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Chosen. Again. by J. Emery

She saved the kingdom once. She didn't expect there to be a repeat performance. At sixteen, Ari fell into a portal and found herself in Callaria, a magical alternate world in need of a hero. So she did the coming-of-age quest. She saved the kingdom and kissed the farmboy turned King. And when she was done... she went home. She never forgot about her time in Callaria. It never forgot her either, and now thirteen years later, she's back. Drafted into the role of Champion once more, Ari discovers that magic doesn't mean freedom from consequences. Her actions a decade ago caused ripples that didn't go away when she did. The gawky apprentice wizard she once called a friend is now a cynical Royal Wizard with a penchant for floor length velvet robes and dangerous secrets. Her magic sword is giving her the silent treatment. The evil ruler she thought she defeated is living in the dungeon, making cryptic predictions that sound a little too much like fact. The farmboy turned King...
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Punching The Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

Punching The Air uses prose poetry and sparse illustrations to convey a small slice of how it feels to be accused and incarcerated. It is evocative and moving, often despairing and frequently beautiful. 

It was absorbing, sketching the edges of the broader systems of racism which funnel Black people specifically and people of color generally into prison. It delves into the details of how this could go for one person and has gone for many. It’s fiction that mirrors fact. It does something that isn’t quite world building, because it’s set now, but it’s world-illuminating, poking into the often-hidden corners of our unjust reality.

It’s filled with emotional swings, where the MC attempts to gain some stability, some moments of happiness, then something tears it down. It’s about cruelty without being a cruel book, it’s about racism and bitterness without being a bitter story. It handles a difficult story deftly and I’m in awe.

CW for imprisonment, violence, assault.

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A purple and orange butterfly turns into a swirl of matching paint which loops upwards around a Black boy and his upheld fist.


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