My Top 2021 Reads

Another year with lots of reading, so here are some of my favorite reads from this year for different categories!

Middle Grade

A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat

This middle grade novel tells the stories of two older kids, Pong and Nok, living in the city of Chattana. While the city is lit by beautiful magical lamps, there is lots of inequality. Nok is attempting to track Pong down and return him to prison to restore her family’s name, while Pong is fighting for equality. Their journeys bring the readers around the city in a fast-paced adventure. I picked this book up because the cover is so pretty and the story itself is just as beautiful. This book and one of Soontornvat other books were both 2021 Newberry Honor books and I definitely would have voted for A Wish in the Dark to have won.

Young Adult

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Emoni is a high school senior, aspiring chef, and mother. Emoni is a loveable character who faces obstacles balancing all of her responsibilities including her high school culinary class. The cast of supporting characters aren’t afraid to pull their punches but are also forces of support in Emoni’s life. Emoni’s cooking is magical and mixed throughout the novel are recipes and cooking, which made me want to cook myself. Overall, this was a very well written hopeful book that I raced through.

Fiction

Severance by Ling Ma

In this book published in 2018, Candance lives in a New York frighteningly similar to our Covid world. A pandemic sweeps across the world, leaving those infected like living zombies, but people are expected to continue working. The story is told non-linearly with flashbacks to before the pandemic and at the very beginning, as the reader pieces together how the main character Candace has been taken in by an intimidating group of final survivors on their way to their sanctuary. This is a fascinating and relevant story told in a unique style. It’s a quick read and I definitely recommend it.

Short Story Collection

There There by Tommy Orange

At first this novel seems to be a series of unrelated stories about Indigenous people living in Oakland. By the end of the book, Orange has connected every single character and story together in some way. Together, the book tells the story of the Oakland Powwow. Orange employs a distinct voice and writing style for each of the many characters. I focused on identifying the web of community in my first read, but I think it would take a second read to truly appreciate this book.

Non-Fiction

The Address Book by Deirdre Mask

Each chapter of this book is located in a different town or city which illustrates a point Mask is making about addresses. Mask balances descriptions of these locations with information about how location affects opportunities. The end result and an interesting and informative book that really makes you think about something that is often overlooked and taken for granted.

Honorable Mentions

Here are some other books and a short story I really enjoyed this year that I couldn’t leave out.

The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien

My third time attempting to read this book, and the first time I finished and enjoyed it. I loved the descriptions of the beautiful landscapes and the relationships between the characters of the fellowship.

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu

Ursu crafts a fascinating fantasy world and builds tension throughout this middle-grade novel. The exposition and plot are well balanced, and I would recommend the book to anyone who enjoyed the earlier Harry Potter books. Agreeable

When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin

Lin weaves together Chinese folktales, beautiful full-page illustrations, and a cute story together that I couldn’t put down.

"Monstro" by Junot Diaz

This science-fiction pandemic short story is available on The New Yorker. Set in a near future Hispaniola, where the main character and his friends deal with climate change and a strange new island. I did three projects on this short story in the last three months, and I’m still captivated by the story.