Day four of #unwrapALU is all about the lazy, hazy drama-filled school dayz. The days of self-discovery, coming of age, and new friendships. Today’s picks bring together the unexpected friendships of our youth with Shalta Dicaire Fardin and Sarah Sahagian’s witty and spirited Good Girls (Inanna Publications) and Matthew Heiti’s The-Breakfast-Club-esque Black Dog: 4 vs the wrld (Playwrights Canada Press).
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Everyone has one – that tricky booklover on your list for whom you’re stymied on what to buy. Fret no longer: we’ve rounded up twenty books for hyper-specific people. Check our recommendations, and buy on. BONUS: get a set of our holiday gift cards FREE when you buy any of our featured books.
by Shalta Dicaire Fardin & Sarah Sahagian (Inanna Publications)
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What would Joan of Arc do? Allie Denning is the accomplished tenth grade captain of the all-girls Anne Bradstreet College (ABC) Debate Team. She and her high-achieving friends live safe, orderly lives; they never break curfew, always do their homework, and aspire to attend Ivy League schools. But when Allie unexpectedly ends up with the new, cool, party girl Octavia as her debate partner, these very different young women must, against all odds, find a way to join forces and balance school, family, relationships, and each other. Good Girls is a feminist coming-of-age story; the first book in a planned series of witty, daring and feminist-first YA novels that will follow Allie and Octavia throughout their time as students at ABC.
This is a book that brings to the forefront the ones easily dismissed – youth, the mentally ill, and the TYA play itself. It’s a darkly comic but hopeful story of four teenage outsiders struggling with death, depression and the shadow of a black dog.Two is fraught. While dealing with the impossible expectations of her parents, she is trying to understand why her brother, a bright and talented teenager, has taken his own life. It’s not until a fateful school detention that she meets three other students who all seem as lost as she is. There’s Three, a quiet, misunderstood guy who doesn’t quite know how to care for himself; Four, the fashionable, popular kid and class clown; and Five, a rebel ready to fight against everyone and everything. Despite their differences, they each grapple with depression and anxiety and become an unlikely source of comfort to one another. As the four unite to battle teachers, parents, therapists and their own demons, their promising futures begin to reveal themselves.***If these books don’t tickle your fancy, check back tomorrow when we get super specific with two more books. Or why not take a peek at our last six hyper-specific picks? And remember, if you purchase any of our recommended #unwrapALU titles, we’ll throw in a free holiday gift card set!
