by Garth NixLady Truthful Newington (aka Newt) will inherit her family’s treasure, the Newington Emerald, on her eighteenth birthday. The emerald is a beautiful gemstone, but more than that, it also bestows its wearer with magical powers.Unfortunately, the emerald disappears one dark and stormy night, and Newt sets off to recover it. As no well-bred […]
Let it SnowBy John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren MyracleI am not one for romances but I was looking for something to get me into the holiday spirit and these short stories seemed like just what I was looking for.Let it Snow is a collection of three short stories tied together by a common thread; written […]
by Benjamin Alire SaenzThe opening lines of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina go something like this: Happy families are all alike, but unhappy families are unhappy in their own way. Salvador Silva and his adoptive father, Vicente, seem like a stereotypical happy family. Salvador is a fairly content and well-adjusted teenager, about to start his final […]
By: Chelsea SedotiThe Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett is a coming of age story with a unique voice. In a sleepy American town where nothing of interest ever happens, a young woman goes missing during a camping trip with her boyfriend. Hawthorne, a high school student who once knew the missing person, Lizzie Lovett, integrates […]
The Night CircusBy Erin Morgenstern Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus is a spellbinding fairy tale of a novel. Jumping back and forth through time, and moving from London to Cairo to Boston to Montreal, The Night Circus makes you feel as though magic is everywhere, if you just know where to look. Hector Bowen makes […]
Station Eleven By Emily St. John Mandel A famous actor has a heart attack on stage as he performs King Lear; a paramedic-in-training jumps out of the audience to perform CPR; and a 7-year-old actress watches her mentor pass away. Outside the theatre, snow is falling, and a deadly flu is quickly spreading across the […]
Labor DayBy Joyce MaynardBeing the week of Labour Day I felt this title was appropriate. This is held in the Richmond Public Library adult collection but I believe this coming of age story is wonderful for young adult readers too.Joyce Maynard has combined a young mans coming of age story with an interesting love story; […]
by Neal ShustermanImagine a world where humanity has conquered death. There’s no more disease, hunger, poverty, ageing, or death by accident. Sounds really neat, right?Until you consider there’s also no pain. Or joy. Or any intense feelings. People sort of drift along in life, “turning the corner” (resetting to a younger physical age) every so […]
Miss EmilyBy Nuala O’Connor “Oh, chimerical, perplexing, beautiful words! I love to use the pretty ones like blades and the ugly ones to console. I use dark ones to illuminate and bright ones to mourn. And when I feel as if a tomahawk has scalped me, I know it is poetry then and I leave […]
windfall Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith Windfall, by Jennifer E Smith is a story about luck. Who has the luck is up to the reader to decide. When Alice buys a winning lottery ticket for her best friend, Teddy, his luck appears to change, but will it change the two friends who share a rough […]