MASSACHUSETTS MUST READ BOOKS 2020 A Program of the Massachusetts Book Awards at Massachusetts Center for the Book
MASSACHUSETTS MUST READS 2020
FICTION
The Age of Light, by Whitney Scharer. “I’d rather take a photograph than be one,” Lee Miller declares after she arrives in Paris in 1929, where she soon catches the eye of the famous Surrealist Man Ray. Lee’s journey of self-discovery takes her from bohemian Paris where she invents radical new photography techniques to the battlefields of war-torn Europe during WWII as one of the first female war correspondents. -- Courtesy of Little, Brown and Co
Big Giant Floating Head, by Christopher Boucher. After his wife announces on Twitter that she’s leaving him, Christopher’s life in small-town Coolidge goes from one catastrophe to another. He contracts a strange illness that divides him in half, undergoes a failure competition, and is driven to join a cult called The Unloveables. Heartfelt and riotously imaginative, this is a dazzling account of a man’s struggle with love, loss and redemption. -- Courtesy of Melville House Publishing
Blue Hours, by Daphne Kalotay. Linking Manhattan circa 1991 to Afghanistan in 2012, this is the story of a life-changing friendship between Mim, a college grad who disavows her working-class roots, and Kyra, a dancer and daughter of privilege, until calamity causes their estrange-ment. Twenty years later, Kyra is missing and Mim embarks on a journey to find her. With nuance and moral complexity, Blue Hours proves to be a page-turning mystery. -- Courtesy of TriQuarterly Books
Bunny, by Mona Awad. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination, Samantha is repelled by the rest of her MFA fiction writing cohort—a clique of twee rich girls who call each other “Bunny.” But everything changes when she is inexplicably drawn to their front door. From a fearless chronicler of the female experience, Bunny is a tale of loneliness, friendship and desire, and the fantastic, terrible power of the imagination. -- Courtesy of Viking Press
A Kind of Solitude, by Dariel Suarez. Set in Cuba largely after the fall of the Soviet Union, these stories explore themes of isolation and preservation in the face of poverty and sociopolitical oppression. From a chronically ill santero refusing medical care to a female- fronted heavy metal band risking it all to emerge from Havana's underground, this debut portrays the harsh reality, inherent humor, and resilient heart of a people whose stories should be known. -- Courtesy of Willow Springs Books
Leading Men, by Christopher Castellani. In a heartbreaking story about the burdens of fame and the negotiations of life in the shadows of greatness, Castellani reveals the hidden machinery of one of the great literary love stories of the twentieth-century—-Tennessee Williams and his longtime partner Frank Merlo. Leading Men is a glittering novel of desire and ambition set against the glamorous literary circles of 1950s Italy. -- Courtesy of Viking Press
MASSACHUSETTS MUST READS 2020
FICTION
The Lesson, by Cadwell Turnbull. For five years the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands have lived with the Ynaa, a race of super-advanced aliens on a research mission they will not fully disclose. A year after the death of a young boy at the hands of an Ynaa, three families find themselves at the center of the inevitable conflict, witnesses and victims to events that will touch everyone and teach a terrible lesson. -- Courtesy of Black Stone Publishing
The Limits of the World, by Jennifer Acker. The Chandaria family have flourished in America, but they each keep explosive secrets. Spanning four generations and three continents, this debut illuminates the cultural divisions and ethical considerations that shape the ways we judge another’s actions. Written with empathy and insight, the novel depicts how we prevent ourselves from understanding the people we are closest to. -- Courtesy of Delphinium Books
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong. A letter from a son to a mother who cannot read written by the speaker in his late twenties, Vuong’s debut novel is as much about the power of storytelling as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard. With urgency and grace, Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds and asks how we rescue one another without forsaking who we are. -- Courtesy of Penguin Press
Repentance, by Andrew Lam. In 1944, a Japanese American war hero has a secret. Decades later his son, a world-famous surgeon, is perplexed when the U.S. government comes calling about his father’s service. Wanting answers of his own, the son upends his life to find out what his father did on a small, obscure hilltop half a world away, a quest for the truth that unravels his family’s catastrophic past and his present. -- Courtesy of Tiny Fox Press
This is Not a Love Song, by Brendan Matthews. When marriages, friendships, and families threaten to come undone, to what lengths do we go to keep it all together? That question lies at the heart of Brendan Mathews’s buoyant and unforgettable debut story collection. From rock-star flameouts to church burnings to ordinary people trying not to fall out of love, these stories are packed with vivid detail, emotional precision, and redemptive humor. -- Courtesy of Little, Brown and Co.
