Andye Reads

Review by Sara... FRANNIE AND TRU By Karen Hattrup Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: HarperTeen (May 31, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon When Frannie Little eavesdrops on her parents fighting she discovers that her cousin Truman is gay, and his parents are so upset they are sending him to live with her family for the summer. At least, that’s what she thinks the story is. . . When he arrives, shy Frannie befriends this older boy, who is everything that she’s not–rich, confident, cynical, sophisticated. Together, they embark on a magical summer marked by slowly unraveling secrets.   All of these debut books are starting to read as if they are the same. This was no different than the rest I have read recently. It started promising and then turned boring, leaving me to wonder what I just read. This is the story of cousins Frannie and Tru(man). Frannie overhears her mother talking one day and mentions that Truman (who goes by Tru) is gay. Tru'...

Review by Sara... SYMPTOMS OF BEING HUMAN By Jeff Garvin Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Balzer + Bray (February 2, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon The first thing you’re going to want to know about me is: Am I a boy, or am I a girl? Riley Cavanaugh is many things: Punk rock. Snarky. Rebellious. And gender fluid. Some days Riley identifies as a boy, and others as a girl. The thing is . . . Riley isn’t exactly out yet. And between starting a new school and having a congressman father running for reelection in uber-conservative Orange County, the pressure—media and otherwise—is building up in Riley’s so-called “normal” life. On the advice of a therapist, Riley starts an anonymous blog to vent those pent-up feelings and tell the truth of what it’s REALLY like to be a gender-fluid teenager. But just as Riley’s starting to settle in at school—even developing feelings for a mysterious outcast—the blog goes viral, and an unnamed commenter discovers Riley’s real identit...