Publishers Weekly - March 7, 2016

tantly heads east to a fancy New England boarding school, where she meets Remy Taft, an infamous student from a famous family, who adopts Willa like she’s a wide-eyed puppy. Though it takes some wading through Willa’s mile-a-minute internal monologue in the opening chapters, once her adventures with Remy begin, the story turns into a heartfelt, hilarious thrill. Willa’s dry observations can be laugh-out-loud funny (“I’m not sure what the cutoff point is for gyrating in sparkly clothes, but I can tell you some of these people are really pushing it,” she says of the crowd at a Brooklyn club). But Willa’s early announcement of a plan to kill herself and other foreshadowing hint that Portes’s characters are careening toward tragedy, with Remy at the center of a brewing storm. Willa’s memorable voice and humor, as well as her longing to cultivate relationships that will anchor her more firmly to the world, will linger with readers. Ages 14–up. (May)

The Problem with Forever

Jennifer L. Armentrout. Harlequin Teen,

$18.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-373-21205-7

Seventeen-year-old Mallory Dodge is as meek as her old nickname, “Mouse,” and Armentrout (the Dark Elements series) layers her backstory with significant challenges: Mallory lived in foster homes, was abused, and is nearly mute and trying to learn to speak again without fear. Mallory’s present is filled with equally remarkable fortune: she has been adopted by kind doctors; sparks fly when she runs into Rider, her one-time foster home protector, at her new school; and people are generally patient, welcoming, and kind to her.

Though Armentrout creates a diverse cast
of characters (Rider, Mallory’s parents, and
several other characters share Latino back-
grounds), they tend to be short on dimen-
sion. Rider is an ever-understanding hero,
his girlfriend is cartoonishly mean, and
Mallory’s adoptive parents are nearly per-
fect. Mallory spends the bulk of the novel
shrinking in the face of everything, and at
times her innocent demeanor feels con-
trived. But Armentrout’s effort to gradu-
ally coax her protagonist from her shell via
a supportive, loving community succeeds,
and readers looking for an inspirational
comeback story will find Mallory’s to be
satisfying and hopeful. Ages 14–up. Agent:
Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

(May)

Whisper to Me

Nick Lake. Bloomsbury, $17.99 (544p)

ISBN 978-1-61963-456-5

Cassandra, 17, is already carrying a deep emotional scar when she finds a severed human foot in her Jersey Shore town, where a serial killer is suspected in the disappearance of 14 sex workers. The shocking discovery jars loose guilt and sadness over her mother’s violent death in the form of a disturbing voice that harangues Cassie to harm herself in many ways, including by sabotaging her summer romance with the boy to whom the story is addressed (in what would surely be the world’s longest email).

Cassie’s conversational narration continually telegraphs impending doom, which keeps the pages turning as readers race to find out what horrible fate will befall the characters, especially Paris, a stripper who befriends Cassie at a psychiatric hospital. Cassie is a deeply sympathetic figure, due in no small part to the terrifying and violent demands of the voice she hears. Part romance, part crime story, part meditation on mental illness, Lake’s (There Will Be Lies) story covers a lot of ground but leaves several threads hanging, which may frustrate some readers. Ages 14–up. Agent: Caradoc King, United Agents. (May)

Nonfiction
; Ada’s Violin: The Story of the
Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay

Susan Hood, illus. by Sally Wern Comport.

Simon & Schuster, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-

4814-3095-1

Hood’s (Rooting for You ) beautifully narrated true tale begins in Cateura, a “noisy, stinking, sweltering slum” of Paraguay.

That’s where Ada Ríos lives with her family, recyclers (gancheros) who collect and sell trash from the nearby landfill. When engineer Favio Chávez begins teaching music to at-risk children there, Ada learns the violin, and she and other students play instruments made from recycled trash.

Comport (Love Will See You Through )
employs a vibrant collage technique, using
pictures of food labels, tires, and other
detritus to form colorful, almost ethereal
backdrops. Light-infused scenes of gan-
cheros picking through mountains of trash,
children playing soccer in Cateura’s
streets, and Ada practicing violin all
include hopeful shades of yellow. Torn bits
of a musical score edge out the garbage
scraps as the story progresses. When the
Recycled Orchestra gains fame, its mem-
bers perform in some of the world’s big-
gest, brightest cities: “Buried in the trash
was music. And buried in themselves was
something to be proud of.” An author’s
note expands on this uplifting, instructive
story; a Spanish-language edition is avail-
able simultaneously. Ages 4–8. Author’s
agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger
Associates. Illustrator’s agency: Shannon
Associates. (May) ;