When the National Book Award Finalists were announced, it turned out I hadn’t read any of the five finalists for young adult literature!
In a way, this meant I was lucky because I could read each book looking for why it was given a nod by their fellow authors, the NBA judges. Of course, it also [...]
Recap: The National Book Award Finalists
By on November 13, 2012
Review: Endangered
By on November 12, 2012
Endangered by Eliot Schrefer. Scholastic. 2012. Review copy from publisher.
The Plot: Sophie, 14, is in Congo (the Democratic Republic of Congo) visiting her mother, who runs a sanctuary for bonobos. During the school year, she lives with her father in America.
Sophie saves a young bonobo who she names Otto; she cares for him, beginning to [...]
Sandy
By on November 11, 2012
Review: Bomb
By on November 8, 2012
Bomb: The Race To Build – And Steal – The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin. Flash Point, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing. 2012.
It’s About: One nice thing about non-fiction titles: they tell you up front what a book will be about. This is about the invention of [...]
Blog the Vote
By on November 6, 2012
Better late than never, right?
Originally, this was supposed to get posted on November 2, as part of Chasing Ray’s Blog the Vote blog series.
It’s not that I didn’t believe that Sandy would be as bad as everyone said; it’s just that in pre-Hurricane planning, finalizing the draft post I had prepared got put on a back [...]
Review: The Crown of Embers
By on November 1, 2012
The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson. Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. 2012. Sequel to The Girl of Fire and Thorns.
The Plot: Elisa, 17, is the Queen of Joya d’Arena following the death of her husband, the King. Her stepson, the Prince, is too young to reign.
Being a Queen isn’t easy: she may bear [...]
Review: White Devil
By on October 30, 2012
White Devil by Justin Evans. HarperCollins. 2011. Personal copy. Part of my Holiday Reads for Grown Up series; and what better book to pick than one that is not just a ghost story, but is a haunted boarding school story?
The Plot: American Andrew Taylor has been sent to an exclusive British boarding school, Harrow, for [...]
Review: Out of Reach
By on October 29, 2012
Out of Reach by Carrie Arcos. Simon Pulse, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. 2012. Review copy from publisher.
The Plot: Rachel, sixteen, is on a mission. To find her older brother, Micah. Micah, 18, is a meth addict. One night, he didn’t come home. When Rachel gets an email saying Micah is in Ocean Beach, [...]
Oh, Sandy
By on October 28, 2012
Review: Yesterday
By on October 25, 2012
Yesterday by C.K. Kelly Martin. Random House. 2012. Reviewed from ARC from publisher.
The Plot: 2063. Freya Kallas is sixteen, locked in her room, while something terrible happens with her brother. She struggles as she is forcibly evacuated, crying out for her brother, hating her father, wishing for her mother to do something. The Toxo is [...]
Review: The Infects
By on October 23, 2012
The Infects by Sean Beaudoin. Candlewick Press. 2012. Review from ARC from publisher.
The Plot: So, Nick Sole is working at plant that produces fast food chicken. It’s a dead end job, but he’s not really a slacker — he has to help support his family, since his mom left, his dad doesn’t do much of [...]
Review: Goblin Secrets
By on October 22, 2012
Goblin Secrets by William Alexander. Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. 2012. Review copy from publisher.
The Plot: Rownie is one of “grandchildren” of the witch, Graba, children she’s collected to run her errands. His mother is dead; his older brother, Rowan, brought Rownie to Graba knowing the shelter she offered was [...]
Review: Never Fall Down
By on October 19, 2012
Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick. Balzer & Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins. 2012. Review copy from publisher.
The Plot: Cambodia, 1975. Arn, eleven, lives with his sisters and brother. The family is poor, yes, but they are close and have each other.
The are about to lose even that.
The Khmer Rouge seize power. Arn and his [...]
Flashback October 2005
By on October 17, 2012
I’m flashing back to reviews from years past. Here is what I was reviewing in October 2005.
Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery by Peter Abrahams. My review: “Ingrid Levin-Hill is 13, loves soccer and acting, and is impatiently waiting for one of her busy parents to pick her up at the orthodontist. She [...]
Review: The FitzOsbornes at War
By on October 16, 2012
The FitzOsbornes at War, the Montmaray Journals, Book III by Michelle Cooper. Knopf Books for Young Readers. 2012. Sequel to Sequel to A Brief History of Montmaray and The FitzOsbornes in Exile. Reviewed from ARC from publisher.
The Plot: Life in Great Britain during World War II, as told by Sophie FitzOsborne. The FitzOsborne story began in the mid 1930s in A Brief History of [...]
National Book Awards Finalists
By on October 15, 2012
One of my obsessions that has developed in the past few years is reading every one of the National Book Award Nominations for Young People’s Literature before the Award is announced.
Those who are unfamiliar with the NBA can check out their website.
Very briefly: judges who are authors select a shortlist of finalists, announced in October; [...]
Review: The Opposite of Hallelujah
By on October 11, 2012
The Opposite of Hallelujah by Anna Jarzab. Delacorte Books for Younger Readers, Random House. 2012. Reviewed from ARC from publisher.
The Plot: Caro Mitchell’s older sister, Hannah, left home eight years ago, when Caro was eight. Hannah was nineteen; it’s not unusual for kids to have older sisters go off for college or to make their [...]
Flashback October 2007
By on October 10, 2012
I’m flashing back to reviews from years past. Here is what I was reviewing in October 2007.
The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation by Sid Jacobson & Ernie Colon. My review: “A graphic adaptation of the 9/11 Report, putting forth the time line of what happened on 9/11, then the results of the commission’s investigation of [...]
Balance, or How Much Is Too Much
By on October 9, 2012
The question of gender balance and reading is neither simple nor easily discussed.
Start talking about, say, boys reading and it then becomes also what do boys want to read and how is that taken into account when we talk about reading? Is it just novel-reading that people are concerned about? If so, does it matter [...]
KidLitCon 2012
By on October 7, 2012
