Clearing out the ILLs.

So, a few quick notes on two books!

Black Boy White School, by Brian F. Walker:

When he gets a scholarship to an elite prep school, fourteen-year-old Anthony "Ant" Jones leaves his rough East Cleveland neighborhood for Belton Academy in Maine. Once there, as one of the few students of color at the school, he faces racism both blatant (his roommate's father) and insidious (everyone assumes he's from New York and plays basketball). As he tries to adapt to Belton without compromising his identity or his values, a visit home raises an uncomfortable issue: he might not completely fit in at home anymore.

Pros: Feels genuine and realistic—not entirely surprising, as the author grew up in East Cleveland and was sent to a prep school at age fourteen—and Ant's internal reactions to the less-obvious instances of racism (sometimes by completely well-meaning people) do a great job of showing exactly why Ant gets so frustrated, but without ever feeling preachy. 

Cons: Considering the topics it dealt with, somehow, overall, it felt lightweight. It skated over the surface of the issues—introduced them without really exploring them—and told Ant's story without really ever engaging me emotionally. And while I didn't have an issue with how the story ended, it did end quite abruptly.

Recommended to: Readers looking for fish-out-of-water stories; stories that deal with everyday racism, and/or issues of class.

Amazon | Indiebound. 

Blood on my Hands, by Todd Strasser:

The second in Todd Strasser's Thrillogy (the first was Wish You Were Dead), this installment is about seventeen-year-old Callie Carson, who is on the run from the police because she's a suspect in a murder that she didn't commit. Sure, her fingerprints are all over the murder weapon, and there are widely circulated pictures of her standing over the body of her frenemy Katherine Remington-Day, but she didn't do it. Now she's desperately trying to discover the identity of the murder before she gets caught by the police... or by the real murderer.

Pros: Like the first book in the series, a high-interest mystery a la Lois Duncan. Unlike a lot of similar books, it took me quite a while before I correctly identified the murderer. Yay!

Cons: Also like the first book in the series (and Lois Duncan), it's got infodumps, stilted dialogue, and a lot of telling vs. showing (especially when it comes to emotion).

Recommended to: Fans of Lois Duncan, et al, as well as procedurals like the Cameryn Mahoney books.

Amazon | Indiebound.