Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks has a tale for each block; ten tales in all. On each block you meet wonderful characters like the Low Cuts, Satchmo Jenkins, and Simeon and Kenzi. You partake in the daily adventures of these students as they make their way to and from school in ten blocks.
Twinkle Mehra has a dream to be an award-winning film director. She wants to tell stories. Film geek, Sahil Roy, who has had a crush on her since elementary school, encourages Twinkle to enter the Midsummer Night arts festival. He offers to produce her film. Twinkle has had a long-time crush on Sahil’s popular twin brother Neil. She has a secret fantasy that someday Neil will notice her as girlfriend material, and move her from her perceived lower social status in her high school’s popularity rankings. As Twinkle and Sahil begin planning and organizing the film, Twinkle begins having feelings for Sahil. But emails from a secret admirer who signs his correspondence with N complicate matters for Twinkle.
Elizabeth Acevedo’s award-winning book introduces Xiomara Batista, the Poet X. Xiomara lives in Harlem with Twin, Mami, and Papi. Mami is deeply religious and strict. Xiomara is feisty and fierce. She pours her thoughts and feelings out as poetry in the leatherbound notebook her twin, Xavier, gave to her. Poetry is her passion, and Xiomara aches for a regular teenage life outside her mother’s strict boundaries. Xiomara is asked to join the Spoken Word Club at school, something she knows will directly confront Mami’s rules, and yet Xiomara isn’t sure she has the courage to speak her words out loud in front of others.
Aru Shah lives in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture in Atlanta with her mother. Aru Shah fabricates information she shares with her peers to try to fit in. When three of her classmates visit Aru Shah at the museum to catch her in a lie, Aru shows them the ancient, cursed Lamp of Bharata. Even though her mother has warned her to never light the lamp, to impress the visiting trio, Aru lights the lamp. Lighting the lamp releases the ancient demon, the Sleeper, who has been trapped in the lamp for centuries. The Sleeper freezes time and sets out to destroy the world. It is up to Aru to find away to stop the destructive Sleeper, and return the world to the way it was.
Ever since the John Hancock incident in elementary school, Amina has experienced stage fright. Happy to stay in the background, she enjoys hanging out with her best friend Soojin. But she finds things are different now in middle school. Things are changing, and Amina finds some of these changes difficult and she is unsure of how to handle them. Her older brother, Mustafa gets into a bit of trouble. Her father’s older brother is visiting from Pakistan, and he voices his unfavorable opinion about Amina singing. Soojin wants to hang out with Emily, one of the more popular girls at school. While Amina wants desperately to keep her friendship with Soojin as it is. When her mosque is vandalized, Amina and her community are devastated by the hateful act. With the support of her family, friends, and community, Amina perseveres.
Prince Sebastian has a secret life. By day he is Prince Sebastian, heir to the throne of Brussels. At night, he lives a secret life as Lady Crystallia, a Paris fashion icon! Sebastian hires Frances to be his dressmaker and keep his secret. Their friendship develops, and Frances’s skill as a designer is noticed by the fashion world. How long will Frances be willing to put her dreams of becoming a famous fashion designer on hold to protect Sebastian’s secret?
Cece Bell’s graphic novel/autobiography tells of her experience of learning to function in the hearing world after meningitis leaves her hearing impaired. She shares her challenges and disappointments as well as her victories. Cece creates an alter ego “El Deafo.” El Deafo is a superhero, and as El Deafo Cece imagines herself conquering some of the obstacles that are presented to her. El Deafo is humorous and inspiring.
Strange things start happening in Sunny’s life when her friends reveal to her that they have magical abilities and they suspect that she has them as well. Sunny discovers that she is a “free agent” of the Leopard People. Besides her regular studies at school, Sunny begins learning magical history, juju, spells, and other magic with her three friends Orlu, Chichi, and Sasha. All of this she must keep from her overprotective and strict family. Things become even more complicated when the four friends discover that they have been selected by the magical council to take on a serial killer.
Six students are placed in the ARTT (a room to talk) room by their teacher, Mrs. Laverne. It’s a room without adults, a room where the six of them can talk about anything they want. Haley narrates the story of Amari, Ashton, Esteban, Holly, Tiago, and herself. Through their afternoons spent together, the six become close and soon trust each other enough to talk about tough issues and their insecurities. They discuss feelings and issues from Esteban’s father being sent to a detention center by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to bullying and racial profiling. Each of the six has a gift to share with the rest of the group that brings strength to the others in the ARTT room. The stories they share with each other gather empathy and the group’s support. Harbor Me is an example of the importance and power of friendship.
Jerome is a ghost. The unarmed, twelve-year-old boy was shot and killed in a Chicago neighborhood vacant lot by a white police officer. Now Jerome can only be seen by Sarah Moore, the young daughter of the officer who shot him. Sarah discovers that her father made some serious mistakes the night Jerome was shot. Jerome isn’t sure why he keeps hanging around his family, his friend Carlos, and Sarah, but with the help of the ghost of Emmett Till, he will learn what he needs to do to help others.