Lists: Best of 2017: Voices

There were some distinct and pleasing voices this year, as well as the familiar and the unusual. Once and For All (June, Viking Books) is a comfortable voice for Sarah Dessen fans. She delivers in the best way possible, and Louna is a girl of her times. Her home life is unique, her lost love a tragedy, and her new one a blessing. My review is linked to the title. I will continue to read anything this author writes.

Other books here that I reviewed include Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney Stevens (August, HarperTeen), and Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer (April, Bloomsbury). Both Billie and Juliet live boldly with a strong sense of identity. When these are shaken, they learn to reach out to people, and ultimately accept changes with courage and love.

Girls Can’t Hit by E S Easton (July, Hot Key Books) has a humorous voiced narrator – snarky and over the top. It’s a delicious read. Here’s my RSO review.

This is a joyous and over-the-top celebration of girl power. While the main objective is to amuse and entertain, readers are also offered positive messages about feminism, and the choices girls can make to control the way they are perceived and treated. Easton manages to straddle that line between lecturing to his readers and letting them make up their own minds.

Fleur is a laid back narrator who is happy with her safe small world. Her best friends, Blossom and Pip are loyal and familiar. Blossom’s social justice campaigns and Pip’s cautious driving and other social awkwardness provide a lot of the humour, as do Fleur’s hilarious parents. But it’s Fleur growing need to step away from her comfort zone that is at the heart of the story.

Usually on Saturdays, the trio pretend to be Saxons at Battle, the place where the Battle of Hastings took place (in 1066), and Fleur’s decision to take up boxing interferes with their weekly routine. Again, Easton plays a lot of this for laughs, but at the same time, he sensitively explores Pip’s anxiety and Blossom’s confusion at the ways in which Fleur is changing—her interest in women boxers, watching the Rocky movies, and her determination to get fit. As well, Fleur starts to understand her mother’s protectiveness, as she bonds more with her father. It’s a story of friendship and family, although there is a small romantic storyline too.

A delightful read with powerful and positive representations, Girls Can’t Hit is sure to engage your middle school readers who appreciate humour in their fiction.

Stargazing for Beginners by Jenny McLachlan (June, Bloomsbury) also plays for laughs, but this narrator is more nerdy. Meg’s obsession with becoming an astronaut makes her a prime candidate for mockery and bullying, yet her determination and resilience offers a really strong role model for readers. Her journey through the novel from outsider to acceptance is well plotted. Her growing self-confidence and awareness is a joy to watch.

The Other F-Word by Natasha Friend (May, Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc.) was a complete surprise and the voices here are many and varied. These teens find each other online and their emails, messaging and virtual connections are seamless and insightful. They must decide on some very tough choices, and while they consider the impact of meeting their biological father, they also support each other with side issues. It’s really authentic and interesting, and completely off topic, I think adoption, surrogacy, and IVF might be a new trend in YA. Family comes in all shapes and sizes, and these types of novels help to build new representations which of course, is awesome.

And I am done. Thanks for reading. I will do a post about my much anticipated 2018 reads if I can make the time before New Year. Merry Christmas and best of reading to you.