All the Colors

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan explores the aftermath of a loved one’s suicide. This is a 2023 high school Nutmeg nominee.

Leigh’s mother had been showing signs of depression for quite a while. After her suicide, Leigh feels intense sadness and guilt. Her mother visits her as a red bird, leaving behind a message to remember along with items from the past. This sets Leigh on a course to Taiwan, where she meets her mother’s parents for the first time.

Leigh experiences important places and people from her mother’s past, some in reality and some through dream-like visions. All help her to better understand her mother and father, while also allowing her to confront her own feelings. Leigh’s artwork and relationships are important pieces of the story as well.

This is an artistic look at love, loss, mental illness, culture and family.

Staying Strong

Fire Keeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley is one of my favorites so far this summer.

Daunis Fontaine is Native American but has never been officially accepted in her father’s Ojibwe tribe due to circumstances surrounding her birth. She still maintains close relationships with her father’s sister and family traditions/culture. Learning the cultural traditions surrounding death, celebration, and prayer throughout this book were deeply interesting.

Due to her uncle’s death and her grandmother’s illness, Daunis decides to attend college close to home instead of away. This decision allows her to meet a handsome newcomer, Jamie, who will be playing on her brother’s hockey team.

Jamie isn’t just another player and his uncle isn’t just the new teacher in town. Both are undercover investigators of meth-x, a drug that is turning up in Native and hockey communities. Daunis becomes a confidential informant once her best friend is killed. Lines become blurred between family, friends and a love interest, making this a riveting story that my little summary does no justice to.

Daunis is a remarkable character- strong, intelligent and fiercely loyal to friends and family. The characters, gripping plot and culture make this an unforgettable read.

Triple Threat

You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus combines all the elements of great teen movies (drama, love, humor) added to the main plot of a murder mystery.

After drifting apart after middle school, Ivy, Mateo and Cal decide to recreate one of their “best days ever” by skipping a day of school their senior year. The day starts going downhill quickly once they cross paths with a dead classmate. Ivy is considered a possible suspect, which sets them on the investigative trail. Their search has them questioning classmates, family and teachers who may have been involved in a drug deal gone terribly wrong.

Chapters alternate among each friend, giving their back story and adding depth to the already intense situation.

Tracking a Monster

Sadie by Courtney Summers is the 2022 Nutmeg winner in the high school category.

Sadie is on a mission to find her mother’s former boyfriend Keith. She knows he is responsible for killing her thirteen-year-old sister Mattie. The story jumps back and forth between Sadie’s point of view and West McCray’s. McCray is running a podcast called Lost Girls. His chapters include the podcast script/notes from his conversations with Sadie’s caretaker/grandmother figure while following Sadie’s trail.

Readers find out that Sadie was molested by Keith during his time with their family, and she discovers that his background includes other victims too. Sadie finds herself in dangerous situations as she attempts to find and kill this monster. During her quest, we learn more about her relationship with her sister and their mother Claire. Will Sadie be able to enact vengeance and alleviate some of her own guilt for her sister’s murder?

This is a suspenseful read, but should be noted as having intense recollections of child abuse.

Breaking the Rules

First, I need to share a personal note. Since I am switching to high school in the new school year, my summer reading plan will include as much high school material as possible. Considering how much I plan on reading, I am going to keep my entries as brief as possible.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune is my first high school read of the summer. It was recommended by my peers and is a 2023 Nutmeg nominee.

This story is the ultimate fantasy. Linus is given a classified mission to investigate a top secret orphanage which houses the most extreme in magical, unusual children. There is a female gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an octopus-like boy, a shape shifter, and the devil’s son. Linus’s extremely predictable and rule-abiding existence is put to the test as he spends a month getting to know the children and care takers (both having their own secrets) of the remote island. His reports will determine if the orphanage is operating according to the rules and if it should stay open or not.

There are many beautiful moments and clear symbolism in this story which is about acceptance, friendship, change and love.

Road Trip South

Clean Getaway by Nic Stone is a 2022 Intermediate Nutmeg nominee. William “Scoob” is on a road trip with his grandma “G’ma” in order to escape his dad’s disappointment with him for a school incident.

Scoob’s grandma is white and his grandfather was black. The two of them took the same road trip years back during times of segregation. His grandmother is able to fill him in on what it was like then and how difficult it was for them as a mixed race couple.

