Turtle Under Ice by Juleah del Rosario

TURTLE UNDER ICE by Juleah del Rosario (500 Words or Less) is a young adult novel which deals with grief, sisterhood and questions of identity. Rowena and Ariana tell the story in verse. Their mother died a few years ago and a fresh tragedy brings their grief and insecurity to the surface. Ariana, the elder sister, muses “But when your mother dies, what happens / to your own destiny? / Who are you supposed to be? /What role are you to assume / if your mother isn’t there to guide you?”  She has turned inward and is in danger of not passing high school – and I was surprised at the limited support she is receiving from her school and her parents.  Are she and Row (a state soccer champion) so practiced at camouflaging grief and pushing others away that no one is reaching out to support them?

I recommend this novel for both independent reads and class discussion. Students will readily relate to these characters and their feelings, as when Ariana says: “… I hadn’t figured out / who I was, and it scared me. Because someday / I need to leave, and what was I supposed to do / with an entire future?” Row also reflects on the tension teens often feel about opening up to others: “It’s a serious contradiction, / to want to be heard, to want to be listened to, / to want to feel what I feel without clothing it / in unruffled indifference // and then not letting / Kennedy [her friend] in.” With a rather melancholy tone and mystery aspect, TURTLE UNDER ICE is a relatively quick read with appeal for all teen readers, including the reluctant ones.