YA
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4 TO 16 CHARACTERS – Kelly Hourihan
**WARNING — POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD!** Well…this makes me feel old. I liked the idea of writing a YA book in a way that YA readers could relate to it. This book is written as though its main characters were communicating through various social media sources (though oddly enough NOT through a Twitter-type account which would… Continue reading
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ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE – Gail Carriger
Who hasn’t imagined themselves as a spy? Spy books are great escapist fiction because most of us, at one time or another, have secretly fantasized about how much fun it would be to be a spy. Here in Etiquette & Espionage, the first book in the “Finishing School” series by Gail Carriger, Carriger combines spy… Continue reading
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NEST – Esther Ehrlich
The debut novel by Esther Ehrlich, Nest, is a beautiful, poignant, slightly dark tale of the trials of childhood. Set in the early 1970’s, eleven-year-old “Chirp” Orenstein is beginning to learn that life can be cruel to a child. Her mother struggles with a terrible disease and spends time in a ‘loony bin’ and goes… Continue reading
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WHEN THE WORLD WAS FLAT (AND WE WERE IN LOVE) – Ingrid Jonach
There is a formula to writing YA and if you’ve been reading nay of my reviews you probably know exactly what I’m going to say. Typical, formulaic YA has a lot of teenage angst and pathos. The primary character will magnify every emotion ten-fold, especially the negative ones. There will be a boy-meets-girl storyline with… Continue reading
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THE GHOST PRISON – Joseph Delany
This was one of the older books in my to-be-read queue. Had I realized what a quick, short read it was, I’m sure I would have gotten to it much sooner. With not even 100 pages, and much of that filled with art, the reading is extremely quick. And that is sort of a problem. I love… Continue reading
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THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE – Jonathan Stroud
I don’t know what took me so long to read this book (other than I’m really backed up with Advanced Reading Copies), but now that I’ve read it, I can’t wait to dig in to book number two (which just recently appeared in my ARC queue). Author Jonathan Stroud has created an alternate England that… Continue reading
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“WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN, ANYWAY?” – Avi
THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING A REISSUE I really appreciate it when people take chances, to try something new or different, and I really appreciate author Avi (and his publishers) for going out on a limb and producing a book that will challenge its targeted reading audience. This book, “Who Was That Masked Man, Anyway?” is written… Continue reading
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THE IRON TRIAL – Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
**WARNING — SPOILERS AHEAD!!** Comparison’s to Harry Potter are going to be inevitable as The Iron Trial deals with a young man going to a magician’s school to learn how to use (and control) his magic abilities. There’s also a prophecy about the return of a ‘bad’ magician and a group of students thrown together… Continue reading
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OLIVER AND THE SEAWIGS – Philip Reeve
Oliver and the Seawigs is a delightful, flight of fancy fantasy. Author Philip Reeve has captured the imagination of a young reader quite well in this story of Oliver Crisp, a ten-year-old who was born into a life of adventure. His parents are explorers of a voracious sort. They can’t NOT explore if there’s something… Continue reading
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GABRIEL FINLEY AND THE RAVEN’S RIDDLE – George Hagen
I was really excited to read this book … enough so that I bumped it way up on my reading schedule … but am disappointed in the outcome. This book feels like a very one-note story that grew a bit tedious. The story: Twelve-year-old Gabriel Finley’s father has been missing for a number of years… Continue reading
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CITY OF LIGHT, CITY OF DARK – Avi
THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING A REISSUE I am not particularly familiar with Avi, though I recognize his name as a prominent author in the YA/Children’s Book field. What I don’t know is whether this is a departure from his other writings, or if this is in line with the bulk of his cannon. The story is… Continue reading
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THE FOURTEENTH GOLDFISH – Jennifer L. Holm
The Newbery Medal is the top prize in American literature for children. Having read a great number of Newbery Medal and Newbery Honor books, I can tell you that there’s a common ingredient among them all. That ingredient is ‘education.’ Every book I’ve read finds a way to teach the reader a little something in the… Continue reading
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