the protagonist of Exit, Pursued by a Bear, is everything Melinda was not: popular, confident, unwilling to cower in the aftermath of her rape, with the bonus of super-supportive parents and a steadfast best friend.

Hermione is the co-captain of the award-winning cheerleading team at Palermo Heights High School in the small town of Palermo Heights, Ontario.  On the first night of an annual summer cheer camp, every school talks about their inner collective demons: fear of heights, plagues of self-doubt.  Hermione, though, describes PHHS as a cursed school where, "every single class... since 2006 has lost a student to a drunk driver... [and] every year one of the girls in PHHS gets pregnant."  The cheerleading squad's challenge is to break the curse.  Hermione's class may have lost a student years ago to a drunk driver, but they are determined that there will not be a pregnant girl at PHHS this year.

The cheerleading team is no laughing matter, and in fact they are the pride of Palermo Heights.  In Palermo Heights, the sports teams play second fiddle to the cheerleaders. PHHS's cheerleading team is also unusually tightly-knit, which is a factor in their ongoing success.  This camaraderie is threatened during cheer camp.  One minute Hermione is dancing at the end-of-camp dance, and the next thing she remembers is waking up in a hospital, where her best friend, Polly, informs Hermione she's been raped.

Hermione refuses to let one single event define her, but it proves difficult in a small town with a small high school.  The whispers, stares, and rumours follow Hermione as she tries to move on from the rape, enlisting the help of once-a-week sessions with a psychologist, and throwing herself back into cheerleading.

Johnston handles several sensitive issues -- rape, pregnancy, abortion, sexuality --  in Hermione's matter-of-fact voice.  It serves to put things into perspective.  Yes, Hermione's rape is traumatic, and she experiences flashbacks, often at inopportune times, but to Hermione the actual event matters less than how she decides to handle it.  I think that is what makes this book stand out in a crowded YA shelf: Hermione decides who is going to tell her story.  It's on her terms and no one else's.  It also passes the infamous "Bechdel test," in which two women discuss anything other than a boy.

If the title rings a bell, congratulations!  You are officially a Shakespeare nerd.  "Exit, pursued by a bear..." is one of the more bewildering stage directions in Shakespeare, from his play A Winter's Tale.  To this day nobody knows if Shakespeare intended to use a real bear or an actor in a bear costume.  The novel, though, is much less circumspect.  The bear that pursues Hermione are the myriad slings and arrows from the aftermath of the rape.  The novel is a cleverly drawn parallel between Shakespeare's play of a falsely accused queen named Hermione.  So, Exit, Pursued by a Bear, is in fact, a Winters' tale, because it is the tale of Hermione Winters.  In the play, King Leontes accuses Queen Hermione of having an affair.  In the novel, Hermione's boyfriend Leo, doesn't really believe she was raped.  The play has a character called Polixenes who proclaims Hermione's innocence, and the novel has Hermione's bestie Polly, who will defend Hermione until she no longer has breath.

If you enjoy books with strong female leads, and read a realistic story where girls can talk about more than their respective love lives, you'll enjoy this book.  I know I did.

For read-alikes, try Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick; The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and of course, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.

Finding Audrey

By Sophie Kinsella

 Sophie Kinsella, of the Shopaholic series fame, brings us this account of Audrey, a teen suffering from anxiety as the result of some sort of traumatic event (we don't know what) that has sent her into darkness and despair. She is unable to leave her house, or go to school, or talk to anyone, or to remove her dark sunglasses. 

The story is told from inside Audrey's head, so we have a first hand account of where she is at in her recovery and demonstrates Audrey's lack of awareness of the effect of her illness on the other members of her family. It takes some time for Audrey to realize how wrapped up in herself she has been, not being aware of anything outside of herself and her feelings.

Audrey's family is a bit quirky, Mum reads the Daily Mail and allows the crazy stories in there to influence her parenting, Dad tries to support Mum, sometimes having trouble keeping up, brother Frank is a frustrated teen (see Mum's attempts at parenting), and Audrey's anxiety keeps her hidden from the world. 

Audrey sees Dr. Sarah, who helps Audrey make progress in her recovery by trying to get her to take some steps outside of her comfort zone. One day her comfort zone is invaded by Linus, a friend of Frank, who actually seems to understand Audrey and is able to support her steps to recovery. 

This book is an honest look at Audrey's anxiety and the difficulty she faces as she tries to emerge from the darkness, written with humour and respect.

 

The Court of Fives

By Kate Elliot

As a child of mixed-race, Jessamy is torn between her duty as a Patron and her longing for the freedom of the Commoners. In particular, Jessamy is determined to compete in The Court of Fives, a dangerous multilevel competition. Through the Fives, Jessamy achieves that sense of freedom and begins making friends such as Kai, a highborn Patron boy. Soon outside forces interfere and Jessamy’s secret activities begin to demand a terrible price as choices of loyalty, love, and honor alter the course of her and her family’s lives and lead her to question everything she once believed in.

