February 16, 2013

The Red Chamber

Pauline Chen’s new novel is a great recommendation for historical fiction or romance-loving teens wishing to expand their horizons. Chen retells and dramatically shortens the Chinese novel Hong Lou Meng, often translated as Dream of the Red Chamber, which includes the most famous love triangle in Chinese literature. (For more about the original, see this [...]

Review: Jasper Jones

Review: Jasper Jones

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey. Knopf Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House. 2011. Review copy from publisher.
The Plot: 1965 Australia. Charlie Bucktin, 13, is reading a book on a hot summer night when there is a knock on his window. It is Jasper Jones, the town “bad boy,” and he needs Charlie’s [...]

Award-winning YA Author Mollie Hunter Dead at 90

A Stranger Came Ashore

Mollie Hunter, whose novels for young readers won accolades on both sides of the ocean, died on July 31 in Inverness, Scotland. She was 90.

Review: Okay For Now

Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt. Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2011. My review of the ARC. Audiobook: Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group. Narrated by Lincoln Hoppe. 2011. Listened from copy from publisher.
The Plot: The late 1960s. Doug Swieteck’s father has moved his family to stupid Marysville in upstate New York. [...]