Shamballah

I've been meaning to post this for a while now and Minxy posting twice today has inspired me to rec a wonderful YA book that just happens to be written by a POC. 'Lucy the Giant' is by Sherri L. Smith and it takes place in Alaska. Even tho, in my brief net-researching, I have no idea if Sherri has actually visited Alaska, she gets it right from my limited experience. Lucy is a very tall teen, part native and all courage when push comes to shove. Fed up by having to deal with her drunken father, she runs away from home in Sitka to work on a fishing boat out of Kodiak. She is mistaken for an adult by her size and certainly by her level of maturity. It's got a good plot, is a very realistic portrait of a troubled teen and is mightily entertaining. I found some of her actions frustrating, and I wish they'd been better explained, but it still all rang true. I liked the story so well, I recced it to my co-workers and the Children's Librarian is going to add it to her list for her teen book club.

Go. Find. Read. Enjoy.

(I need to get my boss to buy her book 'Flygirl.' Looks like a good one too.)