The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg

Thanks to @kidlitexchange and @scholasticinc for sharing an ARC of @bkonigsberg's The Bridge, which is out TODAY, so go ahead and grab your copy!

Aaron and Tillie "meet" when they lock eyes on the George Washington Bridge. Both teens are straddling the guardrail, ready to jump. The story is told in four different ways: Tillie jumps and Aaron doesn't, Aaron jumps and Tillie doesn't, they both jump, and neither jump. Each option is realistically fleshed out, showing how everyone even remotely involved with the teen reacted to the news.

This book is so heavy, so real, and so necessary. I hope it gets into as many hands as possible. I think showing the finality of suicide, and the reality of how it impacts others is so important. Teens (and honestly probably any age) need to see this, and it's even more powerful coming from someone who has been there. (Konigsberg has a moving explanation at the beginning of the book.) This is a hard read, depending on your mental state - aka hard for me during the pandemic, but this is probably a very crucial time for it to be read! I can't recommend this enough, and hope you recommend it to anyone you know who might be struggling, or who might need it to help those around them.

Reeni's Turn by Carol Coven Grannick

Reeni's Turn by Carol Coven Grannick

Thanks to @kidlitexchange and Fitzroy Books for sharing an ARC of this title! The book releases on September 13, 2020.

Reeni has been practicing ballet for years, but when her teacher picks Reeni to do a solo, everything changes. Reeni's sixth grade classmates are obsessed with looks, and when Reeni looks at herself, she feels too big to be a ballerina. Her friends convince her to diet, which leaves Reeni feeling emptier inside than she could have imagined. Her mother is against dieting, so hiding her eating habits has Reeni living a double life. Jules, Reeni's older sister, is a high school senior, but to Reeni, it feels like Jules is already gone. She feels alone and adrift and doesn't know who to turn to or how to act, torn between becoming who she wants to be or staying true to herself.

This novel in verse is concisely told to share what preteen girls (and often younger and older females, as well) go through as their bodies change and they try to accept who they are compared to who society wants them to be.