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Today we review three thrillingly original works of speculative fiction. Let’s start with a post-apocalyptic, dystopian debut novel. The Office of Mercy is being marketed as a Hunger Games readalike. (I’ve also seen comparisons to recent Alex Award winner, Pure). However, debut author Djanikian is more concerned with ethical questions than fast-paced action. The Alphas had good intentions [...]

You've heard of the Follett Challenge, right? The grand-prize winner will receive $60,000 in Follett products and services. More than 100 educators have applied and sent in their three- to five-minute videos, and voting is now officially open. And here's a shameless plug: the home of our teen reviewers, Patrick F. Taylor Science and Technology Academy, is one of the applicants, and it sure would love to have you vote for its video submission. The video with the most votes is up for a $5,000 prize; voting closes on March 18, and you can vote every day.

Have you heard about "The Hub Reading Challenge," sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)? As reported in SLJ’s Good Comics for Kids blog, YALSA is hosting an expanded, new and improved The Hub Reading Challenge for 2013. This is how it works: you have until June 22 to read as many titles as you can from YALSA’s official challenge list. Once you hit the 25 book mark, you're eligible to submit a reader’s response for any of the titles you’ve read. Sure, there’s a prize, and you can earn a badge too!

Whether memoir or realistic fiction, many teens respond to stories of struggle that are told from the heart. Here are three to recommend. Let’s begin with a love story. We haven’t featured many love stories here. At least, not weepy, traditional ones that earn a starred review! Many are couched in historical fiction or the [...]

For those seeking chapter books with strong female characters, the editors at Junior Library Guild have a variety of picks, from continuations of beloved series to new titles, all for independent readers.

Back at the end of last year, I posted a link to VOYA’s top adult mysteries for teens.  Since, as I said at the time, this blog hadn’t gotten to many (read: almost any) of them, I thought I would take a closer look at the books on VOYA’s list.  But since I am somewhat [...]

With their emphasis on clear observation, logical thinking, and well-drawn conclusions, mysteries support many Common Core State Standards and lend themselves to an array of interesting writing assignments. These audiobooks are sure to spark student interest.

Four of the ten 2013 Alex Award winners were not reviewed here on AB4T, for various reasons. Mark has already written about one of them: One Shot at Forever by Chris Ballard. Today I take on two more. I’m not going to lie. Just looking at the cover and reading the description of Caring is [...]