Like No Other

Gr 9 Up—Two culture-crossed teens struggle with hormones and family expectations. Devorah has been raised in the Hasidic tradition in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood. Though many consider the dress and behavior standards unrealistically restrictive, Devorah has never given her parents cause to worry. All that changes when a power outage traps Dev in an elevator with Jaxon, a West Indian teen who lives close by but culturally comes from a world away. Their instant chemistry in the elevator leads to secret phone calls and meetings and lies told to both families. Trouble mounts when the teens defiantly continue to meet, ending in a beating and a banishment. Parts of the story seem a bit contrived, such as sheltered Devorah creating and monitoring an illicit Facebook account. Narrators Phoebe Strole and Leslie Odom are terrific as Dev and Jax, who alternate chapters. Strole navigates the Yiddish expressions beautifully, and Odom sounds trustworthy and appropriately overwhelmed by his feelings.