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Book reviews for teens by library staff and guest contributors
If you're a bookie like me then this is the best time of the year. No, not because of the turkey and Black Friday sales (though those are a bonus), but because now is when NPR posts their Books We Love list and oh how happy it makes me to browse through all those possibles. Think of it as a cross between the library's Best Sellers and Too Good to Miss collections. There is something for everyone and every one of the titles is worth a look.
Did you read The Outsiders in eighth grade? I did and I recently read it again. It is the story of a group of wild boys from a small 1960s Oklahoma town who can't stay out of trouble.
Lucy Parker never fails me. When I need a warm hug of a book I know I'll find one in Parker's London Celebrities series. That said, Headliners doesn't start out all warm and cozy. The protagonists (introduced in The Austen Playbook) are rival TV presenters who pretty much loathe each other. And with good reason.
I'm always in the mood for that! Milk & Mocha are sweet bears in love whether times are good or bad. They find happiness in the little moments and even though they differ, they are perfectly compatible. Milk is peppy, affectionate and never stops talking. Mocha is quiet, patient and provides comfort and rejuvenation when Milk's battery gets low, so to speak. They find joy in holding hands, snuggling under a blanket and sharing meals together.
This first in the Rook & Rose trilogy has been on my to-read list for a while, but I'll confess it's length was a bit daunting. Not because I don't like a longer book, but because I never felt I had the time to allow myself to settle in and become immersed. But once I did that? I was. Immersed.
One of my reading goals this year is to read most (if not all) of this year’s Teen’s Choice Awards books, in part so that I can recommend them more readily, but also because this crop of YA novels is so GOOD, and I love being able to support teen readers!
The Wisconsin Book Festival is the state’s premier literary event and it's starting soon. The festival will feature representative voices from our communities and spark conversations from a wide range of perspectives. At the Fall Celebration, you'll learn about the effect anxiety is having on our society, discuss gender identity, and explore issues facing the public school system.
Here's just a sampling of some of the great events that are planned.
A co-worker recommended Rachel Bach's trilogy to me since she knows I enjoy military SF. And I thank her right now for the suggestion. Fortune's Pawn introduces mercenary soldier Deviana Morris. Devi's ultimate goal is to join the elite special forces of her planetary kingdom, but to do so she can either spend years in the military slogging her way up the ranks, or go mercenary and get the needed bad-ass experience that way. A friend suggests she get a job on The Glorious Fool, a ship that has seen a lot of action.
October and the spooky season are just around the corner and I have the book for you. Elly Griffiths' (best known for her Ruth Galloway series of mysteries) Stranger Diaries is suspenseful and even spooky at times (there's even a ghost) and is a gothic book about a gothic story that is being written about for a book. Okay that sounds like nonsense, I know.
Feng-Li Lin and her siblings land in the United States for a dream vacation to visit Disneyland and unexpectedly end up staying forever. They arrive in California with their parents and as soon as they enter customs, there are problems with tourist visas. It starts out with their dad needing to return to Taiwan almost immediately. Then their mother needs to leave with plans to come back shortly. Family friends who immigrated earlier provide support and supervision, but before too long they move away, and the kids are on their own.
