Jagged Little Pill: A Review

“How does anyone grow into believing they deserve anything? When does that happen?”

Frankie has never felt like she fits in with her adopted family. It’s not just that she’s Black in a white family. It’s also that no matter how much she talks (or yells) her mother always cares more about making the right impression than speaking up for what she believes him. It’s that no one talks about how much her mom and dad have been fighting. It’s that her older brother, Nick, is marking time until he can start college in the fall.

No one gets Frankie the way Jo does. She’s there for every cause, every protest, and everything else Frankie needs–including kissing an maybe starting to date? It’s easier being around Frankie than it is to deal with her stifling home life where her conservative mother refuses to see Jo for who she really is.

Phoenix wants to help his mom, be present for his sister, and keep a low profile at school when his family moves so that his older sister can get better hospital care. That goes out the window once he meets Frankie.

Nick is so tired of doing well at school, keeping things together at home, being the guy everyone counts on. After spending his whole life looking out for other people he just wants one night to himself–one night where maybe he and Bella can get beyond awkwardly flirting to something more.

Bella has always liked Nick and knowing that he’s looking out for her. But after that party and Bella’s sexual assault all she really wants is to be believed in Jagged Little Pill (2022) by Eric Smith with Alanis Morissette, Diablo Cody, and Glen Ballard.

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Jagged Little Pill is the official novelization of the musical by the same name. Both are inspired by, and feature music from, Alanis Morissette’s seminal album Jagged Little Pill. The novel alternates first person point of view between Frankie, Jo, Phoenix, Nick and Bella with texts and other online messaging between chapters to further expand the story. Frankie is Black and Phoenix is Latinx–all other main characters (like most of the Connecticut suburb where the novel is set) are white.

All five points of view intersect in the aftermath of Bella’s assault while Bella tries to process her trauma, Frankie and Jo sweep in urging Bella to demand justice in a public way first by going to the police and then with a protest rally, and Nick waits to come forward while he tries to decide if he believes his longtime crush Bella or his best friend who assaulted her. Phoenix plays the role of observer even as he’s drawn to Frankie and–later–drawn into an ill-advised fling with Frankie who chooses to ignore that she is cheating on Jo in all the ways that matter even though the girls haven’t officially defined their relationship.

Morisette’s iconic lyrics are integrated into the text as subtle Easter eggs for fans and less subtly as poetry written by Frankie in a painful class seen where Phoenix can see how little she’s able to fit in with her other white classmates and how little space they are willing to give Frankie or her ideas in a classic show of microaggressions. Side plots in the story deal with opioid addiction and advocacy. While some things tie up neatly (as musical fans might well expect), there are no easy answers for many of the characters’ messier choices including Frankie’s cheating and Nick’s failure to stand by Bella when she needs him most. This choice does leave some character growth up in the air, but it also lends authenticity to a story with no easy answers.

Although intrinsically tied to the album, readers can and will appreciate Jagged Little Pill without any familiarity with the musical production or the album itself. That said, you can listen to the full cast recording of Jagged Little Pill on Youtube (readers of the book will also find a QR code link at the end): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeGMmeX6iCc&list=PLIGJvUWjlxeNy7lqwXxMtMUwR4djyFXSf

Possible Pairings: We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds, Tricks by Ellen Hopkins, Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh, All We Left Behind by Ingrid Sundberg, Nothing Burns As Bright As You by Ashley Woodfolk

Follow Your Arrow: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

CeCe Ross and her girlfriend Silvie Castillo Ramírez are social media influencers. They have the cute outfits, the followers, and the endorsement deals to prove it. Plus, the girls are total relationship goals–hashtag Cevie forever. Until Cevie is over and CeCe is left mourning what she had thought was a perfect relationship while also figuring out how to handle the public nature of the breakup with her and Silvie’s followers.

CeCe is always worried about her online engagement and obsesses over every post. She wonders if anyone would follow her to hear about the issues she cares about instead of the new hand cream she’s been sent to try. She wonders if her followers  will like her without Silvie.

Enter Josh the new guy in town who is smart, musical, has great taste in donuts, and no clue about social media. CeCe has always known she’s bisexual so falling for Josh isn’t a surprise, but as her feelings for Josh grow she wonders if she has to tell Josh about her internet fame.

When CeCe’s efforts to keep her public persona a secret go spectacularly wrong CeCe will have to answer uncomfortable questions from Josh and confront the media attention centered around who she chooses to date and the version of herself she chooses to share in Follow Your Arrow (2021) by Jessica Verdi.

Find it on Bookshop.

At the start of Follow Your Arrow CeCe is struggling as she deals with the breakup and tries to ignore her increasing anxiety when it comes to maintaining her online presence and giving her followers the content they want and expect. Readers see some of this content in social media posts that appear between chapters. After years of defining herself in relation to Silvie and curating her public persona, CeCe isn’t sure who she is when she’s no longer part of a couple–especially one as visible as Cevie.

