Upside Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins

 Nory's father is the head master of a very prestigious magic school, and her older brother and sister are both star students in the school.  When it comes time for Nory take the qualifying test for the school, she fails dramatically. Her embarrassed father arranges for her to go to a different school where they have a program for kids whose magic is "upside down." There Nory finds friends and an emotionally supportive teacher but still longs to be normal and able to go home and be with her family again.  She and one of her newfound friends create a scheme that will allow them to test out of the special class, but it requires her to box up most of her inner life in order to fit in.

I checked out this book because Netfix has a new series based on it.  I remember it being fairly popular when it fist came out. I also noticed it on the Pride Month book list in June.  It is a short book for primary grade readers, but I can see why it would be on an LGBTQ list, even though it never mentions gender identity. It is all about the social pressure to be "normal" and how it encourages children to deny their real self. It is a good message for anyone who feels different, not just those with gender identity issues. The same yearning to be socially acceptable drove me to anorexia at about the same age as the Nory character. The writing is good and there are plenty of humorous scenes where Nory and the other kids in her class try to control their as-of-yet-uncontrolled magic. I think a lot of 3rd and 4th grade kids would enjoy it. (208 p. 2016) 

Yours is the Night by Amanda Dykes

Orphaned as a teen, Matthew raised himself and his younger sister in the stables of a race horse farm where he found work as a stable hand. When WWI begins, Matthew enlists, and his sister become nurse. Both end up in France where Matthew's commander recognizes in him the qualities of a true leader.  They are in trenches near the Argonne forest, where Mireilles had always lived with her father and grandfather.  When the war encroaches on Mireilles sheltered life, Matthew and his band rescue her right before she falls behind enemy lines.  In a rare moment of sentimentality, their commander allows Matthew and two companions to escort Mireilles and the important documents she holds, to Paris where Mireilles might have relatives. On the way, shared joys and trials bond them in ways that nothing but a war, hard fought, can. 

Here is yet another historical fiction by Amanda Dykes.  The style of the writing and general tone is the same as her other books. It is perhaps a bit more somber because of the backdrop of WWII but Dykes manages to balance the darkness of war with the hope of faith and friendship. Dykes clearly did a lot of research to get the setting of the novel authentic. The characters are well drawn (and well read by the narrator) and each makes their own journey of self-discovery. At one point Dykes leads the reader to believe that one of the main characters has died, but since I had read her other books I was pretty sure she would pull out a happy ending.  I will be reading more from Dykes, but I need a rest from the thickly layered emotions of her literary style. (368 p. 2021)