Books & Media

Wearing stilts and a trench coat, Raccoon absconds with a stolen pizza.

Cia Vale is honored to be chosen as a Testing candidate, eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and future leader of the United Commonwealth. But on the eve of her departure, her father’s advice hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies--trust no one. Houghton Harcourt is giving five lucky SLJTeen readers a chance to find out who Cia can trust, and win the ultimate Testing prize pack.

YA Author Todd Strasser poses with his surfboard in Montauk, New York. Strasser started surfing when he was in his mid-50s. His next book, Fallout(Candlewick), publishes in September 2013.

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.

Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales books are a cheeky take on American history, but they are also sophisticated graphic storytelling that help bring the events to life in ways that simple prose could not. His latest book, The Donner Dinner Party, takes on a subject that has horrified and fascinated the public since it happened and [...]

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick. Little, Brown. 2013. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: It is Leonard Peacock’s birthday. No one remembers. He has wrapped up four gifts, to give to his four best friends. And he is bringing his grandfather’s handgun to school. Today is the day he will shoot Asher [...]

It’s the heroic story of the conquest of the air—done Smurf style. Flying Smurf talks Handy Smurf into helping him make an airplane, but the magnificent flying machine makes a mess of Smurfette’s garden. She goes off to get a bit of peace and quiet—and is kidnapped by Gargamel, leaving Flying Smurf to be her [...]

This charming coming-of-age novel tells the story of a painfully shy teen who prefers the fantasy world of fanfiction to reality.

Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore. Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House. 2013. Review from ARC from publisher. Companion to Texas Gothic (2011). The Plot: Daisy Goodnight is seventeen (so, so close to 18!), a college freshman, and a psychic consultant to the FBI. Yep, that’s right. Daisy, like all the Goodnight women, has a [...]