Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens

Bibliography:

Nijkamp, M. (2018). Unbroken: 13 stories starring disabled teens. Farrar Straus Giroux Book for Young Readers. 

Plot Summary:

Contributing authors create a combination of stories that are told from the viewpoint of disabled characters. All of the stories have different genres or themes such as friendship, war, and love, but the one thing they all have in common is that the reader is given a glimpse into the lives of someone disabled. 

Critical Analysis:

The biggest thing that I loved about this book, is that since there are multiple short stories, there is a story that everyone will enjoy. The stories range from suspense to sci-fi and themes that include friendship and love. All the stories bring out different emotions that will have you laughing, crying and even laughing through tears. The range of different disorders also ranges from being in a wheelchair to bipolar disorder with characters from all different backgrounds. I think the story that I enjoyed the most was “A Play In Many Parts.” The short story was written as a screenplay which might be confusing to some readers, but it is also what made it stand out from the other stories in the book. Readers can relate to some portion of one of the characters whether it be their disability, ethnicity, or experiences, but the stories that they maybe don’t relate to as much, can help create a better understanding of different disabilities that others face on a daily basis.

Review Excerpts:

Junior Library Guild Selection

Kirkus Best YA Book of 2018 That Feeds Imaginations

“The stories feature wide variety and high quality, but most importantly, none of the teens at the center of the stories are defined by their disabilities. Teens disappointed by the lack of nuanced depictions of disability in YA fiction will cheer for these compassionate, engaging, and masterfully written stories.”- Booklist

“For intersectional representations of disabled kids leading complex lives- sometimes painful, sometimes funny, never sentimentally inspirational- a vital collection.” – Kirkus Reviews

Connections:

Read another book by Marieke Nijkamp: This Is Where It Ends

Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy

Bibliography:

Sones, S. (2016). Stop pretending: what happened when my big sister went crazy. HarperTeen. 

Plot Summary:

Written in verse, Cookie’s sister who is her best friend, is hospitalized after having a mental breakdown. Cookie is struggling to cope with the situation as her family also struggles with grief and friends that are avoiding her. 

Critical Analysis:

Readers that don’t enjoy reading poetry will change their mind when they read Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy. The emotions that are written are felt and explained so much more than if the story wasn’t in verse. If you are looking for a happy story, you might want to bypass this one. Anyone that has or is experiencing grief or mental health issues for themselves or family members will relate to the story. Although I feel like Sones creates an amazing picture in the reader’s head, there were times that I felt like the emotion could have dug deeper. In the poem “In Dr. Saunder’s Office,” Cookie is explaining how she doesn’t want to talk about her emotions, but her parents were making her be there. I thought that more could have been explained about her feelings and thoughts than just her actions. The ending of the story doesn’t conclude which I love because as a reader you have to guess and create your own ending for the characters.

Review Excerpts:

“A haunting novel. The poems have a cumulative emotional power. They record the personal and translate it into the universal.” – ALA Booklist

“The poems take on life and movement, the individual frames of a movie that in the unspooling become animated, telling a compelling tale.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Sensitively written.” – The Horn Book

Connections:

Read over novels in verse by Sonya Sones: The Opposite of Innocent, What My Mother Doesn’t Know, What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know and To Be Perfectly Honest

This One Summer

Bibliography:

Tamaki, J., & Tamaki, M. (2014). This one summer. First second. 

Plot Summary:

Rose goes to a lake house in Awago Beach every summer with her mom and dad. Rose hangs out with her friend Wendi while she is there and is like a little sister to her. Rose notices that there are some things this summer that have changed for her. Her parents are fighting more, and her mom seems to be down all of the time. This causes Rose and Windy to spend more time together and get into some trouble. 

Critical Analysis:

This One Summer is a graphic novel that young adults will relate to but will also want to keep reading to find out where the story is going. Graphic novels are made up of pictures and the story it creates. The graphics are great and reveal feelings and actions that aren’t revealed the reader in the words written. Rose’s mom will say that she is fine or that she doesn’t feel like swimming at the moment but when you see the look on her face, you know that something else is going on. The pictures really add unknown details that the author doesn’t mention in the writing aspect of the story. Young teens will relate to the subject matter of the story with things that they go through and experience such as depression, peer pressure, growing into adulthood and pregnancy. 

Review Excerpts:

Coldecott Honor Book

Printz Honor Book

Eisner Award Winner

“This captivating graphic novel presents a fully realized picture of a particular time in a young girl’s life, an in-between summer filled with yearning and a sense of ephemerality.” – School Library Journal

“A summer of family drama, secrets and change in a small beach town…Keenly observed and gorgeously illustrated- a triumph.” – Kirkus Reviews

Connections:

Read other books by Mariko Tamaki: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

Read other books by Jillian Tamaki: Skim, SuperMutant Magic Academy and Boundless

Forever...