During the trip, Scoob begins to notice that his grandmother may not be completely in her right mind. She refuses to contact his dad, and seems to have more secrets than Scoob could have imagined. Eventually, he comes to realize the truth about his past and his grandfather’s tarnished reputation. The time away also makes him realize how much he misses his dad.

There are mentions of horrible historic moments from our nation’s past throughout the story events, making this book a conversation starter about segregation, racism and making a change.

New Identity

Genuine Fraud by e. lockhart is another of my daughter’s recommendations. Nothing is quite what it seems in this wild story. The chapters are numbered sporadically in order to gradually build Jule’s story, which starts with her being tracked by a private investigator.

Spoilers: It isn’t until the very end of the book that we find out that pure chance brought Jules in contact with a vivacious, wealthy young woman named Imogen. Jules latched onto Imogen, and bathed in her attention and friendship. She became part of her social circle. Things start getting creepy when Jules reveals her obsessive feelings toward Imogen.

All is seemingly fine so long as nobody questions Jules’ motives. Readers begin to realize that Jules will stop at nothing, even murder, to get what she wants. This quick review only touches on the intriguing and crazy events of this book.

Marching Along

Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King is a trippy, young adult read. Lucky Linderman just completed a very challenging ninth grade year. His story slips among the events from his past school year, present time and his dreams. Lucky’s lucid dreams started when he was seven years old, following a promise to his dying grandmother that he would find and return his POW/MIA grandfather. His grandfather went missing during the Vietnam War. Lucky’s dreams all involve finding and connecting with his grandfather, but he is never able to bring him home. He does bring home a memento from each dream.

After years of bullying coming to an ugly head, Lucky’s mom decides it’s time to get away. The escape is due to Lucky’s latest encounter with his almost lifelong bully, but it is also due to the strained relationship between Lucky’s parents. Lucky and his mom go to spend a couple weeks with his mom’s brother and sister-in-law in Arizona. Lucky grows from this experience in all the right ways: physically, mentally and emotionally. He creates interesting relationships with his aunt and uncle and a beautiful neighbor with her own baggage. The ants are a metaphor for people’s problems; ultimately everyone has them in differing degrees. Lucky is finally able to figure out how to confront his problems.

This story was unique with strong character development, and it left me with many questions relating to Lucky’s dream states.

Personality Switch

Restart by Gordon Korman is my penultimate Nutmeg nominee.

Chase Ambrose goes from star football player to amnesia patient after a nasty fall from his roof. He can’t remember anything from before his fall, but his classmates sure do. He was one of the school’s worst bullies along with his two best buddies. Now he isn’t able to play football due to concussion protocol. He finds himself hanging out with the very kids he used to terrorize while still trying to keep a foot in his former life, all while trying to remember what happened before the fall.

Major changes in his character include becoming a member of the film club, as well as befriending a war veteran at the senior living facility. This facility is the same spot where Chase and his football buddies were doing community service for a terrible bullying prank.

His football friends think he might be faking the whole thing for his own gain. It all comes to a head when they devise a way to implicate Chase in another bullying episode.

Will he resort to his former antics or has he truly changed? What caused him to fall in the first place? This is a solid middle school read including relatable topics and important themes such as standing up for oneself and making positive changes.

Forever Friends

The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman is an early edition copy I received. I decided to read this book due to its subject matter around the Chernobyl explosion, which is a new historical fiction time frame for me.

The main characters are Valentina and Oksana. They begin as enemies but grow to be lifelong friends due to experiences that link them together. Their fathers were both working at Chernobyl when it erupted. Now they are being forced to evacuate their town. Oksana’s mother is sent to a hospital for radiation leaving Oksana with nobody to care for her. Valentina’s mother decides to take her with them. This sets the girls off on a new path living with Valentina’s grandmother (whom she has never met) in Leningrad.

Family history becomes a parallel story throughout the book, as “new” character Rifka is sent away from her mother and young brothers to escape the German soldiers during WWII. Eventually, the two stories’ connection is understood.

The plot is mostly engaged with the girls’ struggles and changes. But, I found it interesting to read about how the explosion was at first kept hidden. There are also tidbits about how they treated radiation exposure such as drinking milk, eating cucumbers, taking iodine pills, and staying low to the ground to name a few. For many, the exposure was too high for these remedies to work.

Sensitive topics of religious discrimination, physical abuse, and alcoholism are present. These topics are balanced by friends who become family with a message of being strong, kind, and generous. It is a jump into a time period that may be unfamiliar to some, which can be a gateway to nonfiction about the place and time.