The world's largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens
Amy Cheney is constantly on the look-out for books that will engage her incarcerated teens, but estimates that only about one in five that she encounters will pass muster. That’s why she is so excited about a new self-published title, From Crack to College & Vice Versa.
I’m not sure what was more of a surprise to me—that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been around for 30 years, or that the John Madden videogame football franchise goes back twenty five years! John Mayer has some ground to make up; his first album debuted in 2001, an Internet only album titled Room for Squares. Hopefully he’ll have the longevity of the turtles and one particular earthbound former football coach.
Looking for a break from the paranormal genre? The only monsters you’ll find in these books are of the human variety—a maniacal kidnapper, an abusive boyfriend, elitist survivors, and one’s own memory.
Four favorite YA authors―Holly Black, Chris Crutcher, Nancy Farmer, and Neal Shusterman―have new titles out, and fans will be clamoring for them. From a study room that’s run like Las Vegas to the cruise of a lifetime gone bad, you’ll find suspense, humor, horror, and thrills in this selection from the editors at Junior Library Guild.
Gina Damico wraps up her Croak series in “cracktastic” style with the fall release of Rogue. If you loved Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, it’s a good bet you’ll be smitten with Fangirl, “written by a writer writing about a writer writing.” The question posed in After Eden, from Helen Douglas, circles around when it is or isn’t right to keep a secret, especially when a loyal friend and a whole planet depend on it.
Teens review something old (Marc Anthony’s return to his salsa roots), something new (rising star Selena Gomez), and something that just might scare the bejeezus out of you (The Walking Dead: 400 Days).
Bookmarked’s leader, Elizabeth Kahn, is up to her elbows in boxes, furniture, and books as she prepares to open a new library in her school’s new location, but she still found the time to write a review of Laurie Halse Anderson’s much anticipated The Impossible Knife of Memory, and promises it “will not disappoint her legion of fans.”
Collaboration between authors often yields unexpected and amazing results, and these young adult titles are no exception. With subject matter ranging from paranormal romance to contemporary realistic fiction, these titles by well-known YA writers will create a stir among teens.
Adapted from the first book of Cassandra Clare’s wildly popular YA fantasy series, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones bursts into theaters on August 21, 2013. Movie viewers will clamor to read or revisit the original work; when they’ve exhausted the series, be ready with more titles featuring demon-slayers and monster-hunters.
Do we control our own path or does fate determine our destiny? From Ruta Sepetys’s Out of the Easy to Bridget Zinn’s Poison, the following new mysteries selected by Junior Library Guild editors will give teen readers something to think about.
Dodie Ownes, editor of SLJTeen couldn’t keep quiet about Printz honoree A. S. King’s latest title, Reality Boy, and reviews it alongside teen-approved This is How I Find Her by Sara Polsky.
How much do our expectations influence our reading? Sometimes it’s the cover that throws you off, or maybe the author’s back story. And then again, what we think is great may not ring the bell for the teens we serve. Amy Cheney presents several titles that have met her teen readers’ expectations, including classics, self-help narratives, and YA novels for reluctant and urban readers.
Late fall 2012, SLJTeen editor Dodie Ownes was introduced to Somebody Up There Hates You by YA debut author Hollis Seamon. Her first thought was, “Oh no, a riff on The Fault in Our Stars.” But that never really should have been a concern.
Both of our featured titles have ties to journalism. In Famous Last Words, Sam is the obituary writer for a local paper, while Holly is the copy editor for the high school newspaper in Since You Asked. Teens taking the summer off from writing may be inspired to return to the keyboard and see what kind of stories they can cook up themselves.
Summer vacation calls for cool tunes and lots of screen time. Daft Punk’s latest album promises to put them front and center on the U.S. music scene—tracks from Random Access Memories will be blasting from car windows. To escape the heat, our reviewer recommends hitting the virtual race track with Grid 2, a car racing game. And for fans of everything Mario, add Minis on the Move to the collection for puzzle fun and games.
Marie Lu, author of the “Legend” series (Putnam) knows a thing or two about dystopian worlds. That made her the perfect person to sit down with Alex London to talk about some of the observations he draws about society in his YA debut novel Proxy (Philomel).
As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day, two noteworthy titles focus on another nation and its struggle for freedom from British rule: India. Whether drawing comparisons to our country’s fight for independence, learning about Mohandas Gandhi or India for the first time, these books will open readers’ eyes to an important period in this nation’s history.
Though the reviews of the recently released film, The Great Gatsby, are remarkably mixed, the soundtrack gets high praise from our teen reviewer. It’s hard not to like Lady Antebellum, with their sweet sounds and finely wrought lyrics on love and heartbreak, on their latest album Golden. What happens to Star Trek when it just becomes a shoot-em-up and logic goes by the wayside? Read on for our reviewer’s take on Star Trek: The Video Game.
Bookmarked, SLJ’s teen review group, comes up with three terrific titles to recommend, each completely different from each other, but all compelling stories. Get Stephanie Kuehn’s Charm & Strange, Maurene Goo’s Since You Asked, and Robyn Schneider’s The Beginning of Everything on your library shelves-your teens will thank you for it.
From rock icon David Bowie to relative newcomers, Paramore, music lovers can look forward to good summer listening and lots of choice in styles of music. Longtime fans of Luigi, Mario’s oft-maligned brother, will be happy to see that he finally gets to demonstrate his mojo in Nintendo’s new addition to the franchise, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon.
