Sophomore Lexi Benzing recommends “The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry” by Gabrielle Zevin.
“[A. J. Fikry] is a bookstore owner. And his wife died, and his bookstore is going down in the dumps. And all of a sudden, a baby is dropped off on his doorstep, and he has to take care of the baby. I liked how there was a lot of different plots. I can’t really spoil it, but there are a lot of different plots and they are all interconnected by the end of the book. Everything came together, and it was a really happy ending. It’s just a good story, and I think everyone should read it.”
Junior Emily Lin recommends “The Fortnight in September’’ by R. C. Sherriff.
“It’s about this family that goes on a holiday for two weeks to go to the beach. It’s just a group of five people having fun. It’s just nice and relaxing, especially during the stressful spring months of school. I like the cover– I thought it was pretty. I also liked how the author portrayed everyday aspects of life, and just the way he had people interacting.”
Freshman Allie Herndon recommends “Station Breaker” by Andrew Mayne.
“The main character is a pilot for NASA and he has to take the spaceship up to the satellite and he gets involved in a spy operation by accident and ends up with secret intelligence. He has to get back to Earth first and then from there, he has to get back and get the information to the right people. The main character feels very relatable because he isn’t a highly trained spy or anything. He’s just sort of a pilot who wanted to be an astronaut who accidentally got involved with all the spy stuff, and survives through quick thinking. He feels very realistic– and he’s funny.”
English teacher Mrs. Scaffidi recommends “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens.
“So, the main character gets abandoned by her entire family and has to fend for herself in the marsh and learn how to raise herself because she’s completely alone. She falls in love with this boy who’s her childhood friend. He ends up moving away and she ends up getting into mainstream society and deals with the horrific side of mainstream society. And then the boy she was friends with as a child comes back and they fell in love. There’s also a mystery/crime element to it, but I don’t want to give that away. It was just a blend of my favorite genres and it was really good at expressing female empowerment and overcoming situations and developing resilience and grit.”
I recommend “Only A Monster” by Vanessa Len.
This story is about a sixteen-year-old girl named Joan who learns that her family are all monsters, which means that they can steal years of life from humans and use it to time-travel. Follow Joan through her adventures as she faces off against the mythical monster hunter and attempts to save her family by using her powers to travel through time. I really liked all of the characters in the book, and I enjoyed learning new things about the monster world along with Joan. I also quite enjoyed the fated aspects of it. I thought it was really well written, and the premise was very interesting. It was a great fantasy novel, and I really liked it.
