Goose

Gr 10 Up—In this sequel to Paper Airplanes (Abrams, 2014), O'Porter explores topics as varied as sex, faith, and loss through an engaging story about the love best friends can have for each other even amid major life changes. The book picks up about two years after the events of Paper Airplanes, which saw teens Renée and Flo become inseparable; the girls are now in their final year of school on the small British island Guernsey. The home lives of both have improved, and the depiction of each teen's ongoing grief over losing a parent is realistic and handled well. Flo turns to religion, joining a youth group and finding peace at church. Renée, who has her own questions about faith and loss, assumes this is a "Flo fad" (Flo has taken up—and dropped—many hobbies). Further separating the friends is a relationship Renée has with a guy in his 20s; he slut-shames her ("Women can't behave like men when it comes to sex," he says), an occurrence unfortunately not dated for this book set in the 1990s. A tragedy meanwhile reminds the girls what's important, and readers are again left hoping that O'Porter writes more about the pair. This smart, touching, and often funny book will appeal to teens, especially those on the cusp of adulthood.