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INTERVIEW: ZACK SMEDLEY
AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT Zack Smedley
Brodie Spade
Zack Smedley’s YA debut, Deposing Nathan, was a Kirkus Best Book of 2019 and a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Now his new novel, Tonight We Rule the World (Page Street, Oct. 12), makes our 2021 list, with its powerful story of a teen boy who experiences sexual assault; our reviewer praised it as “stellar and haunting.” Smedley answered some questions by email.
What was the inspiration for Tonight We Rule the World? Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak. It was a deeply influential and important book when I read it in my high school English class, but in the decade since, I haven’t seen a mainstream YA book that tells the same story with a male protagonist. So—after exhaustive research—I decided to write one.
The novel has some dark themes, such as sexual assault, along with more mundane life events, such as obtaining your driver’s license. How do you strike the right balance for a young adult readership? Well, Step No. 1 is to fill the book with at least enough joy and levity to make it accessible—I don’t want to write a story that’s going to relentlessly ruin anyone’s weekend. It’s important to me that my books be as humorous (and, at times, fun) as they are dark and heavy. But beyond that, I think the balance we’re talking about is simply how a lot of teenagers’ lives are. Awful things can and do happen, but high school is also filled with some of the most joyful milestones of your life. I want to write books that feature both.
What is it like having a book come out in 2021? How do you connect with your readers in this socially distanced year? It’s sure not as fun as back in 2019. The answer is lots of virtual events and fewer in-person ones.
Who is the ideal reader for Tonight We Rule the World, and where would they be reading it? If I did my job properly, teenagers in English classes. I used to loathe authors whose books included symbols, motifs, and parallel arcs that are ripe for deconstruction. Now I—to quote Obi-Wan Kenobi—have become the very thing I swore to destroy.
What book most dazzled you this year? Brendan Kiely’s The Gospel of Winter, one of the few YA books I found that discusses sexual assault from a male victim’s perspective, albeit through a slightly different lens. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Tonight We Rule the World.
Interview by Tom Beer.
FIFTEEN HUNDRED MILES FROM THE SUN
Garza Villa, Jonny Skyscape (354 pp.) $16.99 | June 8, 2021 978-1-5420-2705-2
Julián “Jules” Luna is a closeted junior who is about to have his life turned upside down. Set on leaving Texas to go to UCLA, Mexican American Jules is betting that moving 1,500 miles away will allow him the space to finally come out. Despite being surrounded by fiercely loving friends, he has accepted the duality of his closeted life, which he keeps under wraps to avoid his homophobic father’s verbal and physical abuse. When a drunken night leads to his accidentally coming out on Twitter, he is catapulted into an out life, which—amazingly—includes a blossoming relationship with Mat, a Vietnamese American boy and online crush who happens to live in Los Angeles. Garza Villa’s debut is buoyed by tenderness and humor amid moments of deep pain. The gay romance certainly delivers in Jules and Mat’s adorable chemistry, but the real standout is the love story between Jules and his (mostly Latinx) friends as they live life to its fullest together, standing on the precipice of new beginnings before leaving for college. Jules’ friendship with Jordan, his straight, Black soccer teammate, is exceptionally moving in the boys’ mutual care and vulnerability. The delightfully sassy Spanglish with myriad pop-culture references seamlessly woven into the conversational prose is an added bonus.
An open-hearted expression of love in its many forms.
(Fiction. 14-18)
WHEN WE WERE INFINITE
Gilbert, Kelly Loy Simon & Schuster (368 pp.) $18.99 | March 9, 2021 978-1-5344-6821-4
High school senior Beth Claire knows what it’s like to lose someone you love. Ever since her White father left, after her parents’ divorce, Beth has blamed her Chinese American mother for the end of their marriage. Striving not to repeat her mother’s mistakes, Beth does her best to be someone who is wanted and needed by those around her, especially her four closest friends, Brandon, Grace, Jason, and Sunny. She cherishes the closeness of their group and wants nothing more than for them all to stay tightly bonded through the year and even beyond graduation. Then Beth and Brandon accidentally witness Jason’s father assaulting him. Jason brushes off the violence, but Beth is devastated by the realization that she was unaware of her friend’s family situation. She becomes anxious when she and her friends are unable to devise a way to help Jason. The story is told retrospectively by an older Beth, whose tenderness toward her younger self contrasts with high school Beth’s critical and self-effacing demeanor. Her desire to be enough—competent enough, Chinese enough, accommodating enough—is described with the clarity of hindsight and vivid emotion, particularly when it comes to Jason, who was able to see past Beth’s carefully cultivated mildness to understand her in a way that the others do not. Brandon, Grace, Jason, and Sunny are all Asian American; Sunny is pansexual.
