Angela Carstensen
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Archetype
This is a great season for adult science fiction with teen appeal. Some years we barely see any. This year we have 3 outstanding titles already (Red Rising, Burn, and now Archetype) with three more reviews coming soon. I started Archetype thinking I was reading it just for fun. I didn’t “assign it” to myself [...]
Young Women in 19th Century America
The Secret Life of Bees is a phenomenon with teen readers, especially girls. It hardly needs suggesting from us, does it? They just seem to know about it. It always comes up as a peer recommendation when I lead booktalk sessions with the 9th graders in my library. I wonder how that happens, 12 years [...]
Outstanding Books for the College Bound
Every five years, YALSA publishes new Outstanding Books for the College Bound and Lifelong Readers lists. The 2014 lists were announced last week. The selection committee is asked to determine five broad categories, and this year they stuck with the traditional ones (which work very well): Arts and Humanities, History and Cultures, Literature and Language [...]
Poetry
Today we introduce two books — one poetry collection, one book about writing poetry, both excellent additions to high school or public library teen collections. And a third to mention. One of the events I attended at ALA Midwinter last month was the RUSA Book & Media Awards, which includes many wonderful lists. (My favorite [...]
Red Rising
Red Rising by Pierce Brown is the powerful first in a projected dystopian trilogy. This debut lives up to the hype that surrounds, and I don’t use the word “powerful” lightly. The writing is muscular and vivid. The characters come alive. The plot is intense and perfectly paced. This is a great choice for readers who loved Hunger Games (or [...]
Alex Awards 2014
Mark posted the Alex Award winners on Monday, but what would AB4T be without some post-game celebrating? First, we need to make sure everyone is aware of the official nominations list. We reviewed most of these, but not all. My gut reaction to this list is that it is very brave. And by that I [...]
Women at War
Two highly recommended historical novels today. I Shall Be Near to You is, at its heart, a compelling love story. It features a strong heroine, so in love with her husband that she disguises herself as a man to accompany him into the horrors of the Civil War. I’m afraid its cover art may limit the [...]
The Last Days of California
You’ve probably already heard about Mary Miller‘s debut — it’s received some very nice starred reviews (LJ, PW, Booklist) and is popping up in more popular magazines like Vogue, Redbook and Elle. The Last Days of California is the first person narration of a naive 15-year-old girl on a road trip with her family. We [...]
Radiance of Tomorrow
Ishmael Beah took bestseller, best of the year, and school reading lists by storm in 2007 with his memoir of being swept up in Sierra Leone’s civil war as a child soldier. It almost seems anti-climactic to mention that A Long Way Gone won an Alex Award. Seven years later it is still a popular suggestion for [...]
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