The world's largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens
April is National Poetry Month, and unlike short stories, poetry is one form of literature that I, at least, have never had trouble getting teens interested in. Every April (except this one–my library is doing some construction) I try to hold at least one poetry event–an open mic, or a poetry slam–and they tend to [...]
In our continuing series on the first adult books we read as teens, reviewer Jamie Watson talks about the limited access she had to adult novels: When did I start reading adult books? I’ve thought about this question before, because I’ve used it as in icebreaker in workshops before. Especially in the “OMG the GOSSIP [...]
Two items to enjoy this morning. Six times each year I have the opportunity to interview a debut author whose first title exemplifies an adult book with teen appeal. My interview with Kimberly McCreight, author of Reconstructing Amelia, is out today. If you subscribe to the SLJ Teen Newsletter you will find it in your [...]
On October 24, Kate, a hard-working attorney and single mother, is called away in the middle of a crucial meeting to pick up her 15 year-old daughter at her fancy private school in Brooklyn. Amelia has been suspended for plagiarizing an English paper. When Kate arrives at Grace Hall she learns that Amelia has jumped from the roof, committing suicide. Adult Books 4 Teens blogger Angela Carstensen recently talked with debut author Kimberly McCreight about her debut novel, Reconstructing Amelia.
Today we highlight three recent historical novels set in a variety of time periods and locations. I also thought it would be fun to highlight one of our AB4T reviewers, Connie Williams, who has been reviewing historical fiction since the blog began. First, a brief introduction to the reviews. Orphan Train moves between contemporary Maine and [...]
And now for another installment of Adult Books 4 Teens: First Encounters, our reviewers’ thoughts on the first adult books they read. Today’s guest post is from Sarah Flowers: I remember four books as my first adult books. They may not have been the very first I read (like Diane, I’m sure I read Readers’ [...]
In what I believe is the first AB4T post about a professional resource, I cannot resist sharing my thoughts about a new ALA Editions book, just out: Cart’s Top 200 Adult Books for Young Adults: Two Decades in Review by Michael Cart. I have been looking forward to reading it ever since I spied it in [...]
Today’s reviewed novels are most likely to appeal to strong, mature teen readers looking for a challenge. Yet each includes a teen character, an authentic teen voice, that will keep the adventurous reading. The starred review belongs to A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. This novel is difficult to categorize. It begins [...]
In The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction (ALA, 2009), Joyce Saricks divides genre fiction into four categories: Adrenaline Genres, Emotion Genres, Intellect Genres, and Landscape Genres (h/t to Jonathan Hunt for pointing me to this wonderful resource–and click through that link to read some fascinating commentary on the categories). I find this categorization much more [...]
In our continuing series on first encounters with adult literature, here’s a guest post from reviewer Diane Colson: My mother’s collection of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books was my first library. By third or fourth grade (circa 1965,) I had pretty much read all of the chapter books in our tiny juvenile section at the public [...]
Today’s reviews are all notable debut novels by women. I spent part of my spring break tearing through Kimberly McCreight’s Reconstructing Amelia, and let me tell you — teens are going to eat this up. It came out just yesterday, so go order a couple copies now. There are several appeal elements here. First, the [...]
Get read for summer reading with three mysteries by popular writers: Mary Jane Clark’s Footprints in the Sand: A Piper Donovan Mystery, Frances Brody’s A Medal for Murder: A Kate Shackleton Mystery, and Alan Bradley’s Speaking from Among the Bones: A Flavia de Luce Novel.
This month’s star listings include That is Not a Good Idea by Mo Willems, among others.
I fully admit that this may seem strange to many readers of this blog, but one of my favorite things to do after reading a historical novel is to read up about the facts of the history the novelist used. Similarly, if a novel I’m reading revolves around some particular subject–anthropology, math, whatever–I tend to [...]
Over on my personal blog, my mom, co-blogger, and Adult Books 4 Teens reviewer, Sarah Flowers, has a post up about a workshop on YA servives she’s teaching. As an icebreaker, she asked participants what books they were reading when they were 15. My response is somewhat muddled, because I don’t remember my reading from that particular [...]
I’ve been thinking about horror fiction lately. What are the secrets of its appeal? Why are teens so drawn to it? How can we know which adult horror novels will appeal to teens and which won’t? One of the reasons I’ve been thinking about this lately is because I enjoyed The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper [...]
Today we review three novels with famous people as their subjects. The first is Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. Teens continue to be fascinated by the Jazz Age and they read the novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald, not only in literature classes but also for fun. (So I learned in a recent discussion with [...]
We have a huge backlog of wonderful reviews right now, so this week we’re giving you even more weekly reviews. The great film reviewer Jonathan Rosenbaum once commented that “it’s pretty safe to say that there are more serial killers in movies than there are in real life” and puzzled over why so many viewers [...]
from Francisca Goldsmith, graphic novel guest blogger extraordinaire: Coding How We Speak Family Secrets Rutu Modan has proved to be an adept storyteller as well as creator of visually rich images of both characters and their settings. She’s been published to some acclaim in the US as the author and cartoonist of a collection of [...]
This is Sonia Sotomayor’s 8th week on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Best Seller list, up to #4 from #5 last week. (Sandra Day O’Connor’s book, Out of Order, debuts at #11.) I am particularly excited to write about My Beloved World this week because I recently had a chance to booktalk it to a [...]
