The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Courage to Dream: Tales of Hope in the Holocaust by Neal Shusterman, illustrated by Andrés Vera Martínez Graphix (imprint of Scholastic), 2023 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Stacie Ramey Buy at Bookshop.org In the author’s note, Shusterman discusses why he wrote this graphic novel despite his concerns about his ability to bring something new to this important subject. While it’s true that there are many other works dedicated to the Holocaust, Courage to Dream is a standout in a crowded field. It is an important read: entertaining, thought provoking, and evocatively drawn by an illustrator who lists his Tejano family’s violent struggles with white supremacy in Texas as a relatable factor in his background. Courage to Dream looks at hope through the lens of storytelling, but is also supported by carefully researched historical facts and drawings. It is told in parts, each delineated by a Hebrew letter, with an explanation at the back of the book as to the specific meanings of each of ...

Lucy Clark Will Not Apologize by Margo Rabb Quill Tree Books (imprint of HarperCollins) Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Stacie Ramey Buy at Bookshop.org Lucy Clark Will Not Apologize begins as a story about girls living at a boarding school in Texas, but quickly morphs into a New York City adventure with themes of grief, friendship, and finding your place in the world.    When high school junior Lucy Clark is suspended for an unmentionable incident, she is sent to New York City to stay with a distant older cousin in order to care for an older woman, who needs supervision due to her declining mental health. Lucy meets her charge, one Edith Fox, who is the heir to the Fox Fruit Syrup fortune. Edith is a wealthy, colorful, witty, and warm horticulturist with whom Lucy is immediately enthralled. Only there’s one problem--Edith believes that someone is trying to kill her and the police don’t believe her. She needs Lucy’s help to discover the truth.   Despite th...

It's My Life by Stacie Ramey Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Michelle Falkoff Jenna Cohen, a teenage girl with cerebral palsy, wants two things: medical emancipation (so she can have a proper say in decisions about her treatment) and Julian Van Beck (her childhood love who moved away and has now come back). The book tracks both her decision whether to move forward with legal proceedings against her parents and her developing relationship with Julian, conducted via text messages in which she keeps her identity a secret. While there are few surprises in how the two parallel tracks of the book progress, Ramey’s description of the Cohen family is loving and generous, and Julian is a charming romantic lead. Jenna does not come across as quite so feisty as the other characters perceive her to be, and her emancipation struggle might have been more convincing if readers were provided some additional detail about what her goals are versus what her parents want for her. She is a...