For this last of the summer blogs, I decided to look at some of the required/recommended reading on the Boston Public Schools Summer Booklist. There are many titles on the list for grades 9-12 but the following look interesting to me and I hope to read them all before school starts.
Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is “required” reading for students going into the 10th grade. I have never read a book in verse before and I am quite looking forward to reading this one. “When Xiomara Batista, who pours all her frustrations and passion into poetry, is invited to join the school slam poetry club, she struggles with her mother’s expectations and her need to be heard.” (BPL)
Almost American Girl by Robin Ha is required for students going into the 11th grade in the Boston Public Schools. “A powerful and moving teen graphic novel memoir about immigration, belonging, and how arts can save a life. Growing up as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn’t always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together. So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation–following her mother’s announcement that she’s getting married–Robin is devastated. Overnight, her life changes. Then one day Robin’s mother enrolls her in a local comic drawing class, which opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined”–Amazon.com.
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay is required reading for students going into 12th grade in the Boston Public Schools. I’m about halfway through and it’s excellent. “When seventeen-year-old Jay Reguero learns his Filipino cousin and former best friend, Jun, was murdered as part of President Duterte’s war on drugs, he flies to the Philippines to learn more.”
I have heard A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson is great! “As her senior capstone project, Pippa Fitz-Amobi is determined to find the real killer in a closed, local murder case, but not everyone wants her meddling in the past.”
I read Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi a few years ago and I am happy to see it on the summer reading list. “Seventeen-year-old Zélie, her older brother Tzain, and rogue princess Amari fight to restore magic to the land and activate a new generation of magi, but they are ruthlessly pursued by the crown prince, who believes the return of magic will mean the end of the monarchy.”
We are hoping to bring the editor of Black Enough Ibi Zoboi to BINcA. It would be great to hear from a Haitian American author and I am looking forward to these diverse perspectives. “Collects seventeen stories that detail what it’s like to be young and black in a diverse America. “In these stories, black kids are nerds and geeks, gay and lesbian, first-gen and immigrants, outdoorsy and artists, conflicted and confused, grieving and succeeding, thriving and surviving–in short, they’re fully human.” (BPL)
Library at BINcA 
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