MADreads for Teens

Book reviews for teens by library staff and guest contributors

War lingers on

Cover of Treacherous is the Night
A review of Treacherous is the Night by Anna Lee Huber

It's 1919 in England and the Great War is over, but its shadow still looms large over England and all of Europe. Verity Kent is one of those struggling with a new life and her attempts to find a new normal. She's grounded in the here and now, but when a friend asks that she attend a seance, she agrees. Verity is a skeptic, to say the least, so when the medium channels a woman Verity once worked with in Belgium during the war, her suspicions are raised. Why would the medium make mention of a woman who worked as an anti-german spy?

Posted by Jane J on Dec 18, 2018

A once in a lifetime pet

Cover of How to Be A Good Creature:
A review of How to Be A Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery

Have you ever had a truly special pet? Not just a pet that you love and care for, but a pet who profoundly changes you? Naturalist and National Book Award finalist Sy Montgomery refers to "a lifetime dog" even though she's known three or four of these and many more animals that she considers notable. I, too, have had three of these "lifetime" pets in my world, plus a few that were honorable mention. 

Posted by Molly W on Dec 17, 2018

Countdown begins

Kiss Quotient book cover
#libfaves18

I posted a couple "best of" lists last week. Today starts the 10 day #libfaves18 countdown. Each day for the next ten days library workers across the land will be posting their favorite 2018 titles, one day at a time. They'll use the hashtag #libfaves18 on Twitter so you can follow along. Tallying is happening each day and at the end of the countdown the biggest vote-getters will be posted.

Posted by Jane J on Dec 10, 2018

The concierge is available

Unclaimed Baggage book cover
A review of NPR's Best Books of 2018 by

NPR's Book Concierge is back for 2018 and there are more then 300 titles for you to sort and peruse. You can look at all 319 titles or you can break it down by category. Or if you want to narrow it down even more, pick a couple of categories and see which titles fit your new criteria. There is quite simply something for everyone in this massive catalog. So take a look. Do you want to see which two books work for Art Lovers and Book Clubs? It's possible. How about the Comic/Graphic Novel that is Rather Short? You got it.

Posted by Jane J on Nov 28, 2018

The power of YouTube

Cover of An Absolutely Remarkable T
A review of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

How often are two siblings really good at the same thing? There’s Venus and Serena Williams, Orville and Wilbur Wright, the Bronte sisters... it’s not unheard of, but it’s not super common either. Anyway, after reading An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green, I would definitely add John and Hank Green to the list of talented siblings. I’ve been a John Green fan for a long time and I knew that he and his brother Hank made great YouTube videos, but I didn’t have super high expectations for Hank’s debut novel.

Posted by Kylee on Nov 27, 2018

Secrets and lies (oh and ghosts)

Cover of A Dangerous Collaboration
A review of A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn

Veronica Speedwell and her cantankerous companion Stoker return in their fourth adventure. Veronica is just back in England after a lengthy butterfly hunting trip abroad. She'd been using the time away to try and figure out where her feelings stand in regard to Stoker but still hasn't figured anything out. So an invitation from Stoker's brother, Tiberius, to attend a house party at the estate of Lord Malcolm Romilly, which is on an island off the coast of Cornwall, seems just the ticket to distract her.

Posted by Jane J on Nov 19, 2018

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