Book Review:   Bibliography- LaCour, N. (2019). We are okay . Penguin Books. ISBN- 978-0142422939 Plot Summary-  You go through life thinking there’s so much you need…Until you leave with only your phone, your wallet, and a picture of your mother. Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.   Critical Analysis- "We Are Okay" explores the universal experience of grief and the different ways individuals cope with loss. The main character, Marin's, journey r...

                                                                                  Book Review:   Bibliography- LaZebnik, C. (2018). Things i should have known . HMH Books for Young Readers. ISBN- 978-0544829695 Plot Summary-  Meet Chloe Mitchell, a popular Los Angeles girl who’s decided that her older sister, Ivy, who’s on the autism spectrum, could use a boyfriend. Chloe already has someone in mind: Ethan Fields, a sweet, movie-obsessed boy from Ivy’s special needs class. Chloe would like to ignore Ethan’s brother, David, but she can’t—Ivy and Ethan aren’t comfortable going out on their own so Chloe and David have to tag along.  Soon Chloe, Ivy, David, and Ethan form a quirky and wholly lovable circle. And as the group bonds over frozen yogurt dates a...

                                                                           Book Review:   Bibliography- Abdel-Fattah, R. (2022). Does my head look big in this? Scholastic. ISBN- 978-0702316548 Plot Summary-  When sixteen-year-old Amal decides to wear the hijab full-time, her entire world changes, all because of a piece of cloth...Sixteen-year-old Amal makes the decision to start wearing the hijab full-time and everyone has a reaction. Her parents, her teachers, her friends, people on the street. But she stands by her decision to embrace her faith and all that it is, even if it does make her a little different from everyone else. Can she handle the taunts of "towel head," the prejudice of her classmates, and still attract the cutest boy in school? Critical Analysis- Th...

                                                                                    Book Review- Bibliography- Young, E. (2011). The house baba built: An artist's childhood in china . Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN 978-0316076289 Plot Summary-  In Ed Young's childhood home in Shanghai, all was not as it seemed: a rocking chair became a horse; a roof became a roller rink; an empty swimming pool became a place for riding scooters and bikes. The house his father built was transformed as needed into a place to play hide-and-seek, eat bamboo shoots, and be safe. Outside the home's walls, China was at war. Soon the house held not only Ed and his four siblings but also friends, relatives, and even strangers who became family. The war grew closer, and Ed wa...

                                                                                Book Review: Bibliography- Kadohata, C. (2013). The thing about luck . Atheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN 978-1442474659 Plot Summary-  Summer knows that kouun means “good luck” in Japanese, and this year her family has had none. Just when Summer thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong, an emergency whisks her parents away to Japan, right before harvest season. Leaving Summer and her little brother, Jaz, in the care of their elderly grandparents, Obaachan and Jiichan. Obaachan and Jiichan are old fashioned, very demanding, and easily disappointed. Between helping Obaachan cook for the workers, all the other chores, and worrying about her little brother, who can't seem to make any friend...

                                                                        Book Review: Bibliography- Patel, S. (2021). Rani patel in full effect (1st ed.). Cinco Puntos Press. ISBN 978-1941026502 Plot Summary-  Almost seventeen, Rani Patel appears to be a kick-ass Indian girl breaking cultural norms as a hip-hop performer in full effect. But in truth, she's a nerdy flat-chested nobody who lives with her Gujarati immigrant parents on the remote Hawaiian island of Moloka'i, isolated from her high school peers by the unsettling norms of Indian culture where "husband is God." Her parents' traditionally arranged marriage is a sham. Her dad turns to her for all his needs―even the intimate ones. When Rani catches him two-timing with a woman barely older than herself, she feels like a widow and, like...