70 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ AUGUST 5, 2019
Review_CHILDREN’S
year. In alternating chapters, all 20 stu-
dents narrate—some, including Ellie,
appear more than once. This ambitious
technique from Dowell (the Sam the Man
series) pays off: the students’ varied per-
spectives and sufficiently unique voices
offer key insights into events and char-
acter motivations, such as why Rosie is
unkind or why Petra wants to change.
The many views and diverse cast create a
complex, thought-provoking, and enter-
taining view of middle school. Ages 9–13.
(Oct.)Redwood and Ponytail
K.A. Holt. Chronicle, $18.99 (424p) ISBN 978-
1-4521-7288-0
Holt (Knockout) once again offers keen
insight into the social pressures and vul-
nerabilities of middle schoolers in this
novel in verse, which traces the mutual
attraction between two seventh grade
girls. “Tall as a palm tree” Tam, a jock,
is sometimes mistaken for a boy; “with
her “perfect/ swinging/ ponytail,” Kate
resembles “every clichéd cheerleader.”
Despite their differences, though, they
establish a friendship that evolves into
something deeper. Conflicts arise when
Kate’s friends and social-status-obsessed
mother disapprove of Tam, and she fears
that people will see her as “twisted up,/
not right” because she is gay. Ultimately,
she must choose between molding herself
into the girl her mother wants her to be
and following her own path. The girls’
interior monologues, sometimes merging
on the page, sometimes visually set apart,
effectively show their shared feelings and
contrasting perspectives, and the voices of
three onlooking students function as a
Greek chorus, highlighting transitions in
the girls’ relationship. In a story
thoughtfully formed and eloquently exe-
cuted, Holt offers affirmation and hope to
readers struggling to fit in. Ages 10–14.
Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy
Literary Agency. (Oct.)The Athena Protocol
Shamim Sarif. HarperTeen, $17.99 (304p)
ISBN 978-0-06-284960-1
Athena, a secret, unsanctioned organi-
zation that protects women and children
internationally, was founded by Chinese
tech tycoon Li Chen, African-American
former ambassador Peggy Delaney, andretired white British musician Kit Love.
Protocol dictates that its agents eschew
bloodshed, but after Jessie Archer, 18,
helps her fellow operatives free 50 young
women from a cage in Cameroon and then
realizes that their captor will serve little
time, she kills him. The team flees, but
the incident
attracts media
attention,
prompting
Athena to fire
Jessie—an espe-
cially devas-
tating decision,
given that Kit is
Jessie’s mother.
Jessie refuses to
stay sidelined,
however, particularly after she learns that
Kit will serve as bait in an operation a tar-
geting human trafficker Gregory Pavlic.
Tailing Athena to Serbia, Jessie launches
a solo investigation that proves far more
difficult and dangerous than anticipated;
she also becomes attracted to Pavlic’s
daughter. First in a planned series, film-
maker Sarif’s YA debut compensates for
a thin premise with an inclusive cast,
ample action, and escalating stakes. Some
underdeveloped secondary characters
lessen the interpersonal conflicts’ heft
and verisimilitude, but Jessie’s conflicted
attraction rings true, and a gratifying
conclusion hints at emotional complexities
to come. Ages 14–up. (Oct.)By Any Means Necessary
Candice Montgomery. Page Street, $17.99
(320p) ISBN 978-1-62414-799-9
Torrey, a gay, black college freshman,
is not sure where he belongs. He thinks
he’s escaping his Los Angeles neighbor-
hood and his “sad excuse for a family” by
going to San Francisco State University.
As soon as he arrives there, though, trou-
bling news from home pulls him back.
The bee farm he inherited from his uncle
is about to be seized due to unpaid taxes,
and having the apiary fall into the wrong
hands could add to the gentrification
problems already threatening local resi-
dents’ livelihoods. Torrey knows he should
return to L.A. to work to save his property
and neighborhood, but he wants to stay
in school, especially after he reunites
with a former love interest via Instagram.Through Torrey’s struggles and vibrant,
first-person voice, Montgomery (Home and
Away) sheds light on larger social issues.
At times directly addressing the reader,
Torrey’s narration clearly delineates con-
cerns within nonwhite communities.
Rather than providing pat answers to
complicated problems, this contemporary
coming-of-age novel raises essential ques-
tions to ponder. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jim
McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich and Bourret.
(Oct.)Jackpot
Nic Stone. Crown, $17.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-
984829-62-7
On Christmas Eve, Gas ’n’ Go employee
Rico Danger, 17, sells two lottery tickets
to a woman with memory troubles. After
Rico realizes that one of them may be
worth $106 million, she begins obsessing
about the winning ticket’s whereabouts.
Rico’s mother works too much, misman-
ages her meager earnings, and refuses to
go on Medicaid; Rico handles the family’s
finances and works double shifts to make
rent; and her little brother keeps getting
sick. When nobody claims the jackpot after
several days, Rico enlists classmate Zan
Macklin, a wealthy computer whiz, to
help her track down the customer. As they
work together, she and Zan careen toward
a romance layered with intersectional
issues: multiethnic Rico is believably
resentful about her family’s situation;
Zan, part white and part Latinx, is often
oblivious to his privilege and high-
handed with his wealth; and neither
believes they have much choice for their
future. Interstitials by objects (“A Word
from the Right Ticket”) occasionally dis-
rupt the first-person narration, and the
primary relationship suffers from an
insufficiently characterized male lead. But
Stone (Odd One Out) authentically portrays
the precarious, terrifying act of living
with far less than is needed to survive, and
its financial and emotional fallout. Ages
14–up. (Oct.)★ Light It Up
Kekla Magoon. Holt, $18.99 (368p) ISBN 978-
1-250-12889-8
Coretta Scott King Honoree Magoon’s
stand-alone follow-up to How It Went
Down catches up with the residents of the
Underhill neighborhood after another