Indies Introduce

Young Adult

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  We Deserve Monuments, Jas Hammonds
  Roaring Brook Press, 9781250816559, November 29, 2022 (Young Adult)
  

  "We Deserve Monuments is a phenomenal and emotionally captivating debut that weaves together small-town secrecy, intersectional identity, and America’s violent history into one stunning, poignant, and sure to be influential novel."

  - Andrew King, Secret Garden Bookshop, Seattle, WA
  
  

  “This contemporary YA novel does so many things, and it does them all well. It’s a generational story of family and deeply buried hurts and estrangement. It’s a mystery of a long ago death in a small southern town with racial overtones and reckoning. It’s a love story between two teenage girls who are both trying to navigate their way to a different future than the one they grew up believing was theirs, and it’s a nuanced look at how family status and history affects friendships among teens. All of these parts are interwoven in a single summer with characters that readers will care deeply about in spite of each of their flaws. This is a simply stunning debut book.”

  Cynthia Compton, 4 Kids Books & Toys, Zionsville, IN
  

  “This is the kind of book that will take root in your heart and never leave. I flew through this story of generational trauma and queer girl-next-door love with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. Trust me when I say you need this book!”

  - Kassie King, The Novel Neighbor, Webster Groves, MO

   

  “A masterpiece. When Avery’s family moves her to her dying grandmother’s home in Georgia, Avery doesn’t expect to find new friends — or to uncover her family’s haunting history. I don’t know how Jas Hammonds managed to weave so many beautiful, intricate layers into this story, but We Deserve Monuments is an absolute stunner. An intergenerational mystery, a tribute to first love, and one of the best YA books I’ve read in the last decade. Read this.”

   

  Nicole Brinkley, Oblong Books, Rhinebeck, NY