October is here and your fall reading list is about to get another great YA Lit recommendation! The picks for this month will be brought to us by educator and academic Julie Hoffman. She kicks things off this week with two page-turning thrillers.
 Sarah Fleming | Dr. Sarah Fleming is high school English teacher at Fayetteville-Manlius High School in central New York. She also teaches as an adjunct instructor at SUNY Oswego, and she is an executive board member of NYSEC - the New York State English Council, as well as CNYRC - the Central New York Reading Council. Sarah loves to fill her time with reading new young adult literature, specifically those titles that lend themselves to great conversations about social justice. |
The Getaway by Lamar Giles & The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
Welcome to October’s weekend picks - and what a great time of year to look at all things spooky and spectacular! This month we’ll take a look at some recent YA picks that come from the horror and/or mystery genres. So get out your best, comfort-cozy blanket, and get ready for some fear factor - these are some scary stories!
We’ll start this month’s pick by reviewing two books I’ve shared with you before in an earlier YA Wednesday blog post: Speculative Fiction for Racial Justice. Those two books are The Getaway by Lamar Giles and The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson. Both are sure to get you in the spooky, Halloween spirit!
 | The Getaway by Lamar Giles I think this book will appeal to fans of Jordan Peele’s films especially. The main character Jay works as an Immediacy Helper (janitor) at a place called Karloff Country, a Disney World-esque entertainment resort. It’s set in a near-future America which is suffering the effects of climate change and famine. Jay’s family and friends live in Jubilee, the predominantly Black employee’s neighborhood, and they all work across the resort for the mostly white, affluent guests to keep them happy - with service and joy, as is “the Karloff way.” But then something ominous happens in the world outside the Karloff walls. First Jay’s friend Connie and her family all disappear overnight without explanation. Then, private jets start arriving at the resort, and suddenly everyone gets confined to their living quarters while the world erupts in a chaotic, apocalyptic event. |
| When the smoke clears, Jay and his friends are expected to go back to work - because apparently, there are still a small handful of elite guests at the resort who demand things run as normal, despite the chaos outside in the real world. It becomes clear to Jay and all the other Helpers that they are now at the mercy of these guests, called the Trustees. What ensues is a hellish new reality with a horror movie twist: these Trustees have direct control over Jay and his friends using a terrifying new technology designed to keep them physically subdued. Jay first witnesses and then experiences this technology at work, and readers watch as Karloff Country devolves into a horrific, terrifying reality as Jay and his friends try to reclaim their freedom. |  Lamar Giles |
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
This book is a must-read for fans of Stephen King, and of Carrie in particular. In this case, the prom nightmare takes place in 2014 in a small, southern town, where segregated proms are still a thing.
This book is a must-read for fans of Stephen King, and of Carrie in particular. In this case, the prom nightmare takes place in 2014 in a small, southern town, where segregated proms are still a thing.
 | The main character Maddy is bullied for multiple reasons, but mostly for the recent revelation that she has been passing as white since coming to school in the 7th grade. The story line mirrors the class King tale; the seemingly well-meaning Wendy sets Maddy up as her boyfriend Kenny’s date to the prom. Kenny, the senior, Black football star, carefully navigates what it means to be the tokenized Black friend amongst his peers, while his white girlfriend Wendy and her circle of friends engage in regular microaggressions. After an incident in terrorizing Maddy went viral on social media, prom chair Wendy decides to work toward a unified prom to combat the spotlight put on their school - but the student body’s response is mixed and some students refuse to participate in the “all-together” prom. So students vote to either keep the proms separate or unify them. |
| Meanwhile, Maddy discovers that she now has new supernatural powers that let her move objects with her mind. Maddy works to develop her powers, just as she and Kenny become friends in the days leading up to the prom. While readers watch Maddy grow in her powers, they also get a hint at what is to come on prom night (which I won’t spoil for you), where another terror will befall Maddy - and this time, the entire town will pay for their mistreatment of her as Maddy uses her powers in response. Happy October reading, everyone! |  Tiffany D. Jackson |
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