Author: J.L. Powers

J.L. Powers is the author of the y.a. novels This Thing Called the Future and The Confessional, and editor the forthcoming anthology That Mad Game: Growing Up in a Warzone.

Guest post by Padma Venkatraman WHITE ROSE By Kip Wilson Pub date: April 2, 2019 Ages: 12 and up Publisher: Versify, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcout.   White Rose is a work of historical fiction that resurrects a story…

Ahimsa by Supriya Kelkar

Ahimsa by Sypriya Kelka Guest Post by Padma Venkatraman Ahimsa, Supriya Kelkar’s New Visions Award winning debut, is set in India in the 1940’s – a time in our shared human history about which enough can never be written. Ten…

Forest World by Margarita Engle

Guest Post by Padma Venkatraman In Forest World, Young People’s Poet Laureate, Margarita Engle, once again demonstrates her mastery over the verse novel form, wielding it to speak eloquently of the need to protect our environment. Told through the eyes of…

A Dog Named Haku by Margarita Engle

A DOG NAMED HAKU by Margarita Engle, with Amish Karanjit and Nicole Karanjit (illustrated by Ruth Jayaveeran), published by M. Millbrook press, Minneapolis. Guest Post by Padma Venkatraman With her characteristic ability to use spare and beautiful language to convey emotions…

Amal Unbound by Aisha Said

AMAL UNBOUND by Aisha Saeed, ISBN 978-0-399-54468-2, Nancy Paulsen Books, Penguin Young Readers. Guest Post by Padma Venkatraman It might seem strange to begin a review by citing how much I enjoyed reading the Author’s Note, and yet, the beautifully…

Shadow Warrior by Tanya Lloyd Kyi

What’s cooler than girl ninjas? An actual historical female ninja and her cohort of female spies…. Shadow Warrior by Tanya Lloyd Kyi and illustrated by Celia Krampien (Annick Press) covers the historical (and possibly mythical) basis for stories about a…