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MADreads for Teens

Book reviews for teens by library staff and guest contributors

Finding your place

Cover of The Very Secret Society of
A review of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Mika Moon pretends to be a witch in her social media videos and enjoys the sense of community she has with her followers. But unbeknownst to those she's met online, Mika really is a witch. And no one can know. Primrose, the woman who “raised” Mika is very firm on the rules for witches. And rule number one is tell and show no one. That rule has led to a peripatetic life and no long-term connections for Mika. Until now.

Feb 21, 2023

The Poet X's most famous spoken-word poem

Cover of Inheritance: A Visual Poem
A review of Inheritance: A Visual Poem by Elizabeth Acevedo

Inheritance, from Pura Belpré-winning Elizabeth Acevedo's most famous spoken-word poem, was named a 2023 Odyssey Honor Audiobook by the American Library Association on January 30. The Odyssey Award is given for the best audiobooks produced for children and young adults, available in English in the United States.  

Feb 13, 2023

Never broken

Cover of Inheritance: A Visual Poem
A review of Inheritance: A Visual Poem by Elizabeth Acevedo

Elizabeth Acevedo’s Inheritance: A Visual Poem weaves themes of identity, self-love, generational trauma, and beauty standards into a lovely poem. Beautiful illustrations by Andrea Pippins work in tandem with Acevedo’s words to create an immersive experience that pulls the reader further into the poem. Though it is a short read, it is touching and rousing in ways that other longer books may fall short.

Jan 27, 2023

Come for the history, stay for the inspiration

Cover of Pride: An Inspirational Hi
A review of Pride: An Inspirational History of the LGBTQ+ Movement by Stella Caldwell

October was LGBTQ+ history month, and it's not too late to celebrate by brushing up on your LGBTQ+ history with Stella Caldwell’s Pride: An Inspirational History of the LGBTQ+ Movement? Beginning thousands of years ago with LGBTQ+ figures from Ancient Greece, China, and Japan, Caldwell provides a comprehensive and accessible history of LGBTQ+ people, culture, and struggle for rights from ancient times all the way up to the present.

Nov 22, 2022

Princess to the rescue

Cover of Heartless Prince: A Graphi
A review of Heartless Prince: A Graphic Novel written by Leigh Dragoon, illustrated by Angela De Vito

Magic, fantasy, romance, adventure… this graphic novel has it all! The Heartless Prince is the first book in a new exciting trilogy that takes readers into the world of orphaned princess, Evony. Her world is one destroyed by witches and familiars (servants to the witches). Readers join Evony as she and her love interest, Prince Ammon, join together to fight the familiars and the magical forces threatening their kingdom. When the witch, Aradia, steals Prince Ammon’s heart and captures his sister, Evony embarks on a journey to save them.

Sep 30, 2022

After the fall

Cover of Poster Girl
A review of Poster Girl by Veronica Roth

In her stellar adult fiction novel debut Veronica Roth explores what happens when a totalitarian, dystopian regime falls and whether or not the society can rebuild without repeating the same patterns and mistakes. And she does all of this through the eyes of someone who was complicit in that regime's behavior.

Aug 29, 2022

Judith & Susanna & Artemisia

Cover of Blood Water Paint
A review of Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough

This fictionalized biography of Artemisia Gentileschi is as beautiful, powerful, and haunting as the paintings its subject produced. Gentileschi is best known as a celebrated Italian Baroque painter, and for insisting on trying her rapist in a court of law-- two things that were near unheard of for women of her time. 

Aug 26, 2022

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