Haifaa al-Mansour

Feisty Wadjda enters a Koran competition and plans to use her winnings to purchase a bike (considered improper for girls in Riyadh). The text, based on the film Wadjda, weaves in introductions to Saudi Arabian culture. About the Author

That was a really nicely done coming-of-age story. I particularly liked the audio read by Ariana Delawari--it was sweet without being unbearable...maybe a bit slow with the precise diction, but I imagine it would be great for children unfamiliar with words and concepts from Saudi Arabia. I loved the largely female cast and how complicated many of the characters were--no small feat for a middle grade novel. This will definitely be a recommended read for my library families.

Okay, I didn't finish this. BUT. What I did get through was interesting, funny, and really well done. I just know I'm never going to go back to it now that I've already booktalked it, so I'm just admitting it now. If you're looking for a realistic story set outside the US with an intelligent and well written main character, this would be a great choice.

Será siempre recordada por ser la escritora que creó a Frankenstein. Criada por un filósofo de renombre en el Londres del siglo XVIII, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin es una adolescente soñadora decidida a dejar huella en el mundo. Un día conoce al brillante poeta Percy Shelley con el que empezara una aventura amorosa marcada por la pasión y la tragedia, algo que transformará a Mary y la impulsará a escribir su obra maestra gótica.