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MADreads for Teens

Book reviews for teens by library staff and guest contributors

Wonderfully imagined

Cover of Dragonfruit
A review of Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier

Makiia Lucier wowed me a few years ago with a book I've re-read many times. Her Year of the Reaper  was set in a fully realized fantasy world and featured a flawed, but honorable, protagonist facing impossible choices with much grace and compassion. Since reading it, I've been eagerly waiting for Lucier's next. And here it is.

Mar 19, 2024

Wondrous world

Cover of A Letter to the Luminous D
A review of A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

Sylvie Cathrall's debut is an epistolary novel - a novelistic style that sometimes works for me and sometimes does not. Here it mostly does. I was immediately drawn in by the dreamy, carefully anxious letter that E. is writing to Scholar Henerey Clel. E. (you'll learn her full name later) lives alone in an underwater abode called The Deep House. She writes to Henerey and her sister Sophy and an array of others to stay in contact with the world. This world is one that is about 99% covered in water and most abodes are on floating islands.

Feb 26, 2024

Love and cheeses

Cover of The Princess and the Grill
A review of The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz

Lady Camembert has never wanted a husband. In fact, she flat-out refuses to ever have one. But when her father dies, she must confront an ugly law of the kingdom of Fromage: women cannot inherit wealth or property. Determined to take on the family wealth while avoiding marriage to a man, she burns the evidence of her life as Lady, moves to the kingdom’s capital, and reinvents herself as the dashing Count Camembert. In this new life, hiding her true identity is vital – but as Cam begins to fall for Princess Brie, she finds that her secret may not be so easily kept.

Dec 15, 2023

Unlikely allies working together

Cover of The Siren, the Song, and t
A review of The Siren, the Song, and the Spy by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Fans of The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea, rejoice! In this companion to her 2020 fantasy debut, Maggie Tokuda-Hall introduces a vibrant new cast of characters – although the magical world they inhabit and the colonial forces they resist will be familiar to readers of the author’s earlier work. Told through diverse perspectives woven together, this story is every bit as clever, queer, and generally delightful as its predecessor.

--reviewed by Ros

Dec 1, 2023

If you need inspiration

Lone Women book cover
NPR's Books We Love

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.

Nov 21, 2023

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