12 must-read September YA releases to pair with your PSL
By Lacy Baugher
September 2021 release – We Can Be Heroes – Kyrie McCauley
An emotional contemporary YA story from the award-winning author of If These Wings Could Fly, We Can Be Heroes is a powerful tale of sisterhood, grief, and the devastating impact of gun violence.
THe story follows Beck and Vivian, two girls who weren’t really what you’d call friends, but who tried to get along for the sake of their love for their mutual friend Cassie, whom they both loved. Now they’re struggling to figure out what comes next in the wake of the school schooting that took her life. Their town seems to be moving on and no one is doing anything to get justice for her.
But when Beck and Vivian take things into their own hands – and find common ground by memorializing their friend thorugh the murals they paint around town – they catch the attention of a podcaster covering Cassie’s case, they kick off a larger debate no one was ready for.
The official synopsis describes the story as follows.
"“Welcome to Bell, proud home of Bell Firearms for two hundred years, and where five months ago, the teen heir to the Bell fortune took his father’s guns to school and killed his ex-girlfriend, Cassandra Queen.” —WE CAN BE HEROES PODCAST Beck and Vivian never could stand each other, but they always tried their best for their mutual friend, Cassie. After the town moves on from Cassie’s murder too fast, Beck and Vivian finally find common ground: vengeance. They memorialize Cassie by secretly painting murals of her around town, a message to the world that Cassie won’t be forgotten. But Beck and Vivian are keeping secrets, like the third passenger riding in Beck’s VW bus with them—Cassie’s ghost. When their murals catch the attention of a podcaster covering Cassie’s case, they become the catalyst for a debate that Bell Firearms can no longer ignore. With law enforcement closing in on them, Beck and Vivian hurry to give Cassie the closure she needs—by delivering justice to those responsible for her death."
We Can Be Heroes is available on September 7.