Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

INSTRUCTIONS FOR DANCING by Nicola Yoon has a bit of supernatural effect combined with learning to tango in a properly provocative way. Yoon, author of several young adult novels including Everything, Everything, introduces readers to Evie and to X (short for Xavier). Reeling from learning that her Dad has been having an affair and wants to get re-married, Evie ends up taking dance lessons and discovers that she has an unusual ability to see the future for kissing couples. X is an aspiring musician and grandson of the owners of the local dance studio. The two are paired to compete and help promote the studio. She is generally more reluctant while he wants to “live in the moment” and say “yes” to everything. In classic Yoon style, the two reflect that “the time we get is the time we get” since “life almost never turns out the way you think it will.” Both main characters and their many friends are appealing and INSTRUCTIONS FOR DANCING is a quick read. As Evie says about events in the novel: “It was beautiful. But it was sad, too. Both things, and at the same time. I don’t know why so much of life is like that.” Well-deserved starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal.

Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh

I was very excited to see the announcement from the National Book Foundation on nominees for the National Book Award; here is the short list across several categories and the long list for Young People’s literature is here. I have not yet read many of the nominees, but in addition to the one here, I will be reviewing others in future posts.

EVERY BODY LOOKING by Candice Iloh is an impressive coming of age debut novel told in verse.  The main character, Ada, is off to a historically black college and facing all of those important life moments about learning who she really is. Ada explains, “you start growing / further away from / what used to be home // you go looking for somewhere / that lets you be / what’s inside your head // you go find a way to get back / to your own history lesson / to your own way of being alive.” One key aspect to which students will relate is whether (and how) her interest in dance should be pursued. Another is her sexuality, with echoes of the consequences of childhood trauma. Through flash backs to first, second, sixth grade and high school, readers cannot help but feel strong emotions related to Ada and her life experience: “Crying is stupid when it is over a boy or the group of girls who you just wanted to like you enough to make you their friend.” There is the culture shock related to her peers at college “I know nothing / but this city // but my father / but these schools / where I’ve always // been one of few specks / of dingy brown / in a sea of perfect white” and to their family life (“fussin / over homework they need to do”) versus her own dealing with her mother’s addiction, an domineering father and an aunt who does not respect her privacy. Given its format, one can read this book relatively quickly, but savor it - there is much to contemplate and discuss. EVERY BODY LOOKING received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus.