In case you missed the beginning of this series, check out my first blog post where I explain what the Read Harder Challenge is, and how it relates to the following books! For this update, I thought I would join in with all the kids partaking in summer reading, and read the picture book, middle grade novels and a young adult title for the challenge!
Task 6 – Read a middle grade book with an LGBTQIA main character
Book Read: “The Insiders” by Mark Oshiro
Héctor Muñoz has recently moved from San Francisco, where everyone at his middle school was into music and theatre and art. Now in Orangevale with the rest of his family, he’s trying to adjust to a new school, make new friends, and avoid the school bully. No one at his old school had a problem with Héctor being gay, so why does it seem like such a big deal at this new school? And what is with the mysterious janitor’s closet that appears all around the school when Héctor needs to get away from the bullies, that seems much bigger on the inside?
This felt very much like the kind of book I needed as a middle schooler: racially diverse, openly queer characters and kids with anxiety. It was difficult to read at some points, because of the bullying that Héctor and his friends face, and it was unfortunately realistic in the way that some of the adults Héctor went to for help wouldn’t listen to him or take him seriously. It did feel like the book ran a little longer than it needed to, and there were a lot of characters, to the point that our deuteragonists and their stories didn’t feel quite as fleshed out as Héctor’s, and the other kids at Orangevale were flat. Slight spoiler ahead, but I appreciated that the book didn’t shy away from showing that sometimes people are just mean and cruel, and that even if there is some trauma or reason for their behavior, it doesn’t make it excusable.
And this is such a small gripe, but given that the book takes place in a middle school in October, how is there nearly no mention of Halloween? There’s a fall dance as a plot point, but no talk of costumes, going trick-or-treating? Are middle schoolers too cool to go trick-or-treating? Because I definitely went to the Halloween dance and went out to get candy when I was in middle school. Realizing this might be my “you kids get off my lawn” moment, and moving on. This was my first experience with the author, but as they co-wrote “The Sun and the Star” with Rick Riordan, I’ll definitely be picking them up at least one more time.
Task 11 – Read a picture book published in the last 5 years
Book Read: “Saturday” by Oge Mora
For this 2019 title, it’s important that I set the scene: It’s 2022, I’m working at a different (and much smaller) library as a program coordinator, and we’re hosting some 1st grade field trips, where the kids would learn about the library, have story time and do a craft. For one of these field trips, the largest one, my story time reader was going to be unavailable, so I had to step in and run the show. Now it’s worth saying, I don’t dislike children, but I will happily give the reins to the professional child wranglers any time. But there I was, reading “Saturday” and “Library Lion” quite a number of times. As I kept reading “Saturday”, which had been highlighted by the PA Ed Department just a few months earlier, I found myself getting a little verklempt reading it.
Saturdays are special for Ava and her mother — it is the one day a week where they go out, stop by the library for story time, visit the salon for new hairdos, and ultimately end their day at the park. This Saturday is extra special though, because after the park, Ava and her mother are attending a one-night only puppet show! Except story time is cancelled, a passing car splashes the duo with water after they had their hair done, the park is too loud, and when they get to the puppet show, Ava’s mother realizes she left the tickets at home. After each thing goes wrong, Ava and her mother pause, close their eyes, and take a deep breath, with Ava’s mother reassuring her that the day will be special and splendid, because it’s Saturday. Until the tickets aren’t there for the puppet show, and Ava’s mother is upset and frustrated with herself, and the fact that their special day has been ruined. Ava closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and tells her mother that the day wasn’t ruined, because they got to spend it together. And it was at this point with every reading that I had to not ugly cry in front of a bunch of 1st graders and their teachers.
“Saturday” has great lessons about regulating emotions, especially in the face of frustrating events, no matter your age. It’s also great representation, seeing a Black mother and her daughter going out once a week to take care of themselves and enjoy time together — on the first page, we see that Ava’s mother works the other six days of the week, reinforcing how important these days together are for them. The cut paper art style is colorful and textured, with lots of details for young readers to explore. Highly recommended.
Task 15 – Read a young adult (YA) nonfiction book
Book Read: “The Beasts in Your Brain: Understanding and Living with Anxiety and Depression” by Katherine Speller
When I was looking at the list of YA nonfiction titles I could try for this challenge, my eyes were immediately drawn to this book. I 1000% have beasts in my brain, although depending on the circumstances, they are also known as the ferrets, hamsters, or if you can picture that one scene from Spongebob. Without getting too deep into my own psyche, I have experience fighting the beasts known as anxiety and depression, both as a teen and an adult, and was curious to see what information and advice would be offered to the teens of today. The author opens with a note that she began research and interviews in 2019, but obviously the world shifted dramatically not too longer after. Published in 2023, a lot of the advice feels current to young adults, whether they are now in college, high school, or even middle school, as it reflects on that demographic, their experience of Covid and lockdowns, and how that’s affected who they are and how they interact with the world now.
Overall, this felt like a great primer for young adults who may need the language around how they’re feeling, or figuring out how best to ask for help. Speller struck the right tone between making information accessible and digestible, without speaking down to readers, and also presenting multiple options for what people can do in various situations. There was an understanding that the same things aren’t going to work for everyone, and nothing was presented as an absolute. The material, and by extension the readers, are approached with compassion for the struggles that can be present when discussing these heavy topics, and an acknowledgement of how some groups may struggle more than others.
There are playlists scattered throughout the book, with titles such as “Hey, Your People Love You” and “It’s Very Much Okay to Cry – In Fact, I’m Doing It Right Now.” I’d say the advice is about 50/50: roughly 50% is more specific to the young adults of the present (Gen Z and Gen Alpha), talking about social media, finding trusted adults and discussion of attending school during Covid. The other 50% is just generally good advice for anyone who needs a ground floor for figuring out their own mental health struggles or supporting others, and could easily be read and used by adults. This book does primarily cover anxiety and depression though, so it’s worth seeking out additional resources to learn more.
Task 3 – Read a middle grade horror novel
Book Read: “Nightbooks” by J.A. White
When Alex sneaks out of his apartment one night, he ends up captured by the witch Natacha, who forces him to tell her stories each night. Along with Yasmin, another child captured by Natacha, Alex tries to figure out how to escape while his collection of stories gets every smaller…
Laying my cards on the table, I don’t like horror. At all. I can appreciate a dark story, but the jump scares, the creeping sense of dread? Not for me. To that end, I was really curious to see how this middle grade horror novel would deliver on the scares, while also not keeping up every child who read it. And it did that mostly by not being scary, or really horror at all? Genuinely, I think my biggest gripe with “Nightbooks” is that it isn’t very well written — characters lack more than bare bones characterization, motivations feel flimsy, descriptions are weak or non-existent. If that weren’t bad enough though, the author is a teacher? When reading Alex’s stories, they certainly felt like the writings of a middle schooler, that felt accurate; although upon further review, I have no idea how old Alex is, or what grade he’s in. But writing for children doesn’t mean the story can’t be solid and characters can’t be interesting, especially in a world where we have Rick Riordan and the many spin-offs of Percy Jackson, as unfair a comparison as that may be.
How is your Read Harder Challenge going? Do any of these titles sound interesting to you? Don’t forget that there are plenty of other books to choose from, both at your library and elsewhere! See you at the next check-in!