Beautifully, achingly cathartic. (resources) (Fiction. 13-18)
YOU’D BE HOME NOW
Glasgow, Kathleen Delacorte (400 pp.) $18.99 | $21.99 PLB | Sept. 28, 2021 978-0-525-70804-9 978-0-525-70805-6 PLB
A gut-wrenching look at how addiction affects a family and a town. Emory Ward, 16, has long been invisible. Everyone in the town of Mill Haven knows her as the rich girl; her workaholic parents see her as their good child. Then Emory and her 17-yearold brother, Joey, are in a car accident in which a girl dies. Joey wasn’t driving, but he had nearly overdosed on heroin. When Joey returns from rehab, his parents make Emory his keeper and try to corral his addictions with a punitive list of rules. Emory rebels in secret, stealing small items and hooking up with hot neighbor Gage, but her drama class and the friends she gradually begins to be honest with help her reach her own truth. Glasgow, who has personal experience with substance abuse, bases this story on the classic play Our Town but with a twist: The characters learn to see and reach out to each other. The cast members, especially Emory and Joey, are exceptionally well drawn in both their struggles and their joys. Joey’s addiction is horrifying and dark, but it doesn’t define who he is. The portrayal of small-town life and its interconnectedness also rings true. Emory’s family is White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast, and an important adult mentor is gay. Glasgow mentions in her author’s note that over 20 million Americans struggle with substance abuse; she includes resources for teens seeking help.
Necessary, important, honest, loving, and true. (Fiction. 14-18)
excuse me while i ugly cry
EXCUSE ME WHILE I UGLY CRY
Goffney, Joya HarperTeen (368 pp.) $17.99 | May 4, 2021 978-0-06-302479-3
After her journal goes missing, a high school senior is blackmailed into completing her most sensitive to-do list. By all appearances Quinn has everything—her family is rich, she is well liked at her private school, and next fall she’s headed to Columbia, her parents’ alma mater. But it’s an act: Quinn uses her journal as a place to alleviate some of the pressure around her secrets and fears so she doesn’t have to directly confront them. The biggest among them are that she was in fact rejected by Columbia and has been lying about it and that being one of only five Black students at a mostly White school is really hard. When Carter, a Black classmate she crushes on, mistakenly takes her journal and then loses it, the person who finds it starts anonymously threatening her. If Quinn doesn’t complete her “To Do Before I Graduate” list, the mystery person promises to reveal her secrets on social media. Because Carter lost the journal, he volunteers to help her discover the culprit. The character development is excellent; even Quinn’s parents get rich storylines. Goffney’s explorations of race and class are also well executed. At its heart, this is a story about finding the courage to be honest and take risks and the freedom that follows from embracing authenticity.
A perfect mix of humor and romance—and a source of
inspiration for being brave. (Fiction. 14-18)
THE DEAD AND THE DARK
Gould, Courtney Wednesday Books (384 pp.) $18.99 | Aug. 3, 2021 978-1-250-76201-6
Logan Ortiz-Woodley’s dads return with her to their rural Oregon hometown, reawakening old tensions alongside a mysterious evil. Snakebite is an insular ranching community where everything and everyone is reliably, stiflingly familiar and normal...on the surface. It was paradise to wealthy Ashley Barton before her boyfriend went missing; now trusted adults are keeping secrets and blaming paranormal investigation show star Brandon, who’s in town scouting locations for the next season. The arrival of Brandon’s co-star and husband, Alejo, and their adopted daughter, Logan, prompts further scrutiny and outright aggression—escalated by the revelation that Brandon and Alejo grew up in Snakebite—and leads Ashley to question her beliefs about her town and herself. Meanwhile, Logan quickly realizes that her family’s ties to Snakebite run far deeper than she thought—and that they’re not just there for ParaSpectors. She’s never been close with Brandon, and Alejo refuses to spill, so Logan reluctantly turns to Ashley for help getting answers. But as the girls get closer to the truth, the pool of suspects increases, and their friendship is tested (as well as the growing attraction between lesbian Logan and questioning Ashley). The paranormal elements—sounds, ghosts, and possession—support and enhance Gould’s broader project of interrogating the racist, homophobic ideology that has festered in Snakebite for years. Most characters are White; brown-skinned, Spanish-speaking, bisexual Alejo is presumably Latinx.
A complex and sophisticated thriller with haunting real-
world connections. (Paranormal thriller. 13-18)
BEASTS OF PREY
Gray, Ayana Putnam (496 pp.) $18.99 | Sept. 28, 2021 978-0-593-40568-0
Opposites come together hoping to capture a menacing creature, only to find a greater purpose. Ekon Okojo, studious and cautious, aspires to continue his family’s legacy as a Son of the Six, one of the city of Lkossa’s class of anointed warriors. Passionate and impulsive Koffi, who dreams of being free, is an indentured beastkeeper of the Night Zoo—a collection of exotic species owned by the greedy Baaz Mtombé. In the span of a single night, their paths cross and their destinies are forever altered: Ekon is cast out of the warrior class, and Koffi faces a lifetime of servitude. The pair form a tenuous partnership and venture into the Greater Jungle to hunt the Shetani, a powerful, vicious monster, hoping this will solve both their problems. As they are both headstrong and mistrustful, they get off to a rough start, but they become closer with each brush with death. Their quest for vengeance on the Shetani, which is wreaking havoc on Lkossa, turns into something more when they make an unanticipated discovery. Saving their village—and humanity—comes down to Ekon’s warrior instinct and Koffi’s ability to control the magic her people call the splendor. This pan-African story, rife with betrayal and narrated through poetic language that evokes vivid imagery, will ensnare readers, keeping them engaged with its energetic pace. The beautiful blend of mythology, romance, and action ends with a hint at more to come. All characters are Black.
