Imagine a world where everyone loses their emotions once they become a teen. This is Natalia Peña’s reality. Natalia and her brother, Calvino, are parentless and living with guardians. Calvino is a few years younger and his emotions should have started to wane, but they’re not. After Calvino takes a test regarding his emotions at school, a company suddenly wants to take him for more testing since he seems to be an outlier . Before Natalia can even see Calvino he’s whisked away to the company’s highly secure headquarters. Natalia is determined to get her brother back no matter who or what she has to take on. The Waning Age guarantees a suspenseful ride with great world building.
Archives: Book Reviews
A Circle of Elephants
This is a well written, heartfelt story of a thirteen year old Elephant boy in 1975 Nepal who works with his “elephant brother, Hira Prashad,” to keep animals and humans safe in the Boarderlands area. A Circle of Elephants is a sequel and throughout the text refers to the protagonists’ earlier experiences, captured in What Elephants Know (2016), a 2017 ALA Notable Children’s Book and winner of the 2017 South Asia Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Eric Dinerstein’s story will change you, giving you a sense of how Elephants and humans communicate and can thrive together.
Though written at a middle grade level, this story mentions child trafficking and deals extensively with animal poaching.
Cogheart
Wonderful (and terrifying) story set in a terrific steampunk world replete with airships, mechanical animals, and very bad guys with silver eyes. A page turner with heart and wind up keys.
Lily lost her mother years ago – and now word comes that her father’s been lost in an airship accident. Then her governess threatens her and demands to know the whereabouts of one of her father’s inventions. Lily has a mechanical fox and a young clockmaker from her village for help against brutal men with silver eyes that are hunting her. Whom can she trust? Where can she turn?
Highly recommended for 4th – 8th graders and adults, too! (And watch for the two sequels out in the UK, not yet released in the US.)
There’s Something about Sweetie
A lovely teen romance with South Asian American athlete protagonists. Ashish is a star basketball athlete at his school but he’s lost his flow because of a bad break up with his ex girl friend. Sweetie is the star runner in her school, but she’s also carrying some extra weight. Her mother feels strongly (along with the author’s South Asian family) that you need to be slim to be accepted.
Although this is a teen romance, it will be a pleasurable read for middle school students through adults.
Enjoy this beautifully written body-positive love story that opens a window on the culture of Americans with an Indian background. Kirkus gives this one a starred review (and you will too!)
Hardscrabble
2019 Wrangler Award for Outstanding Juvenile Book Winner
2019 Spur Award – Western Writer’s of America Finalist
This is a nicely plotted, heartfelt Middle Grade Western that looks into the lives of folks homesteading in 1910 Colorado. Belle Martin is 12 years old and excited about the adventure of trying to farm the Colorado prairie. But when she and her large family arrive, the whole area has no trees and looks brown and unpromising. The Martins are hit by many disasters: grasshoppers, hail, blizzards, and disease away from any real doctors. However, times are changing; some of the settlers have cars and the women in the story are beginning to want more for their lives than their mothers had. A wonderful story of the West by an author who has won many Western awards. I was rooting for Belle and her sister Carrie!
The Song for a Whale
Cool story about Iris, a deaf girl named after a whale. Iris has strong tech skills (she repairs antique radios for pocket money) but she’s main streamed in a school with no deaf students and feels frustration at being alone. Then she learns about a whale (Blue 55) who communicates in a different frequency from other whales (this portion of the story is based on a real whale). Compelling writing, interesting complex characters and a wonderful arc for our heroine — and her grandmother! Lynne Kelly has been an ASL interpreter for 20 years so I am hoping she’s portraying Iris and her grandmother with authenticity. The portions of the book about marine science and acoustic biology were fascinating and fun.
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
I don’t often read novels in verse. They aren’t my thing, but Elizabeth Acevedo’s debut novel, “The Poet X,” is making think I have been missing out. Acevedo tells the story of Xiomara who feels ignored at home and school, but is also the target unwanted attention from both her classmates and mother. The boys see her curves as an invitation comment and touch. Her religiously devout mother is only concerned if Xiomara does her chores and obeys her strict rules. The people around make it clear to her they are only interested in what she can do do for them, so she keeps her thoughts and feelings to herself and instead pours them into her poetry. Things start to change once Xiomara is invited to join a slam poetry club at school and she starts to find her voice. It gives her the confidence to share her inner thoughts for the first time and the courage to stand up to those around her.
The “The Poet X” was captivating from start to finish. Acevedo’s verse is full of beautiful imagery where words and ideas flow effortlessly to give the reader insight into what Xiomara’s life. Highly recommended for everyone who enjoys contemporary, realistic fiction and novels in verse. Also recommended as an audiobook.
The Hunt for the Mad Wolf’s Daughter
Wonderful companion novel to The Mad Wolf’s Daughter (2018), this book shares Drest’s story as she struggles with the dual challenges of deciding how to cope with the price on her head — and with her place in the family whom she rescued in the The Mad Wolf’s Daughter. In order to remove the threat to her life, she needs to help her friend Emerick the Prince of Faintree regain his position as Lord Faintree. What can a poor lass do to save her own life? It is a swashbuckling adventure with fire, swords, dangerous river battles, and tests of bravery and friendship and loyalty. Don’t miss it!
Upcoming YA Books – Spring 2019
A lot of exciting titles are coming out this spring. We will new books from some of our favorite authors, additions to popular series, and some promising debuts. Here are few to keep on an eye and place your holds today!
March 19
Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens. With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp’s Director and his guards. Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges readers to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today.
Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
April 2
A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself. A prince in danger must decide who to trust. A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings. Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war. In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy.
The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare
April 9
All Magnus Bane wanted was a vacation—a lavish trip across Europe with Alec Lightwood, the Shadowhunter who against all odds is finally his boyfriend. But as soon as the pair settles in Paris, an old friend arrives with news about a demon-worshipping cult called the Crimson Hand that is bent on causing chaos around the world. A cult that was apparently founded by Magnus himself. Years ago. As a joke. Now Magnus and Alec must race across Europe to track down the Crimson Hand and its elusive new leader before the cult can cause any more damage. As if it wasn’t bad enough that their romantic getaway has been sidetracked, demons are now dogging their every step, and it is becoming harder to tell friend from foe. As their quest for answers becomes increasingly dire, Magnus and Alec will have to trust each other more than ever—even if it means revealing the secrets they’ve both been keeping.
Finale: A Caraval Novel by Stephanie Garber
May 7
Welcome, welcome to Finale, the third and final book in Stephanie Garber’s #1 New York Times bestselling Caraval series! A love worth fighting for. A dream worth dying for. An ending worth waiting for. It’s been two months since the Fates were freed from a deck of cards, two months since Legend claimed the throne for his own, and two months since Tella discovered the boy she fell in love with doesn’t really exist. With lives, empires, and hearts hanging in the balance, Tella must decide if she’s going to trust Legend or a former enemy. After uncovering a secret that upends her life, Scarlett will need to do the impossible. And Legend has a choice to make that will forever change and define him. Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun. There are no spectators this time: only those who will win, and those who will lose everything. Welcome, welcome to Finale. All games must come to an end.
To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer
Hilarious and sweet, this epistolary novel keeps the reader turning the pages. The premise is adorable: two 12 years old girls from opposite sides of the country are sent to the same summer camp by their single gay dads who are planning to woo each other on once in a lifetime trip to China. Bette and Avery are Dogfish and Night Owl. They refuse to speak to each other at camp (because their dads want them to learn to be sisters) so they email each other. Nothing goes as the girls (or their dads) plan but the story is heartwarming — and the double cross of the reader at the end is killer!