Ghost Medicine

 Smith, A (2008) Ghost Medicine. New York, NY: Feiwel & Friends.
Ghost Medicine is a fiction with mystery and coming of age story about a boy named Troy who lives on a ranch.  His mother dies and he lives alone with his father.  His best friends are his neighbors one named Gabe whose father is a rich rancher and the other Tom who works at the Benavidez Ranch. Troy has always been in love with Luz Benavidez who is the sister of Gabe and they start to be more than friends.  There is a bullying in town named Chase who is the son of the Sheriff in town.  Chase and Troy get in a fight and Tom is the strong one who comes to his defense. They are many more episodes of tension between the boys and not to give the whole story away three boys die on one fatal night as the boys are out camping.  The story deals with death and dying, love or a girl, friendships that are strong, and caring for others. This is the best book that I have read in a while.  These boys are the best of friends who have to deal with tragedy. Young adults will be engrossed in this book because it is relatable and heartwarming with strong characters.  You can just see the imagery that is projected throughout the story as if you are part of the scenery.  Love, Love, Loved this book!!! I will read more books by Andrew Smith because they are believable and well told. Other books by this author are 100 Sideways Miles, Stand Off and Winger.
    

Moxie: A Novel

Mathieu, J. (2017) Moxie: A Novel. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press.
Moxie is a great fiction story about a girl who lives in Texas and football seems to be the most important thing at her high school.  Vivian was a smart and create girl that was raised by a single mom.  She falls for a boy who moves to her hometown and she is fed up of girls being mistreated. The football players get away with everything and think the school is all about them.  They mistreat girls and and get by with it.  Vivian is the first to stand up to them by anonymously putting out flyers to tell all girls that are fed up with being mistreated by boys put stars and hearts on their hands.  She meets a nice new boy at school who supports the cause and later starts to date him.  Some girls follow along join the movement. Then the school enforces an unfair dress code so the next act is to all wear bathrobes to school and more join the movement.  Then viv's friend Claudia is assaulted by a football quarterback named Mitchell whose dad is the principal.  Claudia makes a complaint against Mitchell and the Principal tells her to "take it as a compliment".  Vivian is furious and orders stickers to place on boys lockers with the next flyer for girls to bring awareness of the bad actions.  The principal threatens to suspend anyone putting stickers on things and forbids "Moxie club".  Finally a girl is rapped by Mitchell and to speak out someone else sends a Moxie flyer out to protest with a "walk out" and I will not tell you the ending but it gets good.  I loved the book Moxie because it was about girls who stand together to bring about change.  I think girls and boys alike will have connections to this story.  This story fun and expressive and make an impactful statement that people can stand up for their rights.  Other books by this author are Afterward, The Truth About Alice and Devoted.
   

The Poet X

Acevedo, E. (2018). The Poet X. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
The Poet X is a beautifully written fiction story of a girl named Xiomara who has a gay twin brother named Xavier.  They live with their parents in Harlem.  She is normally taunted by boys and men due to her female development.  The author tells Xiomara entire story through poetry.  She was raised in a religious household and her brother and her are expected to be confirmed that year.  Xiomara speaks often of feeling inferior to her brother even though he has not admitted to his parents that he is gay.  She is only interested in her poetry until she meet Aman and they become an item.  Xiomara joins a poetry club at school and later decide to go to an "open mic" even though she is scared.  When Xiomara gets the boyfriend and her mom discovers it, she makes her confess even though she had done nothing wrong.  Her mother makes her confess to the priest for her lying and any other wrongdoing.  Later her mom finds her poem book and reads them and even though they are private, her mom and her argue.   Her mother burns her poetry in front of her.  Later they try to work it out with the counseling of the priest and then they all go to listen to her at the open mic night.  This is a such a great book; funny, humorous coming of age and written through poetry. This is a debut novel by this author and I believe their will be many more to come.  The story is life like, believable and relatable for the readers.  It is a quick read and is on multiple reading list. The book focuses on family, friends, love, religion, diversity and acceptance.  I loved the open mindedness and relatable ideas of this story.  Acevedo is a Slam Poet and an author of another book by the title of With the Fire on High.