The Map Shop

Special thanks to NetGalley for an early copy of this book. I am an affiliate with Z Publishing House. See the bottom of this post for more details. Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young was published in March 2019 by Simone Pulse Publishing. Young is a New York Times best seller and has written several novels, including the Program series.  Girls with Sharp Sticks follows Mena as she attends the elite all-girl's academy that promises to make her a "better girl." There, she and her friends learn necessary lessons about gardening, etiquette, and table setting. After a field trip to a local garden that ends with a chance meeting with a boy, Mena begins to notice inconsistencies and odd behaviors in the men who claim to be protecting them. When one of her friends goes missing, Mena stops taking her vitamins and begins to see the school and what the professors are trying to do for what it really is. Now they need to find answers and a way to escape, but they ...

   I am an affiliate with Z Publishing House. See the end of this post for details. Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan and was published by Bloomsbury YA in 2019. Watson is the author of several books, including A Place Where Hurricanes Happen and What Momma Left Me. She is also the creator of the one woman show Roses are Red, Women are Blue and she has had poetry and articles published in Rethinking Schools, Theatre of the Mind, and With Hearts Ablaze. Hagan is a poet and a feminist with books including Hemisphere: Poems, Crowned, and Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism. Watch Us Rise follows Jasmine and Chelsea as they deal with sexism and racism in their progressive NYC high school. They begin a Women’s Rights Club to protest this, posting articles and essays calling out the system and people they encounter. When the club is threatened to be shut down, they have to find a way to make their voices heard. A special thanks to NetGalle...