Angela Carstensen
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Community and Poverty
We review two books today, both set in very specific communities overshadowed by poverty and tragedy. Let’s start with Men We Reaped, a memoir by Jesmyn Ward. Ward’s fierce, poetic debut novel, Salvage the Bones, won the National Book Award and a 2012 Alex Award. It follows a pregnant teenage girl and her family through [...]
Women’s Fiction
Am I going out on a limb to suggest that teens read what readers’ advisory librarians refer to as “women’s fiction”? I don’t think so. Whether it’s Danielle Steele, Joshilyn Jackson, Alice Hoffman, or a newcomer like Vanessa Diffenbaugh and her wonderful debut, The Language of Flowers, teen readers are curious about the lives of adults, [...]
The Different Shades of Horror
I am writing this on the Sunday evening of a weekend during which the movie “Insidious: Chapter 2″ made $41 million dollars at the box office. Tomorrow evening “Sleepy Hollow” premieres on Fox and CBS airs the finale of the first season of “Under the Dome”. “The Walking Dead” is on the cover of this [...]
Speculative Fiction
Baba Yaga is a witch of Russian folklore, and Toby Barlow bewitches with his new novel — our starred reviewof the day. His first, Sharp Teeth, was a 2009 Alex Award winner, a story of werewolves in L.A. told entirely in verse. Babayaga is (mostly) straight prose, and offers quite a combination of genres–spy thriller, [...]
Tattoos, a Funeral Home, and a Cat Named Bob
Three new memoirs make the most of teen-friendly subject matter. First, a celebrity memoir by Don Ed Hardy, the man who helped bring tattoo art into the mainstream. Hardy knew from the age of 10, when he was using colored pencils to give his friends “tattoos,” what he wanted to do with his life. He [...]
Hot title alert: The Bone Season
The Bone Season is the first in a projected seven-book fantasy series by 21-year-old Samanatha Shannon. Last week it was announced as the first TODAY book club selection. There is a great deal of buzz around this book, and I believe teens will be asking for it. Shannon wrote the book while a student at Oxford. I [...]
On the Come Up and Giveaway
Although the review of On the Come Up: A Novel Based on a True Story by Hannah Weyer was posted on AB4T several weeks ago, I am reposting today in conjunction with the publication of my interview with the author, which is available in the SLJ Teen Newsletter (and briefly on the SLJ homepage) today. Weyer [...]
Debut Author and Filmmaker Hannah Weyer Talks About 'On the Come Up'
Filmmaker Hannah Weyer based her novel on a true story and uses an authentic “urban vernacular” to keep it real. Teen readers will be rooting for her young protagonist from start to finish. Adult Books 4 Teens blogger Angela Carstensen speaks with the author about On the Come Up and the real teen that inspired the book.
Weekly Reviews: Literary Mysteries
Gavin Extence’s debut novel earns today’s starred review. This is a unique book, which will be especially popular with the many fans of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and with Kurt Vonnegut readers. Every year, when I booktalk to my students, they bring up Haddon’s novel. It is still a widespread [...]
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