Rion Recommends Legendary Frybread Drive-In

 

Emerging from a cellar following a tornado warning, feeling scared while driving on a rainy road, opening your fridge - these are all ways in which the teens in Legendary Frybread Drive-In wind up at Sandy June's Legendary Frybread Drive-In, a hub for indigenous youth that exists outside the constraints of time and space in this anthology of intertribal stories edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith. The collection features seasoned indigenous YA authors such as Angeline Boulley (Firekeeper's Daughter) and Darcie Little Badger (Elatsoe) alongside relative newcomers, each author immersing the reader briefly into the unique dynamics of their varied cultures. The teens in Legendary Frybread Drive-In come to Sandy June's in search of their crush, seeking confidence to read in front of their class, or in moments of profound grief, and each teen receives just what they need from their time at the Drive-In.

 

I have never read a short story collection quite like this, and I was delighted by the through line of the Drive-In that connected each of the stories. While they were all written by different authors, by the end of the book I felt as though I had a thorough relationship with the concept of the Drive-In, feeling excited for what each teen would find upon reaching the destination. Each story offered a brief immersion into indigenous cultures from across Turtle Island, and the wisdom of elders was a consistent theme throughout the anthology. I particularly loved Kaua Māhoe Adams' story-in-verse, "Braving the Storm", in which the main character, Marley, reconnects with her recently deceased grandfather in Hawai'i. I highly recommend this book to teens and adults alike!

 

Age group: Teen

 

Catherine recommends “The Peach Thief”

Thirteen-year-old Scilla has grown up in a workhouse in mid-19^th century Britain. She has no memories of her own family and is all alone in the world. Once, and only once, she had a single bite of a ripe peach and it was the greatest thing she ever tasted. Cold and hungry, one night she decides to try and scale the Earl's walled garden in order to steal a peach. She does not succeed and is caught by the head gardener. Thinking that Scilla is a boy, the gruff head gardener offers her the chance to pay for her attempted theft by working as a garden boy, washing out pots and doing other menial garden tasks. With the job comes a safe place to sleep, good food to eat, and a community – all things Scilla has always wanted. Scilla stays – but in order to do so, must keep up the pretense of being a boy. Over the course of the year, Scilla falls in love with gardening, learning as much as she can. She begins to be quite adept at gardening, but Scilla also learns much about responsibility, community, and hard choices.

As someone who loves The Secret Garden - a book that is well over 100 years old, but which continues to charm readers - The Peach Thief evoked the same wonder of watching a child and a garden blossom together.

Age group: Children, 9 and up. And maybe sentimental adults.