Author
ed by former undercover CIA officer J.C. Carleson, “The Tyrant’s Daughter” presents the story of fifteen-year-old Laila, who grew up living as royalty in an unnamed Middle Eastern country. Everything changed with the coup that killed her father, which forced Laila, her mother and brother to take refuge in the U.S. Laila must now adjust to life in a new country under new circumstances, while her father is portrayed as a dictator in American newspapers and her mother conspires to win back their position of power. Throughout the book, we see Laila in her present situation as well as her childhood memories, illustrating the conflict within Laila as she tries to understand whether her loving father was really the villain he is portrayed as in America.
In the novel “Beauty of the Broken”, fifteen-year-old Mara grows up in Barnaby, a conservative small town in New Mexico, with an abusive father and detached alcoholic mother. She is raised to be God-fearing, churchgoing, and straight, just like the other girls in town. But Mara isn’t like the other girls and neither does she want to be. When her brother, the only person she feels comfortable around, is hospitalized with a concussion after a beating from her father, Mara finds an escape with her new classmate Xylia. As the friendship between the two girls grows, it also develops into something more. But these feelings are forbidden in Barnaby, and when Mara’s secrets are threatened to be exposed, her world is thrown into chaos. In this novel, author Tawni Waters discusses issues surrounding domestic violence, rape and challenges faced by the LGTB community in a sensitive and relatable manner.
Winner of the 2015 Carnegie Medal, Tanya Landman’s “Buffalo Soldier” is a riveting historical fiction that brings to life the struggles of being an African-American woman trying to survive in post-Civil War U.S. After being emancipated from slavery, Charlotte is unable to find work because of the color of her skin and her gender. Desperate, she dresses herself in the clothes of a dead man and joins the U.S. Army under the alias “Charley”. She becomes a ‘Buffalo Soldier’, a nickname given to the all-African-American regiment in the US Army. This book provides a unique perspective of the history of the Civil War, addressing the realities of racism and prejudices common in this time period in a sensitive manner. This book is recommended for young adults over the age of 13 due to mature language and subject matter.
Dan Smith’s “My Friend the Enemy” tells the story of Peter, a twelve-year-old boy living in England in 1941. When a German plane crashes in the forest by Peter’s house, he rushes over to look for anything worth salvaging in the wreckage. Instead, he finds a badly wounded German airman. Peter feels compelled to help the German pilot, but he doesn’t want to be a traitor, especially since his father is off fighting the Nazis. This novel captures the moral dilemma faced by children left at the home front and demonstrates the blurred lines of warfare.
Robin LaFevers combines history and fantasy, and a touch of romance in her young adult novel “Grave Mercy”, the first of the “His Fair Assassin” trilogy. Set in the late 15th century France, Ismae narrowly escapes the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, the patron saint of death, where the nuns are trained assassins who serve as handmaidens to Death. After a number of successful assignments, she finds herself falling in love with her target and must decide whether to complete the quest, and kill the man she loves. Each book in the trilogy follows a new female character and their adventures as the handmaidens to Death. Check out Sybella’s story in “Dark Triumph”, and Annith’s tale in “Mortal Heart”.