Welcome to Day 1 of the A-Z Bookbag, where I’ll spend the month of April discussing books I’ve read and enjoyed. If you’ve read the book, add your thoughts in the comments. If you haven’t and it looks interesting, add it to your TBR pile (what’s one more book, right?). Clicking the linked title will take you to the Amazon page for the book.

One more thing before we get rolling: Since I only allowed myself to review one book per letter, other books that fought for the space are listed at the end of each post.

So let’s get started! We start our Bookbag tour with Atlanta Burns by Chuck Wendig.

Atlanta Burns is a YA mystery starring Atlanta, a cynical teenager with an out-of-touch mom. This might sound cliche (because it is) but here’s what makes her different: she fights bullies, uncovers dogfighting rings, and says “dangit” among more colorful swears. She also keeps a shotgun close, as it’s come in handy in the past.

In between defending her peers from bullies, Atlanta becomes a bit of an unwilling detective when she looks into a friend’s apparent suicide and another friend’s missing dog, which leads to the dogfighting ring and her new canine companion. Atlanta’s a fighter – whether she wants to be or not. She often risks her own neck to do the right thing. Even if you don’t agree with her choices, you can’t help but root for her.

I’ve read all of Wendig’s writing strategy books and a few of his novels (including the sequel to this one, called The Hunt). His writing style makes for easy-to-digest storylines that are engaging and characters who have unique personalities. And if you’re familiar with Wendig, you’ll recognize his humor.

She thinks people deserve whatever niceness they can squeeze out of this world no matter what their color or creed. But she also figured that, you know, you give a Latino kid a chance to cook, he’s going to make a chalupa. Or an enchilada or burrito or whatever. Now that she’s thinking about it, she figures that probably does make her a racist. Maybe it’s all part of a spectrum. Great. Now she feels like an asshole because of Mexican food.

Also in my Bookbag: Aurian and Jin, An Angel on Her Shoulder

What A titles are in your Bookbag?