by Beck Albertalli Becky Albertalli’s “Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” is a cute, zippy romance between two teenage boys who have never met each other. Technically they have-they go to the same high school- but they don’t know who each other are. Then they begin speaking anonymously using the school’s gossip Tumblr. I don’t […]
by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner The first book of this series, These Broken Stars, grabbed my attention because the cover looked amazing! But This Shattered World is more of a companion novel than a sequel because we follow two new characters on the war-torn planet of Avon. Captain Jubilee “Lee” Chase is a badass. She’s good at what […]
Stewart, the 13-year old narrator of this tale, is struggling with the death of his mother (and perhaps with his father’s complete acceptance and healing from it). He is socially inept but brilliant in academic ways. He has been in a special school for gifted children where he has excelled, and has a very […]
As the jacket description reads, “it took only twenty-two minutes for Kirby Matheson to exit his car, march onto school grounds, enter the gymnasium, and open fire, killing six and injuring five others.”This book is about a school shooting, but it’s about much more than that, too. Each chapter of the book is told from […]
By Leslye WaltonIn this award winning novel, Ava Lavender’s family has a history of tragic love stories. Her great-grandmother, Maman; grandmother, Emilienne; and mother, Viviane’s stories are all told through this multi-generational saga of love and love lost. A bad track record of foolish love does not forecast a hopeful future for Ava, and is […]
#ScandalBy Sarah OcklerFrom the author who brought us Twenty Boy Summer and Bittersweet comes a story about what can happen when a picture goes viral, #Scandal. In this digital age a picture is worth more than a thousand words and many of those words will be negative ones. Author Sarah Ockler captures social media hazards […]
Rae CarsonLucero-Elisa de Riqueza, the younger princess of the kingdom of Orovalle, is wed in an arranged marriage to King Alejandro de Vega, of the neighbouring country of Joya d’Arena. Joya d’Arena is embroiled in a war with another country, Invierene, and their situation is precarious. Elisa has been marked by God with a blue […]
By Edwidge Danticat This novel grabs you right from the beginning. The story of twins who were connected right from birth, emerging into the world holding hands. They have not been separated since…until a tragedy rips them apart. As the red van comes hurtling towards the family car, identical twin Giselle slows the action in her mind, trying […]
We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist“When I was twenty-five years old, it came to my attention that I had never had a girlfriend”–the first line of this compelling and occasionally ridiculous true story.Josh Sundquist has written a funny, awkward memoir about his dating (or not-dating) foibles, and has done so with a good […]
by Claudia Gray Marguerite Caine is an artist in a family of scientists. Her parents are physicists that invented a device to travel to parallel-universes that they call the Firebird. When Marguerite’s father is murdered, all fingers point to one of his assistants: the quiet and awkward Paul, who immediately jumps into another universe to […]