Love & Resistance, by Kara H.L. Chen, (July 2023, Quill Tree Books), $19.99, ISBN: 9780063237834
Ages 13-17
Enough is enough for one Taiwanese-American teen who goes up against her school’s VIPs – with the help of some new friends. Olivia Chang, daughter of a military mom, is at her fourth school in seven years; she’s created rules for survival: stay anonymous. Embrace isolationism. Soon enough, she’ll be out of this little Ohio town and off to college, and leave this toxic mess behind. But she ends up on the In Crowd’s radar when she hears Mean Girl leader Mitzi Clarke make a racist comment about how certain students skew test results; Livvy speaks up, and war is declared, taking place on the social media battlefields that Mitzi and her minions dominate. Until NerdNet comes to the rescue: a quietly operating group of students who use their know-how to defend the bullied, they take up Livvy’s cause and bring her into the group. Empowered by their friendship, Livvy and NerdNet work together to upend the system: but Livvy may push too hard, go too far. Taking on the cult of social media and casual racism, Love & Resistance is reading teen readers will dive into. Livvy is a complicated heroine who risks becoming the type of bully she’s pushing back against, and her fellow NerdNet members have fully realized backstories, making them as realistic and likable as our heroine. The pace moves quickly and the book is compulsively readable, with much food for thought and discussion. Add this to your Fall purchases if you haven’t yet.
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