Wake Siren, by Nina MacLaughlin. Retelling their stories in their own voices, the women of Ovid’s Metamorphoses challenge the power of myth, laying bare the violence lurking in the heart of narratives that helped perpetuate a distorted portrayal of women across centuries. Drawing on the rhythms of epic poetry, alt rock, everyday speech, folk song, and therapy
MASSACHUSETTS MUST READS 2020
sessions, MacLaughlin breathes new life into these fraught and well-loved myths. -- Courtesy of Farrar, Straus and Giroux NONFICTION
American Radicals, by Holly Jackson. A dynamic history of nineteenth-century activists—free- lovers, socialists, abolitionists, and vigilantes—and the social revolution they sparked in the turbulent Civil War era. Though they are largely forgotten today, Jackson writes them back into the story in all their heroism, outlandishness, and tragic shortcomings. The result is a panoramic work of narrative history, one that offers important lessons for our time. -- Courtesy of Crown Publishing
Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter, by Kerri K. Greenidge. With the stylistic verve of a newspaperman and the unwavering fearlessness of an emancipator, William Monroe Trotter galvanized black working-class citizens to wield their political power despite the violent racism of post-Reconstruction America. Greenidge renders the drama of turn-of-the-century America and reclaims Trotter as a seminal figure. -- Courtesy of Liveright Publishing Corporation
The Body Papers, by Grace Talusan. Exploring the fraught contours of her life as a Filipino immigrant and survivor of cancer and childhood abuse, this debut memoir is a testament to determination and resilience. In excavating such abuse and trauma and supplementing her story with government documents, medical records, and family photos, Talusan gives voice to an unspeakable experience and shines a light of hope into the darkness. -- Courtesy of Restless Books
City on a Hill: Urban Idealism in America from the Puritans to the Present, by Alex Krieger. City on a Hill is a sweeping history of American cities and towns and the utopian aspirations that shaped them, by one of America’s leading urban planners and scholars. Krieger’s compelling and richly illustrated narrative reminds us, as we formulate new ideals today, that we chase our visions surrounded by the glories and failures of dreams gone by. -- Courtesy of The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
Once More to the Rodeo, by Calvin Hennick. Five years into fatherhood, Calvin Hennick is plagued by questions. As a white man, what can he teach his biracial son when his own father abandoned him? What does it even mean to be a man when society’s expectations constantly change? In search of answers, Hennick takes his son on the road to the annual rodeo in his Iowa hometown, holding up a mirror to himself and his country in a story about fatherhood, family, and manhood in America. -- Courtesy of Pushcart Press
The Optimist’s Telescope, by Bina Venkataraman. An adviser in the Obama administration, Venkataraman helped communities and businesses prepare for climate change, and she learned firsthand why people don’t think ahead—and what can be done to change that. With new research in biology, psychology, and economics, she dispels the myth that humans are impossibly reckless and highlights the surprising practices each of us can adopt in our own lives—and the ones we must fight for as a society. -- Courtesy of Riverhead Books
MASSACHUSETTS MUST READS 2020 NONFICTION
Some of My Friends Are…: The Daunting Challenges and Untapped Benefits of Cross-Racial Friendships, by Deborah L. Plummer. Inspiring and engaging, Psychologist Plummer draws from focus groups, statistics, surveys, personal narratives, and social analyses to provide insight into the discomforts associated with cross-racial friendships, giving insight into how they work and fail within American society. Plummer encourages all of us to examine our cross-racial friendship patterns in order to deepen them. -- Courtesy of Beacon Press
The Soul of Care, by Dr. Arthur Kleinman. Caring for his wife after her Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Kleinman discovered how far the act of caregiving extends beyond the boundaries of medicine. Delivering a deeply humane and inspiring story of his life in medicine and marriage, he describes the practical, emotional and moral aspects of caretaking as well as the problems our society faces as medical technology advances and the cost of health care soars even when caring for patients no longer seems important. -- Courtesy of Viking Press
Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow, by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. A profound new rendering of African-Americans’ struggle for equality after the Civil War and the violent counter-revolution that re-subjugated them, as seen through the prism of the war of images and ideas that have left an enduring racist stain on the American mind. As sobering as this tale is, it also has within it the inspiration that comes with encountering the hopes our ancestors advanced against the longest odds. -- Courtesy of Penguin Press
Walk This Way, by Geoff Edgers. Washington Post national arts reporter Edgers takes a deep dive into the story behind “Walk This Way,” Aerosmith and Run-DMC’s groundbreaking mashup that forever changed music. He tracks the paths of the major players on the scene across their careers, illustrating the long road to this revolutionary musical marriage. Deeply researched and written in a cinematic style, this music history is a must-read for fans of hip hop, rock, and everything in between. -- Courtesy of Blue Rider Press
What We Will Become, by Mimi Lemay. From an early age, Jacob, born “Em,” told his family he was a boy. While his mother Mimi struggled to understand that her child was transgender, she experienced déjà vu—the journey to uncover the source of her child’s inner turmoil unearthed ghosts from Mimi’s own struggle to live an authentic life. Brimming with love and courage, this debut is a powerful testament to how painful events from the past can be redeemed to give us hope for the future. -- Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Womanish: A Grown Black Woman Speaks of Love and Life, by Kim McLarin. McLarin came of age as part of the first “Brown vs. Board” generation, and that experience of America first embracing and then rejecting a beloved racial community has shaped everything in her life. Searing in its honesty, Womanish draws upon a lifetime of experiences to paint a portrait of a black woman trying to come to terms with the world around her, and of a society trying to come to terms with black women. -- Courtesy of Ig Publishing
MASSACHUSETTS MUST READS 2020 POETRY
Battle Dress, by Karen Skolfield. In a poetic voice at once gutsy and insightful, U.S. Army veteran Karen Skolfield offers a rare glimpse of a female soldier’s training and mental conditioning. Through the narratives of a young soldier, her older counterpart, and her fellow soldiers, Skolfield searches for meaning in combat preparation, long-term trauma, and the way war is embedded in our language and psyche. -- Courtesy of W.W. Norton & Co
The Boy in the Labyrinth, by Oliver de la Paz. In a sequence of prose poems, questionnaires, and standardized tests, The Boy in the Labyrinth interrogates the language of autism and the language barriers between parents, their children, and the fractured medium of science and school. Structured as a Greek play, de la Paz’s latest meditates on failures, foundering, and the possibility of finding one’s way. -- Courtesy of The University of Akron Press
Here All Night, by Jill McDonough. McDonough’s collection is fiercely unapologetic, transforming mundane moments into witty and provocative insights that closely examine the flaws in our quick-moving society. Using dark humor, the poems address the impermanence of life and how we should always find reasons to re-evaluate ourselves as empathetic beings over our selfish tendencies. -- Courtesy of Alice James Books
Little-Known Operas, by Patrick Donnelly. These lush, lexically gorgeous and emotionally complex poems guide us through the terrain of love, sex, same-sex marriage, illness, death, and art. -- Courtesy of Four Way Books
The Lord of Everywhere, by John Hodgen. Hodgen’s collection is about strength, courage, and the will to hold on, about home and homelessness, and the tension between knowing what home means and finding our true home. These poems honor those who make their way home each day, together or alone, and who still believe, somehow, inexplicably, almost wordlessly, in love that endures, even in the flames. -- Courtesy of Lynx House Press
Love and I, by Fanny Howe. Set in transit even as they investigate the transitory, these cinematic poems move like a handheld camera through the eternal, the minds of passengers, and the landscapes of Ireland and America. From this slight remove, Fanny Howe explores the edge of “pure seeing” and the worldly griefs she encounters there, cast in an otherworldly light. -- Courtesy of Graywolf Press
MASSACHUSETTS MUST READS 2020 POETRY
Momento Mori, by Charles Coe. Coe’s collection is a meditation on mortality, change and loss. Rather than being simply somber, the volume observes our human condition through a poetic kaleidoscope, with glimpses of irony and humor that offer a refreshing contrast to the more difficult moments. Coe is a storyteller who writes with compassion, insight and a razor- sharp eye for detail. -- Courtesy of Leapfrog Press
