Tag: See YA Book Club

Brighter Than the Sun by Daniel Aleman

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Sixteen-year-old Sol spends her life divided between two countries. She lives in her hometown of Tijuana, Mexico with her family, but makes the trip across the border early every weekday to go to school in the United States. Sol’s dream is to be the first person in her family to go to college, so even though her life is exhausting, she keeps trekking between Mexico and the United States to keep her dream alive.

The family has hit some rough times, throwing Sol’s dreams into question. With her mother’s recent death, Sol and her family are struggling to keep the family restaurant afloat. The restaurant was her mother’s dream, but her father and oldest brother are running into difficulties. Needing a way to add income to the family, Sol picks up a part-time job in San Diego. Doing this means that she has to move in with her friend in the United States, only coming back to Tijuana on the weekends. This new job adds complications to her life. Her schedule becomes more chaotic, her schoolwork suffers, and her relationships deteriorate.

Sol has to decide what she wants out of life. Although she has goals to attend college, she feels a debt to her family that she must repay. Although she is only 17, the pressure she feels to succeed and provide for her family is immense. Her future is in limbo, her present is a mess, and her past continues to haunt her. What is Sol willing to risk to help her family make it through?

Brighter Than the Sun by Daniel Aleman was a heartbreaking and exhausting read. Although this is a young adult book, the story will resonate with people of all ages.

Interested in this book? Brighter Than the Sun is the June 2025 See YA Book Club selection. We will be discussing this book on Wednesday, June 4th at 6:30pm at our Eastern Avenue branch. For more information about future See YA book picks, visit our website.

See YA Book Club

Join our adult book club with a teen book twist. See why so many teen books are being turned into movies and are taking over the best seller lists.

Registration is not required. Books are available on a first-come, first-serve basis at the Eastern Avenue library. We meet the first Wednesday of the month at Eastern at 6:30pm. Stop by the service desk for more information.

June 4 – ‘Brighter than the Sun’ by Daniel Aleman

July 2 – The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

August 6 – Red Rising by Pierce Brown

September 3 – Man O’War by Cory McCarthy

October 1 – A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

November 5 – Rez Ball by Byron Graves

December 3 – Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Invisible Son by Kim Johnson

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“I learned the hard way that acceptance gained by pretzeling yourself into other people’s visions of you never lasts.”
― Kim Johnson, Invisible Son

Invisible Son by Kim Johnson is a riveting, destructive social justice thriller that refuses to stay silent. This book had me hooked and angry from the start, hoping that people would turn out differently that I thought, but knowing that change takes time. If you’re a fan of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas or Dear Justyce by Nic Stone, give Invisible Son a try.

Andre Jackson wants his identity back. After being wrongly accused of a crime, Andre is finally able to return home from juvie on an ankle monitor with a parole officer closely monitoring his every move. When Andre drives through his neighborhood, he realizes that even more has changed while he’s been gone. His neighborhood in Portland, Oregon is gentrifying, with people trying to push his grandparents out of their home and his dad out of his bookstore business. Andre’s excitement to start school again is quickly squashed when COVID-19 shuts down school and puts his family and friends in danger. With not much to do, Andre’s suspicions about what really happened surrounding his arrest begin to taint his relationships with friends, family, and coworkers.

Andre is hopeful that he can slip back into his relationships with the Whitaker kids, the family that live across the street from his grandparents. Before his arrest, Andre had made some headway with his crush, Sierra, but Sierra’s brother Eric has been missing since not long after Andre’s arrest. Sierra has her own suspicions about Eric’s disappearance, but her behavior is spiraling out of control, leading Andre and her family to concern. Andre has some questions for Eric, so he begins to search for him too. Thinking that the Whitaker parents know more than they’ve previously shared, Andre asks them questions. He soon realizes that Sierra and Eric’s adoptive parents are hiding something as the whole family works to keep up the idea that their racially diverse family is perfect with two biological white children, three adopted children of different races, and a dad running for political office. The more Andre searches for answers, the more he realizes that the truth could be devastating. Those who hold the power also hold many deep dark secrets, secrets they will do anything to keep Andre from discovering.

This title is also available in large print, Playaway Audiobook, and single book club collection.

“There’s no such thing as innocent until proven guilty—it’s just guilty until proven innocent. No one really wants the truth. They just want it to be done with.”
― Kim Johnson, Invisible Son