CCBC Booklists

CCBC booklist are compiled from books we have recommended in various editions of CCBC Choices. Most of these booklists are updated annually. You can also select books from one or more booklists to create a custom list, which can also include additional books from the CCBC-Recommended Book Search.

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You Must Not Miss

by Katrina Leno

CCBC Review:

Magpie (Margaret) Lewis’s family life has fallen apart since she caught her dad in bed with her mom’s sister six months ago. She wants nothing to do with her dad, her mom’s started drinking again, and her older sister has taken off. Her best friend has abandoned her, too, although that’s because of something that happened at Allison’s boyfriend’s party, which Magpie can’t fully recall. Magpie, who lives in a town called Farther, copes by writing about an imaginary, perfect place she calls Near. When Magpie, white, discovers a portal to Near and realizes she can not only go there, but has complete control over what happens there, it becomes the outlet for her anger and a place where she can exact revenge. With scenes from the party months before coming into full relief, Magpie remembers Allison’s boyfriend, Brandon, sexually assaulting her. But she doesn’t stop with getting back at Brandon. Not even Hither, a being from Near who acts as her conscience, can convince Magpie to reconsider as she sets out to punish anyone who’s hurt her, or, as things progress, dared to care. At the heart of this unflinching, unsettling novel navigating moral questions is a young woman whose pain is very real in a work open to interpretation, and ripe for discussion. ©2020 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 14 and older
Age Range: Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format: Novel
Subjects: Abandonment Anger Families Grief and Loss Open Endings Revenge Sexual Assault and Rape Violence
Diversity subject: Psychiatric
On CCBC Booklist: Fantastic Fiction: Great Fantasy Books for Ages 11 to 17

Publisher: Little, Brown
Publish Year: 2019
Pages: 294
ISBN: 9780316449779
CCBC Location: Fiction, Leno

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Please send questions or comments about CCBC booklists to ccbcinfo@education.wisc.edu.