Nightshade, by Andrea Cohen. Cohen’s sixth full-length collection is constructed from the wisdom of loss—of lovers and loved ones and a world gone awry. Cohen builds a short poem the way a master carpenter does a tiny house, in lines that are both economic and precise, with room enough for sorrow and wit to exist comfortably in their spaces. -- Courtesy of Four Way Books
Soft Science, by Franny Choi. Exploring queer, Asian American femininity, this series of Turing Test-inspired poems grounds its exploration of questions not just of identity, but of consciousness—how to be tender and still survive a violent world filled with artificial intelligence and automation. Choi drops us straight into the intersections of technology, violence, erasure, agency, gender, and loneliness. -- Courtesy of Alice James Books
Ugly Music, by Diannely Antigua. This debut collection is a cacophonous symphony of reality, dream, trauma, and obsession. The poems span a traumatic early childhood, a religious adolescence, and a womanhood that grapples with learning how to create an identity informed by those challenges. Ugly Music emerges as a story of witness, a realization that even the strangest things exist on earth and deserve to live. -- Courtesy of YesYes Books
Voices of Dogtown, by James Scrimgeour. Set within Dogtown’s unusual landscape, Scrimgeour offers us the voices of the area’s lost souls and the scholars and artists the place has inspired. The collection is deeply researched and uniquely imagined, hailing Dogtown’s unshakeable effect on those who attempt to know it. -- Courtesy of Loom Press & Carl Carlsen
Wonder Tissue, by Hannah Larrabee. These poems immerse us in intricacy and intimacy, from a frozen mummy to the jostling at the “junction of rail car bones.” With notable range, the collection surveys the vast and minute, unifying right hemisphere, left hemisphere, giving notice to a reader perhaps drawn too inward by the pixels of a surrogate cosmos that a “Braille of history” waits just outside the open window. -- Courtesy of Airlie Press
MASSACHUSETTS MUST READS 2020 PICTURE BOOKS/EARLY READERS
Because, by Mo Willems. (Amber Ren, illustrator) Willems composes a powerful symphony of chance, discovery, persistence, and magic in this moving tale of a young girl’s journey to center stage. Illustrator Amber Ren brings Willems’ music to life, conducting a stunning picture-book debut. -- Courtesy of Hyperion Books for Children
Daniel’s Good Day, by Micha Archer. The people in Daniel’s neighborhood always say, “Have a good day!” But what exactly is a good day? Daniel is determined to find out. Strolling through his neighborhood, he finds answers as varied as his neighbors. Archer’s vivid collages bring to life one special day, and the text celebrates a vibrant community and an appreciation for the many simple things that give us joy. -- Courtesy of Nancy Paulsen Books
Eek, You Reek! Poems about Animals That Stink, Stank, Stunk, by Jane Yolen, Heidi E.Y. Stemple. (Eugenia Nobati, illustrator) Readers will be delighted by the malodorous melodies of poems calling out the different pungent attributes of a full cast of foul- smelling creatures. -- Courtesy of Millbrook Press
Follow Chester!, by Gloria Respress-Churchwell. (Laura Freeman, illustrator) A little- known civil rights hero and college football MVP finally gets a voice in this fictional account of Chester Pierce’s game-changing play as he became the first black college football player to compete south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Inspired by a true story, Follow Chester! captures a historic defense against the Jim Crow laws of the South. -- Courtesy of Charlesbridge
Gittel’s Journey: An Ellis Island Story, by Lesléa Newman. (Amy June Bates, illustrator) Gittel and her mother were supposed to immigrate to America together, but when her mother is stopped by a health inspector, Gittel makes the journey alone. Newman offers a fresh perspective on the immigration journey to Ellis Island, based on a journey by her own grandmother and a family friend. -- Courtesy of Abrams Books for Young Readers
Here and Now, by Julia Denos. (E.B. Goodale, illustrator) A celebration of mindfulness and a meditation on slowing down and enjoying each moment, from the team behind the award-winning Windows. Explore identity and connection, inspire curiosity, and prompt engaging discussions about the here and now. -- Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
MASSACHUSETTS MUST READS 2020 PICTURE BOOKS/EARLY READERS
The Hundred-Year Barn, by Patricia MacLachlan. (Kenard Pak, illustrator) One hundred years ago, a little boy watched his family and community come together to build a grand red barn. The barn becomes his refuge and home. In this joyful celebration of generations and connection, MacLachlan and Pak spin a tender and timeless story about the simple moments that make up a lifetime.
