Book Review + New Releases for Young Adult Nonfiction

Homebody by Theo Parish

Publisher: Harperalley

Published: April 23, 2024

Genre: Young Adult Graphic Novel Biography

Call #: YA GN BIO PAR

Summary:

In their comics debut, Theo Parish masterfully weaves an intimate and defiantly hopeful memoir about the journey one nonbinary person takes to find a home within themself. Combining traditional comics with organic journal-like interludes, Theo takes us through their experiences with the hundred arbitrary and unspoken gender binary rules of high school, from harrowing haircuts and finally the right haircut to the intersection of gender identity and sexuality—and through tiny everyday moments that all led up to Theo finding the term “nonbinary,” which finally struck a chord. “Have you ever had one of those moments when all of a sudden things become clear…like someone just turned on a light?” A whole spectrum of people will be drawn to Theo’s storytelling, from trans or questioning teens and adults, to folks who devoured Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe or The Fire Never Goes Out by ND Stevenson, to any person looking to dive a little deeper into the way gender can shape identity. Throughout the book, Theo’s crystal-clear voice reminds the reader that it’s okay not to know, it’s okay to change your mind, and it’s okay to take your time finding your way home. “We are all just trying to find a place to call our own. We are all deserving of comfort and safety, a place to call home.”

Overall Thoughts:

"We are all just trying to find a place to call our own."--Theo Parish

An empowering and hopeful memoir on Theo's journey with their identity. This memoir is uplifting and shows Theo's steps to their self-love discovery. I loved this book! Being a non-binary person, I related a lot to Theo's struggles with who they were and how to match their body to fit what they felt. Near the end, Theo makes mention of how they feel like their body is a house for rental--one that came pre-furnished and Theo just had to make some improvements to make that house their home. I thought that message really fits me and some of my trans and nonbinary friends, so I hope you too pick this up. I will not stop recommending this book!

Other books that came out in the last couple of months:

Discovering Life's Story: The Evolution of an Idea by Joy Hakim

Publisher: Miteen Press

Published: May 07, 2024

Genre: Young Adult Nonfiction

Call #: YA 570.9 HAK

Summary:

Can species change? Or go extinct? In the eighteenth century, most people answer no to both questions. But in the century that follows, that certainty gets challenged as some people in Europe question the common belief that all creatures are the same as they've been since life's creation. The Evolution of an Idea, the second volume of Discovering Life's Story, opens with the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, who attempts to create an organizing system for the myriad forms of life on earth. It continues into the late 1800s, when two Englishmen--Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace--each develop their own version of a startling new theory of how life-forms change over time. This evolutionary idea will alter the understanding of our place in the great web of life on earth. In this remarkable volume, author Joy Hakim continues charting the path of human discovery and shows how groundbreaking thinkers began to unlock the biological secrets of our own existence.

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Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles, 1992. Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a City on Fire by Paula Yoo

Publisher: Norton Young Readers

Published: May 07, 2024

Genre: Young Adult Nonfiction

Call #: YA 979.494 YOO

Summary:

Paula Yoo’s latest is a compelling, nuanced account of Los Angeles’s 1992 uprising and its impact on its Korean and Black American communities. On April 29, 1992, following the acquittal of four police officers charged with the beating and arrest of Rodney King and the earlier killing of teenager Latasha Harlins, the city of Los Angeles erupted in violence. Many of these events were centered on the city’s Koreatown, where tensions between the Black and Korean American communities had simmered for years, fueled by economic challenges and redlining and enflamed by sensationalized and racist media. Based on more than 100 personal interviews, Rising from the Ashes follows these events through the eyes and experiences of the families of King, Harlins, shooting victim Edward Jae Song Lee, and dozens of business owners, journalists, police officers, firefighters, activists, and other community members. Deeply researched and compulsively readable, this is a vivid, propulsive, and moving story of a pivotal moment in recent American history that continues to resonate today.