The National Book Awards Longlist and New Releases!

Okay, so I am very excited about this YA novel! It’s about a young root worker, Laura, and is set in an alternate United States in 1937, a time when the country is split between those who are magical and those who aren’t. Laura takes a portal form her native Pennsylvania to New York City when she turns 17 to become a licensed mage. But the going’s slow, and half a year later she decides to settle for a job within a branch of the U.S. government that focuses on repairing issues that started with an event called the Dynamism. She becomes a mysterious mage’s apprentice and together they set out to rebuild America. Thing is, with their first mission, they come across mystical arts that were last seen when Black mages were killed and exploited.

I’ve said it before, but I’m really loving all the new historical novels that show Black people in different decades we haven’t seen much of before. This one is made extra interesting with its pictures and documents.

Two girls are raised in a war-torn, small village in France where they fold into themselves and each other — making a world that is all their own through writing stories. Fabienne is the more assertive one who doesn’t go to school, and Agnes is her willing follower. From the intense friendship comes a book, which is a collection of the stories the girls have written, and Fabienne insists Agnes take the credit. This catapults Agnes into the book publishing world as a prodigy, but also away from Fabienne. Years later, when Agnes learns of Fabienne’s death, she begins to recount the childhood she spent with her friend, and all the messy, messy details.