Rise To The Sun by Leah Johnson - OPTIONAL

Rise To The Sun by Leah Johnson, 336 pages. Scholastic Press 2021. $16 

Language: R (20 + swears, 2 “F”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG (gun shots into a crowd) 

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

Olivia and Imani are the best of friends. Olivia is going to be a senior this year. Imani just graduated and is preparing for college. Olivia talks Imani into going on a best friend “road trip” a couple of weeks before they both go back to school. Olivia falls in and out of love as easy as turning on and off a light switch. Toni and Peter are best friends and go to the Farmland Music and Arts Festival together. Toni is a couple of weeks before going off to college. Something that is the last thing she wants to do! Toni is still dealing with the loss of her father. Her father had once come to the Farmland Music Festival and later became a festival “roadie”. It is in her heart to follow in her father’s dream. Toni decides to enter a contest to perform at the festival. Olivia and Toni meet and instantly become friends. Both Olivia and Toni are forced to deal with issues that they need to face. They discover that their relationship has made things much more difficult and complicated. They also discover that they do need each other to help them deal with love, grief, and find what they are both searching for or find who they are. 

I love that setting for this book is at a music festival. It does set the mood for fun, entertaining, and magical. It is very unfortunate how such serious relationships can develop so quickly such as this. I feel that the author was able to relate this story to many of the young readers. However, I also feel the author had many opportunities to capitalize on issues were briefly touched upon in the story, such as texting and posting intimate photos on social media and a gun shooting in large crowds. These topics or story line there could have a valuable lesson to learn for our young readers. These issues are too real in our world today. Leah Johnson did have some wonderful lines that were insightful and meaningful. It caught my attention. The characters are described as have warm brown/black skin. There is a passionate kiss shared between two of the girls. 

Reviewer: Laura Trujillo, 5th grade teacher https://www.kingsenglish.com/book/9781338662238