CB: Mya's Strategy to Save the World - Ages 9+

Twelve-year-old Mya Parsons could save the world and organize her family, if only she had her own cell phone. A Dork Diaries for today's socially conscious middle-grade readers.

Mya Parsons runs her school's social justice club with her best friend, Cleo. Her lifelong desire is to work for the United Nations and change the world, and then bask in all the ensuing adulation. Her more immediate desire is to get a phone, preferably one like Cleo's, with a leopard-print case to match. When her distracted dad and her long-distance mom (temporarily in Myanmar taking care of Mya's grandmother) both say no, no way, and possibly never, Mya launches a campaign to prove herself reliable and deserving. She advertises her babysitting services, takes on more responsibility around the house, and attempts to supervise her sister's skateboarding lessons. Her efforts leave her ego bruised and the kitchen slightly scorched. She's no closer to touch-screen victory, let alone the Nobel Peace Prize she deserves. But all that changes after an accident leaves Mya to take charge--an experience which helps her realize how much she's grown, with or without access to proper communications.

TANYA LLOYD KYI has worked as a typesetter, graphic designer and photo editor before pursing writing full-time. She is the author of Mya's Strategy to Save the World, as well as many non-fiction titles, including Shadow Warrior, nominated for the ALA's Amelia Bloomer Project List, and Eyes and Spies: How You're Tracked and Why You Should Know, which won the Montaigne Medal Award. She is also the author of middle-grade and YA novels, including Anywhere but Here, which was praised by Kirkus as having a main character whose "voice is convincingly filled with a combination of angst and nonchalance," and The Prince of Pot, shortlisted for the OLA White Pine Award.