-- Courtesy of Katherine Tegen Books
Linus the Little Yellow Pencil, by Scott Magoon. Linus and his eraser, Ernie, don’t always see eye to eye. But with the family art show drawing near, these two will have to sharpen their collaboration to make something neither could do on their own! This ode to art points out the power of sharing the creative process and sticking with it. -- Courtesy of Disney Hyperion
Monument Maker: Daniel Chester French and the Lincoln Memorial, by Linda Booth Sweeney (Shawn Fields, illustrator). When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, fifteen-year-old Dan French didn’t know that one day his tribute to the president would transform Washington, DC, marshland into America’s gathering place. Thanks to this lovingly created monument, Lincoln lives on as the man of marble, his craggy face and careworn gaze reminding millions of seekers what America can be. -- Courtesy of Tilbury House Publishers
Tiny Feet Between the Mountains, by Hanna Cha. A young Korean girl must come up with a clever idea to help a spirit tiger who has swallowed the sun by mistake in this fun, charming debut. While she’s at it, the girl just may prove that the smallest people often have the biggest, bravest hearts. -- Courtesy of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
!Vamos! Let’s Go to the Market, by Raúl the Third. Richard Scarry’s Busytown gets a Mexican-American makeover in the marketplace of a buzzing border town. Bilingual in a new way, the story teaches readers simple words in Spanish as they experience the bustling town life. Follow Little Lobo and his dog Bernabe as they deliver supplies, selling everything from sweets to sombreros, portraits to piñatas, carved masks to comic books! -- Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
What Miss Mitchell Saw, by Hayley Barrett. (Diana Sudyka, illustrator) Every evening from the time she was a child, Maria Mitchell stood on her rooftop with her telescope. And one night she saw something unusual—a comet no one had ever seen before! Miss Mitchell’s extraordinary discovery made her famous the world over and paved the way for her to become America’s first professional female astronomer. -- Courtesy of Beach Lane Books
MASSACHUSETTS MUST READS 2020 MIDDLE GRADE/YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
1919: The Year That Changed America, by Martin W. Sandler. 1919 was a world-shaking year with the war’s aftermath, Red Summer, the suffrage movement, labor protests, the rise of communism, and temperance. One hundred years later, these social issues remain relevant. Sandler traces their momentum and setbacks, showing us that progress isn’t always a straight line. -- Courtesy of Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Cilla Lee-Jenkins: The Epic Story, by Susan Tan. (Dana Wulfekotte, illustrator) Pricilla “Cilla” Lee-Jenkins has written a “Bestseller” and a “Classic”―now it’s time for her to write an Epic Story. Epics are all about brave heroes overcoming Struggles to save the world. And this year, Cilla is facing her toughest struggles yet. With humor, heart, and her mighty pen, Cilla Lee-Jenkins will use her powers to vanquish every foe (the mean girls in her class, help every citizen (especially Ye Ye, and save the world. -- Courtesy of Roaring Brook Press
Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson’s Journal, by Jeff Kinney. Rowley’s best friend Greg Heffley has been chronicling his middle-school years, but it’s time for readers to hear directly from Rowley in a journal of his own. Rowley agrees to play the role of biographer for Greg, but Rowley is a poor choice for the job and his “biography” is a hilarious mess. Kinney’s latest offers readers a new way to look at the Wimpy world—one fans won’t want to miss! -- Courtesy of Amulet Books
