Title Girls are all that tie these three books together. Otherwise, the combination serves as a great example of the variety of books that appeal to different teen readers.
We begin with a rather intellectual historical fiction novel, Eight Girls Taking Pictures. The tie-in to the arts is a great hook for young adults. Photography is [...]
Weekly Reviews: Girls
By on November 29, 2012
Philip Roth: Teen Novelist?
By on November 27, 2012
Booktalks
By on November 26, 2012
Last Tuesday, right before the Thanksgiving holiday long weekend, I had the opportunity to booktalk to the three 11th grade English class sections at my school.
During each period I talked about 5 books, then asked the students to share their recent favorites with each other. We left the last 10-15 minutes of the period for [...]
Booktalks
By on November 26, 2012
Last Tuesday, right before the Thanksgiving holiday long weekend, I had the opportunity to booktalk to the three 11th grade English class sections at my school.
During each period I talked about 5 books, then asked the students to share their recent favorites with each other. We left the last 10-15 minutes of the period for [...]
Why a Classic Is a Classic
By on November 21, 2012
A starred review today, from our graphic novel guest blogger, Francisca Goldsmith:
Sequential art has been the go-to format for creators and adaptors, bowdlerizers and clever clogs who rework, or try to rework, classics. Disney-sponsored Scrooge McDuck, Posy Simmonds’ Gemma Bovery, published-for-classroom Manga Shakespeare, and Will Eisner’s repurposing of Moby Dick give only the beginning of [...]
Weekly Reviews: Identity
By on November 20, 2012
As promised, we have our full complement of reviews for the week, all in one omnibus post. These week’s books are all about identity. In our first book, Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan, Cahalan recounts her harrowing experience of grappling with a rare brain disease called autoimmune encephalitis, which brought on hallucinations, paranoia, and [...]
Weekly Reviews: Identity
By on November 20, 2012
As promised, we have our full complement of reviews for the week, all in one omnibus post. These week’s books are all about identity. In our first book, Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan, Cahalan recounts her harrowing experience of grappling with a rare brain disease called autoimmune encephalitis, which brought on hallucinations, paranoia, and [...]
What We Talk About When We Talk About Teens
By on November 19, 2012
Thank you to Angela, all of our reviewers, and our readers for the warm welcome to this blog. I thought it might be a good idea to start this relaunch by setting myself up for immediate backlash by trying to answer the impossible question of what exactly we mean by “Adult Books 4 Teens.”
The phrase has two parts, [...]
The New Look of Adult Books 4 Teens
By on November 15, 2012
Adult Books 4 Teens began its life as the Adult Books for High School Students print column in SLJ, which provided 15-20 reviews a month. Two years ago the print column was replaced by this blog, which continued to provide 3-4 reviews a week, with the benefit of added context.
Starting today, though, AB4T is [...]
Angel’s Ink
By on November 14, 2012
Jocelynn Drake is known for her Dark Days series. With Angel’s Ink she begins a new urban fantasy/paranormal romance series (The Asylum Tales) which, for a change, features a male protagonist.
Fans will be glad to see that there are already two prequel tales to this story available.
DRAKE, Jocelynn. Angel’s Ink. Bk. 1. 352p. (The Asylum [...]
The Round House & The National Book Awards
By on November 12, 2012
This Wednesday evening, the National Book Award winners will be announced in a grand ceremony at Cipriani in New York City. I went to the NBA site to refresh myself on just how the awards work.“The National Book Award is an American literary prize given to writers by writers and administered by the National Book Foundation.” [...]
Life After Murder
By on November 8, 2012
Can a convicted murderer ever merit a fresh start? Investigative journalist Nancy Mullane spent years examining that question. In Life After Murder she writes about five convicts in San Quentin State Prison in California, from their lives before the murders through the experience of reentry. Mullane clearly believes in giving criminals a second chance, once they [...]
Kickstart the Halloween Treats
By on November 7, 2012
Thanks to Hurricane Sandy we missed Halloween here in New York City. So please enjoy this post from our regular graphic novel guest blogger, Francisca Goldsmith, exactly one week later than planned:
Batton Lash studied with Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman, but has gone on to create a unified field of their master teachings of good [...]
January First
By on November 5, 2012
Michael Schofield’s nonfiction account of his daughter’s schizophrenia has similar appeal to titles that have drawn teen readers in the past. Think Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel, A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar and perhaps especially Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Scheff. Next week I will [...]
Escape
By on November 1, 2012
AmazonCrossing is a program that brings books published in other languages to American audiences. Escape is translated from the Turkish.
Author Perihan Mağden lives in Istanbul, where she is well-known not only for her fiction, but also for writing controversial editorial newspaper columns which get her into trouble. An interview about another of her novels published [...]
Hosoi
By on October 30, 2012
Christian Hosoi is one of the top skateboarders in history. He turned pro at 14.
He was at the top of the world until he started using. A methamphetamine addiction landed him in prison, where he found freedom in reading the Bible. Hear it from the man himself.
Hosoi’s 300-page memoir includes more than 100 color and black-and-white [...]
Hosoi
By on October 30, 2012
Christian Hosoi is one of the top skateboarders in history. He turned pro at 14.
He was at the top of the world until he started using. A methamphetamine addiction landed him in prison, where he found freedom in reading the Bible. Hear it from the man himself.
Hosoi’s 300-page memoir includes more than 100 color and black-and-white [...]
Muck City
By on October 29, 2012
Bryan Mealer’s exploration of football and poverty in one small Florida town brings to mind other books about high school sports, such as Friday Night Lights and Michael D’Orso’s Eagle Blue.
You probably know Mealer’s previous work, even if you don’t recognize the name. He wrote The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind with William Kamkwamba, a [...]
History, Mystery and the Power of Symbolism
By on October 24, 2012
from regular graphic novel guest blogger, Francisca Goldsmith:
Mark Siegel’s experience in the graphic novel idiom is long, deep and informed by international strains and precepts. He brings all this to bear in a narrative that plumbs the mysteries first brought to literary ears by Homer: how very like the Sirens’ song is man’s belief in [...]
The White Forest
By on October 23, 2012
I first became aware of The White Forest at a Simon & Schuster preview where its editor spoke about her passion for this book. She called it her Night Circus.
You can see Adam McOmber speak about his work in the book trailer, and The White Forest made The Book Smugglers’ Top 10 Most Highly Anticipated SFF Reads [...]
