Renée Watson

A captivating and poignant coming-of-age urban YA debut about sisters, friends, and what it means to embrace change.

This Side of Home

Francis Buggey

This book was a nice, short read. Was written really well, with a unique style. I resonated so much with Maya and can feel her pain as she seen her neighborhood change drastically.

Juliette

** spoiler alert **
           This is one of the books I received in the most recent Quarterly YA box, and I'm not a huge fan. While it wasn't bring enough to keep me from finishing, it was just engaging enough to want to finish reading it, but there was no thrill, no unstoppable urge to not let it out of my grasp. I appreciate the African-American pov and a closer look into Black history and some lesser known historical figures, however, Maya tends to (at least to me) rub on my nerves as she was constantly complaining about how she couldn't do something (or why she couldn't date a white boy) because she's black, and came off as a whiny b***h when she didn't get her way with her family and friends.

Kate

This Side Of Home is the second of Renée Watson’s books I’ve read and it most certainly wont be my last. She has such an incredible talent for expressing power and depth within her words, with an ease that I’m in awe of. Her writing may seem simple due to being so easy to read, yet it is anything but. She simply doesn’t need to cram her pages with flowery descriptions to tell her stories. Her tone is lyrical, yet to the point and I love it so much. 

This Side Of Home was powerful, fun, heartwarming, frustrating and eye opening, whilst being undeniably important and relevant. 
I adored each character, their individual stories and their multiple, multilayered relationships. They were relatable, human and complex and I loved reading through Maya’s brilliantly smart, ever evolving voice. 

This is definitely book I will be recommending left, right and centre from here on out.

This Side of Home

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