Every Moment After, by Joseph Moldover. Eleven years after a shooting rocked their small town and left eighteen first graders in their classroom dead, survivors and recent high school graduates Matt Simpson and Cole Hewitt are still navigating their guilt and trying to move beyond the shadow of their town’s grief. As they grapple with changing relationships, love, and growing apart, these two friends must face the question of how to move on—and truly begin living. -- Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Midsummer’s Mayhem, by Rajani LaRocca. In a fantasy retelling of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream, eleven-year-old Mimi feels invisible in her Indian American family until she discovers a local baking contest. In an unknown part of the forest, she and a friend discover exotic ingredients for sure-to-win treats. But as her family members begin to act strangely, Mimi wonders whether the ingredients are the cause. Using her skills of deduction, she learns that in life, as in baking, not everything is sweet. -- Courtesy of Yellow Jacket
The Next Great Paulie Fink, by Ali Benjamin. For Caitlyn Breen, being the new kid at school isn’t easy, especially when you have to follow in the footsteps of a legendary classroom prankster Paulie Fink. Now that he’s disappeared, Caitlyn finds herself leading a reality-show-style competition to find the school’s next great Paulie Fink. With each challenge, Caitlyn struggles to understand a person she never met, but it’s what she discovers about herself that most surprises her. -- Courtesy of Little, Brown and Company
MASSACHUSETTS MUST READS 2020 MIDDLE GRADE/YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
Revenge of the Red Club, by Kim Harrington. Riley Dunne loves being a member of the Red Club. The club’s secret locker has an emergency stash of supplies, and the girls are always willing to lend an ear, a shoulder, or an old pair of sweatpants. But when the school administration shuts the Red Club down because of complaints, the girls are stunned. Using the skills cultivated as her school paper’s investigative reporter, Riley digs for the truth about [the closing]. -- Courtesy of Aladdin
Shouting at the Rain, by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. Delsie loves tracking the weather—lately, though, it seems the squalls are in her own life. She’s always lived with her kindhearted Grammy, but now she’s wishing she could have a “regular family.” Luckily she has Ronan, a new friend who is also troubled by losses. As they traipse around Cape Cod on adventures, they learn what it means to be angry versus sad, broken versus whole, and abandoned versus loved. And that, together, they can weather any storm. -- Courtesy of Nancy Paulsen Books
The Waning Age, by S.E. Grove. The world is filled with adults devoid of emotion and children on the cusp of losing their feelings—of “waning”—when they reach their teens. Natalia Peña has already waned. So why does she love her little brother with such ferocity that, when he’s kidnapped, she’ll do anything to get him back? This is the story of one determined girl who uses her wits, martial arts skills, and her heart to rescue her brother—and uncover the shocking truth about waning. -- Courtesy of Viking Press
What Every Girl Should Know, by J. Albert Mann. As a feisty and opinionated young woman, Margaret Higgins Sanger struggled to find her way through the harsh realities of poverty, leading to her groundbreaking work as an advocate for women’s rights and the founder of Planned Parenthood. This fiery novel of Margaret’s early life paints the portrait of a young woman with the passion and courage to change the world. -- Courtesy of Atheneum
White Rose, by Kip Wilson. Disillusioned by the propaganda of Nazi Germany, Sophie Scholl, her brother, and his fellow soldiers formed the White Rose, a group that wrote and distributed anonymous letters criticizing the Nazi regime and calling for action from their fellow German citizens. Sophie and her brother were arrested for treason and interrogated about their collaborators. This debut novel . . . highlights their brave stand against fascism in Nazi Germany. -- Courtesy of Versify
XL, by Scott Brown. On his 16th, Will is just shy of five feet and bitterly resigned to being tiny forever, until he starts to grow. Astonishingly fast. For the first time, Will’s happy with his stature, and the world’s at his feet. People see him differently. He sees himself differently. But the highest heights come with some low, low, lows, and his most precious relationships suffer excruciating growing pains. -- Courtesy of Alfred K. Knopf