Please Be OK: A Story about Addiction by Diane O’Neill

Illustrated by Anastasiya Kanavaliuk 4 stars Fiona loves spending time with her older brother, Dylan, but lately Dylan has been acting differently. He rarely leaves his room and Fiona notices him acting strangely. They’ve always been a team, but now Fiona must decide whether to tell her parents about Dylan’s odd behavior. A heartfelt story…

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When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez

5 stars A powerful novel in verse that proves you are more than the hardships you have faced. I’d recommend looking at the trigger warnings before going in to this as there are quite a few traumatic events that occur. These include rape, food insecurity, homelessness, drug overdose, and police brutality. This book may not…

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Almost There and Almost Not by Linda Urban

3 stars This one took me a bit to get into. It deals with so many heavy topics: puberty, looking older than one’s age, sexual harassment, parental neglect, addiction, death of a parent, and being shuttled from one “home” to the next. But once I dove into the narration and story, I was swept up…

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