I was a big fan of Mia McKenzie’s 2021 Skye Falling, so I was thrilled to come across her newest, These Heathens, (publication day June 15, 2025), on NetGalley! Told from the perspective of Doris, a seventeen-year old pregnant Black girl in 1960 rural Georgia who had to leave school at fifteen to take careContinue reading “These Heathens”
Tag Archives: bildungsroman
The Language of the Birds
I really enjoyed The Language of the Birds (publication day May 13, 2025) by K.A. Merson, which is a young adult thriller/ mystery that features a neurodivergent, 17-year old main character named Arizona and her dog Mojo. As I read it, I was somewhat reminded of the middle-grade mysteries Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett, andContinue reading “The Language of the Birds”
Go As A River
Go As A River (2023) by Shelley Read was a book group selection I probably wouldn’t have chosen myself. I did quite enjoy it, though, despite some unnecessary anti-fat bias in at least one character description. Victoria Nash is a 17-year old living on a Colorado peach farm in 1948, tending house for her father,Continue reading “Go As A River”
Maame
Maame (2023) by Jessica George was on my TBR list as soon as I read the description, and I was not disappointed. 25-year old Maddie is Ghanaian and lives with her father in the London area. He has Parkinson’s and she is is primary caregiver, along with a home health worker that comes in mostContinue reading “Maame”
The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom
The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom (2023) by Allison L. Bitz is a delightful fat-positive YA novel of self-discovery with some romance. As the novel open, Bridget is moving in to her dorm room at her performing arts boarding school in Chicago–it’s a pipeline to Broadway and her parents sold land back in Nebraska so that sheContinue reading “The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom”
The Girl With the Louding Voice
Recommend with reservations because of anti-fatness. Otherwise compelling read from the perspective of a Nigerian child bride forced into an arranged marriage who goes from one bad situation to a worse one, when all she wants is to go to school.
Reading While Fat 