Fanny Strikes Back by Avi Luxenburg is a fast-based, exciting read for YA readers who like adventure. Obsessed with karate, Fanny Berk is a complex character that readers will cheer for. Dressed in drab colors and hiding behind her hair, Fanny is a teen who wants to go unnoticed. As fate would have it, though, she does something that surprises even herself. She finds herself in the Flow and acts on her impulses—sending a set of actions in motion that will change her life.
Tired of school bullies, she uses her karate skills to take down two of the school’s worst bullies. Her actions cause some to call her a hero and a ninja, but she is mostly embarrassed by what she has done. Even worse, her actions could cost her the only passion she has—her beloved karate class. Young adults will relate to this all or nothing scenario, “Karate was everything, and I might lose it all.”
Set in British Columbia, Luxenburg includes a wide cast of characters from different backgrounds. Fanny’s family is Jewish who have experienced prejudice and persecution from a group called The Movement. Despite having to move and lose her only friend, Fanny overcomes her isolation with grit and moral courage.
Fanny's character arc is impressively steep. She goes from talking to herself, disliking dogs, to becoming a “dog” person with actual friends, a group of gifted kids who call themselves the Motley Crew. Using their varied talents, the crew investigates crimes happening inconspicuously in their own neighborhood.
Luxenburg, who was an educator, gets the school setting exactly right. He compares the halls to teeming schools of fish and the bullies as sharks. Even more dangerous than the bullies, an underground protection racket, comprised of immoral adults, is recruiting students. Unless Fanny and her crew can stop them, there are ruffians who pose more danger than the school's worst bullies.
Young adults will love Fanny and her crew who show initiative, self-sufficiency, and creative problem solving in the trickiest of situations.
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