Set on 1985 Montana, Unsinkable Cayenne is a 12-year-old girl just entering 7th grade. Cayenne (she was named after the spice) has never lived anywhere except the van her parents use to drift from place to place. It’s a life that brings the family closer but is so much different from other families.

After her twin siblings are born the parents decide to settle down and rent a small house. Cayenne likes the idea of fitting in and maybe getting some friends her age. But it’s not easy.

Her social studies teacher has them learning about the Titanic disaster and Cayenne sees parallels to her own life, especially with the lowly third class passengers. Will she ever be accepted by the rich girls or the rich boy she secretly likes? She wonders and worries what normal is really like.

The writing flows smoothly and readers will bond with Cayenne. Novels in verse are not my preferred way of story telling, but in this case it was a good choice. I finished it a a few hours wrapped up in Cayenne’s world. A great starting point for discussion that also makes UNSINKABLE CAYENNE perfect for middle grade readers.

PAGE COUNT: 304 BOOK BIRTHDAY: October 29, 2024

FIVE MORE THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT: UNSINKABLE CAYENNE by Jessica Vitalis

(in verse)

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History portrayed with the same problems facing today’s middle graders

Made possible by the relatable Cayenne and her internal conflict of being accepted

Titanic comparisons to the realities of poverty and class

Added to the reality

As did friends Dawn, Tiff and Beau

In the end being yourself matters most

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JESSICA VITALIS is an award-winning, Columbia MBA-wielding writer and presenter with Greenwillow / HarperCollins. With a mission to write entertaining and thought-provoking literature, she often uses magic and fantastical settings to explore topics such as death and grief, domestic violence, and socio-economic disparities. Her work has been translated into three languages, and she was a 2021 Canada Council of the Arts grant recipient and featured on CBC’s Here and Now and The Morning Edition, and CTV’s Your Morning. The Wolf’s Curse and The Rabbit’s Gift (which received starred reviews from the School Library Journal and CCBC and was named a Canadian Children’s Book Center Best Books for Kids and Teens 2023), are stand-alone companion novels. Her most recent novel, Coyote Queen, is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, on the Kirkus Best Books of 2023 list, a Crystal Kite and High Plains Book Awards finalist, and won the Reading the West Book Award as well as the Women Writing the West 2024 WILLA Literary Award in Children’s Fiction and Non-Fiction. A novel in free verse, Unsinkable Cayenne, is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection arriving October 29th, 2024. Jessica spent part of her childhood in Wyoming, where a giant, rusted-out boat sat in her backyard and howling coyotes kept her awake at night. Jessica has American and Canadian citizenship; she currently lives in Ontario with her husband and two daughters but presents at conferences, festivals, and schools all over North America.

Social Media

Website: http://jessicavitalis.com

Instagram: @jessicavauthor https://www.instagram.com/jessicavauthor/

Facebook: @jessicavauthor https://www.facebook.com/jessicavauthor/

Twitter: @jessicavitalis https://twitter.com/jessicavitalis

Bluesky: @jessicavitalis https://bsky.app/profile/jessicavitalis.bsky.social

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