When Louise Wolfe's boyfriend makes disparaging comments about Native people, she breaks up with him. After all, she is part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and proud of it. But in the small Kansas town her family has lived in for just over a year, she finds that prejudice is quietly prevalent. When the school musical, The Wizard of Oz, is cast with several nonwhite students in leading roles, those prejudices quickly get much louder.

Hearts Unbroken is a thoughtful story about racism in small-town America. Louise, who writes for the school newspaper, and her younger brother Hughie, who earns the role of the Tin Man in the play, find themselves at the center of the controversy surrounding the inclusive casting. They even receive anonymous notes telling them to get out of Kansas.

Louise is also falling for a boy named Joey who works with her on the school paper. Joey is Lebanese, and though he is also subject to discrimination and stereotypes, Louise is hesitant to get too involved, fearing that she will be hurt if he cannot accept her Native ethnicity.

Many kinds of prejudice are shown, and Louise is not always certain how to respond. This insightful, complex take on a difficult topic also explores questions of how to appreciate art like The Wizard of Oz, whose author, L. Frank Baum, was himself outspokenly racist. Even considering its seriousness, the novel is fun to read, with charming characters and a nicely balanced teen romance.

Thought-provoking and engaging, Hearts Unbroken will leave its young adult audience with a great deal to consider.

Smith's timely novel considers racial prejudice witnessed and experienced by Muscogee (Creek) Native Louise Wolfe as she pursues typical senior-year activities in a suburban Kansas town. Relative newcomers Lou and her freshman brother, Hughie, wholeheartedly take on high school life: Lou joins the school newspaper, and Hughie is cast as the Tin Man in an inclusive production of The Wizard of Oz. Romance blossoms for Lou with Joey, a Lebanese-American fellow journalist, as resistance to the ethnically diverse casting of Oz begins to build. The school newspaper staff, with Lou and Joey jointly reporting, takes a stand against the newly formed Parents Against Revisionist Theatre, which quickly shows that it is unafraid to play dirty. Smith depicts the Wolfes' warm family life as a stable foundation as Hughie and Lou each confront challenges, and she is especially successful at portraying the camaraderie and conflicts of the newspaper staff. An overload of secondary characters sometimes slows the pace, but the central conflicts and the main characters are convincingly developed, resulting in a thought-provoking work of realistic teen fiction. Ages 14–up. (Nov.)

Gr 9 Up—An aspiring journalist navigates friendship, first love, and racial politics in this absorbing novel. Louise Wolfe regrets dumping her first real boyfriend via email instead of face-to-face, but his offensive remarks about Native Americans crossed a line for this proud Muscogee (Creek) teen. As senior year begins, she's focused on helping her little brother, Hughie, adjust to high school life, and on earning her desired beat on the school newspaper. Competing against and falling for Joey, a new kid with a passion for photojournalism, is an added bonus. But when Hughie finds himself at the center of a divisive community conflict centered on the casting of the school production of the Wizard of Oz, Louise struggles to balance her responsibilities as a journalist with a desire to protect her family. Louise is an immediately relatable and authentic teenage voice. Bighearted, ambitious, intelligent, she also has plenty of blind spots, particularly where her relationships are concerned. While most of the secondary characters are only lightly sketched, Louise's quirky, loving family dynamic comes through strong. Realistic profanity and age-appropriate sexual situations are depicted. VERDICT Blending teen romance with complex questions of identity, equality, and censorship, this is an excellent choice for most collections.—Chelsea Couillard-Smith, Hennepin County Library, MN