Internment by Samira Ahmed

Internment by Samira Ahmed is a powerful, gripping, and thought provoking novel.  It is one that will make you think about how you really view those around you.  It should encourage you to no longer remain silent, especially when speaking up is necessary.   This novel is a scary reflection of history and an even scarier look at what the future could be.

Internment is the story of what the United States has become in the near future.  The government has instituted a Muslim ban and as a result, seventeen year old Layla and her family are forced into an internment camp in the middle of the California desert.  In a terrifying reflection of the Holocaust, Layla and many other Muslims are forced from their homes, stamped with ID numbers, loaded into trains, and taken to live in hostile conditions.  Despite the dangers that she faces each day, Layla will not simply stand by and let all of this happen.  With the help of new friends she has made, Layla decides to be the voice that will not be silenced.  Through her words and actions, she tries to bring hope to a group who is grasping to find it.  The question remains whether she will be able to carry on, or will the harshness of the camp finally silence her once and for all?

From Amazon:

Rebellions are built on hope.

Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.

With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp's Director and his guards.

Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges readers to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today.

The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried by Shaun David Hutchinson

The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried by Shaun David Hutchinson was a fun and thought provoking novel.  It is a story about friendship and family.  It is a story about forging your own path.  It is a story about loving those closest to you even when they are hard to love.  I have always enjoyed Hutchinson's books, and this one was no different. 

 The Past... is the story of two friends, Dino and July, who were once best friends.  But during the last year, their once strong bond has disintegrated.  Dino's family owns a mortuary and he is tasked with the job of preparing July's body when she suddenly and shockingly dies.  The death of his ex-best friend has caused Dino to wonder why they ever stopped being friends in the first place.  When July suddenly sits upright on the gurney and begins speaking to Dino, they have a chance to figure out what happened to their friendship....while at the same time trying to understand why July is no longer among the dead.  While her body continues to rot away, the two of them have to determine what went wrong in their relationship and decide if it's worth saving.  Dino and July are two unforgettable characters that will help us remember that friendships aren't always perfect, but the good ones are always worth saving. 

From Amazon:

 “A fearless and brutal look at friendships...you will laugh, rage, and mourn its loss when it’s over.” —Justina Ireland, New York Times bestselling author of Dread Nation

“Simultaneously hilarious and moving, weird and wonderful.” —Jeff Zentner, Morris Award–winning author of The Serpent King

Six Feet Under meets Pushing Daisies in this quirky, heartfelt story about two teens who are granted extra time to resolve what was left unfinished after one of them suddenly dies.

A good friend will bury your body, a best friend will dig you back up.

Dino doesn’t mind spending time with the dead. His parents own a funeral home, and death is literally the family business. He’s just not used to them talking back. Until Dino’s ex-best friend July dies suddenly—and then comes back to life. Except not exactly. Somehow July is not quite alive, and not quite dead.

As Dino and July attempt to figure out what’s happening, they must also confront why and how their friendship ended so badly, and what they have left to understand about themselves, each other, and all those grand mysteries of life.

Critically acclaimed author Shaun Hutchinson delivers another wholly unique novel blending the real and surreal while reminding all of us what it is to love someone through and around our faults.

The Size of the Truth by Andrew Smith

New Andrew Smith!!!  It really doesn't get much better than that!  The Size of the Truth is Smith's first middle-grade novel.  This much anticipated novel did not disappoint.  I loved every minute of it.  This story is so full of heart.  It is about growing up and forging your own path.  It is about not letting others fill in the blanks about you, while at the same time not filling in the blanks about the others around you.  This novel is about finding the truth about ourselves and being brave enough to show the world.  As usual, Andrew Smith has given us a story that we will be thinking about long after we have turned the last page. 

For those that have read Winger, and subsequently Stand Off, this new novel tells us the story of Sam Abernathy, a character that was introduced to us in Stand Off.   The Size of the Truth is told in both the present day and in flash backs to when Sam was just four years old.  When he was just a young boy, Sam fell down an abandoned well and was trapped for three long days.  Luckily he met a talking armadillo (or unicorn maybe?) that helped him survive those long days and nights. Bartleby vows to be there for Sam whenever he may need him.  And as Sam grows up dealing with the trauma of being "the boy in the well," he has to come to grips with the truth of what happened to him all those years ago, who he is now (besides an 11 year old boy in 8th grade), and who he wants to become.  The truth he discovers as he learns what growing up is really all about, leads us to find the Sam we all learned to love as Ryan Dean's new roommate. 

From Amazon:

When he was four years old, Sam Abernathy was trapped at the bottom of a well for three days, where he was teased by a smart-aleck armadillo named Bartleby. Since then, his parents plan every move he makes.

But Sam doesn’t like their plans. He doesn’t want to go to MIT. And he doesn’t want to skip two grades, being stuck in the eighth grade as an eleven-year-old with James Jenkins, the boy he’s sure pushed him into the well in the first place. He wants to be a chef. And he’s going to start by entering the first annual Blue Creek Days Colonel Jenkins Macaroni and Cheese Cook-Off.

That is, if he can survive eighth grade, and figure out the size of the truth that has slipped Sam’s memory for seven years.