All books mentioned in this edition of the Great Reads Newsletter are available on the Ocean County Library's OverDrive Collection. You can browse the entire OverDrive Collection
here
.
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For help and support visit the library's
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Patsy
by Nicole Dennis-Benn
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When Patsy gets her long-coveted visa to America, it comes after years of yearning to leave Pennyfield, the beautiful but impoverished Jamaican town where she was raised. More than anything, Patsy wishes to be reunited with her oldest friend, Cicely, whose letters arrive from New York steeped in the promise of a happier life. But Patsy’s plans don’t include her overzealous mother―or even her five-year-old daughter, Tru.
Patsy leaves Tru behind in a defiant act of self-preservation, hoping for a new start where she can be, and love, whomever she wants. But when Patsy arrives in Brooklyn, America is not as Cicely’s treasured letters described; to survive as an undocumented immigrant, she is forced to work as a bathroom attendant and nanny.
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Less
by Andrew Sean Greer
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Arthur Less, a mid-list novelist, is approaching his 50th birthday, and he needs to grow up. But first he needs to get out: Arthur's much younger, exceedingly beautiful ex is
getting married, and the last thing Arthur wants to do is attend the wedding. So he accepts every half-baked literary invitation that's recently come his way, slaps together his frequent flier miles, leaves San Francisco, and takes a trip around the world.
His travels take him to Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Morocco, Vietnam, India, and Japan. Along the way, he finds love, despair, adventure, and plenty of misadventure, is forced to come to terms with the fleeting of youth and the realities of life—in often quite hilarious ways.
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There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson all their life. But when Jam meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colors and claws, who emerges from one of her mother’s paintings and a drop of Jam’s blood, she must reconsider what she’s been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster, and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption’s house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also to uncover the truth, and the answer to the question
–How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?
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Like A Love Story
by Abdi Nazemian
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1989 - New York City
Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother. He’s terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he’s gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media’s images of men dying of AIDS.
Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism. Judy has never imagined finding romance...until she falls for Reza and they start dating.
Art is Judy’s best friend, their school’s only out and proud teen. He’ll never be who his parents want him to be, so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs.
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Hurricane Child
by Kacen Callender
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Being born during a hurricane is unlucky, and twelve-year-old Caroline has had her share of bad luck lately. She's hated and bullied by everyone in her small school on St. Thomas of the US Virgin Islands, a spirit only she can see won't stop following her, and — worst of all — Caroline's mother left home one day and never came back. When a new student named Kalinda arrives, Caroline's luck begins to turn around. Kalinda, a solemn girl from Barbados with a special smile for everyone, becomes Caroline's first and only friend, and the person for whom Caroline has begun to develop a crush. Now, Caroline must find the strength to confront her feelings for Kalinda, brave the spirit stalking her through the islands, and face the reason her mother abandoned her. Together, Caroline and Kalinda must set out in a hurricane to find Caroline's missing mother, before Caroline loses her forever.
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Martin McLean, Middle School Queen
by Alyssa Zaczek
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Seventh-grader Martin McLean has always been surrounded by people who can express themselves. His mother is an artist, his colorful Tío Billy works in theater, and his best friends Carmen and Pickle are outgoing and don’t care what other people think. But Martin can only find the right words when he’s answering a problem at a Mathletes competition—until his tío introduces him to the world of drag. In a swirl of sequins and stilettos, Martin creates his fabulous drag queen alter ego, Lottie León. As Lottie, he is braver than he’s ever been; but as Martin, he doesn’t have the guts to tell anyone outside of his family about her. Not Carmen and Pickle, not his Mathletes teammates, and definitely not Chris, an eighth-grader who gives Martin butterflies. When Martin discovers that his first-ever drag show is the same night as the most important Mathletes tournament, he realizes that he can only pull off both appearances by revealing his true self to his friends—and channeling his inner drag superstar.
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Julián Is a Mermaid
by Jessica Love
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While riding the subway home from the pool with his Abuela one day, Julián notices three women spectacularly dressed up. Their hair billows in brilliant hues, their dresses end in fishtails, and their joy fills the train car. When Julián gets home, daydreaming of the magic he’s seen, all he can think about is dressing up just like the ladies in his own fabulous mermaid costume: a butter-yellow curtain for his tail, the fronds of a potted fern for his headdress. But what will Abuela think about the mess he makes — and even more importantly, what will she think about how Julián sees himself?
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I Am Perfectly Designed
Written by Karamo Brown
With Jason "Rachel" Brown
Illustrated by Anoosha Syed
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In this empowering ode to modern families, a boy and his father take a joyful walk through the city, discovering all the ways in which they are perfectly designed for each other.
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Stonewall:
Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights
by Ann Bausum
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The Stonewall Reader
Foreword by Edmund White
Edited by New York Public Library
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