Bibliography:

Blume, J. (2014). Forever…. Atheneum Books. 

Plot Summary:

Forever tells the love story between Katherine and Michael during their senior year in high school. She feels like this a love that will last forever and loses her virginity to him. During the summer before they go off to college, they both are going work in different states. Their love will be tested as they have to be apart.

Critical Analysis: 

Judy Blume’s high school love story is relatable and simply written.  I couldn’t put the book down as Katherine and Michael’s romance unfolded from the initial crush to planning on going to colleges together and being apart over the summer. Katherine is a relatable high school senior as she juggles back and forth about having sex. The story deals with many issues that high school students go through such as sex, love, pregnancy, abortion, and suicide. The book was ahead of its time. As I was reading the story, it felt like this was written in today’s time, but there were hints that the book was originally published in 1975 with references to seeing a movie with Robert Redford and looking numbers up in the phone book. Even with the references it still holds up today. Katherine is a relatable high school senior as she juggles back and forth about having sex. 

Review Excerpts:

“A convincing account of first love.” – The New York Times Book Review

“As usual with this immensely popular author, Forever has a lot of easy, empathetic verity and very little heft.” – Kirkus Review

Connections: 

Read other books by Judy Blume such as Tiger Eyes, Then Again, Maybe I Won’t, and Deenie

The Fault in Our Stars

Bibliography:

Green, J. (2012). The fault in our stars. Penguin Group. 

Plot Summary:

Hazel is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and joins a support group that is either a survivor of cancer or in active disease. Through this group, she meets Augustus who is in remission from disease of the bones. Their meeting turns Hazel’s attitude on her experiences. She now wants to have as many experiences as she can and as quickly as she can with Gus as their love story continues to grow.

Critical Analysis:

John Green puts the reader through a rollercoaster of emotions in The Fault in Our Stars. There are moments of laughter, anger and plenty of tears that the reader goes through while reading this beautiful story. This isn’t your average teenage love story between two high schoolers living their normal lives that fall in love. This is a love story between two teenagers that are trying to make the best of their time left and experience all that can be experienced with that time. One thing that I appreciated from the story was that Green didn’t treat their illness as something graceful but saying things such as “my lungs suck at being lungs.” He shows their struggle and shows that their illness is unpleasant, but they don’t want it to define their lives either. Hazel and Gus’ attraction to each other isn’t a love at first sight, but through a connection and understanding of each other. This connection makes the reader’s emotions stronger for the characters throughout the story.

Review Excerpts: 

“In its every aspect, this novel is a triumph.” – Booklist

“Acerbic comedy, sexy romance, and a lightly played, extended meditation on the big questions about life and death.” – The Horn Book

“A smartly crafted intellectual explosion of a romance…Readers will swoon on nearly every page. (Green’s) carefully structured dialogue and razor-sharp characters brim with genuine intellect, humor and desire.” – Kirkus Reviews

Connections:

Books also by John Green: Paper Towns and Turtle Towns

Compare and contrast the book and movie

Fire Keeper's Daughter

Bibliography:

Boulley, A. (2021). Fire keeper’s daughter. Henry Holt and Company. 

Plot Summary:

Daunis Fontaine is a girl that doesn’t fit in and has to put her college dreams on hold to help take care of her mother. She begins to fall for the new hockey recruit Jamie but thinks that he is hiding something. Her life is changed when she witnesses a murder and agrees to go undercover for the FBI that uses her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to help. As more deaths continue and deceptions come to light, Daunis has to decide how far to go to protect her community and family.

Critical Analysis:

Fire Keeper’s Daughter is a thriller mystery that also provides insight into Native American culture, layers of characters and survival skills. The story is well-paced that keeps you glued to find out what happens next. Daunis is a character that readers will relate to and root for throughout the story. Readers will become invested in her from the beginning of the story until the very end. She is awkward, smart, kind-hearted and tough. Young adults will find understanding as she doesn’t seem to fit in with her Native American tribe, but still cares deeply about. She has had many struggles in her life such as putting college off to care for her mother. There are many sensitive topics that are discussed in the story such as addiction, abuse and grief that I think is done very intentional and meaningful. 

Review Excerpts:

“This suspenseful tale filled with Ojibwe knowledge, hockey, and the politics of status.” – Kirkus Reviews

“A character-driven crime thriller packed with Ojibwe culture and high-stakes tension with themes of identity, trust, and resilience.” – School Library Journal

“This suspenseful upper-YA novel will keep readers wondering who Daunis can trust.” - Horn Book

Connections:

Book also by Angeline Boulley: Warrior Girl Unearthed

Similar books include: The Poet X, Long Way Down, and Furia