The Court of Fives is an entertaining and refreshing novel with an exciting plot and an easy style of writing that makes it smooth and relatively quick to read. Kate Elliot has challenged many of the tired clichés we’ve all come to expect from a dystopian teen novel and created a plot-driven Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel where honor and competition take priority over romance, a subtle touch of magic is intertwined with religious elements, and the unlikely heroine is at times thoughtless, selfish, and overly ambitious. I was hooked almost immediately and I found the plot twists to be genuinely unexpected and emotionally charged.

On the negative side, I have seen better world-building. Some places, traditions, and events are described with a confusing amount of detail, while others are barely explained at all. However, I have always cared more about characters than setting, and Elliot’s characters are believable, if not always admirable, so I stayed interested and invested despite skimming through the occasional paragraph. I am also looking forward to seeing how the series might develop as I anticipate that it will pull back a little from Jessamy’s rather narrow world and to begin to address, and even combat, the brokenness and injustice of her society as a whole.

A few minor flaws aside, The Court of Fives is definitely worth a read, especially for die-hard dystopian fans who have been searching for a new favorite since The Hunger Games. This one will still give you that strong, flawed female lead as well as plenty of action and intrigue, but everything else will keep you guessing.

The Truth Commision

The Truth Commission 

by Susan Juby

There is a saying that the truth will set you free, but sometimes that truth comes with a price. Normandy, Neil and Dusk (who's real name is Dawn) are art students at the Green Pastures Academy in Nanaimo, BC and they decide to ask their classmates some truth seeking questions. 

As they probe their peers, they uncover truths that they may not have been expecting, not only about their targets, but also about themselves. All of this truth seeking starts a domino effect throughout the school and  the student body comes clean in different ways with both positive and negative results. 

The hardest truth to uncover is about what happened to Normandy's famous sister, Keira. Keira, a published graphic novelist has mysteriously returned from college and has shut herself away from everyone. It doesn't help that Normandy's parents are in denial about any issues that Keira's novels have wrought upon the family - the graphic novel characters bear a striking, yet unflattering resemblance to Normandy and her parents. In trying to uncover what has happened to Keira, Normandy is forced to face some unpleasant truths of her own, but with the support of Neil, Dusk, and some unlikely allies, she develops the strength needed to carry on.

The writing style is engaging, written in Normandy's voice, in the format of her final project for class. The tales of the truth commission are dotted with Normandy's own wit and observations, often in the form of amusing footnotes to her teacher. Juby pulls you right into the story and you find yourself caring for and rooting for the characters as they find out truths about themselves and each other.

The Shadow Hero

by Gene Luen Yang, illustrated by Sonny Liew

Hank Chu goes about his life, like most young men in Chinatown.  He spends his days working in his family's store and his spare time playing mahjong with his father and his father's friends.  It's a quiet life, and Hank enjoys it very much.  His world turns a little upside down when his mother is rescued during a bank robbery by a superhero, The Anchor of Justice.  Mrs. Chu throws herself into turning Hank into a homegrown superhero, subjecting him to everything from odd medicines to toxic sludge; sewing a costume; and driving him around Chinatown at night to try and find crimes in progress.  Let's just say it doesn't go well.  Hank is initially resistant to his mother's actions, but when his father is killed, all bets are off, and Hank is out to avenge his father's killer, with a little help from the Turtle, one of the guardian spirits of China.

The Shadow Hero is an origin story for a short-lived superhero comic series from the 1930s written by Chu Hing, called the Green Turtle, who is said to have been the first Asian superhero.  It uses a lot of the stereotypical superhero tropes (parent violently dying, secret identity, teenaged protagonist), but adroitly avoids some of the others, like women in distress or the protagonist having lots of nifty tools and toys. Hank also lacks the seemingly bottomless bank account that goes with the supply of cool toys.  (Yeah, I'm looking at you, Batman and Iron Man!)  Hank manages to fight crimes based on his own wits, strength, and intelligence, which makes a refreshing change from otherwordly powers and gadgets.  Another thing I really liked was that Hank never contemplates killing his enemies and tries to avoid violence at all if he can.

Yang writes wonderfully complex characters.  The character that leads a quiet life turns out to have been a troublemaker in his younger days.  Do stereotypes exist in his comics?  Yes, but they don't stay stereotypes for long.  Circumstances change his characters, sometimes for better, sometimes not.  But nobody stays static in Yang's world for very long.

Sonny Liew's drawings evoke vintage comic books, and he does a great job differentiating between events in the past and present. He even uses the classic comic elements of onomatopoeic sound effects ("bang," "pow," etc.).  He manages to draw the characters so that they are readily distinct from one another.


Gene Luen Yang is the award-winning author of American Born Chinese, Boxers & Saints, and Level Up.  He also wrote several Avatar: The Last Airbender comics.