contemporary YA – Reading While Fat

Firekeeper’s Daughter, Warrior Girl Unearthed, and Sisters in the Wind

Book cover for Warrior Girl Unearthed, by Angeline Boulley, featuring an orange background and the face of a dark-skinned, dark-haired woman in the center, with the background of another face silhouetted behind her. A glowing bear and an otter are just below, and the phases of the moon are above.

So I read Warrior Girl Unearthed (2023) by Angeline Boulley in September, and immediately had to read Boulley’s first book Firekeeper’s Daughter (2021, Goodreads Choice Award for YA), and was thrilled to find out she’s just published a third book, Sisters in the Wind (September 2, 2025), which I also devoured. They are each amazingContinue reading “Firekeeper’s Daughter, Warrior Girl Unearthed, and Sisters in the Wind”

And They Were Roommates

And They Were Roommates (Publication Day 5/27/25) is Page Powars’s second published book, and is set at the Saint Valentine’s Academy for Boys, an exclusive boarding school that promises that those who excel there have their pick of Ivies. Charlie is going as a scholarship student, the same as his Mom, who went to theContinue reading “And They Were Roommates”

The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School

The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School (2022) by Sonora Reyes is a deserving award-winning (Lambda, National Book Award finalist, Goodreads Choice, among others) young adult book centering on Yamilet Flores and her brother Cesar. They are transferring to Catholic school because Cesar kept getting jumped at their public school, but Yami will have to findContinue reading “The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School”

The Poet X

The Poet X (2018) by Elizabeth Acevedo is an award-winning YA novel-in-verse that just blew me away. The audiobook is narrated by the author, which I especially loved, as you hear the pacing and intonation as she intended. Xiomara (pronounced See-oh-MAH-ruh) lives in Harlem with her parents and twin brother. They are 15 and Dominican,Continue reading “The Poet X”

All My Rage

In All My Rage (2022), Sabaa Tahir has created a compulsively readable book that draws you in to Salahudin’s and Noor’s lives, and you can’t help but watch the slowly unfolding disastrous train wreck. She tells the stories of Sal, Noor, and Sal’s mother, Misbah, going back and forth in time. It’s contemporary YA, unlikeContinue reading “All My Rage”