Believe (Carolrhoda Books) by Sarah Aronson $17.95 Jaime Freeman was only six when she was pulled from the rubble of a synagogue to be the sole survivor of a suicide bombing that killed her parents and dozens of others. As…
Category: Environment
The S-Word leads to dark secrets revealed
The S-Word (Gallery Books) by Chelsea Pitcher $10.99 Angie seeks revenge against those who labeled her best friend, Lizzie Hart, “Slut.” But she is also seeking redemption from the guilt that plagues her because Angie let it happen after…
A Silver Anniversary and the 2013 Skipping Stones Honor Awards
This year marks a big milestone for the non-profit multicultural children’s magazine Skipping Stones. Founded in 1988 by educator Arun Toke, Skipping Stones is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The magazine offers articles for children from the elementary level and up,…
LGBTQ YA Continues to Evolve: Review of Openly Straight
Almost two years ago author E. Kristin Anderson asked me to write a guest post for her blog for Pride Week. I wrote about the need to reflect today’s world in our LGBTQ YA fiction, while at the same time…
Children of the Tipi: Life in the Buffalo Days
Children of the Tipi: Life in the Buffalo Days, edited by Michael Oren Fitzgerald will make a good read-aloud for pre- and early readers, and will be a quick, illuminating read for children in third and fourth grades. There…
This pirate tale provides adventure even as it depicts survival
Privateer’s Apprentice by Susan Verrico (Peachtree Publishers) $15.95 (Reviewed by guest reviewer Donna Pierquet, Mount Mary College) A swashbuckling coming of age story, Susan Verrico’s Privateer’s Apprentice will get adolescent readers engaged and interested in a young boy’s…
Once and Future New Orleans
“I wasn’t certain of anything anymore, except that New Orleans was a faithless friend and I wanted to leave her.” Out of the Easy, by Ruta Sepetys “Decisions, they shape our destiny.” Out of the Easy, by Ruta Sepetys “Some choices,…
In his latest novel PIECES Chris Lynch explores what happens when a teen decides to meet his brother’s organ recipients
Pieces (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers) by Chris Lynch, 16.99 Eric’s only sibling and only friend, Duane, suffers an irreversible brain injury in a swimming accident and Eric becomes the final voice in a decision to…
JUST LIKE US
JUST LIKE US: THE TRUE STORY OF FOUR MEXICAN GIRLS COMING OF AGE IN AMERICA by journalist Helen Thorpe Helen Thorpe’s Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America, tells the story of…
Shades of Scaly Gray: Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz
I love books that explore those tough, someone-will-be hurt-no-matter-what-I-do decisions that life throws at us time and again. I especially love when they are books for adolescent readers that pull no punches and make all of the choices hard. Teeth,…