YA Poetry
WHERE THE HEART SHOULD BE by Sarah Crossan
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I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from the publisher in order to write this review.
The publisher’s summary
In 1847, everything in Ireland was falling apart—but sixteen-year-old Nell was falling in love. Carnegie Medal winner Sarah Crossan’s first historical novel-in-verse is a suspenseful and heartbreaking story of love, family, and the forces that can destroy us or bind us forever. For fans of Joy McCullough, Elizabeth Acevedo, Malinda Lo, and Ruta Sepetys.
Ireland is starving, and a poor Irish scullery maid falls in love with the British heir to the land. Can their romance stay hidden during the devastating famine? The potatoes are black, people are dying, and in the midst of it all, Nell must do everything she can to keep her family together and everyone she loves alive.
It is hard to tell a love story
and also the story of a people
being torn apart.
My recommendation
In pithy, raw verse, Nell observes the horrific effects of starvation and the terrifying spiral toward revolution prompted by the grotesque imbalance of wealth and power. Crossan conveys the humanity of each character, including Nell’s family and the prickly Mrs. Kennedy and of course Nell’s beloved, Johnny, allowing readers to fall in love with each of them and their hearts to break along with Nell’s as the brutal conditions lead to irrevocable consequences. A must-read for YA fans of historical fiction and/or novels-in-verse.
LAWLESS SPACES by Corey Ann Haydu
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Mimi’s sixteenth birthday isn’t what she’d hoped. She’s not surprised that her mother chooses to go on an impromptu trip with her boyfriend and leave Mimi alone for days. It’s just like her mom. But she is shocked when the news story breaks that her mother is the accuser in a high-profile sexual assault case that’s been all over the news.
Home alone, and unable to get in touch with her mom, Mimi isn’t sure how to handle this news–especially because of how her mom reacted about an incident in Mimi’s life last year, an incident which her mother seemed to think was all Mimi’s fault simply because of how her body is shaped. But as Mimi struggles to navigate these overwhelming revelations–all the while dealing with her own struggles with dating and her body image–she finds a stack of journals in the attic and begins to connect with the journey of the generations of women in her family before her, women who have had struggles that are dishearteningly similar to the sexism Mimi is still experiencing decades later.
Told through Mimi’s poetry, this story is beautifully told, but heavy. There are very few lighter moments in this book that deals with such important but difficult themes. It is a strong, feminist coming-of-age novel that will appeal most to older teens and twenty-somethings who want to immerse themselves in this struggle and come out the other side feeling connected to a community of women–generations of women–who have experienced gender-based violence and discrimination and feeling inspired to join them in the fight.
ME (MOTH) by Amber McBride
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Since the car accident that took the lives of Moth’s parents and brother, she has been living with her aunt in a Virginia suburb where all the other kids (most of them white) do their best to ignore her. Moth doesn’t mind. She has been doing her best to make herself invisible. If she hadn’t lived so exuberantly before, maybe there would have been enough life available in that hospital for the rest of her family to walk out, too.
When a Navajo teen starts at her school just before summer break, Moth finds herself connecting with another person for the first time since her family’s death. Sani is a musician, always drumming on his desk, reminding Moth of her life before the accident, when she danced as easily as she breathed. And when Sani flees his abusive stepfather at the same time that Moth’s aunt vanishes, it seems like fate that the two should go on an adventure together, in search of healing and their history. On a roadtrip across the South toward Sani’s father in New Mexico, a romance blossoms as they each connect with their ancestors’ experiences and grapple with the magic and miracle of first love and their place in the universe.
This beautiful YA novel-in-verse explores the ways that our ancestral history and romantic love can both root us in the world and set us free. Poignant and surprising, the story brims with complex emotions and exquisite yet authentic poetry. Fans of Elizabeth Acevado and anyone looking for a thought-provoking, immersive literary novel will not want to miss this gorgeous debut!
Susan the Librarian 