Page 158 Books

Cat & Cat Adventures: The Quest for Snacks by Susie Yi

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Cat & Cat
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If my kids were cats and had access to magic they would be Squash and Ginny. We read this cute little graphic novel over a few sittings and they absolutely loved it. The art style is bright and happy and the story is easy to follow while not being too simplistic.

Cat & Cat Adventures: The Quest for Snacks by Susie Yi, (List Price: 8.99, HarperAlley, 9780063083806, September 2021)

Reviewed by Faith Parke-Dodge, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam

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The Start Up Wife
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Finally the book you have been waiting for. This last year has been tough and we have needed this light hilarious book that needs to be shared with all your friends. Full of stellar observations of life and how people function you will finish and open to the beginning to visit with old friends.

The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam, (List Price: 26, Scribner, 9781982156183, July 2021)

Reviewed by Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

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Summer Sons
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“Barely visible, Riley knelt up in his seat to drape his arms around it, flashing white teeth at Andrew. He made for an iconic, hungry gleam in the settling dark beneath tree shadows and open sky, more animal than boy. It was dumb, deliciously reckless, and that compelling energy struck Andrew with the force of a punch.” Imagine FAST AND FURIOUS as a book, but make it a Southern Gothic, give it a hefty dose of dark academia, and make every character queer. Oh, and also have them haunted by ghosts who may be trying to kill them. That is Lee Mandelo’s Summer Sons, a queer horror that sneaks up on you and then tries to possess your body, forcing you to see truths you’d rather ignore. My only complaint is this group would never let me join their pack. Content warnings for general horror, possession, death, drug and alcohol abuse, racism, discussions of past mistreatment of enslaved persons, death of a loved one

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo, (List Price: 26.99, Tordotcom, 9781250790286, September 2021)

Reviewed by Faith Parke-Dodge, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

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The Galaxy and the Ground Within
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“Thank you for your patience. We are all in this together.” Becky Chambers’ The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is a delightful ending to her Wayfarer’s series. In it five characters find themselves stuck together at the Five-Hop-One-Stop (a cross between a truck stop and a Bed and Breakfast) when the planet’s satellite system comes crashing down. As they get to know one another the characters must contend with issues of identity, the legacy of colonialism, sexuality, and family, with a few deadly crises along the way. After a year in various levels of lockdown, this book at times felt far too familiar, but with the lightness and comfort only a Becky Chambers novel can bring. I’m sad to see this series end, but it’s nice to be reminded that bureaucracy will lean on unwanted camaraderie no matter where one finds oneself.

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers (List Price: $16.99, Harper Voyager, 9780062936042, 4/20/2021)

Reviewed by Faith Parke-Dodge, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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Low Country by J. Nicole Jones

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Low Country
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“I am choosing the stories from the mouths of women, some painted and some bare, and as far as I am concerned, their words are all the truer for the color. I am also putting off what I cannot bear to lose for good, and like a hurricane, I will change tack without warning.”

Reading Low Country was in so many ways like coming home. The narrative follows a largely chronological path as it tracks Jones’ family history. Interwoven in her history are ghost stories and family lore, which adds a richness that cannot be rushed. Jones’ words must be savored, and are best enjoyed over time when you can watch her build a gothic, humid, wild landscape that can only be found in the American South.

Low Country by J. Nicole Jones (List Price: $26, Catapult, 9781948226868, 4/13/2021)

Reviewed by Faith Parke-Dodge, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

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Son of the Storm
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“You say you want liberty, but you can never be free alone. None of us are free until all of us are. To be free of Bassa requires power– power in service of us all. Not for you to derive joy from controlling a beast.”

In Son of the Storm, Suyi Davies Okungbowa introduces readers to a complex and fascinating new world. One with a complex cast system in which power is isolated in the bloated elite, the truth is hidden even from scholars, and anyone who looks different is exiled to the dangerous fringes of the continent. As a secret power from the time of a mad emperor reemerges and a sunken nation reappears, a young scholar and his intended follow two very different paths to save themselves and their people. I was completely entranced by this story. While he pulls no punches, Okungbowa does not need to lean into the grotesque to make his world compelling. I yelled, I cheered, I felt conflicted about my loyalties, and I absolutely cannot wait to find out what happens next. Content warnings for harm to children and pregnancy in addition to violent fantasy elements.

Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa (List Price: $16.99, Orbit, 9780316428941, 5/11/2021)

Reviewed by Faith Parke-Dodge, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte, Ann Xu (Illus.)

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Measuring Up
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My daughter and I loved this graphic novel about a girl who moves to Seattle from Taiwan. Like many immigrant stories, this one had multiple examples of the prejudices immigrant children can experience. Cici made friends, but there were times they thought they needed to speak slowly to her (they didn’t), that her lunch was gross (because it wasn’t “American”), and there were multiple times when people referred to her as Chinese and didn’t bother to remember her correction to “Taiwanese.” Cici’s struggles to both fit in as well as maintain her delight in her culture came through in the pages. My daughter, six, loved the cooking aspects and the story segued into a good discussion about culture and identity.

Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte, Ann Xu (Illus.) (List Price: $12.99, HarperAlley, 9780062973863, 10/27/2020)

Reviewed by Jenny Luper, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson

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Mother May I
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Trey and Bree on paper are the perfect couple. 2.5 children, happy, comfortable and living a nice life. But is Bree losing her mind or is there a “witch” stalking her? Who stole her infant? Joshilyn Jackson invokes her trademark humor and her fierce voice for justice in this thrilling new book. Not one to shy away from social issues they are present here in a story ringing true to today’s issues. Fast-paced with a great storyline, this is one for a road trip and the beach!

Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson (List Price: $27.99, William Morrow, 9780062855343, 4/6/2021)

Reviewed by Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

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remote control
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A Winter 2021 Read This Next! Title

How unsettled do you want to feel? Double it and that’s Remote Control. Okorafore’s prose is stunning as she constructs a world in which the unknown walks among us, delivering the mercy or vengeance of death where she wishes and simply traveling at other times. Sankofa’s search for answers does not come to a neat and tidy end, but isn’t that the true nature of things? Nothing will ever be completely understood.

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor (List Price: $19.99, Tordotcom, 9781250772800, 1/19/2021)

Reviewed by Faith Parke-Dodge, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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Girl on the Line by Faith Gardner

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Girl on the Line
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Growing up is hard. Add social media and an unattainable view of what beauty is and being a teenage girl feels like nothing will change and life is hell. When Journey recovers from her suicide attempt she must figure out how to go forward and how to interact with her family and friends. Achingly raw and beautifully written. A must read.

Girl on the Line by Faith Gardner (List Price: $17.99, HarperTeen, 9780063022300, 1/19/2021)

Reviewed by Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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How to Pack for the End of the World by Michelle Falkoff

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How to Pack for the End of the World
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“Everyone thinks they have to save the world, but they have to save themselves first.”

Amina is a new student at the prestigious Gardner Academy. A scholarship student from the Boston area, her parents send her to the boarding school after an attack on their Temple leaves her with persistent nightmares and an unhealthy obsession with the specter of Fascism. She has no interest in leaving home, but once at Gardner she meets a group of like-minded students who also fear a coming crisis. Together they form the Eucalyptus Club and work together to prepare for such events as nuclear holocaust or government overthrow. But someone is targeting their group with malicious intent, and it will take all of them to find out who. In How to Pack for the End of the World, Michelle Falkoff mixes the mundane every day of high school (albeit an elite boarding school) with the very real existential dread that today’s youth must learn to cope with. The concerns of Eucalyptus are based in reality and while the games the students play may seem too direct at times, they will speak to a generation that is growing increasingly intent on speaking out before it is too late.

How to Pack for the End of the World by Michelle Falkoff (List Price: $17, HarperTeen, 9780062680266, 11/10/2020)

Reviewed by Faith Parke-Dodge, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams

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The Liar's Dictionary
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A quirky, clever novel about words: the words we create to describe our world and the words we use to define ourselves. The entertaining story alternates between lexicographer Peter Winceworth in 1899 who spends his time placing mountweasels into Swansby’s New Encyclopaedic Dictionary and Mallory, the young intern who is tasked with finding these words a century later.

The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams (List Price: $26.95, Doubleday, 9780385546775, 1/5/2021)

Reviewed by Kelley Barnes, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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A Cat Story by Ursula Murray Husted

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a cat story
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This graphic novel follows two strays as they journey to find a utopian garden for cats. A quiet garden where all cats are welcome, there’s enough food for all, and the humans are kind. I also want to find that garden, honestly. The moral of the middle grade is that home and happiness are wherever you make it. It’s both sweet and optimistic. Kids will love the devotion between the two “catagonists,” and I enjoyed the art.

A Cat Story by Ursula Murray Husted (List Price: $12.99, Quill Tree Books, 9780062932044, 10/6/2020)

Reviewed by Jenny Luper, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth, Sara Lautman (Illus.)

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plain bad heroines
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A fun, spooky gothic horror that spans years and so, so many lesbians. You’ll always flinch at yellow jackets after this read.

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth, Sara Lautman (Illus.) (List Price: $27.99, William Morrow, 9780062942852, 10/20/2020)

Reviewed by Jenny Luper, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, NC

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The Good Girls by Claire Eliza Bartlett

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The Good Girls
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Who killed Emma? The perfect, popular, and beautiful cheerleader? The suspects at her high school are like every other high school–except one of them is the killer. Page-turning and completely funny! Nothing is as it seems which keeps adding up to a book you will share with your nemeses and friends!

The Good Girls by Claire Eliza Bartlett (List Price: $17.99, HarperTeen, 12/1/2020)
Recommended by Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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