Older Readers
Adventures of Mary Jane.
By Hope Jahren.
June 2024. 464p. Delacorte, $19.99 (9780593484111). Gr. 9–12.
In protagonist Mary Jane, the author has borrowed a minor character from Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Indeed, many of the characters in this nearepic adventure come from Twain’s classic, while others are borrowed from real life. Jahren has done a remarkable job of marrying fact and fiction to create a wonderfully memorable novel that begins in 1846 in the Minnesota Territory, where 14-year-old Mary Jane must travel 400 miles south by boat to help her aunt who, she discovers, is in extremis. Her husband has survived a terrible accident, but just barely; he can no longer talk or stand or work. Mary Jane helps the family as she can, but her aunt falls ill with—presumably—typhoid fever and dies, the same evening Mary Jane’s uncle dies of a stroke. In tragedy’s wake, Mary Jane’s two cousins, Joanna and Susan—along with Mary Jane—are forced to move to Mississippi to live with their uncle Peter Wilks, who at first seems to be a harmless eccentric but quickly is revealed to be a monster. How will the girls escape him? There is more, much more, and all of it pitch-perfect. Beautifully written and rich in fully realized, memorable characters and incident, the book is a treasure. Its surprising but satisfying ending gives Huckleberry Finn a run for its money. —Michael Cart
A Bridge Home.
By Mona Alvarado Frazier.
May 2024. 292p. Arte Publico/Piñata, paper, $15.95 (9781558859951). Gr. 9–12.
In this coming-of-age story, Jacqui, a smart and hardworking Mexican American 17-year-old, is just trying to win a scholarship to UCLA and get out of the California relationships, social activism, systemic racism, gender roles, poverty, and the pressure of family expectations. Spanish words are organically used throughout the story. Jacqui’s a sympathetic, authentic, and resourceful character worth rooting for. Readers will find themselves swept up into this compulsively readable and engaging story of a teenager struggling to make a better life for herself. —
