Book Musings with Cattau

Written By: Malinda Lo Published By: Dutton Books for Young Readers in 2021 ISBN: 978-0525555254 Plot Summary: Lily is a Chinese American girl who decides to participate in the 1950 Miss Chinatown Pageant even though it is kind of racist. Lily starts her senior year of high school and has the big dream of going to space even though no Asian American Woman has done it before. Lily goes to a drugstore late at night where she finds a novel that depicts a love story between two women which she hasn't been exposed to before. Lily notices that her friend Kath (Kathleen Miller) has shown an interest in her as she also wants to go into a male dominated profession of being a pilot. Kath introudces Lily to the Telegraph Club which is a place for lesbians.  The club gets raided and Kath ends up in jail while Lily is able to get away. Lily ends up running away from her home as she is not accepted but Lily's Aunt Judy finds her and tries to make life go back to normal. Around a year later,

Written By: Stacey Lee Published By: G.P. Putnam in 2019 ISBN: 978-1524740955 Plot Summary: Jo Kuan is an undocumented Chinese American girl who lives with her adopted dad in a basement underneath a printing shop where the owners don't know that they are down there. Jo is a maid for a another family called the Paynes who help her pay the family's bills. Jo starts writing a self help column for the paper that the Bell family prints under a pseudonym where she espouses ideas like women's rights and marriage. Jo makes friends with the Bell's son Nathan who helps her and her father work through a money issue with a fixer named Billy Riggs. Jo comes to find out that she is the illicit daughter of the Payne's and that she was given away to her father to help hide the fact that she was born out of wedlock. She continues to write her advice column and it becomes more radical as she lets her readers know her real thoughts. She ends up telling the Bells that they have been li

Written by Ruta Sepetys Published by Philomel Books in March 2014 ISBN: 978-0147508430 Plot Summary: Josie is girl who is trying to find her way in the world as she deals with less than ideal upbringings. Her mom is a prostitute and they move back to New Orleans to work for a madam named Willie who takes care of her girls and their families. Josie finds a job at a bookshop where she meets a rich tourist named Forrest Hearne. Hearne ends up dying of mysterious causes. One of Josie's moms boyfriends named Cincinnati comes back from Detroit and Josie's mom decides to run off to Hollywood with him even though he is abusive. The police come to suspect that Josie's mom is the one who killed Mr. Hearne. Josie gets in trouble with a local mob boss when she asks him to be an alibi as he is charging her $5000. Josie goes to the mob boss and tells him to back off as she pulls a gun on him and Josie ends up heading to Massachusetts to try college life after being left a significant est

  Written by: Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds Published by: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books in 2015 ISBN: 978-1481463331 Plot Summary: Rashad and Quinn are two boys whose lives will intersect in a way that they never saw coming. They both are going to a high school party but what happens before will change their lives forever. Rashad stops at a corner store to buy some snacks before the party but through a series of perceptions of things that happen, he ends up being beaten by the police officer on duty when the shopkeeper thinks he is trying to steal them and the police officer thinks he is attacking a woman who tripped over his duffel bag that holds his ROTC uniform. Rashad ends up in the hospital and there are a series of protests at his school and around the town about police brutality. Quinn knows the police officer who beat Rashad and witnesses the whole incident but doesn't come forward in the beginning. Quinn goes to a BBQ that Paul the police officer is hosting where everyt

  Written by: Jeff Zentner Published by: Ember in 2017 ISBN: 978-0553524055 Plot Summary: Dillard, Lydia, and Travis are very close friends who live in a small town in Tennessee. They each have a different past that affects their choices in life and where they see themselves going. Dillard's father was a pastor and a snake handler but is disgraced when he gets caught with child pornography. Lydia is a budding influencer and Travis works in the family business in the lumberyard. Dillard is a talent musician and Lydia convinces him to record his music. Travis has a homelife that is quite explosive so he spends time over at Dillard's house. Travis has a side gig of selling firewood and gets shot and killed by two drug addicts looking for money. This impacts Dillard tremendously and he spirals into suicidal thoughts. Lydia helps pull him out of the depression and he applies to college and is accepted. Lydia ends up leaving for New York to be an influencer and Dillard meets with his

Written By: Angie Thomas Published by: Balzer and Bray in 2017 ISBN: 978-0062498533 Plot Summary: Starr Carter is a teenage girl who lives in a low income African American household and neighborhood. Her best friend Natasha was killed in a drive by shooting and Starr lives with having seen that happen every day. Starr and a childhood friend named Khalil go to a party in her old neighborhood where a gang fight happens so Khalil and Starr decide to leave. They are pulled over by a police officer on a suspicion of a broken tail light but things go awry when the officer shoots Khalil several times and kills him. Starr chooses to not say anything to the police when she figures out the narrative is that Khalil brought it on himself. Starr does testify at the court case but the jury chooses not to indict the police officer which causes people from Starr's neighborhood to start protesting. Starr gets hits with tear gas but throws it back and vows to become more involved with her neighborho