Scars Like Wings and A Song Below Water

SCARS LIKE WINGS by Erin Stewart is an inspiring debut novel that tells the story of Ava, a 16-year-old burn victim, as she attempts to return to high school.  She says, “As if my face doesn’t draw enough attention to the fact that I. Do. Not. Belong. That’s a pretty big problem when the first commandment of high school is to Belong.” With quips like that, I found the characters to be very relate-able and to quickly develop empathy for them. Ava lost her parents and a cousin to the fire and now lives with her aunt which makes for some difficult, sensitive conversations. That is especially true in regards to Ava’s new friend, Piper, who is also an accident victim, but with a fighting attitude: “Do you know what they call handicapped people? Invalids. In. Valids. Which sometimes doesn’t feel entirely In. Accurate.” Piper definitely pushes Ava out of her comfort zone. So does Asad, a student who loves theater and tells Ava, “at first, your scars were all I could see. Now you’re just my friend, Ava, who, by the way, was burned.”   

Read this book about developing strength and resilience and then look forward to more from Erin Stewart, herself a “heart failure survivor and adoptive mother, ... [who] believes life throws plot twists and people in our path for a reason.” Her young adult novel, SCARS LIKE WINGS, is a great vehicle to help students, especially middle school and early high school, talk about our biases, about acceptance, and about emotional and physical pain. The difficulties of establishing true friendships and seeing beyond ourselves are deftly explored. There are so many quotes from which to choose; I’ll end with this: “you’re different and that’s the point of the whole thing. The world casts us into roles based on snap judgements. We look at people, but we don’t see them.”  

A SONG BELOW WATER by Bethany C. Morrow is an interesting sci-fi, fantasy read.  It has received some great reviews - Jason Reynolds calls it “beautiful” and “brilliant” and includes it in his list of suggestions for summer reads (see video below). Yet, I found the beginning to be slow and confusing and did not understand who these girls, friends Tavia and Effie, were supposed to be - ironically, in part because I had difficulty picturing them. Both are Black and it seems like they are also some kind of mer-people; plenty of comments about swimming and scaly skin for Effie and about Tavia’s ability to use a siren call to influence other’s actions. However, they try to hide their powers and often act rather sad and afraid. Like other young people, they struggle with restrictions and expectations imposed by the adults in their lives. Morrow does explore themes of marginalization, trauma, and prejudice and the fantasy aspect is reinforced with a guardian gargoyle, mischievous sprites, and privileged eloko characters. If you like fantasy, check it out for yourself and please let me know what I was missing. The cover is indeed beautiful and A SONG BELOW WATER received a starred review from Booklist.