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Book reviews for teens by library staff and guest contributors
The American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, audio books, and media for children and young adults, including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards at its virtual Midwinter Conference today.
A list of 2021 award winners follows:
Alice Randall isn’t an author that typically is at the top of many readers’ lists, having written several solid quietly received novels in the past and a few nonfiction works. But her latest, Black Bottom Saints, proves that Randall deserves more attention and a place on to-read lists.
The American Indian Library Association has created a reading challenge called Read Native 2021. You can find a printable reading tracker for adults and for kids along with suggested reading lists, which will be updated throughout the year by returning to the AILA site.
To get started here are two Own Voices titles published in 2020.
If you ask anyone they'd probably tell you that 2020 wasn't their best year. I won't get into all the ways in which it was not good and really it was probably not good for each of you in different ways. But what was good was the books that were published. It's really been a stellar year for reading as demonstrated by all the awesome "best" lists that are coming out. If you don't believe me - and I'll admit to being a bit biased as I was on a panel that helped select some of the titles on one of these lists - take a look at a few of the lists that have come out so far.**
Every January (like many people who fear failure), I set an easily achievable reading goal in a popular book tracking app. Then, I read. Sometimes I read a lot. Sometimes I go weeks without picking up a book. Sometimes, now that I’m older, I start a book and decide not to finish it. Sometimes I read books that prompt me to examine the way I live my life, to learn about the ways other lives are lived, to acknowledge the ways I use my power to the advantage of people I love.
Apprentice witch Nova Huang is spending a “gap year” working at the family café and bookshop when she learns that a white wolf has been spotted in the woods. It turns out that Nova's long lost childhood friend Tam Lang is the white wolf. Tam is glad to be back in town but they're hiding something more than their werewolf status. Tam is unsure of and insecure about their werewolf magic and enlists Nova and her grandmothers to find their power. The merging of magic is thrilling and inspirational and the reader will be rooting for Tam and Nova to succeed.
This YA Rom-Com with a nod to Bollywood is both sweet and addicting! When Dimple Met Rishi is told in two voices, alternating often. The reader feels the giddiness of new love – as well as the push and pull of culture, family expectations, and being true to oneself. I was a fan of both Dimple and Rishi from the very start – and I truly, achingly, wanted everything to work out! It is a warm and cozy read – and definitely a big win for first-time writer Sandhya Menon.
The world has gone to hell. The environment has collapsed, as has the economy. World-wide, all governments have fallen to the martial law of the Reestablishment, which is run by a single Supreme Commander. The globe is divided into numbered sectors, each with a ruthless leader, all resources are seized, all citizens mercilessly catalogued and controlled.
Sadie is a teenager who is missing. She's been living in an economically devastated town in rural Colorado, raising her younger sister Mattie on her own after their addict mother takes off. Their situation is stark. Then 13-year-old Mattie goes missing and is found murdered. The story follows Sadie's chase to locate her sister's killer and a reporter's race to find Sadie.
Sarah Weinman has been in and about the crime writing world for years. She's written for the New York Times and Vanity Fair as well as for more genre connected publications like Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and for the CrimeReads site (highly recommended if you're a crime/mystery fan). Her first full length book was about the connection between the book Lolita and the real life kidnapping of Sally Horner in 1948.
