To all of my wonderful readers and blogging friends, may you have a very Merry Christmas!  Even though your holidays might look a little different this year, I hope you make time to relax, make merry, spend time with loved ones and, of course, read a good book (or two or three ...).  Stay healthy and safe.  

I love this video about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Enjoy!

Tired of the administration's prejudiced and uneven enforcement of the school dress code, 14-year-old Molly Frost decides to take matters into her own hands.  She starts a podcast featuring the stories of students who have been unfairly targeted.  The episodes highlight a host of issues surrounding the dress code that Molly feels like no one is paying attention to, including sexism, body-shaming, racism, and sexual harassment.  The podcast starts a revolution, which leads to a peaceful but passionate protest.  The students at Molly's middle school want change and they won't stop until they get it.

In the middle of the dress code bruhaha, the Frost family is having a crisis of their own.  Molly's trouble-making older brother, Danny, has been caught vaping and selling vape pods to younger students.  His bad behavior is causing rifts between him and the rest of the family.  With all that's going on, Molly has a lot on her plate.  How will she cope with it all?  And will her efforts get the results she wants?

No matter how you feel about dress codes and their enforcement (or lack thereof), Dress Coded by Carrie Firestone is a good vehicle for discussing the issue.  The book hits on a number of timely, important topics that middle-schoolers are dealing with every day.  It features likable characters, a compelling plot, and a writing style that is warm and approachable.  Besides the main conflict, it addresses other issues within friendships, families, and communities.  Overall, it's an empowering novel that encourages kids to use their voices to stand up for causes that matter to them.  While I didn't love Dress Coded, I found it to be a quick, thought-provoking read that raises a lot of good questions.  

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  You?)

In many ways, Efrén Nava is just like any other American seventh grader.  He hangs out with his best buddy, hides in the bathroom to get away from his pesky younger siblings, worries about how his ears stick out, wolfs down the food his mom makes, and is forever trying to convince his overprotective parents that he's ready for more independence.  His neighborhood is rundown and his apartment is tiny, but Efrén is surrounded by a caring family and a warm, vibrant Mexican-American community.  He is loved and protected.  And yet, he never quite feels safe.  Although he was born in America, his parents are in the country illegally, as are many of their neighbors and friends.  The threat of ICE raids and deportation is a constant dark cloud looming over them all.  

Efrén's worst fears come true when his mother is arrested and sent back to Mexico.  With his father taking on extra work to earn the money needed to bring her back home, he must step up and take care of his rowdy younger siblings.  In addition to wrangling rambunctious kindergarten twins, he still has to keep up with his schoolwork, help his BFF with a school election, and keep all his fears and worries in check.  Desperate to keep his family's problems a secret, Efrén is exhausted, terrified, and in need of help he's too scared to ask for.  Can he keep it all together so no one finds out what's really going on in his life?  Will his family ever be reunited?  How will Efrén cope when his entire world is falling apart?

No matter how you feel about U.S. immigration policies, border walls, and detention centers, you can't read a book like Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros and not be moved.  The story is fictional, of course, but it mirrors the sad reality of many immigrant families who live lives marked by fear and division every day.  Cisneros provides an intimate peek at what that looks like and how it affects all members of a family that's already just doing its best to get by.  Efrén Divided features sympathetic characters, a compelling plot, and engaging prose.  It's a timely, impactful, discussion-worthy read that teaches empathy while exploring the explosive issue of Mexican immigration to the U.S. through the eyes of those it impacts most.  

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of Land of the Cranes by Aida Salazar)

Everyone thinks 11-year-old Ware is a space cadet, but he's perfectly happy spending all his time in his own little world.  His grand imagination allows him to be anything he wants to be, including a heroic Medieval knight.  When his plans for a quiet summer being left pretty much to his own devices goes awry, Ware finds himself enrolled in a day camp at the local rec center with a bunch of other kids his age.  Meaningful social interaction is not Ware's idea of a good time, so when he happens upon a secret oasis—an abandoned church next to the rec center—he sees an unparalleled opportunity to duck out of camp and make his own fun.  The only problem is that someone else has already claimed the space and she does not want him there.  When Ware convinces scrappy Jolene to let him help her develop the old church into their own private playground, the two embark on a tentative friendship that might finally help two lonely misfits find belonging.  Then, an outside "enemy" starts to threaten their sanctuary.  Well versed in the knights' code of honor, Ware vows to protect their territory at all costs.  Can he and his new friend save the place that has sustained and nurtured them all summer?  Or will everything they've worked so hard to build be destroyed by the swing of a wrecking ball?

Here in the Real World, a middle-grade novel by genre veteran Sara Pennypacker, is a quiet, contemplative book.  The plot is compelling, the characters are likable, and the prose is assured.  While the story isn't exactly action-packed, it's still engrossing and enjoyable.  The tale teaches valuable lessons about friendship, being yourself, working together, finding one's strengths, etc.  Overall, it's a empowering, uplifting novel that I liked, didn't love.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me a little of Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson)

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find