Yael and the Party of the Year

Written by Tamsin Lane

Simon & Schuster Canada

978-1-5011-7613-5

160 pp.

Ages 8-12

2018

Yael Lewis is twelve and the party of the year is her upcoming bat mitzvah. That is, if it isn't railroaded by her mother, her anxiety over her Torah reading and public speaking, and a couple of boys that are turning her head. But that seems the norm for an almost-thirteen-year-old girl, right?

As much as I'd like to tell you more about the plot, I really can't. That's because there is no single plot line in Yael and the Party of the Year. Yael and the Party of the Year, and a second title, Tara Takes the Stage, released last year by Tamsin Lane, are part of a new series called Yes No Maybe So. I can tell you that Yael is preparing for her bat mitzvah, that she is expected to read a portion of the Torah and that there will be a party at which she is expected to give a speech. Those elements are cemented in the story as is the venue for her party, the Maize amusement park, and her friends, Tara, Gemma and Paloma, and three boys, Eli, Cam and Gabriel. After that, it's up to the reader to make decisions for Yael. Will she go to Eli's house to rehearse her reading or to the amusement park for a tour with her parents? Does she encourage Cam to attend synagogue with her family or not or does she feign illness not to go at all? Does she focus on her girl friends or give into her crushes? Who will get that special first dance?

I thought it might be impossible to review a book whose plot is determined by the choices of the reader. But a Yes No Maybe So book is less a choose-your-own-story than seeing that sometimes choices lead to only a few outcomes. Tamsin Lane, the pen name of a Canadian writer whose books I've previously reviewed on CanLit for LittleCanadians, recognizes how little things can become very big things for young people, especially when they are convinced that every decision could make or break their futures. Expecting that any decision could mean the difference between a complete and total disaster, as was Eli's bar mitzvah, and the party of the year is a heavy load for a young person upon whom great hopes are placed. Fortunately, young readers who undertake a reading of this interactive book will recognize soon enough that the outcomes may be different but they aren't always better or worse and that there's sure to be a few laughs along the way. From the epic tantrums of Yael's two-year-old sister Rivka to getting lost in a corn maze, Yael and the Party of the Year makes lightness out of seemingly critical choices. Fortunately Tamsin Lane makes sure that Yael gets a great party in the end, whether she gets kissed or not, or wears the T-shirt her mother chose or her own design, or whether her first dance is a slow one with a boy she likes or the chicken dance.

Saving Grad

Written by Karen Spafford-Fitz

James Lorimer & Co., Ltd.

978-1-4594-1252-1

160 pp.

Ages 13+

RL 5.0

August 2017

Mandy is right about one thing.  I have no idea how to be fun.  I had it beat out of me a long time ago. (pg. 97)

It's been beat out of her by her alcoholic, cocaine-abusing step-dad, Duncan, who has made her life and that of her mother Sophie a misery for two years.  Her mother is reluctant to leave, accustomed to the fine home and life style of wealth, but Vienna sees beyond the facade of a good life, apprehensive what could eventually happen if they stay.  When Duncan has a fall that lands him in hospital, Vienna is determined to pack themselves up and flee.  They head to Edmonton where, with the help of an outreach worker, they get a basement apartment and begin to make a new life, slowly.

Though initially happy to drown her sorrows, Sophie gets a job at a Starbucks and insists that Vienna get registered for her final year of high school.  To make it more difficult for Duncan to find them, Vienna decides to go by Vienna Fleury, using the last name of her Métis grandmother, Mémère.  Sophie and her mother may not have spoken for years–since they'd argued about her marriage to Duncan–but Vienna misses Mémère and calls her occasionally to keep her from worrying, though she never reveals where they are.

At her new high school, Vienna tries to stay under the radar but a friendly classmate named Mandy draws her into the school's social scene, enlisting Vienna's help on the grad party committee. Although Vienna begins to enjoy school and her mother is establishing a support system and relishing her independence, regardless of how financially strapped they are, you know things have to go awry.  Saving grad may be the least of Vienna's worries.

As part of Lorimer's SideStreets series of hi-lo (high interest-low vocabulary) books, Saving Grad is a fast read in plotting and word count.  But don't mistake a hi-lo read for a lesser story.  Author Karen Spafford-Fitz capably creates an intense plot of relationships between family and friends which can be positive and negative, supportive or destructive, and she makes sure to take us along on that bus ride.  Like Vienna and Sophie ending up in Edmonton in the middle of winter, the destination may not be an easy one at first but it is a fulfilling one in the end.  Saving Grad is bigger than the indisputable distress of physical abuse.  It's a story of resilience and strength and making something good out of something bad.  Karen Spafford-Fitz makes Saving Grad into saving Vienna and Sophie and others too.