Sweet 15

Adler, Emily and Alex Echevarria. Sweet 15.
Destiny Lozado would rather be skateboarding than helping her mother plan her quinceanera, but her mother feels that this traditional Puerto Rican birthday celebration is essential, even though the family doesn't have the money for it. Destiny's sister, America, complicates matters by politicizing the entire event-- it's oppressing women, especially having a male escort. Not having an escort would be okay with Destiny-- until she falls for fellow skateboarder Nicholas... and starts to feel that her longtime friend Omar might also be boyfriend material. Despite all the family drama, Destiny manages to put together a celebration that makes both her family and herself happy. A good addition to a multicultural collection that also include Osa's Cuba 15 (2003) and Chamber's Quinceañera Means Sweet 15 (2001).

Larson, Hope. Mercury.
Tara's house has burned down, so she is living with friends in her home town while her mother is off trying to find work. Tara finds an old amulet that helps her find things. In easy-to-follow flashbacks, the story of this amulet is revealed-- 150 years in the past, an ancestor of Tara's, Josey, receives it from a gold prospector named Asa, who woos her. The two historical periods are easy to tell apart, because the modern day pages are white bordered, and the historical bordered in black. This is a graphic novel, and one of the best I've read. It helps that the physical book is novel sized and the pictures are an integral part of the story, showing the emotions of the characters well. If all graphic novels were like this one, librarians would not hesitate for a moment to include them in collections.

Also looked at Horvath's Northward to the Moon, which is a sequel to My One Hundred Adventures, which I don't have. As with Everything on a Waffle and The Trolls, this book was quirky and slow moving. The Horvath books I have never leave the shelf, so I'll pass.