by Gene Luen Yang, illustrated by Sonny LiewHank Chu goes about his life, like most young men in Chinatown. He spends his days working in his family’s store and his spare time playing mahjong with his father and his father’s friends. It’s a quiet life, and Hank enjoys it very much. His world turns a […]
Noggin By John Corey Whaley Imagine if you had a terminal illness. You knew you were going to die but doctors offered you a way out – sort of. What if they offered to cut off your head, freeze it, and reattach it to someone else’s healthy body as soon as the technology became available? […]
by Matthew QuickEvery Exquisite Thing, about a girl named Nanette O’Hare who grows from popular star athlete into literature-obsessed non-conformist, is an unexpectedly delightful coming-of-age story. Throughout, the story makes a number of unexpected but still believable turns, and in the end Nanette’s journey felt genuine and the twists unforced.Nanette is eighteen, doing well in […]
Paper Towns by John GreenA paper town is a fictional town that mapmakers place on thier maps to prevent copyright infringement. If the paper town shows up on another map, the original makers know it is an illegal copy of their map.This novel uses paper towns in a set of clues that Margo Roth Speigelman […]
The Great Paper CaperBy Oliver Jeffers Trees, branches and sticks are mysteriously disappearing. The forest animals are confused and at first, accuse each other. An investigation is launched. The animals follow the paper trail to a house in the woods where, to their dismay, they discover Bear and his wood chipper. What is going on […]
by Mary E. PearsonThe rebellious princess runs away from an arranged marriage because she wants to experience normal life. That cliche was enough of a deterrent that The Kiss of Deception was on my shelf for a year before I tried reading it. But honestly, it was actually pretty entertaining.Together with her handmaiden, Princess Lia of Morrighan […]
The Firebug of Balrog CountyBy David Oppegaard Mack Druneswald is a high school senior living in Balrog County. (Mack has named it Balrog County after the fiery monster in Lord of the Rings. Its real name is something as boring as the place itself.) But Mack has more to contend with than boredom. His mother […]
By Michael Grant In this alternate history set during World War II, a court decision makes women subject to the draft and eligible for service. Not just desk jobs, either – they’re going to be on the front lines. This doesn’t mean that everyone is thrilled with the idea, though – there’s still a huge […]
Horten’s Miraculous MechanismsBy Lissa Evans Stuart Horten is very short for his age – his name, S.Horten or shorten, is rather unfortunate. When his family moves to another town at the beginning of the summer, Stuart is bored, has no friends, and is tormented by the triplets that live next door: April, May and June. […]
Passenger by Alexandra BrackenA new YA historical time-travel romance novel where said time travel occurs at the sound of orchestra music and the male protagonist is African-American and our first adventure back in time puts us on a pirate ship in 1776? Was this book written just for me?!Etta is a seventeen-year-old violin prodigy. She […]