“Back to school. Back to school, to prove to Dad that I’m not a fool. I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don’t get in a fight. Ohhhh, back to school.”
-Adam Sandler, Billy Madison
Back-to-school season is a whirlwind of classes and checklists, but hopefully you’ve settled back into the rhythm of things. If you’re no longer in school, then you can either empathize with the following stories, or find yourselves entertained and relieved to no longer be dealing with these school-time conundrums. Here are some picks to celebrate that school spirit!
Check out Bookstr’s Three to Read, the three books we’ve picked for you to read this week!
Our Hot Pick
The Revolution of Birdie Randolph
Synopsis:
Dove “Birdie” Randolph works hard to be the perfect daughter and follow the path her parents have laid out for her: She quit playing her beloved soccer, she keeps her nose buried in textbooks, and she’s on track to finish high school at the top of her class. But then Birdie falls hard for Booker, a sweet boy with a troubled past… whom she knows her parents will never approve of.
When her estranged aunt Carlene returns to Chicago and moves into the family’s apartment above their hair salon, Birdie notices the tension building at home. Carlene is sweet, friendly, and open-minded—she’s also spent decades in and out of treatment facilities for addiction. As Birdie becomes closer to both Booker and Carlene, she yearns to spread her wings. But when long-buried secrets rise to the surface, everything she’s known to be true is turned upside down.
Why?
In life, you’re either reminiscing about your youth, or you’re currently dealing with the difficulties of teenager experiences for the first time. Either way, author Brandy Colbert reminds us that growing up can feel like rebellion and salvation at the same time. It’s not always pretty, but neither is building a life that fulfills you. According to Booklist, “Colbert’s latest novel brilliantly delves into first loves, forbidden romance, rebellion, and family expectations—all of which teens will strongly relate to.”
Our Coffee Shop Read
Just Beyond: The Scare School
Synopsis:
Middle school feels like the worst place imaginable, but for Jess, Josh, and Marco, their school may actually be the worst place in this world… or any other!
After a chance encounter with a deadly creature stalking the school halls, these three unsuspecting students are whisked away to a horrifying realm beyond the school boiler room where they must unravel a terrifying mystery. Can they save the kids they find there and escape themselves, or will they be forever trapped Just Beyond?
Why?
It’s R.L. Stine. You already know that you’re in for a good time. If middle school wasn’t exciting enough for you as a kid, then you can venture through the hallways with the school-terrorizing monsters of Stine’s latest fantasy, all brought to life by the art of Kelly and Nicole Matthews. Reading comics is also cool these days. You can read this one proudly without hiding it behind another book while at your local coffee spot or the school dining hall.
Our Dark Horse
Going Dutch
Synopsis:
Exhausted by dead-end forays in the gay dating scene, surrounded constantly by friends but deeply lonely in New York City, and drifting into academic abyss, twenty-something graduate student Richard has plenty of sources of anxiety. But at the forefront is his crippling writer’s block, which threatens daily to derail his graduate funding and leave Richard poor, directionless, and desperately single.
Enter Anne: his brilliant classmate who offers to “help” Richard write his papers in exchange for his company, despite Richard’s fairly obvious sexual orientation. Still, he needs her help, and it doesn’t hurt that Anne has folded Richard into her abundant lifestyle. What begins as an initially transactional relationship blooms gradually into something more complex.
But then a one-swipe-stand with an attractive, successful lawyer named Blake becomes serious, and Richard suddenly finds himself unable to detach from Anne, entangled in her web of privilege, brilliance, and, oddly, her unabashed acceptance of Richard’s flaws. As the two relationships reach points of serious commitment, Richard soon finds himself on a romantic and existential collision course—one that brings about surprising revelations.
Why?
Graduate students have enough problems (like debt) without having to deal with larger-than-life drama on the side. James Gregor’s debut novel captures both the excitement and stress of living the unexpected, especially when life changes so quickly that it practically slips from your fingers. Gregor delivers a complex protagonist with Richard, and “pulls off something many psychological novelists aspire to and few achieve: he convincingly captures the thinking of a character who earnestly sees himself as sympathetic, even as he behaves terribly,” says author of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P, Adelle Waldman. This novel offers a gende- and genre-bending diversion into modern dating.
All In-text Images Via Amazon.