And when she said the challenges are up 60% over last year, she notes that 'this year' doesn't end until Dec. 31. aMonday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable--more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn't turn up for the first day of school, Claudia's worried. As Claudia digs deeper into her friend's disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time they saw Monday. How can a teenage girl just vanish without anyone noticing that she's gone? Out of Darkness," by Ashley Hope Perez, a novel set in 1937 in New London, Texas that examines segregation, love, family and racism. This is a pretty heartbreaking novel, but it has it's issues. And that's unfortunate because it has this important message revealing a system that's broken as missing girls are overlooked. (and that word is really disgusting to even have to be used. Who overlooks missing children?! And how is that even okay? The answer is: it is not.) However, it happens and did happen in DC. Although, I know it happens everywhere.

no one at Claudia's school, including school counselors and nurses, either report or follow up on a missing child; Lawn Boy, by Jonathan Evinson, has been challenged at schools in several states, including Minnesota, Texas, and North Carolina. According to its publisher, Lawn Boy tells the story of “a young man determined to achieve the American dream of happiness and prosperity — who just so happens to find himself along the way.” The 2018 novel has been criticized for its depictions of sexual situations, including a gay sexual experience from the protagonist’s childhood. At a school board meeting, one North Carolina dad even accused the book of “normalizing the sexualization of children and stealing their innocence.” 2. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable—more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn’t turn up for the first day of school, Claudia’s worried.

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When she doesn’t show for the second day, or second week, Claudia knows that something is wrong. Monday wouldn’t just leave her to endure tests and bullies alone. Not after last year’s rumors and not with her grades on the line. Now Claudia needs her best—and only—friend more than ever. But Monday’s mother refuses to give Claudia a straight answer, and Monday’s sister April is even less help. When you have "before" "after" and "one year / two years before the before", it's pretty easy to get lost. It would really pull me out of my immersion when I had to pause and say, "wait, what? where / when are we right now?" And some of that is clearer later on and some isn't. But it could definitely prevent some people from getting into the book at all.

This book reminds us that teens face trauma every day, and their problems are deemed not important or not serious until it gets “serious” according to adult standards. When a student lashes out, runs away, or hurts themselves people recognize all the signs that they didn’t originally take seriously. The recurring theme in this book is that adults need to listen when asked for help. Often children suffer in silence because they don’t have the courage to speak up, but why is it that so many children don’t have the courage? Another thing that bothers me in this book is that Claudia is supposed to be 14-16 years old. But when we get into her head, she acts like an 8-year-old. The way she acted and presented herself made her seem a lot younger than her actual age. I would have liked her behaviours to be more consistent with that 14-16yr old age because it would make more logical sense. This made it very difficult to get into the flow of the book. A+ for the suspense and tension build-up because 15% in, I was ready to trade my mum to find out what happened to Monday. She read two sections, the second of which was sexually explicit, until her time expired. After she finished, some parents applauded her, while a school board member asked for "decorum." school staff witness violent in-school fights and yet choose not to report them or punish the assailants;Eventually it becomes apparent why the author decided to do this, but by that point I'd already struggled too much. And, to be honest, I find myself once again raising an eyebrow at the ending, rather than being impressed. Readers of Allegedly will be poised in anticipation of some twist and, just as I thought it weakened the ending of that book, I feel like we are again presented with a reveal so out of left field that it's more "seriously?" than "oh my god!". To assert that certified school librarians are trying to harm children by putting pornography in libraries is frankly ludicrous. No librarian that I know wants to hurt a child,” they said., “What we do is we contribute to the academic achievement of our campuses and our school systems.” Gender Queer is a graphic memoir published in 2019 by nonbinary illustrator Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns. The book charts eir discovery of eir gender identity through adolescence. Kobabe’s memoir has been challenged in states like Iowa, New Jersey, and Virginia. In a Washington Post op-ed, Kobabe dismissed parents' claims that the book “promoted pedophilia” (because of its depiction of an erotic Greek vase) as “a common accusation against work with themes of queer sexuality.” 5. Melissa (Previously known as George) by Alex Gino Huffaker said she recently received a call about books being targeted in a school library in St. George, but she gets calls nearly every week from different libraries throughout the state — from school and public libraries alike. Claudia, at 14-16 years old, is younger than the protagonists I'm used to in YA, but her narrative felt younger still. There were parts where I felt like I was inside the head of an 8 year old. It made it difficult to settle into the flow of the book.