A dazzling debut. (maps, author’s note) (Fantasy. 12-18)
THE WOMAN ALL SPIES FEAR Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life
Greenfield, Amy Butler Random House Studio (336 pp.) $18.99 | $21.99 PLB | Oct. 26, 2021 978-0-593-12719-3 978-0-593-12720-9 PLB
This biography of a groundbreaking cryptanalyst is entwined with crucial episodes in U.S. history.
Thorough research and accessible, enthusiastic writing create a page-turning read as thrilling as a spy novel. The text begins with Elizebeth Smith’s childhood: born in Indiana in 1892 to a Civil War veteran father and a former teacher mother, both devout Christians, she was determined to attend college despite her father’s opposition. She succeeded, finding her way to Chicago, where a library visit led to a research job working for eccentric millionaire Col. Fabyan at his estate, Riverbank. There she met a Russian-born fellow employee, her future husband, William Friedman. They eventually comprised Fabyan’s Department of Ciphers and married despite both families’ religious objections (William was Jewish). Almost unbelievable adventures ensued as the couple practiced their craft and plotted their escape from Riverbank’s maniacal owner. Elizebeth’s skills enabled the prosecution of alcohol-smuggling criminals during Prohibition. The couple’s work also saved lives and helped capture spies during both world wars. Between the wars, they threw elaborate code-breaking parties. Sadly, they also contended with antisemitism, misogyny, and William’s mental health issues; nonetheless, the tone overall is compelling and upbeat. Nearly every chapter about this intrepid, intelligent, energetic woman ends with a cliffhanger whose promise is fulfilled in the following one. Elizebeth’s life unfolded against a backdrop of some of the 20th century’s most pivotal events, and this riveting title is a fine tribute to her accomplishments.
Inspiring, informative, and entertaining. (bibliography,
notes) (Biography. 12-18)
SHE’S TOO PRETTY TO BURN
Heard, Wendy Henry Holt (336 pp.) $17.99 | March 30, 2021 978-1-250-24675-2
A romantic, fast-paced thriller inspired by a classic. Things start off sweet in San Diego, where swimmer Micaela and aspiring photographer Veronica meet by chance at a party and romance instantly sparks between them. After Veronica snaps a perfect photo of camera-shy Mick, their relationship complicates and escalates as hesitant Mick suddenly becomes the subject of Veronica’s budding photography career. Meanwhile, the two girls engage with the local activist scene along with Veronica’s longtime artist friend Nico, but the stakes rise with every rebellious art installation—even leading to death for some of those involved. Mick and Veronica pursue their increasingly unstable relationship while parental neglect, illegal activity, and the threat of violence set them on an escalating, dangerous path. The story unravels in colorful, electric prose through Mick’s and Veronica’s first-person points of view, alternating between past and present. The tension builds well, leading to an exhilarating and twisty final third. Believable and clever banter bounces back and forth between sympathetic characters, and allusions to The Picture of Dorian Gray provide a scaffold without requiring readers’ prior knowledge of the original to appreciate the story. This dark, winding novel expertly interweaves suspense and romance. Mick is cued as White and Veronica is Latinx; both are queer.
A wild and satisfying romp. (Thriller. 14-adult)
SLINGSHOT
Helnwein, Mercedes Wednesday Books (352 pp.) $18.99 | April 27, 2021 978-1-250-25300-2
Gracie defends the new boy with her slingshot, marking the beginning of a transformative semester. Before winter break, sophomore Gracie Welles’ heart is broken. Her biology teacher, Mr. Sorrentino, announces his engagement, destroying the illusion of a connection she’s imagined. She leaves boarding school to visit her fantasy-prone mother. Her financially supportive but physically absent father has another family; they don’t know about the existence of Gracie and her 34-year-old mom, and Gracie worries that someday she’ll end up trapped in love purgatory like her mother. She brings her slingshot back to school with her, a comfort object from a difficult childhood. Soon she puts it to use: Witnessing some seniors ganging up on a new boy, she lets loose some very carefully aimed gravel. Gracie escapes with the victim, Wade Scholfield, and after some persistence on his part, they become friends. As they grow closer, Gracie pushes him away; she’s terrified of being in love. But some things are inevitable, and Gracie finds herself on a rocky path toward realizing her feelings and growing into an entirely different person than the one once obsessed with her teacher. Gracie’s a powerhouse: incredibly acerbic, prone to lashing out, and painfully relatable. She and Wade are magnetic together, but it’s Gracie’s carefully drawn growth that buoys her story into one that is truly memorable. All major characters are White.
Wildly real and bursting with all the romance and pain of
coming into oneself. (Romance. 14-18)