Verdi doesn’t shy away from showing the work that goes into curating an online presence as an influencer. It’s a hustle and it can be exhausting–which CeCe knows all too well. But it can also lead to some lasting and genuine friendships like CeCe’s long-distance best friend in Australia.

While bisexuality is much more mainstream now it is still often sidelined or erased in the larger LGBTQ+ community where bisexuals can be accused of “passing” in heterosexual presenting relationships. Follow Your Arrow tackles that head on as CeCe is forced to publicly justify both her relationship choices and her social media persona.

Follow Your Arrow is a fast-paced story filled with humor and compassion. Come for the behind-the-scenes look at life as an influencer and the sweet romance, stay for the thoughtful commentary on both bisexual erasure and the separate spheres of public and private life.

Possible Pairings: Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, Verona Comics by Jennifer Dugan, Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar, You Have a Match by Emma Lord, Don’t Hate the Player by Alexis Nedd, Radio Silence by Alice Oseman, Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous by Suzanne Park, Odd One Out by Nic Stone, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell

Exclusive Bonus Content: Please also take a minute to appreciate this cover which does such a great job of capturing CeCe and also has nods to the colors of the bisexual flag. So well done!

The Hate U Give: A Rapid Fire Review

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (2017)

If I had to pick a defining book of 2017 it would be this one. Thomas’ debut novel has received numerous stars (more than I even knew existed). It has also been selected a finalist for both the National Book Award and The William C. Morris YA Debut Award.

Thomas’s debut is one of several very timely and much needed books about social justice and specifically shining a light on the Black Lives Matter movement. It will also soon be a movie with Amandla Stenberg heading up a star-studded cast.

The book follows Starr Carter, a sixteen-year-old black girl who is navigating life at her prestigious school populated with mostly white, mostly wealthy classmates and life at home in the poor neighborhood where she and her family has always lived. Starr doesn’t feel quite at home anywhere–a feeling that is compounded when Starr is driving home with her childhood friend Khalil when a police officer pulls them over and shoots Khalil without cause.

As the only witness, Starr knows she should testify. But she also knows doing so will put her under intense scrutiny from the media. And it might not even lead to justice for Khalil when so many similar cases have ended in acquittals for the officers. Starr’s choice will have lasting ramifications for herself, her family, and her community as she has to choose where her allegiances lie and speak up for what she believes in.

Thomas’s novel is evocative and gripping. It captures this moment in society perfectly and it highlights all of the things that still need to change with an indictment of the cultural biases and racism that brought us to this point and also with a note of optimism for the future. Narrated by Starr this novel has a great voice and fantastic dialog. Although the plot starts right away the story does have a tendency to meander (I will maintain forever that this book could have been edited down by at least a hundred pages) as the novel explores Starr’s family and home life as well as her life at school where she is constantly reminding herself that she has to put forward a very specific face among her classmates.

Heavy but hopeful and necessary. A must-read.

Dear Martin: A Review

Justyce McAllister is a scholarship student at the top of his class at his prestigious boarding school and heading to an Ivy League college next year. He’s miles away from the rough neighborhood where he grew up and has big plans for his future.

None of those accomplishments or plans matter when a police officer puts Justyce in handcuffs. Shaken by the severity of the encounter–and how much worse it could have been–Justyce isn’t sure where he belongs. Not with the other boys from his neighborhood many of whom are now in gangs and scorn Justyce for moving away. Not with his mostly white classmates who seem intent on making Jus feel small.

Justyce hopes to find some answers in the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who advocated non-violence in the pursuit of civil rights. But as Jus tries to follow his teachings and writes to Dr. King to try and make sense of his life, Justyce starts to wonder if those teachings have any place in the modern world where boys like Justyce are still dying in Dear Martin (2017) by Nic Stone.

Find it on Bookshop.

Dear Martin is Stone’s powerful debut novel and a finalist for the 2018 William C. Morris YA Debut Award. This standalone contemporary is deceptively short with a page count that belies the weighty questions Justyce and his story raise.

Written in Justyce’s first-person narration along with his letters to Dr. King, this novel read partly like a diary with a conversational tone as Jus makes sense of the painful circumstances of his being handcuffed while trying to help his ex-girlfriend, grapples with casual racism with his classmates, and negotiates his complicated feelings for his debate partner SJ–a white girl Jus knows his mother would never want him to date.

Dear Martin is a compelling and timely story. Stone’s fast-paced prose and careful plotting make this novel an engrossing page-turner. An excellent choice for readers looking for a contemporary novel they can sink their teeth into. Ideal for anyone who has ever wanted to make their corner of the world a little better. Recommended.

Possible Pairings: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, In a Perfect World by Trish Doller, All American Boys by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds, Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman by Kristen R. Lee,, How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon, You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins, We Are the Scribes by Randi Pink, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Who Killed Christopher Goodman? by Allan Wolf, American Street by Ibi Zoboi

*An advance copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review consideration at BookExpo 2017*